Shenton Safaris - Photographic Newsletter

August 2005 Issue

August was a month of elephants, lions and, of course, our wedding - there are some wedding pics at the end of this newsletter as requested by all who've been to camp this year. For everyone else there are loads of lovely animal pics to keep you entertained.

Just near the mouth of the Kaingo ebony grove the Mwamba pride took down a buffalo in the middle of the day. His bellowing alerted us to the attack and we rounded everyone up and rushed into the area. The buffalo was dead by the time we arrived and one of the Mwamba males demonstrated his power by turning the huge carcass over using only his teeth.

As our car pulled in the cubs eyed us curiously and first, one, then two then another two approached the car and flopped down in the shade about five metres away from us.

Once the male lion had the kill safely turned into the shade of the thickets one of the cubs moved in to try and feed on the softer areas around the face.

Buffalo skin is very strong, in spite of chewing for some time he made very little impact on the carcass and moved down to the rear end.

On another afternoon towards the end of August we came upon the same pride sleeping in the thickets. One of the five cubs awoke, stretched and moved over to join his father.

Also towards the end of August we had yet another hippo kill, conveniently placed near the river bank. When we first arrived the hippo carcass was surrounded by other hippos with a baby hippo right next to it.