Serengeti Day I Part II - Baboons, Maasai Pride and Cheetah

As we leave the visitors centre after breakfast, the first animals we come across is a small troop of Olive Baboons, including a tiny little baby less than a week old.

As we watch the inquisitive youngster play, and then tumble down the slope to the road below while his concerned parents look on in 'horror', I can see so many similarities to humans with their offspring.

Including the telling off the baby gets when he is back up at the top and joins his family again.

Dad makes sure the youngster stays close and then takes him away from the dangerous slope.

We move away too, and continue driving until one of the other safari vehicles calls us over to point out 14 lions sleeping under a tree.

These lions are too lazy to do anything this morning, the only action we see is the occasional head being lifted and quickly laid down again.

We let sleeping lions be, leaving them to their morning siesta while we continue our safari.

The Serengeti is dotted with rocky outcrops such as these, referred to locally as kopjes. This particular area, known as Maasai Kopjes, is always a good place to spot members of the resident lion pride.

Today we see one male lion atop a rock, fast asleep.

And that is what I do too as we continue on our way: go into a deep sleep complete with some strange and unpleasant dreams. This chest infection is depriving me of so much on this safari, but at least I wake up as we approach the next kopje, where we see a further three lions.

These rocks are also home to several rock hyraxes, as well as a black mambo, but I am not quick enough to take a photo of that unfortunately.

These lions are all part of a large tribe who have ten cubs between them, so we are hoping we might see some more cats around. The dad we saw earlier had obviously gone off to sleep on a different rock to get some peace and quiet away from the kids. I don't blame him.

And there's a cub at the bottom of the rock.

This poor female is limping – she is left handed and has hurt her paw while hunting. I do hope it doesn't hinder her looking after her family in the future.

As I am feeling really quite unwell again now, I take some more tablets, then fall into another deep sleep as we leave the Maasai lions behind.

The next time I wake up is when Malisa pulls up alongside a couple of other cars by a tree. After opening my eyes and feeling rather disorientated trying to get my bearings and figure out what is going on, I see a cheetah in the shade of the tree.

I don't notice the baby at first. What a cutie!

There's two!

They are less than a month old and seriously cute.

Over the back of mum a third little head pops up.

I love the way the colouration of baby cheetah is designed to mimic that of the honey badger, in an attempt to keep them safe from predators.

We stay with the cheetah mum and her three adorable babies for some time, watching their playful antics and tender moments as the youngsters explore the tree and the shady undergrowth.

After more than 2½ hours it is time to leave our little kitties behind and move on to see what else nature has to offer us today. Stay tuned and read my next instalment for more safari stories and pictures.

Thank you Calabash Adventures for another fantastic safari experience.