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Mostly Ruaha, July 2015


wildcatzoo

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We set off early Thursday heading to the central Serengeti, where there aren't as many tsetses. Lots more wildebeest and zebra herds, plus topi steenbok and giraffe. At least 3 wildebeest carcasses, some with vultures, but no predators seen. More hartebeest and gazelle (Grant's and Thompson's) as we headed south.

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We took the Lobo wildlife circuit, saw several herds of eland. Up on the rocks near the lodge we saw a few of the resident lions - one young male ran away to hide, while another posed proudly. A female or two were nearby.

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Look at that lion's forelegs in the first two or three pics - a real bodybuilder.

 

Very sharp vulture photo, too.

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Oh! You didn't go home. I am guilty of not paying enough attention. Much better outcome. You found both the wildebeest and the tsetse flies in the Northern Serengeti.

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Way too many tsetses! We were not impressed with the northern Serengeti.

Back on the main road we continued to the Central Serengeti, with many more tourist vehicles and a few cute sightings

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But many vehicles helps you find things - two female lions under a tree,

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and a bigger car jam led to leopards in a tree - at first we saw Momma in the far tree, then Michael pointed out the cub (5-6 months) in the closer tree. Momma was a great huntress, with at least 4 Thompson's gazelles stashed in the same tree! It was amusing to listen to new cars come up and notice all the kills, and sometimes they never saw the cub.

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We were waiting for the cub to wake up and climb down, and were about ready to leave when Michael saw a SECOND cub climbing Mom's tree. A young hyena waitied for scraps. We watched the cub feed for a while but had to take off, it was an hour to Sopa lodge.

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Love this one; the leopard is practically bursting with potential energy.

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Friday we searched for cheetah with no luck, then ended up at the leopard tree. All 3 were in the same tree, we enjoyed watching for over an hour as the cubs fed or repositioned kills while playing, with Mom making sure they didn't drop the kill with two hyenas nearby. The hyenas must have left at some point because one cub climbed down that tree and then up the other one, returning to the same position it was in last night.

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That head must weigh a lot
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We left the leopards, going to a flat lion pile of about 10 cats, with 3 more females coming over to join in.

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We heard of a cheetah sighting and headed north, a mom with 2 large cubs under a large acacia. We watched some interactions before Mom headed off into the tall grass with the cubs following. Under another tree Mom decided to climb to look for trouble, but she ended up falling out of the tree. She was fine.

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It was time to leave, the drive to Naabi Hill and the gate were uneventful, as was the drive to Ngorongoro Crater. We saw plenty more gazelle, as well as zebra, giraffe, buffalo, and ostrich. And Masaii villages and herders. We stayed at Sopa Lodge here too, because of their access road to the crater.

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It was time to leave, the drive to Naabi Hill and the gate were uneventful, as was the drive to Ngorongoro Crater. We saw plenty more gazelle, as well as zebra, giraffe, buffalo, and ostrich. And Masaii villages and herders. We stayed at Sopa Lodge here too, because of their access road to the crater.

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~ @@wildcatzoo

 

I like the bird photo above — great plumage and eye colors!

I'm glad that you stayed at Sopa Lodges.

My stays at the Mara Sopa (2x), Amboseli Sopa and Samburu Sopa (4x), have all been highly satisfactory.

Thank you for this engrossing trip report!

Tom K.

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What a fantastic Leopard sighting! Also love the view from Naabi Hills. You really had sensational sightings. :)

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You keep outdoing yourself! The cheetahs are even more endearing than the leopards, and exceptionally well-lit, to boot.

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The leopards in the tree were challenging with the distance and backlighting, I'm glad they came out as well as they did. The cheetahs were much more cooperative.

 

Last day, part 1-

 

We were in the crater by 6:30, with jackal, buffalo, and zebra on the way in. We went to a hyena den and watched 5-6 puppies playing. Several adults were hunting nearby, but only one was babysitting when a warthog walked by..
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Next was a posing kori bustard, and we noticed several vehicles down the road - lions.
5 in the grass, calling, two more behind us. They met up and returned to the riverbed, playing a bit (especially the 8 month old females). One slightly older female cub seemed distressed, continuously calling. She eventually headed back up the road they just came from, and everyone else followed, including the many vehicles.

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We headed the other way, with more jackal (black-backed and golden), hyena, wildebeest, buffalo, zebra, elephant, and hippo.
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Curving around we came across the same lions again, still walking up the road, with even more vehicles in attendance. They flopped briefly under us, and then we went on.
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Tomorrow I'll post the conclusion, including a new cat for us!

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~ @@wildcatzoo

 

I really enjoy several of your lion shots with tails raised!

I've never seen or photographed that.

Great trip report!

Tom K.

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Michael knew of a place he'd seen serval before, and lo and behold a dark shape I spotted turned out to be one! We must have spent an hour watching her move through the grass hunting. Two kori bustards nearby were nervous, but much larger than the cat. She finally caught and ate some rodent before moving out of sight. Yay, our first wild serval!

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It was time for us to head out, but on the way we saw a group of 30+ hyena, and then found 3 male lions, with a fourth one following, and probably some females under a tree as well. A few pictures and we had to go.

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We got to the airport and a nice guy at the KLM counter gave us a business class lounge pass, which was great before our 24 hours of flying to get home.

Video of the whole trip at



As you can tell from the photos posted my husband and I are cat-obsessed. We volunteer at a place in California that breeds endangered wild cats, see www.wildcatzoo.org

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