The guy behind the lens

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

ON SAFARI - DAY 2

Welcome back to the Blue Lion Blog for the next installment of my “Safari Series” which details my visit to the Ngala Safari Lodge in South Africa in July, 2013.

This entry focuses on the animals I photographed on day two of my visit. After being lucky enough to see a Verreaux’s Eagle Owl the previous afternoon, I was again lucky to see another at a distance in the dawn light. It made a nice silhouette against the rosy-fingered African dawn.  




As the sun rose, we encountered a breeding herd of giraffes. The young seemed odd to me as they obviously had yet to grow their necks to the wonderfully ridiculous length we are all used to. The second image here features a bird known as an oxpecker working to remove small insects and ticks from the hide of this adult giraffe. 


   Giraffe and Oxpecker


From one of the largest of the African animals, we drove on to discover the smallest of Africa’s carnivores – the Dwarf Mongoose. These adorable little fellas live in matriarchal colonies centered on abandoned termite mounds that they use for shelter and as lookout posts. 


Dwarf Mongoose Family


This next sighting was a great thrill for me as it was my very first wild cheetah sighting of my three safaris! This female was moving from termite mound to termite mound in hopes of scanning the surrounding area for potential prey. Since it was getting later in the morning, she was not having much luck. However, it did provide the chance for her to pose for me as if she was a feline supermodel! 

  


To make the day complete, during our afternoon drive, we came across a pride of four lions – an adult lioness and her three young offspring (two females and a male) as they were stalking a herd of impala. The images of this pride show how well these tawny colored lions can be camouflaged against the winter grasses in South Africa. Despite their best efforts, the impala were able to spot them before the lions could sneak close enough to launch an attack. While the lions have a great deal of stealth, they are unsuccessful in the vast majority (approx. 80%) of their hunting attempts. 







The day concluded with a brilliant sunset and a ride back to the lodge in the dark using a bright spotlight to alter us to the presence of nocturnal animals. We were lucky to catch brief glimpses of more mongooses, some bush babies, and a small nocturnal cat called a serval. 




A delicious meal in the boma followed by local tribal singing and dancing rounded out the evening before bed called my name as the African morning comes awfully early at 5:00 am the next morning!  

Sunday, August 4, 2013

On SAFARI - Africa's Smallest Carnivore

This post is to share a video I made of a short visit at the den of some Dwarf Mongooses (Helogale parvula) during my visit to the Ngala Safari Lodge on the western edge of the world famous Kruger National Park in South Africa. Enjoy your time with these cute little carnivores! 

Thursday, August 1, 2013

On SAFARI - Hyenas and Wild Dogs

This is a short post to be able to share with loyal Blue Lion Blog readers the promised video of the Spotted Hyena – African Wild Dog showdown video that I have posted to my YouTube account.



The back-story is that we had seen a solitary Spotted Hyena resting near where we had reports of wild dog tracks from earlier in the day. After watching the hyena reclining, we went in search of the dogs and soon found them. In the short 10 minutes since we left the hyena, the dogs had managed to kill an impala and then have the hyenas (including the individual we had just left) steal it from them. The dogs pestered and harassed the hyenas and finally regained “ownership” of the carcass.