I chose to highlight some of the predators that I saw on my last safari. Of course, there is more to predators than just animals; there are reptiles and birds that also fall under this category, but today I am sticking with the four-legged variety.
Predators are what a lot of people aim to see while on safari, but a game drive is so much more than seeing a glimpse of a lion or leopard. It always bears repeating, that the best game drives are the ones that you go on without a strong agenda, and allow the beauty of Mother Nature to unfold before you, and experience all that is on offer.
A mother leopard and her cub grooming each other. Timbavati Private Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024.A lion cub very relaxed in the shade on a very hot afternoon in Savute. Savute Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.
A rare sighting of an African wild cat, which is slightly larger than an average house cat. Savute Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.
A hyena that approached our vehicle with a pack of wild dogs nearby. At the time we saw this individual, we only had two of the dogs in our sight, but they soon took us to where the rest of the pack was. The hyena didn’t follow. Timbavati Private Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024.
A wild dog relaxing in the shade. Timbavati Private Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.Some lion cubs playing in the cool of an early morning with one of the mothers watching from the sidelines. This was a small part of the pride that was in the area, and all the youngsters were having fun before it got too hot to do anything but lie under a bush. Savute Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.You can’t ask for much better than a leopard posing on a termite mound. Timbavati Private Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024.A young lion in the tall grass, being kissed by the late afternoon light. Klaserie Sands Private Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024.A pair of hyena with an impala ram submerged in a small pond. We were incredibly fortunate to come across this sighting. We were lead to it by seeing a tawny eagle with a piece of very fresh meat, and our guide knew there had to be a very fresh kill nearby. Klaserie Sands Private Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024.
You never know what you might cross paths with when out on a safari game drive. Between the guides, trackers and all the guests, there are eyes scanning in every possible direction, off into the far distance. But sometimes, the wildlife makes it easy by hanging out on the road or crossing right in front of the vehicle, making them very easy to spot and view.
All of these images are animals spotted on the roadways; these are the types of traffic jams that I never mind being a part of.
A leopard tortoise crossing a road through Moremi Game Reserve in Botswana. We came across the tortoise when it was already most of the way across the track, or we would have been stopped for quite some time, as there wasn’t a great option to go around it. Botswana, April 2024.A pair of hyena taking a fork in the road straight towards us. Timbavati Private Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024.An African hoopoe searching for breakfast along the roadside. Savute Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.This young zebra was napping on the road until we drove up, disturbing its rest. Savute Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.A roadblock I will never be unhappy about! A wild dog pausing in the middle of the road. Timbavati Private Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024.Both zebra and giraffe putting a pause on our early morning game drive. Klaserie Sands Private Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024.The soft sands of the roads through Chobe National Park are very helpful for seeing tracks. Even more helpful is coming across the animal leaving the tracks. Here we have a male lion crossing the road, following a female that had crossed moments before (her set of tracks are between the male lion and our vehicle). Our amazing guide Miss B was always in the right place at exactly the right time. Chobe National Park, Botswana. April, 2024.
Today I felt like doing something a bit different, and went back to some of the images I flagged from my 2023 Alaska trip. All of these images were from an excursion I did, taking a train trip along the White Pass for a day trip in the Yukon. I have shared some images from this trip before (search Alaska if you missed these and want to take a look).
An old train bridge over a canyon, with a large portion of the trestles collapsed. A sky so blue it looks fake, but it absolutely isn’t. The northernmost desert in North America, at Carcross, Yukon.One of the beautiful lakes near Carcross, Yukon. I couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day to be touring the area.A view north of the highway running between Alaska and Yukon, just north of the border.
I was drawn to elephants when I sat down to work through some photos today, but when I came online to create my post, I realized I did the same thing only a month ago (which you can find here). As I rebuild my habits for photo editing and posting, checking what I have done recently is probably a smart thing to add early in the process.
Throughout the years of this blog I’ve said time and again how much I love spending time with elephants; and if I could only pick one animal to see one safari, it would be elephants, as they are almost always active and on the move doing something: feeding, drinking or interacting with one another, which makes them very interesting to spend time with.
A group of male elephants greeting each other with some trunk touching. Timbavati Private Game Reserve, South Africa. April 2024.This elephant had only a partial trunk, likely from a snare injury. Despite this disability, he was able to drink and feed himself. He was traveling with a larger herd that had already moved on down the riverbed to feed. Timbavati Private Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024.A perfect reflection of an elephant in this small watering hole. He was very accommodating and we spent a good deal of time just relaxing a watching him go about his morning. Tombavati Private Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024.An elephant leaving the watering hole to return to grazing. Savute national Park, Botswana. April, 2024.A trio of youngsters drinking from a watering hole in Savuti. Their mothers were all very close by and watching over them, but seeing these three together like this was quite a treat. Baby elephants are just too cute for words. Savute National Park, Botswana. April, 2024.A group of elephants drinking from the Chobe River in the afternoon, watched by a nearby hippo. Choose National Park, Botswana. April, 2024.Another perfect reflection, this time from the hide at Leroo La Tau camp in Botswana. Makgadikgadi Pans National Park, 2024.
I was drawn to work on landscape photos this week, so I picked a selection from the different places I visited between South Africa and Botswana this past April.
