Three Cats and Sea Turtles
The opportunity to experience wildlife abundance and diversity attracts increasing numbers of visitors to East Africa – for Susan and I this was our fourth trip to East Africa together (I’ve also visited 3 other times). The other attraction (for me anyway) is generally not knowing in advance which wildlife you’ll actually be fortunate enough to observe for an extended period of time and up close. This time, the highlights of our wildlife viewing were three cats (leopards, lions and cheetahs) and sea turtles. While visiting the northeastern Serengeti (in Tanzania) we observed a leopard and two cubs relaxing and playing for nearly 90 minutes. In the western Serengeti we observed a cheetah with a recent kill wait to eat until her four cubs could join her, and a pride of lions lounging about until the lone lioness decided to hunt a zebra. One evening at sunset on Mnemba Island (off the northeast coast of Zanzibar) we watched over a hundred baby sea turtles emerge from their nest on the sand and crawl out to sea; early the next morning we saw a female sea turtle (her shell nearly 5 feet in length) using her hind flippers dig and then cover a large hole where she deposited likely another 100 eggs in a secluded section of beach. Fascinating! Below are a few photos from our recent trip to Tanzania.
Leopard – Klein’s Camp, Tanzania
Leopard – Klein’s Camp, Tanzania
Leopard cubs playing – Klein’s Camp, Tanzania
Leopard and cub – Klein’s Camp, Tanzania
Leopard and cubs – Klein’s Camp, Tanzania
Cheetah calling cubs, western Serengeti – Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
Cheetah with dead gazelle calling cubs, western Serengeti – Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
Cheetah cubs, western Serengeti – Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
Cheetah cubs, western Serengeti – Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
Cheetah and cubs eating, western Serengeti – Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
Lioness and cubs, western Serengeti – Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
Lion cub, western Serengeti – Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
Male lion, western Serengeti – Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
Male lion stretching, western Serengeti – Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
Lioness hunting, western Serengeti – Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
Sea turtle leaving nest, Mnemba Island – Zanzibar, Tanzania
Sea turtles crossing beach to reach Indian Ocean, Mnemba Island – Zanzibar, Tanzania
Sea turtle crossing beach to reach Indian Ocean, Mnemba Island – Zanzibar, Tanzania
Sea turtle about to reach Indian Ocean, Mnemba Island – Zanzibar, Tanzania
Sea turtle entering Indian Ocean, Mnemba Island – Zanzibar, Tanzania
WONDER 