{"id":19924,"date":"2026-07-05T06:42:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T18:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/?p=19924"},"modified":"2026-07-02T21:59:37","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T09:59:37","slug":"day-2-lions-and-cheetah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/19924","title":{"rendered":"Day 2 – Lions and Cheetah"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Blood<\/a>
Blood blushed lion on the prowl<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The routine of our days began with a 05h30 wake-up call in the dark with warm smoky water poured into our wash stands under the tent awning. Quick morning ablutions soon had us following the beam of our head torches to the dining tent for a welcome coffee and rusks while discussing what we had heard in the night (if loud enough to have broken through the heavy canvas cover of sleep).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A generous spread of oats porridge, cereals, muesli and yoghurt, along with left over dessert from the night before soon had us well provisioned for a sunrise departure in the only relatively cool part of the day. The morning was spent exploring, tracking and searching for game, intel shared between passing game cars when encountered. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Swainson's<\/a>
Swainson’s spurfowl<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

We were on a mission for big cats so it was a little frustrating to pass some opportunities for birds in good morning light despite managing a reasonable image of a spur fowl on a termite heap and a image in memory of a Meyer’s parrot in flight (fortunately replaced by a photographic image later in the trip).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suddenly we were upon them. A pride of resting lions littered at the edge of the track, tinged pink by both the morning sun and the remnants of the blood of last night’s feast on their faces. Well fed, they were entirely disinterested in us so patience was needed to try and isolate some scenes of interest.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Lazing<\/a>
Lazing lions littering the grassland<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

A cluster of cubs added the cute factor to opportunities. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Intent<\/a>
Intent gaze of a well fed lion cub<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"A<\/a>
A cluster of cubs in the centre of the resting lion pride<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Heading on we encountered a Goliath heron who launched co-operatively into the low light.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Goliath<\/a>
Goliath heron<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In terms of cats, I had expected to see lions, hoped to see leopard and expected not to see cheetah so it was a surprise to find a large male resting under a tree. Apparently the first in 5 years for the area. He was obviously beginning the feel the heat as much as we were and provided plenty of opportunity. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Cheetah\"<\/a>
Cheetah<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

As the sun climbed higher and higher the heat ramped in the safari car. The open sides and room gave some welcome airflow and viewing options but provided little shelter from the heat. Elephants wading knee deep in cool water had me envious. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Elephants<\/a>
Elephants enjoying the water<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

By late morning we were tired and hot and the light had long passed ideal for photography so a return to camp for lunch was in order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This gave an opportunity to download images and recharge batteries despite, at times the heat preventing laptops and phones from charging due to overheating. Tents were hot but at least in shade so a cold shower in your clothes or resting up under a damp towel could get some evaporative cooling. The open ended dining tent under the shade of a tree was the best location with a through breeze at times. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were always opportunities around camp for birds with hornbills and starlings regular visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Southern<\/a>
Southern Red hornbill foraging at the camp margins<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

A late afternoon tea or coffee and biscuits had us fuelled for a sunset drive. The first day delivered some rare clouds which made so opportunities for landscape images with a baobab tree.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Our<\/a>
Our safari car with a baobab sunset<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"Baobab<\/a>
Baobab sunset. One of the few occasions we had any clouds in the sky<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Photos with Nikon Z9 and Nikkor Z 180-600mm f5.6-6.3, Nikon Z8 with Nikkor Z 28-400mm f4-8 or Nikkor Z 14-30mm f4<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Day 2 of our Botswana photo safari – Lions and Cheetah amongst other things<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20238,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Day 2 of our Botswana photo safari - Lions and Cheetah amongst other things","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[982,3,1397,209,19,1001],"tags":[26,25,1391,221,983,609,194,1395,190],"class_list":["post-19924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bird-photography","category-birds","category-botswana","category-south-africa","category-travel","category-wildlife","tag-bird-photography","tag-birds","tag-botswana","tag-nikon","tag-nikon-z9","tag-nikonnz","tag-photo","tag-photo-safari","tag-photography","entry","has-media"],"yoast_head":"\nDay 2 - 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Oblivious to our proximity it was clearly alarmed by something so we stopped to search for the source of the drama.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bird Photography"","block_context":{"text":"Bird Photography","link":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/category\/bird-photography"},"img":{"alt_text":"Slender mongoose","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SlenderMongoose-20250913-NZ9_8699-web.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SlenderMongoose-20250913-NZ9_8699-web.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SlenderMongoose-20250913-NZ9_8699-web.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SlenderMongoose-20250913-NZ9_8699-web.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":20121,"url":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/20121","url_meta":{"origin":19924,"position":1},"title":"Birds of Cresta Riley’s, Maun","author":"tony","date":"June 7, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Male African Grey hornbill calling from his morning perch After a restful night in air-conditioned comfort we woke to the piping crescendos of African Grey Hornbills reminding us that we were on the threshold of an adventure. Emerging into the heat of the early morning we enjoyed a generous breakfast\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bird Photography"","block_context":{"text":"Bird Photography","link":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/category\/bird-photography"},"img":{"alt_text":"Meve's starling","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/MevesStarling-20250911-NZ9_3868-DxO_DeepPRIME-XD3-web.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/MevesStarling-20250911-NZ9_3868-DxO_DeepPRIME-XD3-web.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/MevesStarling-20250911-NZ9_3868-DxO_DeepPRIME-XD3-web.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/MevesStarling-20250911-NZ9_3868-DxO_DeepPRIME-XD3-web.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":19504,"url":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/19504","url_meta":{"origin":19924,"position":2},"title":"Nikon Z9 Firmware 5.3 Surpasses Nikon Z8 for Birds and Wildlife Photography","author":"tony","date":"December 21, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Nikon Z9 Firmware 5.3 Surpasses Nikon Z8 for Birds and Wildlife Photography - Nikon Z flagship squeezes pst the Z8 to the front of the queue again.","rel":"","context":"In "Bird Photography"","block_context":{"text":"Bird Photography","link":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/category\/bird-photography"},"img":{"alt_text":"Little Black Shag","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/LittleBlackShag-20251218-NZ9_1665-DxO_DeepPRIME-3-web.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/LittleBlackShag-20251218-NZ9_1665-DxO_DeepPRIME-3-web.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/LittleBlackShag-20251218-NZ9_1665-DxO_DeepPRIME-3-web.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/LittleBlackShag-20251218-NZ9_1665-DxO_DeepPRIME-3-web.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":20152,"url":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/20152","url_meta":{"origin":19924,"position":3},"title":"Day 1 – Moremi Game Reserve","author":"tony","date":"June 28, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Herd of elephants viewed from our safari car After landing and transferring to our safari car, we had a fair drive still to make camp and it was via a route to give us some good game viewing opportunities. 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