Africam

[Lizzie]

It was really frustrating. By the time I checked into the forum that they really were lions, zoomed in here to sound the alert, they had finished drinking (two lionesses) and were walking away. Because the cam operator is away, we kept hearing their noises but could only see the empty watering hole. Now we are wondering if these were the lions that tried to take down the mother giraffe that we saw injured a few days ago.

Edited to add: Here is the link to the video of the lions:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_Wom_GQg4w

And here are the three Cape Buffalo taking a drink & bath at 3am:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACNaprMNNj8

And the buffalo that didn't want to come out of the water (I thought he could't get out, he walllowed around bellowing for so long:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr7BF_JcrGM

[pitc9]

Bath Time for the Wildebeest.

[Lizzie]

There are three Cape Buffalo in the water hole, they've been there for hours apparently, just sitting in the water and cooling off.

[pitc9]

There are three Cape Buffalo in the water hole, they've been there for hours apparently, just sitting in the water and cooling off.

Sorry... I called them Wildebeests.

They've been there all morning sloshing around in the water!
An Elephant just came to the watering hole!!!

[gini]

Did you see the buffalo put on a little show for the tourists in the tram? One drove the other out of the water.

[Lizzie]

That must have happened while I was driving to work. pitc6 - Cape Buffalo are way more mean than Wildebeest/Gnu. So mean that they are one of the Big Five (the most fearsome animals to hunt). The three that we saw were old bulls who form their own group when they are driven out of the herd. Apparently their tempers get even meaner when they get old. I wouldn't even have known that I was watching buffalo last night if I hadn't gone into the Africam forum. If you go into the forum and to Watering Hole you can read ongoing chat from very knowledgeable people about what you are seeing or hearing. I didn't enjoy one picture on there that showed the remains of a buffalo that the lions took down over Christmas. Apparently they also took a baby and a young zebra which almost everyone found hard to watch. They think that the two lionesses we saw are scouts for a pride and that we will see more lions soon.

[gini]

Lizzie thanks so much for posting this information. There is so much going on that it is difficult to take the time to read the Africam forum and keep up with this one. I really appreciate the information.

Even though it is a fact of life - it would be difficult to watch the kills.

[ramanth]

Thanks for sharing those videos Lizzie!