Lilac breasted rollers are pretty common throughout much of Africa. Unlike a lot of birds, both males and females look pretty much the same — very colorful. This one was in the Linyanti Swamp area of northern Botswana.

Here’s another one taken at the end of the day in the central Kalahari Desert of Botswana. This ostrich was running across the desert pan as the much smaller guinea fowl scattered. Always nice to get rim lighting on a subject with such a distinctive shape.

The way I see it, you can never get enough meerkats — so here’s yet another post. It was late in the day and the rest of the clan had already disappeared into their burrows for the night. These two were among the last hold outs, hanging strong until the last of the sun’s rays had vanished. And yes, a group of meerkats is called a clan. It can also be called a mob or a gang.

Another of the honey badgers that I saw in the Central Kalahari of Botswana. These guys have very few natural predators due to their ferocious attitudes and unusually thick skin. It’s literally thick — and extremely loose — enabling them to escape the grip of much larger predators. If a predator does get a grip, the honey badger is able to turn around inside the skin and fight back.

… At least it looks like he might be taking a leak. Another of the very charismatic meerkats from the Makgadikgadi Pan of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana.

I know, two posts in a row with no discernable animals, but I promise you, there were plenty of hippos in this swamp. The photo was taken first thing in the morning right outside of my tent in the Linyanti swamp area of northern Botswana

Not much gets left behind in the Kalahari after the lions, hyena, jackals, vultures and all the rest take their share of the feast.

Here’s another of the African wild dogs that I saw in the Linyanti Swamp area of Botswana. There were probably 12 or so dogs in the pack. They all have the painted spots on their coats and very large ears. Like most members of the dog family, they pursue their prey in a long open chase. 80% of the time, the hunt ends in a kill (compared to only about 30% for lions).

Most of the black-backed jackals that I saw in Botswana ran away as soon as I approached, but this one was much less wary and much more curious. I came across him several times and each time he cautiously approached, stopping to sniff the air every now and again before coming closer. I was able to get out of the safari vehicle and down on the ground to get nice eye level portraits. This photo was taken first thing in the morning as the sun was just beginning to rise.

We were on our way to go visit the meerkats one morning in the Makgadikgadi Pan area of the Kalahari Desert when we came across this baby steenbok blocking the road. From the photo, it’s tough to get a sense of scale, but this guy was tiny. Not much bigger than the average housecat. We couldn’t see the mother, but she was most likely hiding in the bushes somewhere nearby.