Honey Badger Cares

At 6:15 we were off across the landscape on the hunt for whatever animals might make an appearance. The day started with a honey badger, and when your day starts with a honey badger it is going to be an awesome day. He was not feeling excited about the safari vehicle behind him, and chose not to pose for pictures as we pursued him – clearly he cared. Numerous animals followed the honey badger, and then a call came in on the radio that one jeep had two cheetahs, while another had a den of lions. Conundrum. We went for the cheetahs, and an hour after we joined them we watched the mother cheetah take down a reedbuck (think small antelope) and then patrol the area while her teenage cub had a meal. And there were still lions to see…

Our planned return to the lodge for lunch at noon ended up being closer to 2PM, and then at 3:30 we were off again to chase more lions, cheetahs, elephants, ostriches, giraffes, birds, etc, etc. While the safari jeeps have seats, I stood in the back looking out for animals the entire time as we drove over fields, lakebeds, and through forests. My camera memory card has photos of lion cubs and baby cheetahs, among 500 other pictures, so pretty much the best day ever.

In non-animal news, the lodgings are pretty lavish, the Tanzanian drivers are all fun personalities and have mad skillz at both driving through crazy terrain and finding (and identifying) hidden animals, the food is really good, and the people on safari are for the most part really enthusiastic. There isn’t a lot of time for sleeping, so journal entries may be a bit incoherent and it’s tough to find time to review photos to find some to include with entries, but I’ll do my best to keep things readable and illustrated. One more day at Ndutu, then on to the Serengeti plains.