Robs Favorite Africa Pictures

African Fish Eagle flying by

Juvenile African Fish Eagle

Juvenile Fish Eagle

Immature Fish Eagle

African Fish Eagle

African Grass Owl are so timid it's hard to get a close frontal shot, they seem to be always flying away from me.

African Saddlebill Stork

African Spoonbill

African Wattled Lapwing

Baboon giving the kid a lift - one of my favorite baboon pictures

Baboon

Baboon uber - another favorite picture

Baboon

Bateleur Eagle

Black Faced Vervet Monkey

Blue Heron

Blue Heron sitting on a tree at our lunch site, Ngorongoro Crater

Heron, leaving our lunch spot

Blue Heron

Still flying

I don't take many photos that need explanation, but this was the first sighting of the Cheetah. Poking up from the mound in the center.

We really have his attention as we drive up. Afraid he's going to run away.

As we round the mound we see why he didn't run off. There are two of them and they have a fresh wildebeest kill

Rearranging the dinner table

Our guide told us these two are brothers and they split their time between Tanzania and Kenya

While they don't like us there, they tolerate us well. Time for silence, many tourists in safari trucks don't realize the importance of silence.

Ever on the alert, cheetah can have a kill taken away by a pack of hyenas. Cheetah will not fight hard, they can't afford to get injured since they have to run…

Are you still here?

Rearranging dinner again. Female cheetah live and hunt alone. Males team up to make hunting and defending territory easier. 70% of male pairs are siblings.

Messy eaters. There are roughly 1180 Cheetah in Tanzania. That would mean there are a little over 400 hunting pairs of brothers in the country.

Cheetah eat the meat, not the internal organs. The brothers sharing a leg

One full belly

Cheetah

Well fed, bet he couldn't run...

Cleaning up the evidence

Leaving the kill to the scavengers

Looking for a place to nap

Nap time!

Cheetah

Cheetah brothers

Finishing the cleanup. Notice his claws, Cheetah claws do not retract!

Finshed cleaning

Cheetah brothers

Cheetah the day after the kill. Cleaned up and looking noble once again

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Tanzania Crested Crane

Tanzania Crested Crane

The Crested Crane spends a lot of time rooting around in the grass looking for seeds

When the Crested Crane looks the other way, it's camouflaged as a dandelion

Tanzanian Crested Crane. Its feathers look like a painting.

Crested or Crowned Crane

Crested Crane - how can you take this bird seriously?

Crocodile

Crocodile. They open their mouth to cool themselves.

Crocodile

Crowned Lapwing

Namib Desert Sidewinder - with its sand covering gently blown away

Namib Desert Sidewinder can move up to 18mph but our guide assured us it would only slither past us.

Early morning light is great for sand dune pictures! Soussusvlei, Namibia

Dunes

Egyptian Geese

Eland

Only an Elephant gets dirtier taking a bath

Running in front of the elephant herd

Elephant herd, still running

Elephant Herd

Elephant herd, I think they are gaining

Fortunately they made a break for the watering hole. Bath time!

Elephants, Marabou Stork, and Wildebeest

Elephant

Elephant with baby

Elephant with nursing baby

Baby elephant

Elephant crossing ahead of us

Elephant

They eat the grass roots for nutrition, clean it by swishing so the don't eat dirt and wear their teeth down

Elephant

These two are scooping up sandy dirt to get minerals missing from their grass diet

Elephant with buffalo in the foreground

Elephant with cattle egrets

Elephant

Elephant swimming/wading to the island in the middle of the Chobe river

Elephant

And there is how deep the water is

Elephant

Swishing grass to clean it before eating. Incredibly noisy at night listening to this from bed

Elephant swishing

Elephant eating dry grass

Elephant and wildebeest everywhere! Serengeti

Elephant family with nursing calf

Elephant in the Serengeti

Flamingo

Web-Footed Gecko uses their webbed feet to dig in the sand. They spend daytime buried.

Web-Footed Geckos cannot close their eyes and are nocturnal.

Web-Footed Gecko don't surface during the day, their bodies are translucent and are susceptible to UV.

Web-Footed Gecko reburying himself

Giraffe

Female giraffe, the top of the male's horns are bald

Giraffe

Giraffe, notice the oxpecker between its horns

Giraffe

This giraffe's back left leg had been caught in a snare. The rangers darted her a few days before and provided medical care, waiting for it to heal. It's a race…

She wasn't putting any weight on that hind leg. Since the wildebeest migration was currently in the northern Serengeti, plentiful prey animals will probably…

Pretty girl!

Blending in

Grants Gazelle - wicked horns

Grants Gazelle

Great Egret

Grey Heron

Hippos

Trying to have an evening break alongside the Hippo pond

I don't like how they are looking at us

Let's put the truck between us and the pond

Hippo

Hippo hiding?

Hippo

Showing displeasure at our presence

Hippo

Hippos are vegetarian so the hyena is mostly safe, the hippos are too big for the hyena to attack

Hippos sleeping through midday

Not all of them were sleeping on the grass

Mom swimming with baby

They are so big with huge teeth, it's easy to forget they are herbivores!

Spotted Hyena

Spotted hyena

Spotted hyena watching the world go by

Spotted Hyena

Impala. Looks like extensions, shadow, and a little color around the nose.

