Now we've seen the cats!

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Yes, we have now seen some cats! Lions, a cheetah and a serval so far, but the leopard is proving elusive. We saw most of our lions and the serval in the Ngorongoro Crater (Tanzania), the cheetah between there and the Serengeti and more lions in the Serengeti NP.

The Ngorongoro Crater was amazing. It was a horrible day when we got up, raining, low clouds and we weren't expecting to be able to see much as driving up to the rim of the crater we couldnt see much further than the front of the landrover. As we went over the crater rim and started going down inside, the clouds lifted and we had the most beautiful views. The crater is about 20km across with one large lake and loads of smaller lakes / waterholes. We saw all sorts of animals there, herds of zebra, gazelles, Cape Buffalo, wildebeest, families of hippo in the pools (none of them would open their mouths for that toothy grin shot!), Ibis, hyena, flamingoes, geese, jackels, and of course our cats. The serval was a lucky find, it was sat up in some long grass and we only saw it when it moved. We couldnt get very close. The lions though, we got close to them. Not all the 16 we saw in the crater, but most of them. The first three we young, two females and a male, walking along about 15m from the road. The next was a lone male trying to sleep, he was near a herd of zebra and so obviously not hungry that they would be eating quite close and the lion wouldnt bat an eyelid. We got a couple of good stretches and yawns out of him! The next pair of lions we still eating their latest kill, a zebra. They had blood still on their faces and the male was limping from a fresh leg wound. There were three jackels (a black backed pair and a golden/common jackel) wandering close by trying to get some lunch, but the lions weren't having anyone else touching their food. Just round the corner from these lions was a pair of males lying on the side of the road. There was us all with our biggest zoom lenses on our cameras expecting the animals to be well off the road, and all we could photograph of this pair was the hairs inside their noses we were that close!! Then one of them struggled to his feet, breathed some really bad breath into the Landrover, and promptly leant against the back of it and went back to sleep. Cant safely get much closer than that! The next three lions we really close by, a male and two females just off the road. We were treated to a couple of rounds of lion sex, and much stretching and "purring". None of these animals we at all bothered by us being so close. Our last lions in the crater were just a group relaxing in the grass not doing anything.

On the way to the Serengeti, about 1-2 hours drive from the crater, we saw our only cheetah. He was following a group of gazelle and wasnt too happy when our vehicles took off over the grass to chase him. We werent too happy when five other vehicles did the same and started circling him. The cheetah was getting confused and worried, so we told our driver to back off a bit, some of the others there did the same luckily but some people are still more interested in the perfect view and photo rather than the animals welfare. We put him right off the chase. He was beautiful though, sleek, but a bit skinny.

The Serengeti wasnt the animal playground and biggest open air zoo we were expecting. The wildebeest were gathering for the migration so we got to see more wildebeest than you'd ever need, thousands and thousands, as far as the eye could see, and the land is flat there and we could see a long way. Amongst them were herds of zebra and gazelle, and the odd hyena hoping for dinner. We saw some Topi which were new for us, and more lions!! Over the afternoon and morning that we were there, we saw two females basking on some rocks, a lone female in a tree watching the passing Thomsons Gazelle and zebra, the gazelle saw her and took off, the zebra werent so watchful. There was a baby in the herd that was always wandering alone at the rear, you could almost see the lions eyes staring right at it and her drool forming at the
though of young juicy zebra! But then they saw her and made the baby stay in the middle of the group. Once they had passed, the lion relaxed and let tail and legs flop over branches and hang there. We saved the best till last, two adult females and three cubs. There was a pair about 6 months old and a single cub of around 4 months, so both females must have been mothers. They were in a rocky outcrop and we didnt see the cubs at first as they were in the trees. Once they got a bit used to the vehicles, the adults didn't even look at us!, they came out a bit for a nosy and play. We could have sat there all day if we could.

We are now on Zanzibar and enjoying more wildlife. Yesterday we swam with some dolphins - awesome! - and saw the rare Red Colobus Monkeys, a species endemic to Zanzibar. The dolphins we not overly playful, they came to check us out, swimming about 2-3m from us. We could hear their clicks and whistles under the water. They jumped and twisted out of the water for us. There was also a turtle swimming round the boat. The monkeys were really cute, some were playing, some eating, others grooming and nitpicking. We also saw a small green mamba in the forest there.

Zanzibar is an interesting island, one that needs much more time to explore. We have spent most of out time in and around Stonetown looking at the old Persian baths, slave pens / market, fort and other old buildings. We have also been on a spice tour. It is suddenly very hot and humid again, and the mossies are back.

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Photos

Game drive in the Ngorongoro crater
We had a lion this close to our vehicle too.