And the posts continue to slowly roll out. Sifting through a bunch of Safari Photos had made me slightly cross eyed and I needed a break from going through and then editing them. So I have now seen enough non animals to come back to finishing off the Africa photos.

After the amazing day of cats we knew the next day would be a struggle to impress us, but as we learned early on in the Safari, each day provides something different that will be amazing in its own way. The day started with a drive out to a watering hole to see a bunch of Hippos. I was super excited, as hippos had become one of the animals I wanted to see closer. What I had not expected was that we would get out of the jeep to view them. As we stood there watching them we got a chance to see how the alpha male made sure that the other two other males kept their distance from his harem. Every time they crept a little to close the alpha male would rumble and bring his head up above the water and the two other males would creep back. The hippos were more entertaining than I expected as they are normally a nocturnal animal. They fought, snored, grunted, and even crapped on each others heads while sleeping. After leaving the hippos we game drove around the park, we saw a lot but I’ll merely cover the highlights.

We came across a group of female lionesses who had recently killed a  cape buffalo but then were tired of dealing with all the flies and the heat so were hanging out nearby in a tree. Prosper explained that they would wait until the evening to eat. We would roll by later in the day and see them slowly walking over to the buffalo to start tearing at the buffalo.

As the day wound down we got lucky again and got a chance to see another leopard hanging out in a tree. Shortly after spotting the leopard another jeep spooked the leopard, causing him to run. We took it in stride as we had been lucky to see as many leopards as we had and continued to drive around. After checking out the lionesses again we headed back to the lodge only to be surprised when the same leopard was calmly meandering down the road toward us. Prosper pulled over and we got a chance to see him walk right at us. Prosper was leaning out the driver’s side window looking at the leopard as he kept walking toward us. Caitlin and I were watching from the roof. It was at this point I couldn’t believe how close the leopard was from us but then got spooked when Prosper quickly rolled up his window. Caitlin however was still video taping and starting to lean out because he was underneath her. It was at about this point where followed my philosophy of “Do as the guide does’ and pulled Caitlin into the vehicle. Caitlin seemed a little perturbed at my concern, because it messed up her video. I was also slightly worried that the temptation to reach out and pet the leopard would be too great for her to resist. It seems that only in Africa do we switch roles of risk taker.

As the day came to an end, Tanzania had made me realize that every day impresses just a little bit more.

Lilac Breasted Roller

Topi Antelope

Crocodile

Smiling Hippo, Caitlin’s favorite hippo because it stayed like this for about 20 minutes.

The scratches are from the brush when they go foraging at night.

Still smiling.

Love the eyes on the one that looks like she was just woken up.

Me.

Crazy looking tongue.

Just showing off.

Their legs look so disproportionate.

Still smiling.

Giraffes strolling.

Had to stop for the straggler.

A hawk that we failed to write down the name of.

Lioness trying to get comfortable.

This one had gotten her nose cut up at some point.

Flies still pestering.

Don’t pick the swinging fruit.

Agama lizard chilling at our hotel.

The view from our hotel, kind of in the middle of nowhere.

Caitlin was smart enough to wear sunglasses for her photo.

Baby Baboon getting a ride.

Leopard

We watched him climb up into this tree.

The tree seems to make a natural hammock.

Leopard posing with elephants in the background.

The sky was spectacular.

Reedbuck Antelope

Unlimited salad bar.

Cool clouds

Marabou Stork

Sunset

Lionesses going to town.

This photo is not cropped, two steps later all the shots are just spots.