A Guest Blog From South Africa
My trip to South Africa was an incredible experience. Now that I'm back, I need a little time to settle in and to organize the many photos that I took. In the meantime, I'd like to share an amazing guest blog with you, photographed by twenty-five-year-old Marlon du Toit. Marlon, a South African, has worked at Singita Game Reserves for two years and was assigned to us, as our guide, at the Lebombo Lodge in Singita for the game drives. He is well adapted as a guide and is knowledgeable about the animals, birds, and the flora. Marlon and Themba, our tracker, (he looks for tracks and has extremely keen vision) found us the 'big five.' We did not see a kill, but we did witness some altercations between elephants and lions. We also saw the carcass of an impala after a leopard kill. The photos in this guest blog are some of what Marlon sees on a daily basis in the park. These images may seem a bit alarming, but all of this is part of the natural cycle of life in the preserve - it is the way of life there.
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- This lioness is enjoying her dinner.
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- Part of a crocodile – we never even got to see the entire creature.
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- Marlon’s friend, Maggie, works in the Singita store. We took her on our last drive.
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- This leopard is busy with her dinner.
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- Got it!
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- This leopard dragged an impala into the crook of a tree – rather frightening.
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- We saw many zebras, but none fooling around like this.
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- Here are two cape buffalo locking horns.
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- Birds seem to be frequent hitchhikers on other animals.
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- A herd of elephants of various ages
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- A journey of giraffes
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- A young male lion enjoying his latest kill
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- Two hippos cavorting
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- A large flock of vultures
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- A happy hippo with its pod in a green algae-covered stream
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- Two lions, mother and cub, with a recent kill – they seem to have driven two impalas into the muddy waters of a stream.
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- The mother lioness starting her feast
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- Wading through the muddy water to retrieve another animal
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- Another lioness with her kill
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- And another
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- Two male lions going at it with viciousness
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- Now the lioness seems to be getting an idea of what is happening.
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- The paw of a lion
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- This male lion is very busy with his new girlfriend. She appears quite submissive.
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- We never got a sighting of the African dog.
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