After a late first night, we decided to sleep in the next morning and take a game drive after breakfast. We were woken by tea service on the front porch of our tent at eight, and the boys were delighted to sit and sip chai as we watched a crocodile sun himself on the far river bank and a very tardy hippo work his way slowly down to the water. Hippos spend their day in the water and only come out to graze at night, but this fellow looked like he had been partying a bit too hard as he plodded back down the river bank, well into the morning. We were also visited by a troupe of sykes monkeys, who were disappointed that we did not have any good snacks to steal.
- Hippo inching down the river bank across from our tent
Following the morning show on the riverbank and in the trees around our tent, we tucked into a hearty breakfast and then prepared for our game drive. Heading out from the camp at about 9:30, we knew that we were past the prime time to spot animals–the early dawn. Sure enough, the first hour of the drive was disappointing, with just a few sightings of plains game. After a bit, our guide did pick up the trail of a bull elephant, who we startled out of sleep, and we dipped into a river basin with a large herd of zebra. A mother zebra and her young foal were particularly captivating.
Bull Elephant, awakened from a nap
Jonathan Scouting for Game
Following the elephant sighting, Jonathan asked our guide to head south towards the Musiara marsh, known for large concentrations of animals thanks to the abundant grass. As we drove down into the marsh, we made our first big sighting of the drive–a herd of at least 60 elephant of all ages, grazing their way through the grasslands. As we approached the herd, we made an even more extraordinary find–the famous Musiara pride of lion, fifteen strong, enjoying a midmorning nap as the elephants roamed behind them.
Musiara Elephant Herd...many more that didn't fit into the frame!
Adolescent male challenging the dominant male of the pride
On our way back to camp, we came across two mothers with a young cub. After leaving late in the morning, we had endured a very long game drive–over four hours–and were thankful to arrive back at the camp for lunch. The afternoon was spent napping while the boys played and Ethan built with his K’Nex set.
In the late afternoon Daddy, Ethan, and David set off for a “boys only” game drive with the express purpose of looking for the elusive leopard. Despite combing leopard gorge (made famous by BBC’s Big Cat Diaries) and several river basins, we did not spot the leopard but did pay a visit to the lion we had seen the night before. The day concluded with dinner served on our tent’s porch, and was complemented by the sounds of the hippos wallowing in the water below.
For more pictures of the second day of our safari, please click here.
Lion Cub, curious about our boys
Dinner by the tent
