Lion Country, Serengetti

[This is being written on Feb. 3rd in Stonetown, Zanzibar, where the heat is over 100 and humidity is high. Were it not for breezes along the seafront section of town, shade in the narrow labyrinthine streets of the Old Town and air-conditioning when we get back to our room, it would be unbearable. It's interesting but three days is enough. From here we go on to Fanjove Island, a few hundred miles to the South and then more safaris in Southern Tanzania. I doubt we will have internet again until the Seychelles]

Kusini camp is definitely in lion country. The lion is an inspiration to me because it is the laziest animal I know.

We didn't see them hunting but we did see them in two cases
right after a kill. In the first they were defeated by ants. Apparently, after they killed a wildebeest, stinging ants took over the body. The lions were afraid of them. So we saw an interesting scene in which the lions waited at a distance on one side and vultures waited on the other. When a vulture approached the body a lion would run out to chase it away but neither could get any meat.

At another kill the lions showed very good manners, eating only one at a time. And a lioness took a rack of ribs from the body over to a cub who was sitting at a distance.

To save time I will not put these photos in proper order.

Our tent at Kusini

Termite mound with air-cooling vents. These can be 50 years old. Old ones sometimes occupied as dens by animals.

Lion pride waits near kill, defeated by ants.

Lioness

Young male lion starting to grow a mane.

Tse Tse fly. My kill. They are tough. It took a slap and two bangs to finish it off.

Secretary Bird. Largest hunting bird. They specialize in poisonous snakes like cobras and puff adders, protected by tough legs.

Lioness eats wildebeest

Closeup

Cubs wait their turn

Power

Tourists are safe. Lions do not recognize mass as prey. But there have been cases .....

Old lion.

A Superb Starling. That's the name. A splendid relative of the plain bird we see in New York.

Double portrait plus landscape

Weaver bird nest. Entered through hole in bottom.

Tree full of nests

Hornbill with snail in beak

Termite mound

Cheetahs with young Thompson's Gazelle

Devil's Thorns get carried into tent on bottom of shoes or flip-flops and can make life miserable until you learn to get rid of them.