Saturday, Nov 5. Five companions went off for a balloon ride. [Their flight featured far more animals than mine. Jealous.] We were able to view their flight during our morning ride. Meanwhile, we encountered lions multiple times. The ENCOUNTER OF THE TRIP was with a family of four adults and an indeterminate number of cubs (4?). Precious! (I’m having such a hard time trimming the photos to a manageable number.) One lion, hiding in the tall grass, seemed to be checking out a herd of wildebeests, but it turn out that the lion was injured and actually hiding. The wildebeests caught wind (literally; they have poor eyesight) of her and chased her away. That’s when we noticed the limp. The other adults appeared to hustle the cubs away. The wildebeests actually seemed to be aggressively looking for the lions. One adult lion, with a monitor collar attached, climbed a tree, followed by one cub. More precious!

We saw several other lions. In the afternoon we visited a hippo convention in a pool of river water way too small for them. The floating mass of hippo manure was both disgusting and incredible. These hippos included some that were far larger than anyone expected.

Another hot day, but a fun one. Lunch included pasta with meat sauce that really hit the spot. Skipped dinner.