Day 2 - Ruaha

What an amazing nights sleep, until we woke up at about 1230 to use the bathroom, then Andre fell right back to sleep.  I was awake reading for a bit when I heard something rubbing against the outside of the tent where the bathroom is and munching on grass, glad I didn’t need to go to the bathroom again.  We met Ron and Nancy at 615 to get started for the day. Ron saw a giraffe outside their tent in the middle of the night and contemplated whether he would be more in trouble waking Nancy up to see it, or not waking her up to see it. …

On the road at 630.  It is a gorgeous morning, everyone is wearing a long sleeved shirt or jacket, I am toughing it out because I know what is coming later as far as the heat goes.

So many helmeted Guineafowl about this morning

Hadada and Glossy Ibis

Bat eared fox, lucky to see this pair hidden under a bush

Brown parrot

Magpie Shrike

Ruaha Endemic. Ruahensis

Social weaver nests, update, not a social weavers nest lol, no idea what next it is

Lilac breasted roller

Fun to see an ostrich, little did we know how rare they are in the south, this is one of only 2 we saw the entire time

Just love their tails

We had our bush breakfast by a beautiful old baobab tree that was hollow in the middle.  We are told that these trees have actually been used as homes.  Ron climbs into the tree, amazing how far down it has been dug out.  We also see signs of where there are posts stuck into the tree up high for gathering honey.   Toast, sausages, boiled eggs, watermelon and tea and coffee are on the menu for breakfast.  .  It was nice to get out of the jeep for a bit to stretch as by now we had already been out on the road for over 2 hours.

Ron inside the baobab tree, he is not on his knees!

Baobab tree flowers

Bush breakfast prep

And breakfast is served

Turns out to be an absolutely fantastic day.  We see 2 leopards, one up in a tree, and one on the ground, both sleeping, but they both cooperated and did have a little look around a couple of times.  We also saw one lion walking around looking for some dinner, another sleeping, and about 12 more near an elephant that they had been eating.  These lions were all sleeping soundly and quite hidden by the bushes with full bellies. 

Getting the elephant dung smoking before we start off again after breakfast

Gorgeous landscape

Always looking for something interesting to tell us about, plus we had a guide in training in the back seat



Dry Rivers

Elephants have been busy at this tree

The only time we saw 4 jeeps at the same place the entire 2 weeks. Back at camp people were complaining how busy it was because of this, we told them not to go north!

This is what the traffic jam was about, can you spot it?

Superb Starling

Ashy Starling

Love the candelabra trees here too

Lion crossing

Broad billed roller



Slate-coloured Boubou

Cape Buffalo

Sleeping lions with very full bellies

Sausage tree



road markers in park

So many elephants today

Starting to see babies

Forest of baobab trees

fork tailed drongo

A little blurry, but had to put in his great mustache

speckled mousebird

Banded Mongoose

Wrestling fun

Did I win?

2nd leopard sighting today

How to zoom in when you only have a smartphone for camera.  We explained this to our guides at out last camp, they are trying it out there now too



Grey Capped Social Weaver with Nest

Yelow-collared lovebird



Amazing how they can eat around those thorns

Monitor Lizard

Bath time

Lunch was cold salads again which we had in a little picnic area.  Not too much action as far as animal sightings at either break, but it did feel so nice to stretch our legs. 

A city of baobab trees

Time for lunch set up now

Back at camp and we are very hot and tired.  Stopped for a beer before making our way to our tents to get cleaned up.  There is beer in the jeep, but it is not at all cold, so we have left that alone up to now.  There is a beautiful Agama lizard by where we have our beer, so colourful.  Back to tents for a shower and Andre realizes he left his glasses in the jeep, so off he goes to get these back.  I get in the shower only to see a hornbill right on the tree outside, great!  I have a quick shower then head outside and an Agama lizard is running around and I’m afraid it will get into the tent.  They are really cute and pretty, but not for our tent.  I have filled our little birdbath outside the tent again and am working on the blog update. Andre is back, showered and now snoring in the reclining chair on the deck beside me.  It is clouding over again, we may be in for some more rain.  Good for the animals, I’m not sure how good it will be for us for our safari tomorrow. 

Bar back at camp

Agama lizard

Nice supper tonight again, started off kind of funny with garlic toast with salad on top.  Next 2 kinds of lasagna and beets are for the main, then a banana pie for dessert.  A few new couples in camp, a young couple on their honeymoon that have spent a few days in Selous at the same camp we will be staying at, they were very excited about their time spent there so now we are even looking more forward to the adventures ahead.