Kwando Lagoon/Lebala June/July 2014

[madaboutcheetah]

Some more cheetah images...

 

The RB Hornbill might just be our friend from Zebra Pan.....

[Marks]

Love seeing cheetah and dog in quick succession. Possibly two of the most popular animals on ST?

[madaboutcheetah]

A few from the Lion pride at Lebala ...... (After the Cheetah brothers moved off to the Selinda concession; I couldn't have asked for a better subject to photograph for the remaining duration at Lebala ..... these Lions popped in at the right time!)

[Big_Dog]

Excellent photos as ever! How many adult lionesses are in the Lebala pride also?

[madaboutcheetah]

3 adults; 3 sub-adults along with 3 smaller cubs - Thanks!

[madaboutcheetah]

Still hangin' with the pride....

[madaboutcheetah]

Still hangin'

[madaboutcheetah]

One morning in early July at Lebala, we went straight to the big Lion pride to try and get them with the lovely morning light ....... Guide Thabo also was joining us, as his guests were keen on the pride too; He took the alternate route to scout around: on his way over, he heard Lion and Hyena interaction in thick Kalahari leaf and mentioned to us on the radio that he was going to investigate ....... Apparently Two young males were trying to fight off the Hyena clan off a young Elephant carcass. The Chaos brought the territorial male King Booker onto the scene and he had a stare down with these two young males.

 

By then, I was having a good morning with the Big Lion Pride that I just wanted to stay put (we had a chat with Thabo and he said it was really thick in there with all the Kalahari leaf so I opted not to respond to that sighting) ..... Later on when I was heading back to camp for brunch, we went to have a look into the Kalahari apple leaf and found the two males feeding on the elephant. It really was super thick woodland in there - the only decent photography that was going to workout was a portrait type thing ...... Later at the table, I was having a conversation with the guides - they are not too sure where the two intruder males came from as they don't recall seeing too much of them. The two were also seen on another day (I didn't respond again as they were having a sleep, as Lions often do ....)

 

The last pic in this series is the territorial male King Booker; who was watching all this 50 meters away.

[madaboutcheetah]

Will be away for the long weekend, so shall update this thread next week ........ Cheers!!!

[Sangeeta]

The scratching-post cheetah was super. I really think you've come into your own with the lions, Hari. Some really lovely, expressive shots.

[twaffle]

Lovely photos, really enjoying them.

[TonyQ]

@@madaboutcheetah

You say you were forced to do portraits of the lions because of the leaves. I am glad you were- they are so good!

Favourite - No.10 the 2 lions - heads so close together -beautiful.

[madaboutcheetah]

Back to those puppies now......

[madaboutcheetah]

One afternoon ...... We were with the pride of Lions at Lebala, when we realized that they were doing nothing; we left to go round the corner (500 meters away) to photograph some giraffe (especially, since the afternoon drives came to see the Lions and they were keeping tabs of them)

 

What happened next ...... simply out of the blue .... was nothing but ........ EXCITING

 

One Lioness gave a chase of the giraffe ....... Spencer mentioned that their strategy was to chase the giraffe with the hope that one of them might trip and fall by stepping into an Aardvark hole or something - She missed! .....

 

The rest of them didn't move ........ (I've seen some past updates from GPC of the pride feeding on giraffe in Selinda - I'm sort of suspecting that this is their strategy of choice)

[AKR1]

Hari

Your report has evolved into something really special. Great pictures and safari details. Thanks.

[FlyTraveler]

Great shots of running giraffes chased by a lioness Hari! It would have been even more interesting sighting if one of them tripped...

[madaboutcheetah]

Thanks a lot @@AKR1 and @@FlyTraveler ........ I can only think I was lucky to have moved over to the Giraffe instead of hanging back with the pride ...... Pure luck! I imagine this Lioness snuck off unnoticed - it's only when the giraffe were in stampede mode did we realize that the Lioness was on the charge!

[Marks]

Wow, very exciting! I like that the birds are hanging on even as the giraffe run away.

[madaboutcheetah]

More of the Lions from Lebala .....

[madaboutcheetah]

Cubs at play

[madaboutcheetah]

Last post of the Lions (Phew!!! all edited...... )

[cheetah80]

Hari! What exquisite photos - I loved the jumping Lechwes and cheetah silhouettes. Awesome! And what sweet light you had! I really have to visit the private concessions in Botswana someday. Not looking likely anytime soon so I'll just drool over these photos a bit more Thank you!

Edited August 19, 2014 by cheetah80

[madaboutcheetah]

Thank You, Alison!!! Much appreciated!

[Soukous]

OK, I know I said I thought lions were pretty dull compared to spotted cats but your photos are super Hari.

It looks as though you really had some quality sightings.

[madaboutcheetah]

@@Soukous - Thank You!!! alas, only cheetah and other general game/birds left to edit ..... no more Lions!!!