African Safari – Serengeti – Morning Drive part two

Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus)

African Safari – Serengeti – Morning Drive part two

We moved from the grasslands into a damper area where we were able to observe some wading birds including the Black-winged Stilt and the Goliath Heron. At up to five feet tall, the Goliath Heron is the world’s largest heron and up to a foot and a half taller than North America’s Great Blue Heron.

Goliath Heron (Ardea Goliath) (image PP’ed in body area to remove some branches)

By this time in the day, the lions were just lying around catching some shuteye.

I felt like a bit of a pre-lunch snooze myself but we had to continue on in search of that elusive Leopard.

White-headed Buffalo Weaver (Dinemellia dinemelli)

Magpie Shrike (Lanius melanoleucus)

Eagle i.d. not sure think Tawny Eagle

Monitor Lizard

Our next stop was a local watering hole where Zebras and Wildebeest had come for a drink. The animals were quite skittish perhaps because the safari vans were nearby but more likely because there were crocodiles in the waterway. The zebras came down for a drink first and did a lot of splashing around between turns and then eventually the Wildebeest came down for a drink. Definitely interesting to watch.

Brown coloration indicates that this is a younger zebra not yet fully mature

Although there were plenty of interesting things to observe, it was getting to be close to lunch-time so we were heading back to the lodge when our driver got a call.

A leopard had been spotted in a tree half a savannah away.

The big question, LUNCH? or LEOPARD?

 THE LEOPARD!!!

Fasten your seatbelts this might be a bit rough!!!

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