Hakuna Matata

Hello and welcome to the second African edition of Wandering Aidan! Today was the same as yesterday- in other words, amazing. Let's get the show started.

Impala at the watering hole. The location is very popular.

An elephant taking a bath. It makes you wonder why anyone would want to drink out of this.

African days vary wildly in terms of temperature- warm during the day and frigid at night. Here is a photo taken at the start of our afternoon game drive...

And here is one from about the end.

These adorable burrowing rodents are mongooses. The plural is not mongeese.

An elephant threatened and charged us away just so it could scratch itself on this tree that we were blocking.

A sighting of two adult male lions, doing their trademarked absolutely nothing. Our guide claims that this does not count as a lion sighting, and that a lion sighting only counts if you can see their legs.

We encountered a huge group of adult female elephant with their young.

Either a beautiful African sunset is occurring behind us, or I just had a really good idea.

We were so focused on some other animals that at first we didn't even notice this giraffe standing a few feet away from us.

A hugely rare sighting: a leopard. We managed to get very close while it was taking a drink.

The cat stalked into the bushes, and disappeared so well that neither us nor another group could find it again, even working together. Leopards are more skittish than most of the other animals at the reserve, as they weren't brought in by humans- they were here before the area became a game reserve.

Yep, the African savanna sure is ugly.

We came across a fantastic sighting in the early morning- a huge pride of lions! Being cats, they thought the road was meant just for them.

Their mannerisms are surprisingly house cat-like. We spotted lions lying down, chasing each other, and even using trees as scratching posts. Even the way they move brings to mind their much smaller and fluffier cousins.

The pride comprised mostly of females and young males. This one seems to be a young male, judging by the scruffy mane that is starting to grow in.

Tree squirrels! Not everything in Africa is exotic and bizarre.

This is a yellow hornbill, nicknamed the "Zazu bird" due to its resemblance to the character from The Lion King. The resemblance is much more obvious if you see the tail feathers. The female hornbills lose some of their feathers during the incubation period of their eggs, so that their plumage can be used as extra nest material to keep the eggs warm. Since this renders the female flightless, the male will block off the tree hollow in which the female nested with mud to protect her. He will leave a small hole in which to drop food.


Here is a picture that shows the tail feathers. It's a bad angle, but you get the idea.

A vulture blending in with a tree.

When we pushed our way through some bushes, we discovered a clearing on the other side that acted as an elephant village. However, we were rejected by border security: a protective mother.

This is our room. It was a pleasant surprise, as I was prepared for a tiny traditional-style hut.

This is our shower. Yes, I know it's outside, but the only thing that can see you showering is whatever animal happens to be passing by on its way to the watering hole.

Thanks for reading!

Next up: even more animals!