Morning is a warm glow, illuminating fuzzy halos around each blade of Serengeti grass. It’s a quiet way to introduce what would be a thrilling day: spotting thirty lions! With Randy riding with us this time (he takes turn mentoring different members of our group), Jeff and I do our best to apply our new knowledge of shooting animals. Throughout the day, continuous encounters with lions and other wildlife provide us plenty of exercise. When we’re not taking pictures, we’re standing up in our moving vehicle with the popped-up roof, soaking in the breeze as our driver Kileo navigates to the next animal sighting that’s communicated over radio.

By the way, in addition to shooting, I’m doodling in my sketchbook. The previous day, I’m dubbed “woman with book who is painting” by our Tanzanian tour guides. There’s no Swahili word for sketching, so our driver tries hard to describe to the other groups by radio what I’m doing.

Our first full day of safarin’ leaves us exhausted. Even at night, your senses don’t get a rest. The first few nights at our camp, we don’t sleep well as we are delightfully distracted by the grunting, rumbling croaks from wildebeest (who are, if I remember correctly, starting to head for the western corridor of the Serengeti in favor of greener grass). We also occasionally hear lions moaning and hyenas yelping in the mix, and sometimes a galloping of hooves, traveling from one end of the camp to the other. We’re not supposed to poke outside our tent in the middle of the night, but we’re happy to let our imagination run wild.

-k

 

 

Hooded vulture:This fella was a few feet from our vehicle and dozing off:  Dik dik:Kori bustard:

She came over and settled beneath our vehicle, relieved to be in shade: Topi:Warthog: Superb starling: Hartebeest:Vervet monkey: Kopje (pronounced “Kopi”) is an isolated rocky hill: