By Todd Gustafson

There was another rain storm last night and the herds will be coming in. The morning was misty as we went to the plains. Huge herds of zebras appeared and disappeared into the fog. Bright patches of fog had silhouettes of zebras, wildebeest, and ostrich in the distance. We were absolutely ecstatic as a family of hyenas appeared out of the mist carrying a newborn zebra. (Again, it was great for the hyenas, great for us, but not so great for the zebra). They chased each other across the plains whooping and laughing as they fought over the kill. Then, we spotted mating zebras, Golden Jackals, Bat-eared Foxes, and LIONS. We finally found the Marsh Pride! They were asleep, but we know where to find them. 

The next morning we found lions! The pride of 10 was out and active — playing, drinking from the dew covered grass, climbing in trees…lots of that. As we watched the lions at play, a Lilac-breasted Roller flew in, caught a huge beetle, beat the crap out of it, tossed it in the air, and swallowed it.

When they went to the tall grass, we started our hunt. First up was a hyena with the ugliest wildebeest skull imaginable. I’m not sure I will share that with anyone…ever.

Black Socks and his cheetah family were hunting in the woodlands. There were Grant’s gazelle and zebras. While she waited for the zebras to clear out, three Thompson’s gazelles ran across the meadow right to the waiting mother. The chase was over before it began as she took a pregnant gazelle. The feeding was fast and intense with the cubs eating the most. The best shots were when she brought the kill to the cubs and any time they lifted it to change position.

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