"What's the meaning of all this preening?"

 
Without doubt one of the most ornate and memorable birds in the Serengeti National Park, a Grey Crowned Crane has to work for the image. 

 
 Preening is an essential part of the morning routine, re-aligning feathers and coating them with an oily secretion from a gland near the base of the tail helps keep things subtle and shiny.

 
Turn into the wind to blow dry and add a little "bounce" to the coiffure.
 
Have a partner double check the back......

 
....and I'm ready for my profile.

Seasonal gardening tips from the Northern Serengeti

Good morning listeners....it's time for our handy hints for the indigenous Savannah gardener.

With the short rains providing their daily sprinkling, you may also be viewing a sudden growth spurt in this blooming season!

As the trees and grasses spring to life things can get a little labour intensive and, lets face it, weeding can be such a bore. We love that our lodge blends into it's surroundings (we should win the award for that - seriously no one else comes close when it comes to camouflage) but we'd rather it didn't disappear entirely!

If you`re suffering the same and your snippers just can't keep up, then do what we do, and invite a host of pachyderms for tea.

Nature's landscape architects - no job is too big for a heard peckish Elephants.

Attention to detail is a signature of the firm - no pot goes un checked (or tasted)......

and they'll make certain that your archways and pathways....


meet with the Loxidonta standards of strength and measure.

They're dedicated,

in-obtrusive....

and they will deliver the bill direct to your office.

Thanks team, till next time.

I’m just going to check up on the solar pump – do you fancy a ride?

......Sure thing.

We round a bend at the bottom of our Kopjie and gape to find a lioness hot on the heels of sub adult Zebra, caught unawares the unfortunate animal barely makes a single bound before the lioness has her on the ground. Within two minutes the struggle is over.

“To witness a kill” is often on the wish list for our guests on safari but it is not box often ticked. You have to be very lucky and, despite the fact that we live here, this is the first time we’ve arrived in the right place at the right time.

It’s a raw and unsettling thing to see how efficiently this she-predator hunts, taken aback we are both somehow reluctant to lift a camera. Ten minutes later and a second female arrives, the scene until now has been completely silent and their vocalisations bring things out of slow motion. A few swipes and growls decide who gets which end.

Moments pass and a glance up from the spectacle in front of the vehicle reveals a third female making her way down from the Kopjie - her three cubs bouncing along behind her.

Nature rewards the bold, they brave the snarling mammas and get stuck in although not without getting their ears boxed once or twice - there is still a pecking order here.

Sun sets and the solar pump goes un-checked - we'll try again tomorrow.