More Safari Pics - from Ndutu and Serengeti parks

I have selected maybe another 100 photos from the 6400 I shot, trying to capture in general what we experienced. I did not shoot a lot of scenery or people pics because I had the long telephoto zoom on the camera and rarely switched it out for the regular wide angle to tele zoom. I will rely on Rani's cell pictures and those of our friends to fill in these gaps at a later time...

 

Because we were in Ndutu and Serengeti during the great migration we saw huge herds of zebras intermingled with wildebeests and other ungulates. I must have shot 500 zebra pics, so please forgive me if I post a number of the better ones as these are such photogenic horses!

We did not witness any calving, but did see many very young wildebeest and zebra babies

These last two photos provide a bit of the panorama, too. These plains of Ndutu had much shorter grass than we saw in the central Serengeti a couple of days later

We saw many animals taking dust baths presumably to either cool off or rid themselves of parasites

Male waterbuck (I think)

We did not get all that close to ostriches but this shot caught a female and a male side by side

Same two as above but with a friend added

We thought these two were probably siblings?

A little bit of context. I believe this was shot in Tarangire park on the first day when elephants were still a novelty to us

Our guide John was able to estimate the age of each elephant to within a few years. The one on the right is a lot older based on its tusk length, amongst other things

Wildebeests were present in great herds but I found it very hard to get a good photo of them because they were shyer than zebras and often fast moving

The baby zebras are much lighter brown than the adults. We often saw babies lying down and at first we thought that they were dead because they lay completely still for several minutes at a time. We all cheered when the first baby we saw like this popped up onto its legs and walked away.

Another adult and young zebra

A jackal gives an impressive yawn

We think this is an Abdim's Stork

Possibly an African Hare

We had the good luck to see a few different groups of cheetahs including a mother and her two offspring

The cheetahs we watched were mostly lazing around although they would occasionally get up and move to another suitable looking place to lie down again

Marabou Stork - some people refer to it as the undertaker bird

These are Kirk's dikdiks, the 2nd smallest antelopes. They resemble and run like large rabbits

Male impala

This lovely bird is a Superb starling - much more colorful than the European starlings we have in Canada

Marabou storks off for an evening stroll

More photos still to come...

Ngrongoro Photos - from our last day on safari

The first animal we saw as we entered the crater was this black rhino. We only saw it from a great distance so the photo is not that sharp

We probably saw more cape buffalo in the crater than anywhere else

Cape buffalo and egrets

This hyena had just come from a swim in a pool to wash off the blood after feasting on a kill. Those are warthogs in the background

These lions are enjoying the cooling effects of the wet mud

Hyenas and vultures fight over a kill

A zebra browses the grass near the lakeshore

There were a few herds of zebras in the crater along with wildebeests, antelope, and cape buffalo

We spotted this jackal near one of the lakes

The lakes were full of bird life including thousands of flamingos

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stopped for a lunch break at an area where we were allowed out of the vehicles

This helmeted guineafowl was hanging around the lunch spot looking for a handout

As we set off after lunch, the heavens opened and we had nearly an hour of rain on our way out of the crater

Some initial pics from our Tanzania safari

 These pictures were mostly taken in the Serengeti and Ndutu parks. They were taken with the Canon EOS full frame SLR and mostly shot with a zoom/teleconverter combination of about 400mm

Lioness resting on a kopje (a rock outcrop) in Serengeti National Park

We loved the pantaloons worn by these secretary birds

The 'Great Migration' includes enormous zebra herds

We went on one walking safari with an armed ranger in the tall grasses of the Serengeti

We saw a hippo heading for a watering hole and this giraffe on our walk

Mostly we enjoyed the scenery and saw a few new birds and some interesting flowers

Lovely scenery on our walking safari - it was very nice to stretch our legs after several days in the truck

We saw elephants from the vehicle in all the parks we visited. Some came within a dozen meters of us

 

This elephant was having a nice scratch against the tree

...And then a good stretch

We stopped at various 'hippo pools' where we spent a few hours observing these unsavoury fellows

These hippos spent much of their time bellowing at each other and opening their mouths wider than seems possible

Impalas and other gazelle species were common

Female vervet monkey and babies (one is under the mother)

These Vervet monkeys were gathered near a puddle to obtain drinking water

They do look and act a bit like humans

Cape Buffalo are one of the 'Big Five' - animals that were considered very dangerous and challenging to hunt

Baby hippo

We saw lions in trees, on rocks, and in the tall grasses - mostly lazing around

These wildebeests were part of one of the large herds that migrate through the Serengeti following the seasons where the grass is greenest

Kori Bustard

Seeing giraffes was one of the highlights of the safari for me

More pics to come as I process them