It wasn’t until the second to last night in Kenya that we had our first leopard sighting of the trip (although we would have two more on the final day). We were in the Masai Mara where you’re not allowed to drive off road and the leopard was quite a distance away. Several other vehicles were in the area, all trying to predict where she would make her move. We guessed right and were treated to a very close view as she passed about ten feet from our vehicle and then disappeared into the forest.

And now for a little old school technology. This little antelope is called a dik dik (I know, strange name) and figured I’d try an animated gif file to show how it constantly is moving its nose around. The flexible, trunk-like snout serves as a radiator to cool blood which flows through the nasal passages to the brain. This allows the dik-dik to be independent of surface water and to get its moisture from a leafy diet. Although you can’t really tell from this photo, dik diks are extremely small, one of the smallest antelopes on the planet, and when you see them running, they almost look like large rabbits.

Again, I repeat, there aren’t many things in nature much cuter than a cheetah cub. Here’s another one, this time letting out a big yawn/yelp while nuzzling up to its mother. I took this photo just before the sun went down in the Masai Mara in Kenya.

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.