We stayed at Lahia for three nights. During the days we headed out in different directions to look for wildlife. We saw many leopards, lions, hippos, giraffes, birds… On the last night staff treated us to a sundowner on the next hill over, where the owners house is located. They had enough alcohol and snacks for an army, but there were only three of us – Kathy, Michael and me, and, of course, the Maasai guard.
On day 9 we left Lahia for two nights at the Kubu Kubu Tented Lodge – owned by the same company. You will see the similarities in accommodations. Our lodge was almost the last one away from the main lodge. A guard was required for trips to the main lodge at night. There were many guests at Kubu Kubu and the Central Serengeti is much busier so you see many more safari trucks – and they are not all well behaved. Unfortunately on day 9, the travelers friend Montezuma hit me. That did make the drive back toward Arusha a bit dicey.
There are many photos in this album – accommodations up front, then animals. A few photos and animals surprised me – either I mis identified the animals initially or didn’t remember taking the photo at all!
Ran into a bit of weather but it didn't interfere with our game drives.
More weather
Driving in weather
The center area of the main lodge is open to the weather. Luckily it stays dry around the perimeter
Tangawizi arrived at Kubu Kubu. Man, I look tired!
View from our lodge at Lahai
Kubu Kubu cabin.
Zebra right outside the main lodge at Lahia. The youngsters are brown.
If you ever wondered if zebra are black with white hair or white with black hair, this photo seems to show that their skin is black under the hair.
Beautiful sunset over the savanna
View from the sundowner - the building is the owners home when he is onsite.
Sundown at Lahai
Sundowner on our last night at Lahia with our Maasai guard.
Enough snacks and alcohol for the three of us? We sat there until dark and then some.
Staff hauling our luggage up from our lodge.
Beautiful scenery near Lahia.
Typical road block
Hippos in panorama
Hippos, big and little.
Leopard tortoise, not happy about the rain.
Black-bellied Bustard. About half the size of the Kori bustard but still impressive.
Black-bellied Bustard.
Long-crested eagle. We saw these several times.
Nile crocodile - this one was big!
Wildebeest - Western White-bearded Wildebeest, to be exact.
Mini migration through the water of the Western White-bearded Wildebeest
Not certain of the ID but may be a Barbet Percher.
Black headed heron
Spotted hyena laying in the water to cool off from digesting a meal.
Spotted hyena - being bothered by flies (as was I).
Egyptian Geese with chicks
Blacksmith Lapwing
Dark Chanting-Goshawk
Hamerkops. Love these birds. So unusual.
Hamerkop - beautiful it its own way.
Crowned Lapwing
Can you spot the eagle in the tree?
Tawny Eagle, I think.
Tawny Eagle
African Fish-Eagle in flight
African Fish-Eagle has landed. No fish near here.
Grey Crowned-Cranes
So you see the male lion under the tree?
Tawny Eagle
Verreaux's Eagle-Owl.
Verreaux's Eagle-Owl - amazing feathers
Verreaux's Eagle-Owl - gotta love the pink eyelids.
Secretary bird. We say these often but they are so striking I had to take photos.
Tawny Eagle, I think.
Same bird. With enough photos I hope to make a positive ID. Coloring on this eagle can vary and may be confused with the Wahlbergs eagle. Still waiting for ID on iNaturalist.
White-backed Vulture
Rüppell's Griffon - that was a surprise when I looked at the photo.
Lapped-faced Vulture
Clean up crew hard at work.
Still waiting for ID - an eagle...
Topi - the patched antelope
Zebra with a odd patch of white. Still young but I doubt it will fill in correctly.
Zebra butts.
Zebra butts.
Yellow-billed Stork
Yellow-billed Stork feeding.
Black-headed Heron
Wooly-necked Stork
Wooly-necked Stork feeding
Wooly-necked Stork
Red-billed Buffalo-Weaver
Rufous-tailed Weaver
African Buffalo - they always look angry.
Black-winged Kite, love the eyes.
Eastern Chanting-Goshawk, I think.
Maasai Giraffe butts. This type of giraffe is endangered and is the largest subspecies. Native to East Africa. It has distinctive, irregular, jagged, star-like blotches that extend to the hooves.
A Male? They often have a median forehead lump.
A Male? They often have a median forehead lump.
Eastern Chanting-Goshawk
Nile Crocodile
Hippo
Pride of lions
Pride of lions
The male in the pride had an open wound on his face and pestered by flies.
Youngsters
Ouch.
He does look a bit worse for wear.
Yes, they do like to perch on the top of rock outcrops.
And sleep and yawn.
Bataleur - very distinctive eagle. The very short tale makes their flight unmistakable.
More sleeping lions
Leopard Tortoise
These two were mating. The lioness would roll on her tummy and the male would do his thing, roll off and wait for the next time. Apparently they do this many times for a couple days.
Common Eland.
Typical road block.
Weather in the distance. They did have some lovely cloud formations, inspiration for paintings.
Danaid Eggfly, probably.
And up close
Black-winged Kite.
Rüppell's starling - beautiful in the sunlight.
Rüppell's starling, nesting material?
Hippos, again.
Hippo closeup.
Leopard
One of my favorite shots. This is the same leopard from the stump. He/she climbed the tree and I caught a bit of action.
Leopard
Finally settled down.
Lapped-faced Vulture
A different leopard in a different tree.
Can you see the leopard?
Another leopard - we saw quite a few in a few days.
Three-banded Plover
Hippos in the pond and beautiful scenery
Hippos having a bit of a disagreement. Michael said they were just practicing.
Spotted Hyena
We watched this group of lions for some time to see if they were going to hunt the zebra. Nope. The little one started to play.
Black-headed heron
African Leopard
African Leopard
African Leopard
Lioness
Lioness - note the wounds
Black-winged kite
Elephant
Elephant
Part of my butts collection