Impala

Impala - the black stripes on hind-quarters and tail are the easiest way to identify an impala

Male impala, almost as pretty as the female

Impala

Impala herd

Impala kill in tree

Impala kill in tree

Golden Jackal

Golden Jackal

Jackal

Jackal at a watering hole

Wandering through our after-climb picnic.

Jackal looking for breakfast

Kori Bustard. They let us get closer in the crater than other places.

Kori Bustard - largest bird capable of flight

Kori Bustard

Kudu - Female

Kudu

Kudu in the sage bushes

Leopard

Do not really want a Leopard looking at me like this.

Sweet kitty

Leopard

The closer we got, the higher she climbed so we decided to look at another leopard in a tree

Male Leopard

Male Leopard. Must be more comfortable than it looks

Male Leopard

Male Leopard. Our guide said males will not straddle a branch with their back legs, this one is pretty close!

We went back to the female we found first, she still wasn't interested in us parking under her tree.

Lilacbreastedroller AF01 0901a Serengeti

Lilac Breated Roller - Last game drive on the way to the airport! Never turn down a game drive

Lilac Breasted Roller

This older male lion was skin and bones. The porcupine quill in his chest is indicative of declining hunting skills.

Lioness

Lion family group

Lioness and cub

Lioness. Given her position out front, probably the matriarch

Lioness, big yawn!

Lioness

Lion family protrait. They requested the water foreground

Lion cub

Lion babies are cute

Curious juvenile

Lioness

Lionesses off to hunt

Lioness

A couple of juveniles

Young lion

Male Lion

Lions - they are either hungry or sleeping it off.

Lions - This female had a wound, probably from prey. A buffalo, perhaps?

Lioness

Male lion

Juvenile

Cranky male with a mate and cub.

Dad, not a pretty smile

Lion - Dad, you should definitely see a dentist!

Juvenile

Male lion

Lion

This lioness was easy to spot against the black burn she was laying on. Before we showed up she was watching the wildebeest wander by.

Pretty girl

Lioness

Thats a yawn, not a growl

Lioness

Lioness, early morning light

Malachite Kingfisher

Marabou Stork

Marabou Stork hang out with vultures

Oryx, lethal looking horns.

Oryx

There is definitely a pecking order at the watering holes.

Ostrich

Male Ostrich

The Ostrich got up to chase the hyena. No one trusts hyenas

Male ostrich turn pink to attract females during mating season

Male and Female painted reed frog

Pied Kingfisher

Pied Kingfisher hovering

Pied Kingfisher

Red Lechewe

Red Lechewe with baby

Red Lechewe

Red Lechewe males having a little power struggle

Red Lechewe

Red Lechewe are the prettiest antelope

Rhino. You could almost hear the slow, thundering foot steps

Rhino really mess up pecking order of the watering holes. They even boot elephants out!

Rhino

Rhino view you do not want if you are on foot.

The rhino made the zebras nervous

Rhino

Rhino picture photo-bombed by two rambunctious Zebra. Guess they weren't that nervous

Moremi Crossing river

Sable Antelope

Vultures, Storks, and other birds scavenging a wildebeest's remains

The tall birds are Marabou Storks

Secretary Bird, or Ground Eagle

Secretary Bird hunting. They catch rodents and snakes.

Secretary Bird, also called a Ground Eagle. Hunts small mammals and snakes.

They've been the "best" for several years but only because they market to customers. My third favorite spot!

SouthernGroundHornbill D810 7496a Okavango

Southern Ground Hornbill - endangered

Southern Ground Hornbill

Spring Bok

Superb Starling

'Superb Starling'

Steenbok - smallest antelope, solitary

Serengeti Sunrise. Balloons in Kenya

Moremi Crossing sunset break. Drive back in the dark!

Sunset on the Okavango Delta

Chobe River Sunset

RraDinare Okavango Sunset

Ngorongoro Crater Sunset from the dinner table

Sunset on the Serengeti

Serengeti sunset

Fighting Thomsons Gazelles

Thomsons Gazelle

Thomsons Gazelle getting some serious air

What goes up must come down. Thomsons Gazelle.

Fighting Thomsons gazelles

Topi

This is the Vervet Monkey that mugged Teresa for her biscuit - it was a pretty impressive vertical jump!

Vervet Monkey - I was laying on the dirt getting these monkey photos

Vervet Monkey lokking cute

Vultures sent our guide scrambling for what attracted them

African White-backed Vulture - some enter with much drama to intimidate the other birds

For a while everyone will settle down and just eat

Until another fight breaks out. African White-backed Vulture spreading its wings to intimidate

These two were so serious they forgot about the carcass, leaving it to the other birds.

African White-backed Vulture

African White-backed Vulture

Warthogs

Warthog, king of the jungle surveying his domain!

Warthog with impressive whiskers.

Waterbuck

Female Waterbuck

Waterbuck

Juvenile waterbuck

Waterbuck

Female Waterbuck

Waterbuck

Water Buffalo. This herd stopped dead at about 20 meters, as soon as they became aware of our truck

Waterbuffalo and elephant

Waterbuffalo

Waterbuffalo and an oxpecker

Waterbuffalo playing

Waterbuffalo and egret

Water buffalo -when the horns meet in the middle it is a male, when there is a space, it is a female. The one in the center looking at us is a female.