Ndutu - Nirvana?

After a few fantastic days in the Serengeti I was a little sad to leave, especially after the amusing antics of Poser Leopard. However my group had promised me that the next stop on our trip; this amazing place called Ndutu, was simply nirvana. I was happily imagining a place where the sun was always shining, the migration was passing through and leopard cubs were playing with cheetah cubs. My group had neglected to mention that we would be catching the start of the rainy season and the chance of thunderstorms was reasonably high.

Sheets of rain moving across the plains in Ndutu.

 A tawny eagle taking off in the sunshine against the dark backdrop of storm clouds

The storm clouds being photographed by my Dad who was enjoying the challenge of the ever changing
weather.

A surprise leopard sighting as leopards usually keep to themselves in Ndutu.
This one was chased up a tree by a large female lion, but still looked great against
the storm clouds.

Judging by the look on this little guy's face I'm not sure he enjoyed the rain much!

I would still have to agree that my week in Ndutu was an amazing experience and the 4 or 5 rain storms that we had only added to the experience. My previous blog post Cheetahs in the rain features more examples of the photographs to be had if one braves the weather.

Noor and Sultan, Mother and Son

Today's post continues on from Sultan of Ranthambore where we left young Sultan patiently waiting while his mother was defending her territory from another female tiger. Once the roars died down Noor ventured out from behind the outcrop of rocks to lay down in the drinking hole to cool down. Upon seeing his mother Sultan ventured out towards her looking like an embarrassed teenager when she greeted him with a big lick! They rest together for a while in the pool before walking along the bank, pausing to pose one last time, before disappearing into the grass.

Noor (T39) greeting her cub Sultan.

Sultan resting on his Mum's head as if she were his pillow. 

Sultan and Noor walking along the bank towards the shade of the trees together.

Peering through the grass. 

The setting sun behind a water tower in Ranthambore - India.

World lion day

Apparently the 10th of August is world lion day so in anticipation I'll share some more of my lion images. All of these lions have been photographed in Ndutu, Tanzania.

Peekaboo! A young lion cub peering around a tree

A tree climbing lion. For some reason the lion thought they could climb
 trees as well as the leopards.. 
and then looked very confused when they couldn't.

A portrait of a young lion cub.

Bedtime! The three young lions taking a mid-morning nap.

My first wild tiger!

After 4 fruitless days in Bandhavgarh Tiger reserve a few years ago my family vowed to try once again to go on the hunt for a wild tiger. After 2 days in Ranthambore, with the most experienced guide in the park, I was starting to think we were cursed. We had seen and heard all of the usual warning signs - footprints, alarm calls and other peoples tiger photos but we just couldn't seem to get any luck.. Until the morning of our third day on safari, when somehow my brother caught a glimpse of a cub, lying still in the forest about 80 metres from our Jeep. There was a young 1 year old male called Sultan and he was the most amazing animal we had ever seen. He curiously wandered over to us, crossing the road and looping around the truck. In the distance we heard the calls of his mother Noor (T39) and other trucks approaching from the track behind us. Sultan wandered off into the forest in search of his mother and we continued making our way through the jungle.

Noor (T39)

Noor (T39)

A Red-Wattled Lapwing, one of the many birds we photographed in the absence of tigers

Sultan of Ranthambore, patiently waiting for his Mum.

Showing off his teeth!

Sultan backlit by the early morning sun

A brief sighting but fantastic nonetheless, I don't think I will ever forgot my first tiger!

A local woman in a green saari taken on the way home,
 on the only road in and out of the National Park

The lions and the spare wheel cover

One morning, while in Ndutu in Tanzania, we came across a large pride of lions, about 20 in total including cubs. They mischievously stalked around our truck, peering around the exhausts and through the muddy back windows. A male started tugging at the spare wheel cover, deciding it would make a good plaything. We followed the lions and our spare wheel cover from the plains towards the marsh area, where we had a wonderful view of them breeching the top of a hill. Eventually the lions stopped on the bank of the big marsh, half resting on the short grass the other half playing hide and seek with the spare wheel cover. Eventually one of the older female lions snatched away the spare wheel cover and hide it in the long reeds of the marsh, causing the restless lions to find trees to climb.

 

The pride at first light

Lionesses, with a golden hale from the morning sun

A cheeky female lion peering around our exhaust

The male chewing at our spare tire cover (shot through our back window!)

The Male lion proudly walking away with his prize

A young lion cub gazing over the marsh

Mum and lion cub playing with the spare wheel cover

'Help I'm not sure I'm supposed to climb trees!'

Sorry for the long blog post, but it was a great morning, and I wanted to include enough photographs so that they could tell the story.

Poser leopard

Some animals were just meant for photographing. While in the Seronera Valley in the Serengeti we came across a Leopard posed beautifully in a tree right next to the track. Over the next 2 days he continued to provide hours of entertainment, and numerous photo opportunities. This led this young leopard to gain the name Poser Leopard. For anyone interested in good Leopard sightings on safari in Africa I would certainly recommend this area. 

Poser Leopard sitting calmly in a tree, observing the Safari trucks

Poser Leopard jumping down from his tree, just metres from our truck

A young warthog and leopard being thrown into the air by a defensive warthog mother

Poser Leopard recovering from his attempt to catch the young warthog for breakfast