selenak

Faithful readers of my ramblings might recall that last year, the Aged Parent and I were in Tanzania, and a lot of pictures were the result. This year, the AP had to go alone for real life reasons, but he brought back a lot of pictures to show me what I was missing, and I always like to share my torment. :) Also, he managed to track down that same pride of lions - though the cubs now of course are one year older), still to be found at the same river bank in Ndudutu, and even found another leopard. And they're all awesome to behold.

Dad went to the Ngorongoro Crater first once more. Tanzania suffered through the dryness of most of last year, though not as badly as Kenya, and then the rain finally came. With the result that you'll see a lot of green grass this time. The Elan Gazelle (bigger than a cow!) certainly likes it this way:

So do they:

There were seven (!) rhinos around, but at a distance as usual, like these two:

And a small lion family (not the one from last year, they will take their star turn later):

And a pissed-off grandma:

Lots and lots of wildebeest for these lions to eat:

Two single male lions from the Serengeti, a young one and a middle aged one. Shall we call them Arthur and Uther?

Here's a cheeta looking not impressed (Morgana?):

And now for last year's pride of lions from the Ndutu river banks. The cubs are nearly grown, but still adorable. The rangers told Dad that they were afraid the cubs would die by autumn last year because of the dryness (= lots of dead animals, = not much for lions to eat), they really looked quite starved, but thankfully they survived until the rain finally came back, and with it renewed food supply. Now they're looking anything but hungry! Dad found them directly after another shower of rain had ceased, which is why there were no other cars around (they were afraid to get stuck in the mud):

Now for the femme slash sequence:

He approves:

But you know, it's not all about the big cats. Hyenas deserve love, too!

The elephants thought they'd stop by and remind you that if you want more elephant pictures, turn back to last year's pic spam:

The baboon and kid say hello, too:

And here comes someone's dinner:

Not the lions', though. No. This leopard thought she'd remind everyone who the true elegant predator feline of the savannah is:

One animal we didn't get to see the last time (though I saw one on my first visit to Tanzania a couple of years ago) but which decided to greet Dad this time around was: