Antelope

One of the many deer like animals we encountered.

Female Antelope

Same herd of antelope. These are the female.

Baboons

Typical of Africa...Baboons are found everywhere.

Baboon

Another of the pesky creatures.

Baboon

Yet another Baboon.

Baboons in tree

Baboons in the tree. This usually means that lions are present.

Bashi and Saviour

These two were our Rangers/Trackers. Bashi was the senior of the two. He drove and manned the rifle. Saviour was responsible for tracking the animals.

Black Mane Lion

We kind of startled each other. This beast was hiding in a small grove of trees and emerged when we got to close to the Wildebeest he had just killed.

Black Mane Lion

This is a close up of the lion.

Eagle

One of the many eagles we observed.

Elan

These creatures are the largest species of antelope in the world.

Elephants

Mashatu is home to the largest elephant population in Southern Africa. There will be several photos of elephants.

Digging for Water

We were in Botswana during their drought season. The elephants were pretty resouceful. They would go to the Shashi River and dig in the bed with thier feet and tusks to reach water.

Elephant

Close up of one of the matriarchs.

Show Off

In a display of dominance, this elephant is kicking up some dust to show us who the boss is.

Mother and Baby

Close up of mother elephant with her young one.

Another show off

This elephant was rather disturbed at our presence. She kind of forced us to relocate.

Show Off

Same elephant. Throwing up dirt with her trunk.

Herd

Herd of elephants converging of the river bed. We were ultimately surrounded by about 50 elephants.

Curious

Young elephant venturing closer to our vehicle.

Getting Around

We were driven in old Toyota Land Cruisers. Much of our getting around was done in the dry river beds. This is a group of Japanese climbing down a river bank.

Giraffe

Mashatu is home to a small giraffe population.

Another Giraffe

Close up of a giraffe.

Hyena

We stumbled upon a pack of hyenas destroying an ostrich carcass. Smelly beasts. We were amazed at how close were able to get. In Kenya, they kept their distance.

Hyena

Another member of the pack.

Hyena

Yet another member of the fragrant hyenas.

Impala

Rather large Impala.

Jackel

Jackel devouring a rabbit it had caught.

Leopard

Mother leopard in the trees by the river.

Leopard Cub

Leopard perched high in a tree. Waiting for its mother which was hunting.

Lions

Mashatu is home to a rather large lion population. This den was relaxing in a grove of trees.

Same Den

Same den of lions. They have finished their morning hunt and will now sleep the warm part of the day away.

Same Den

Close up of a couple of the lions.

Grandmother

This is the grandmother of the den we were tracking. Blood is evident on her chin as they had just finished devouring a Wildebeest.

Lunch

This is the Grandmother trying to drag the carcass of a Wildebest with her.

Keeping clean

Young lion groom himself.

Cubs

Cubs tracking turtles in the river bed.

Our Friend

One of our favorite shots.

A little Snarl

Making his presence know with a growl.

Lazy boys

One of my favorites

Roar

Female lion. This shot was taken at night on our first evening drive.

Ill Lion

This little guy was a sick lion. He was not expected to survive.

Monkies

These monkies pretty much stayed around our camp. They were known for stealing food and breaking dishes.

Ostriches

Ostriches on the run.

Sundown

One of the spectacular Mashatu Sundowns.

Sundown

Another shot of a sundown. Saviour can be seen on the top of the rock croppng.

Warthog

Baby warthog.

Warthog

Mother warthog

Wildebeest

Preferred meal of the lions.

WIldebeest

More Wildebeest.

Zebra

Large herd of zebra.