September 13, 2016
Lion, Cheetah, and Elephants in Mountain Zebra National Park and Addo Elephant National Park, South Africa

I've completed my visits to Mountain Zebra National Park and Addo Elephant National Park and they were different than usual. I spent three nights in Mountain Zebra National Park and it was extremely dry. The vegetation was sparse and it was dusty. The wildlife was mostly busy grazing, and animals with their heads down aren't very interesting to photograph. I did, however, see lions in the park for the first time. Lions (Panthera leo) were reintroduced in April 2013 and I didn't see them on my visit in March 2015. I saw all three of them on my last morning in the park, and this male was very close to the road when I came upon them. By the time I got into position to photograph him, he was moving off. He has a very impressive main that extends down his back and chest and even to his elbows.

Then I spent three nights in Addo Elephant National Park, and shooting was slow there too. It didn't help that it rained almost all day on my first full day there. On my second full day, I saw Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) in the park for the first time, and it was three brothers (?) right by the road. Later, I watched them unsuccessfully chase a young Greater Kudu.

Addo Elephant National Park was founded in 1931 to provide a sanctuary for the remaining eleven elephants in the area. Today, the park has more than 600 elephants, so it's usually easy to make good images of them. Here, two African Elephant (Loxodonta africana) are embracing.