This was a dry riverbed in the Timbavati Private Game Reserve, with a waterbuck grazing and a rock fig growing out of the side of the large rocks. South Africa, April, 2024.Sunrise in Klaserie Sands Game Reserve in South Africa. This trip was my first time in this reserve, and it was surprising how different the landscape was, compared to the Timbavati that it shares a border with. The area was fenced for a very long time, so the bush was very thick since there were no elephants passing through until quite recently. Klaserie Sands Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024. A lone waterbuck on the floodplain alongside the Chobe River. Despite the fact that I was there at the very start of the dry season, the river was extremely low. It was very different to being in the area in April of 2013 or more recently in November 2022. Chobe Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.Sunrise on the Chobe River, during a beautiful early morning boat cruise (complete with coffee and snacks, of course!). Chobe Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.A rocky outcrop in Savute Game Reserve. It wasn’t the type of game drive where I felt comfortable asking to stop for a lot of landscape shots, so I just put my camera on the fastest shutter speed I could, and then snapped away while driving. Some of them worked, but many did not. Savute Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.Moonset at sunrise in Savute Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.A pair of baobab trees seen in Savute. Botswana, April, 2024.This area is called Dead Tree Island in Moremi Game Reserve. While you might initially think an area of dead trees wouldn’t be the most photogenic area to be in, I found it strikingly beautiful. I have quite a few images from this area that I flagged to work on in the future. Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.Okavango Delta sundowner drinks stop at a hippo pond. This was a preplanned stop with the camp staff having set up a bar and snacks stop for all the vehicles to visit. It was a lovely evening. Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.A lone bull elephant climbing the hill from the dry Boteti riverbed outside of Leroo La Tau Camp. I am hoping to soon pull some images from my first time in this area in 2015 and contrasts them with the more recent ones as the difference in the landscape is quite striking. Makgadikgadi Pans National Park, Botswana. April, 2024.
I’m in a pretty similar situation to last week, where I have reached the end of the weekend without getting any editing done, so I have chosen a single image to share today. I selected this lion image because the colours are similar to the changing season I am seeing outside my door. Fall is arriving quickly, with bright green leaves being replaced with yellows and browns, with the occasional pop of red and orange.
We found a pride of lions in the late afternoon, just as they were beginning to get active. This young male was one of several young males that were just beginning to have their manes grow in. There was some nice interaction amongst the pride members, but those photos will have to wait for another day. This particular image was taken through some foliage, but that’s part of what I like about the image, because it reflects what many animal sightings are like; just brief glimpses through the vegetation.
I hadn’t planned to take most of the summer off from editing photos and posting, but suddenly it is September and I haven’t done anything with my images since July. To be fair, there was golf to play, a yard to take care of and generally, a summer that is far too short and the desire to enjoy it as much as possible.
I chose a few images of my favourite cat, the leopard, to work on today. These are the first I have edited since getting a new computer and new monitor set up, as well as an updated version of Lightroom to use (my previous computer was so old, Lightroom hadn’t been able to update in close to a year, if not longer). It certainly is different working on a 2024 model compared to my old machine. It seems like there is still so much to do with program settings and the like, but I am happy to at least have had the chance to get back to my images.
A young leopard posing on a termite mound in the late afternoon. Timbavati, South Africa. April, 2024.A big yawn to get on the move. Timbavati, South Africa. April, 2024.This mother and son leopard were on their final time together, as soon after we viewed these animals, it would be time for the cub to make his own way in the world. It is so special getting to see such solitary animals interacting; we were treated to some lovely behaviour in this sighting, including a lot of grooming. Timbavati, South Africa. April, 2024.
When you are on safari and see lots of antelope, giraffe, zebra and the like, many guides will say it’s been a good day for general game. I enjoy all the wonderful animals on safari, so decided to use that as a selection process for a few photos to share today.
A waterbuck and her calf, seen in the Timbavati, South Africa. April, 2024.A group of zebra, part of a much larger herd, enjoying a drink in Savute, Botswana. April, 2024.We came across this waterbuck at the perfect time for a nice reflection shot of him having a drink. Timbavati, South Africa. April, 2024.A very watchful kudu at sunset. Timbavati, South Africa. April, 2024.Giraffes at sunrise. Timbavati, South Africa. April, 2024.
I had some photos flagged to edit from my 2022 trip to Alaska, so I followed the path of least resistance and worked on those, rather than selecting images from my latest adventure. Back to Africa images next week 🙂
I’m still in awe of how beautiful a trip it was, and how I really lucked out with the most amazing weather you could ask for.
It’s been a while since I have posted any images; between preparing for a trip, the time spent away and then the return to normal life, the blog fell by the wayside for a bit. I’m slowly working on cataloging and rating images from my time away; and while I have a long way to go before that is complete, I don’t want to wait to share images until all that background work is done.
Today I decided to pick one image from each location I stayed at. It seemed like as good a starting place as any.
Leopard mother and son, sharing an affectionate moment. The cub is on the left, and at basically the same size as his mom, his days enjoying her company and her providing for him are numbered. Timbavati, South Africa. April, 2024.This was a first for me; watching a hyena stash its impala kill in a small waterhole. Klaserie Sands, South Africa. April, 2024.This trip was the trip of lions, with many sightings over the different areas I stayed in. This lioness was seen in Chobe National Park, Botswana. April, 2024.The other standout for sheer volume of animals were zebra, seen in vast numbers in Savute. Our trip timed it just right to encounter some of the zebra migration. Savute, Botswana. April, 2024.
A once in a lifetime sighting in Moremi Game Reserve. An endangered Pel’s fishing owl. We were fortunate enough to see the mother and offspring that were nesting at the camp next door to where we were staying. Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.
Elephants racing for the water on a hot afternoon. The areas where I traveled were experiencing significant drought, and it will likely be very, very hard on many animals come September and October, before the start of the next rainy season. For now, there was still decent amounts of water and vegetation to be found, and the animals we saw were still in good condition. Makgadikgadi Pan National Park, Botswana. April, 2024.
