Ghost of Goldwater: Day 6: Cubs! We have cubs!

The next morning, I was in the first group of cars out the gate at 6. I immediately set course for Nsemani, but it was deathly quiet so instead I drove north to Girivana on the faint hope that the lioness and the three cubs I was promised yesterday had finally made an appearance. As I turned left down to the waterhole, I saw a jackal (another first!) and my heart actually sank, because I wouldn't think it would be there if the lions were there also. At the parking lot before the actual dam, I saw one other car parked and my heart sank further.

And then I saw them.

Just as I was about to hit the gas and pass the parked car, my eyes focused on four shapes to the left of me, that I might otherwise have taken for stones or just some immovable objects in the background. But I saw and behold; a lioness and three cubs. The one nearest to me looked bigger so he might have been a year old, but the two other ones must have been born this year.

I barely got a pic of the jackal.

The two tiny ones.

Slightly larger cub & mom.

I turned the car around, so I was facing the other guy. Then I fired up the ole 600mm and let her rip. Additionally, I shot a couple pics and a short movie with my phone. As is my personal curse, my camera battery chose that moment to blink out, but I had two spare ones ready and expertly slipped one in and continued firing away.

Video.

On the prowl.

Eyes reflecting.

He soon settled down.

Sho, sho cute.

Ish tired. This is currently my cover pic on Facebook.

I apologize, but at this point, my brain was turned to mush and my finger just pressed down on the release button and I took a gazillion pics of the babies.

Cuz dey be sho cute.

A mere five minutes later, the idyll was broken, when some guy with what I like to think was a very noisy engine approached and suddenly they'd had enough. One of the kids ran up to mom and she got up and then they all slowly ambled into the grass and disappeared. It didn't last long, but by Jove it was pure magic.

Here, he's had enough.

Look at that faaaaaaaaaaaace!

Beauty and cuteness combined.

Getting the hell outta Dodge.

Last pic.

Still in a daze, I drove back to the road to Orpen, and then back towards Skukuza. A couple of clicks down the road, I came upon the same bunch of jolly baboons I had photographed last year. I took some shots, but my heart wasn't really in it even though they were very droll and humanlike and all that.

Mom with baby.

A little later down the road, I passed an old bull with one and a half trunk and what I can only describe as the beginnings of a fifth leg. Talk about penis envy… Then followed a long succession of waterholes with tons of impala, wildebeest and zebra plus the occasional cape buffalo, giraffe and ellie.

Fifth leg.

I dutifully dropped in to check on the southernmost Baobab tree in the world, and it was still there.

I lunched at Tshokwane, where I devoured what I think is a South African specialty, a kind of baked bread thingy filled with anything your heart should desire. This one had honey glazed chicken and some pineapple chunks thrown in for good measure. I believe it's called a jaffle and it was very good. Thumbs up for creativity, South Africa!

After lunch, I went up to take the gravel loop road to Orpen dam. At a dry riverbed, I happened upon yet another group of baboons. This time, a small band of youngsters were digging down into the sand to get at water. Their little butts were sticking up as most of their bodies were down in the hole and they were chattering and squabbling amongst themselves. I stopped and got some good pics, but mostly I just sat there and enjoyed the slapstick show.

Their numbers varied; sometimes there was only one guy there, other times half a dozen.

I find these animals hilarious.

Looking at these pics weeks later, I still chuckle.

Eheheheheheheeeeee.

Delousing in the shade.

Pondering life.

This one guy was at it more or less all the time.

With some funny facial expressions along the way.

With his little butt in the air.

At Orpen, the water was almost completely overgrown with vegetation. A hippo and her baby were swimming out on the lake and she looked mostly like a camouflaged crocodile; very amusing. I also got to talk to an Afrikaaner couple from the Free State. Their English was surprisingly weak, but I guess if you're about my age or a little younger, you never had much need for it; Afrikaans ruled the land. Anyways, they were very nice people and he got to look through my awesome, beautiful, lovely, sleek, adorable, sexy … uh, where was I? Yes, he got to look through my lens and pronounced it good. We also watched an ellie climb up the hill and some waterbucks walking v-e-r-y slowly and carefully into the water to drink.

It's a hippo, not a croc.

Real crocs watching the proceedings from the shore. They look largely unimpressed.

Ms. Hippo w/baby coming up out of the water.

Video from Orpen Dam.

Close up of the waterbucks.

V-e-r-y careful.

At this point I was struggling with the cuteness of the little furballs vs wanting footage of a crocodile attack.

After Orpen, I went down to Skukuza. I drove through several herds of ellies, but only took a couple of pics, mostly of the babies. Then I decided to leave early for my hotel in Hazyview and exited the park with almost three hours of the day to spare. Still, I had seen and felt more than I can do in a whole month in effin' Norway.

I thought the branch looked slightly like a skeleton hand.