When I noticed that this ground hornbill had a frog in its beak, I immediately started snapping away, hoping to get a decent portrait or two. It wasn’t until I looked at the photos later that I realized the hornbill actually had two frogs in its beak. Oddly enough, it seemed to be saving the frogs for desert, placing them down every time it came across a beetle — then tossing the beetle in the air and down its gullet before picking the frogs back up and moving on. Most likely it was saving the frogs for chicks back at a nest.

One of the main reasons I chose to visit Kenya during the short rainy season was because of dramatic skies like this. During the dry season, not only are the conditions much more brown and dusty, but the skies are — for the most part — cloudless. On this particular afternoon in the Laikipia region of the country, the sky suddenly got very dark as storm clouds rolled in, but the sun was still out, creating great light for landscape photos.

This lioness seemed to be deliberately messing with two jackals that wanted in on her wildebeest kill. She just wouldn’t give it up, eating every bit of fur and bone possible. The jackals tried their best to annoy her as they continued to circle, yapping away and even nipping at the lion’s tail. The lion was having none of it, refusing to be bothered. Eventually, the ordinarily patient jackals took off, probably convinced that there was nothing left to eat. As soon as they were gone, the lion got up and walked away, leaving what little was left of the kill to the vultures. I’m off for the next week and think that this might be the last post of the year. If so, happy holidays, and stay tuned for more from Kenya in a week or so.

November is springtime in the Masai Mara and it seemed like every hoofed creature in the park had just given birth. Mother an calf pairs of topi, in particular, were all over the place. This was at sunrise one morning when silhouette shots were possible in every direction.

Bush babies are one of the world’s smallest primates. Also known as galagos, they are fairly widespread in Africa but rarely seen because they are strictly nocturnal. We saw this guy on our way back to camp on a late game drive in the Laikipia region of Kenya. We searched for quite a while with our spotlight before finally finding him/her. Credit goes to Karen for her work with my remotely triggered flash equipment, ensuring that the bush baby’s eyes were photographed without any red eye.

I took quite a few shots of zebras fighting. These two guys were going at it in a place called Laikipia. I always liked the human-looking teeth of zebras, as if they’re wearing a set of those fake chompers.

These vultures sat patiently, waiting for a lioness to finish eating a wildebeest kill. Two jackals were also on hand, but didn’t quite have the stamina of the vultures and split early, missing out on the feast. Left on their own, the vultures attacked with a vengeance, and within a couple of minutes the bones of the wildebeest were virtually dry.

We saw lion cubs at each of the four camps that we visited. This photo was taken at the last camp, just north of the Masai Mara. Only about a month old, this little guy was very curious as to what we were all about.

This is Notch. He’s one of the best known lions in the Masai Mara because he controls an enormous territory. He’s been the alpha male of his pride for a long time, thanks in large part to all his sons who protect him from any challengers. He’s also well known for his ongoing role in the BBC nature series “Big Cat Diary,” which chronicles the lives of cats within the Mara. It was quite a majestic sight to see him walking across the savannah, barely looking at us as he passed a mere foot or so in front of our vehicle. His advanced age of 14 years is evident in the impressive black and gold mane.

The short rains occur in Kenya from October through the beginning of December. To me, this is the perfect time to visit. As mentioned in a previous post, the landscape is lush with green vegetation, the skies are filled with dramatic clouds and the occasional rain showers provide interesting opportunities to photograph the wildlife. This is an olive baboon in the Laikipia area of the Ol Pejeta Conservancy. I spent about an hour photographing a large troop of these guys and captured quite a few similar water shake offs.