Since we’ve already had phenomenal success with leopards and lions, it is time to try and beat the odds by finding the singular cheetah that has been seen in the park. We head south into the Savuti marshes. The scenery changes dramatically from sand and scrubby dry bushes, to flat planes of golden grass, surrounded by patches of trees, and speckled with small termite mounds. We spend the morning traversing around most of the area, Isaac and another guide both spot a cheetah footprint in the road, so there is definitely one around, but so many places for them to hide. No luck this morning. Still, in addition to a change in scenery, we get some good spots including a number of firsts for Tom and Angela. Some of the highlights were:

• Warthogs
• Male and female Ostriches
• Tawny Eagle
• Marshal Eagle
• Bateleur
• Crimson-breasted shrike
• Magpie shrike
• Whitefaced weaver
• Tsessebe
• Kudu

There is also only one zebra left in the area until more migrate in later this year, after the others have been eaten by lions. So on the way back to the lodge it was funny to have Isaac racing to see it, when in lots of other places there are so many zebras they are just part of the background.

The afternoon drive started off very hot. Not a lot of animals out in this heat. Isaac took the opportunity to stop by some elephants seeking shelter in the shade and explain a bit about their physiology, such as that they bat their ears the vent heat from their body, perhaps as much as 4% per flap. We then traversed out northwest of the lodge to an old hyena den. It was recently abandoned due to multiple lions raids, but worth a check. On the way back we stop at a fairly intact elephant skull. We climb out and Isaac picks it up and proceeds to explain all the parts of the skull anatomy. Pretty cool.

On the way back to look at the lions, a guaranteed attraction. We stop to admire some of the lesser creatures including a pair of yellow mongooses, two ostriches, and some giraffes. At the lion site we ended up counting 13 total, 3 large males, spread out sleeping in the shade of 5 different acacia bushes. Periodically one of them would sit up, yawn, and perhaps move to a different bush, but otherwise it is still too hot and early for them to be getting moving. We still get some pretty good photos in the golden light.

Isaac’s big goal for tonight is to serve us sundowners by the watering hole with animals in the background. We stayed a bit long at the lions, so he drives a bit fast, and we arrive just on time and in addition to a small herd of elephants, there are three giraffes as well which are a bit more striking in the sunset. No opportunity to get our of the truck here, but sundowners in the truck with the unbeatable view is perfect.

Tomorrow we flight out at 10am to our next lodge in Moremi. We will have time for most of a morning drive before hand.