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