A lion cub relaxes in the shade with 10 other cubs and two lionesses. The cubs were in dire need of a good meal. Most cubs don't survive their first year. But hope springs eternal in Kruger National Park. Here are my fav pics from my January visit.
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A tiny lesser bushbaby sits on its front porch as the sun sets over the Malelane Rest Camp. A camp worker pointed out the little primate's home for me. Later, the bushbaby visited my campsite. Its enormous nocturnal eyes were just a flash of gold in my headlamp like fireworks streaking across the treetops.
Cape buffalo converged on a park road and I was suddenly in the midst of the herd. I took the chance to get a portrait of this big bull. Those horns look sharp!
Virtually every river in Kruger harbors crocodiles. And summer flooding allowed them to venture even farther upstream.
I thought these two dung beetles were fighting over this ball of elephant poop, but I read the male and female work together to get their meal on wheels back to the hole they dug to lay their eggs.
Kruger is home to more than 500 species of birds. I didn't see many new ones this trip, but it was nice photographing this beautiful Carmine bee-eater. And I saw some interesting behavior. Birds routinely follow grazers like zebras and buffalo in the hopes they will scare up an easy insect meal. But I saw this bird following another bird, a kori bustard, that was hunting the grasslands on foot.
January is a tough time for wildlife photography in Kruger. It's so hot that the animals disappear after 10 a.m. And the grass and vegetation is so thick, it's hard to see much of anything. I could barely get a glimpse of this lion on the Lower Sabie River.
A little troublemaking hyena is adorable even if he did try to bite my rental's tires. Hey, cut it out.
A lioness watches the sun rise over the grasslands of Satara in the heart of lion country. Scenes like this are why you come to Kruger.
Painted dogs are nearly fully grown but they are still puppies at heart. So when one found a stick to play with, the other littermates couldn't resist joining in.
Even a lion's yawn looks menacing. I was in the park five days before I saw my first lion. A couple subsequent encounters made up for it. I saw lions on about eight occasions over 14 days, which is underwhelming for Kruger. But the excessive heat and thick cover made it harder to find them on this trip.
A baby vervet mimics its mom by pretending to eat leaves. The baby is still too young for solid food. I made the mistake of leaving my windows down in the parking lot at Berg-en-Dal and had to chase away a couple impertinent monkeys who tried to raid the car. The impatient monkeys could have nabbed all of the groceries in the back seat if they had waited until I was distracted. Too bold!
Zebra stallions fight outside Crocodile Bridge. The young zebras chased each other across a meadow before engaging in a wrestling match that was mostly for fun. But it was amazing to see a zebra rear up! I was lucky to photograph a lot of zebras on this trip. I never get tired of them.
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