Wildcast

There were signs of a small group of elephant east of the airstrip so I was hopeful they’d be drinking at Simibiri towards sunset.

I was at the dam early and chilled out on the rocks near the water. I was sure the lions would still be hanging around their rotten carcass, and so enjoyed the late peaceful afternoon at the dam as light faded.
Unfortunately my peace wasn’t disturbed and no elephant arrived.

We joined the lions at their carcass after dark. One of the males was chewing on the rump and Manyari just watching. I really don’t know how they could be eating such rotten meat. Although they didn’t look too excited about it and half an hour later they’d moved away. Even this carcass was too rotten for them. Now that’s saying something! I’m sure if they’d been a lot hungrier they’d have made their way through the rotting tender meat. Well I presume it was tender. Must be with all those maggots writhing around as a heaving blanket in the stomach cavity.

The lion lay up in some thickets some ways from the carcass and spent most of the night there. AND I scored some sleep!
They were disturbed by a young elephant bull who briefly chased them around and later in the night some hyaenas came to shout their abuses at them but were sure to keep their distance. Male lions have a passionate hatred for hyaenas.
It was only as the dawn light came creeping in that the cats got on the move. They didn’t move very far and crossed the airstrip. Manyari was keen on hunting the impala but her cover was quickly blown by the big herd.

I left the lions resting south of the airstrip to go check on the giraffe carcass. The carcass had been moved a bit but there were no scavengers feeding and the vultures were in trees still waiting. That is usually a sure sign there are predators in the area. I searched and couldn’t find any, so why then were the vultures still waiting in the trees?