East Africa Safari – episode 3 – “H” day….hyenas, hunting and hippos

The day after the lion incident we again left our beautiful bungalow at the Kyambura game lodge where we were staying and got an early start in the Queen Elizabeth park.

Home above the Rift valley

We checked where the lions were the night before but no one was home.  We did however, notice many kob getting agitated and running from something.   Looking closer, we spotted numerous Hyena  at the edges of the kob herd.  We watched for quite a while as the hyena kept running with the herd in an attempt to wear down some of the younger, weaker animals.  This first photo shows one of the hyena closing in on the herd.

Morning Danger closing in….

We saw many other animals that morning but we also had our first extended encounter with a lion.  As we were driving we spotted a single lion sitting up in a field at the top of a hill.  Within a minute or two we saw another lion in the same place but the original cat started toward the road we were on.   We positioned ourselves to get a good view as she passed by and then retired in the shadows of a nearby thicket.

Lion crossing….

As we were exiting the park from the morning drive, we also ran across two herds of elephants so Katherine was once again very happy.

Elephants everywhere we looked

In the afternoon we took a cruise on the Kazinga channel where there were Hippopotamus, Cape Buffalo, Elephants, and innumerable species of african birds.  It was a great afternoon with new sights around every turn on the channel.

Submerged Hippo