Today we drove through the tall grass of this part of the park. The prey do not like the long grass as it allows the predictor to hide. The large herds only come to this area when the southern part is dry and over-grazed. There are large rocky outcrops called kopjes. We got to climb one and had a great view of the plains.
We spotted a lioness feeding under a palm tree. Tough life! We also saw 3 leopards. Two sleeping on trees and one very close-up sleeping in tall grass under a tree. The ones in the trees sleep laying, dead to the world, on a limb with their legs and tail dangling down. Leopard spots are different from a cheetah's. Leopard's are more like a rosette of dots and a chetah's are just single dark dots.
As we drove farther into the park we encountered herds of tsetse flies. They remind of our horse flies. Youch. Do they bite!
We are also spotting lots of beautifully coloured birds, such as superb starlings, lilac breasted rollers, love birds, red bishops, etc. as well as rather ugly ones, such as bustards and vultures.
As we leave our camp, & again returning in the evening we always see the same 3 small jackals.(picture) They are very handsome and well groomed as opposed to the hyenas who we have seen laying in mud puddles on the side of the road. They are a whole lot ugly as well.
Funny, on TV documentaries, they always look so . . . well, rabid. This one is a beauty!
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