Cats in the Serengeti

As we spent long hours in our safari vehicle, we had lots of opportunities to ask Chris, our driver, questions.  One question was "What do most people want to see on safari?"  His immediate response was, "The Cats!"  Some people only come to see them and don't care about much else.  We loved seeing all the pieces / types / variety of wildlife and were thrilled with everything from birds to elephants!  

There is no doubt that there are lots of cats and one day we saw a whole variety of them!  Here is a glimpse of what happened between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m..

It started with this cheetah walking through the savannah.

Remember the lions watching the Cape buffalo herd?

Chris was always looking at big shady trees and watching for "branches" hanging down.  Do you see this one?

It was really this guy, resting!  Thanks to Clarence and Sandra for sharing their zoom lens - we got some marvelous shots using it!

And then we saw a gathering of vehicles and knew there was something interesting over that way.  Here's what we found - the biggest, healthiest male lion we saw during the whole trip, I think.

He was fascinating to watch as he crossed the wide open space.  

And came to the shade of this tall tree.  Chris had predicted his move so we were already there, waiting for him to pose.

And then he laid down, right on the edge of the shade which meant as the sun moved through the afternoon, he'd stay in the shade.

Further down the road were a male and a female in the early stages of courtship.

He spent alot of time yawning and licking his lips!

And then the next morning as we were leaving the park, cruising (as if that's possible on those kinds of trails) along, Sandra suddenly called out, "Wait, wait, wait! We just passed something."  She was sitting in the back seat and was the only one who realized we'd just passed this cheetah.  Chris even missed it!

The termite hill was right beside the road and he checked the terrain and then got down to walk a little further and lay down where we couldn't see him - in the shade.  I love how he blends into the grass here.

You couldn't help but be fascinated by the big mammals!