Saturday, December 31, 2011

A Heartbreaking Story

We have some pictures of this little lion cub up already, but we never told his amazing story. You can see from the pictures that he lacks good muscle condition even though his belly is quite full. In the video his sister walks past him and she is noticeably larger. His detailed story is told in full by the wonderful rangers at Londolozi in their blogs. In short, he was separated from the pride during a hyena attack and survived for five weeks alone. He stole our hearts, and he was so adorable to watch with his little tough guy persona. We subscribe to the Londolozi blogs and get nice updates and pictures, so we looked forward to watching this little wonder of nature grow up. Sadly, that is not going to be the case as he was killed by one of the four big male lion brothers the other day. This has been much more difficult for us to accept than all the other hunting and killing we saw while we were there. I guess that's the downside of getting up close and personal with wildlife.

Lion Cub



Read more about this lion cub at Londolozi's blog

Read More about the attack at Londolozi's blog

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Londolozi: Birds of Prey

Wahlberg's Eagle
Wahlberg's Eagle

African Hawk Eagle
African Hawk Eagle


Steppe Eagle
Steppe Eagle


Martial Eagle (juvenile)
Martial Eagle

African Fish Eagle (juvenile and adult)
African Fish Eagle
African Fish Eagle

Tawny Eagle
Tawny Eagle


Bateleur (juvenile)
Bateleur
Bateleur


Steppe Buzzard
Steppe Buzzard
Steppe Buzzard

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Londolozi: The Big Five

The term, "Big Five," was created by hunters and refers to the five most difficult animals in Africa to hunt. The term is still used in most tourist and wildlife guides that discuss African wildlife safaris. The big five are the lion, African elephant, cape buffalo, leopard, and rhinoceros. We saw all the big five and more in our visit to South Africa. The game drives at Londolozi offered excellent views of many animals much closer than we could have imagined.

Rhinoceros
Rhinoceros
Rhinoceros

Buffalo
Buffalo

Elephant
Elephant

Leopard
Leopard
Leopard



Lion Cub
Lion
Lion


Zebra
Zebra
Zebra

Hippopotamus
Hippopotamus
Hippopotamus

Giraffe
Giraffe

Hyena
Hyena

Londolozi: More Birds

Green Wood Hoopoe
Green Wood Hoopoe

African Jacana
African Jacana

Egyptian Geese
Egyptian Geese

Arrow-marked Babbler
Arrow-marked Babbler

Red-billed Buffalo Weaver
Red-billed Buffalo Weaver

Fork-tailed Drongo
Fork-tailed Drongo

Red-billed Quelea
Red-billed Quelea

Lilac-breasted Roller
Lilac-breasted Roller

wattled starling
Wattled Starling

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Londolozi: Birding with Talley and Freddy


Our ranger Talley and tracker Freddy did a fantastic job of helping us round out our adventure by finding all kinds of new birds for us. We think they enjoyed it as much as we did, because they said most guests are only interested in the big five and don't take the time to sit and wait and admire the birds and their behavior.


Malachite Kingfisher
Malachite Kingfisher

Diederick Cuckoo
Diederick Cuckoo

Bearded Scrub Robin
Bearded Scrub Robin

Southern Masked Weavers
Southern Masked Weavers

Egyptian Goose
Egyptian Goose

Korhaan
Korhaan

Brown-headed Parrot
Brown-headed Parrot

Greater Blue-eared Starling
Greater Blue-eared Starling

Gymnogene
Gymnogene

Golden-tailed Woodpecker
Golden-tailed Woodpecker

Sombre Greenbul
Sombre Greenbul

African Hoopoe
African Hoopoe
Mike's favorite bird.

African Pied Wagtail
African Pied Wagtail

Hooded Vulture
Hooded Vulture

Little Bee-eaters
Little Bee-eaters

European Bee-eater
European Bee-eater

Marabou Stork
Marabou Stork

Natal Spurfowl
Natal Spurfowl

Red-necked Spurfowl
Red-necked Spurfowl

African Barred Owlet
African Barred Owlet

Bateleur
Bateleur

Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill
Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill

Blue waxbill
Blue waxbill

Red-billed Quelea
Red-billed Quelea

Crested Barbet
Crested Barbet
Chris calls this the crazy ugly bird.

Black-backed Puffback
Black-backed Puffback

Burchell's Coucal
Burchell's Coucal

Red-backed Shrike
Red-backed Shrike

Magpie Shrike
Magpie Shrike

Cinnamon-breasted Bunting
Cinnamon-breasted Bunting

White-faced Whistling Duck
White-faced Whistling Duck

White-backed Vulture
White-backed Vulture

White-browed Scrub Robin
White-browed Scrub Robin

Retz's Helmet-Shrike
Retz's Helmet-Shrike

Crested Francolin
Crested Francolin

Black-collared Barbet
Black-collared Barbet

Black-headed Oriole
Black-headed Oriole

African Grey Hornbill
African Grey Hornbill

European Roller
European Roller

Purple Roller
Purple Roller

Lilac-breasted Roller
Lilac-breasted Roller



Bearded Woodpecker
Bearded Woodpecker

White-crested Helmetshrike
White-crested Helmetshrike

DSC00364
Southern Black Tit