Lions and Elephants and Bears, ohh my! (oh wait no bears)

So, I have been slacking off on the blog thing, but i want to keep everyone updated on what I have been doing .I originally planned on giving each animal its own blog post, but there are too many animals and pictures. This post encompasses all the cool animals into one. The Mighty Lion, and the fatty ooliphant (afrikaans for elephant). This male lion was from the western pride (there is three prides of lions on the game preserve). When we pulled up he was snuggling with one of the females from the southern pride. A sign, perhaps, that he might be moving in on Grumpys(the Alpha Male of the southern pride) territory. Grumpy is quite old and it is only a matter of time before another male kills him and assumes control of the pride. The female also pictured above was uncomfortable in our presence and left to hide in an adjacent bush when we pulled up.

We spent the whole day tracking down this group of elephants hoping to get a good view . They mainly kept their distance, grazing on the succulent newly sprung foliage and knocking down trees and eating entire branches the size of baseball bats. We waited on the other side of the clearing and were rewarded when they came through into the open and passed 30 yards away from us. Elephants are always a special sight. The elephant pictured at the top was on his own in the open on a seperate day. He was just cruising through the plains, we pulled up 15 yards behind him and watched him graze. He paid us no mind. Ahhhh, the life of an elephant, nothing bothers you, even noisy tourists!