Swimming lion
September 28, 2008
It is not often that you see a lion swimming across a river, especially the Luangwa which is stiff with crocodiles! This crazy lioness swam across to mate with one of the Mwamba males and then swam back again a few days later…
Content Copyright Patrick Bentley Photography
Vulture at sunrise
September 27, 2008
Content Copyright Patrick Bentley Photography
Ground Hornbill in flight.
September 23, 2008
These magnificent birds spent most of the day foraging for food on the ground and are often reluctant to take to flight. I startled this one as I drove past and managed to grab a few shots as it took briefly to the air.
Content Copyright Patrick Bentley Photography
A sad day..
September 19, 2008
I guess it is a mistake to get emotionally attached to the wild animals that I observe and photograph regularly as it can sometimes be heart breaking – as last night proved. A large male leopard entered the territory of the lovely female pictured in a previous post (Sept 14) and killed one of her cubs (the one with the muddy feet). I have been getting to know these cubs quite well over the last few weeks and this one was very playful and friendly. Her brother who is smaller and a lot shyer survived the attack. Here he is having a drink with his mother.
The reason the male killed the cub is because she is not his and this way he forces the female to come into oestrus so that he can then sire his own cubs with her. I just hope the mother can keep her remaining cub safe..
Content Copyright Patrick Bentley Photography
Feeding frenzy!
September 16, 2008
There have been a number of hippos deaths (8 so far) in a stretch of river near here over the last few days and the crocs have been gorging themselves – I counted over a hundred in the river and along the bank.
Content Copyright Patrick Bentley Photography
Leopard and cubs
September 14, 2008
I have been seeing this lovely female leopard and her two cubs fairly regularly over the last week. Most of the sightings have been at night or in very poor light so it was great to come across them in sunshine early this morning as they were crossing Fish eagle lagoon (now nearly dried up).
The mother is a very relaxed leopard and doesn’t mind being approached by the vehicle. The cubs are still quite shy though and were running from one bush to another and keeping their distance.
At one point she led them over a muddy patch of ground which she was able to jump over but the cubs had to walk through it covering their legs in mud.
Content Copyright Patrick Bentley Photography
Road block!
September 10, 2008
A couple of days ago the Mwamba pride killed a buffalo right on the main road to Mfuwe. They polished it off pretty quickly though before moving off to a nearby waterhole where they had a good drink and lay around digesting it for a full day.
Content Copyright Patrick Bentley Photography
