The following morning yielded the less usual sight of an African sunrise (rather than sunset) (). The game drive that followed allowed us to make an excellent comparison of the red-billed (), below, and yellow-billed (), below, hornbills. A further bird species observed was the rather larger-sized Goliath Heron (), opposite.

     

A further interesting comparison is between the Doum Palm (), below left, and Baobab Trees (), below right.

     

Continuing with our game drive we saw a marabou stork, high up in a tree (), got close up to a grazing buffalo (), had a confrontation with a slightly irate elephant (), below, and saw a further specimen of the rare gerenuk antelope (), below.

     

On stopping for brunch in a shaded grove of trees (), we were joined by a Kenya Wildlife Service vehicle, who were carrying a film crew, who then proceeded to film us for a promotional documentary that they were making. Fame at last!

After lunch we finally came up with the one major species that had until now been in somewhat short supply - lions! We first of all overtook a young male striding along by the side of the road (), who eventually led us to the full pride, three magnificent (female) specimens of which are shown below (), (), and opposite ().

     

More bird sightings then ensued, a Ruppell's Griffon Vulture (), below, together with a Tawny Eagle (), below, and a readily identifiable Hammerkop () opposite.

[Incidentally, we are not birding experts in any way, and have relied on our guides' identification of these various somewhat uncommon species - please let us know if we've got any of them wrong].

     

On our return to Elsa's kopje, we crossed over an interesting looking suspended bridge () to view their 'family house', situated in a further part of the lodge. This was even more finely furnished (), below, with its own private pool (), below.

     

On our final late afternoon game drive we observed a giraffe growing out of a bush (), a further elephant (), and a white rhino (), below. We also reckoned that we saw a specimen of the much more elusive black rhino, but too far away to photograph successfully.

     

That evening a full eclipse of the moon was due, although it turned out to be somewhat obscured by cloud (). Although I was able to observe the first stages of the eclipse () from my terrace, the sound of a leopard prowling around just below made me decide to call it a night!

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