The antelopes: Bushbuck and Topi

The handsome buckbuck is my favorite African antelope, graceful and elegant.


...As contrasted with the Topi. A guidebook I had along when I was in Africa in the 70s referred to it as "the rare plum-hued topi," but we saw thousands of them then, so it's a bit of a joke among those of us on that trip. Silly looking things, aren't they?

Do you Gnu? Or dik-dik?

Wildebeest are by far the most numerous antelope in Africa, and they give Topi a run for their money in the stupid-looking category. Large groups are invariably in the company of zebra, who migrate with them. Zebra provide the eyesight the wildebeest are deficient in, while wildebeest unfailingly find their way to just the right places where the grass is freshest, a nice bit of symbiosis.



These are dik-dik, a tiny antelope, only about 12-16 inches at the shoulder. As a common prey animal, they are very good at holding quite still and looking as invisible as possible, so I felt very fortunate to be able to get these photos.

Impala and Thompson's gazelles

The elegant Impala:




Thompson's gazelles:

Elephants

Parade to the watering hole:

Mother and a very young calf:

Ambling over to check us out...
...this male's lost most of a tusk at some point:

Leopard and Serval

Sometimes you're just hanging around in a tree doing nothing...
...and sometimes you're dismembering an unfortunate antelope:




This is a serval, an elegant long-legged African wild cat, only about two feet tall at the shoulder:

Lion

A pile o' lions resting up in the heat of the day:


Of course, once you catch the attention of the youngsters, nap time's over:




Ain't I cute?

Mating season

A scruffy young male at Ngorongoro:

A pair among the kopjes at Serengeti:


The gleam in the eye and the look of resignation...





Somebody's tired out...


And, so am I. That's the end of the Tanzania photos, but I'm off soon to Namibia and South Africa, so doubtless there will be more to see soon!