Tanzania Part 2 - an amazing day

(Remember that you can get a larger view of the pictures by clicking on them)
We did not fully realize it until a few days later but our second day on safari was an amazing one! We awoke fairly early and had coffee delivered to our tent to help us get started. We then had a very good breakfast at Swala Camp and then headed off with Ernest driving. He took us along a road where we carefully watched the trees to see if we might spot the tail of a Leopard hanging down, but no tails to be seen! However, a very large animal ran across the road in front of our vehicle and Ernest said it was a "Kudu"- we managed to get a couple pictures before it disappeared. Ernest said he "is with lucky people" because these are rarely seen. The males have long spiral horns or antlers- the picture shows this pretty well. Late in the day we saw two females- also unusual.
We drove around for awhile and saw lots of more common animals, then we came to a spot where two cars were stopped by the road and people were looking into some bushes. The driver of one told Ernest (in Swahili) that they had seen a young Leopard and were looking to see if it would reappear. So we waited watched and waited some more. At one point, Janet saw some momevement and we took pictures of something but could not quite tell what. Several cars came and went, but we waited. Ernest asked if we wanted lunch, so we drove down the road and he got our lunches from the back of the car and brought them forward. We then drove back to where the leopard was and waited and ate a very good lunch and waited some more. The we found him (or her)! In the picture you can get a pretty good idea why he was hard to spot!
Ernest thought he was about 8 months old and his mother probably left him here to hide while she hunted or rested elsewhere. So we saw a leopard- and a young one at that!
We then drove to another area and stopped to see a large herd of Zebra. While we watched a family group of elephants came marching right through the herd- pretty much telling everyone to get out of the way! The elephants stopped suddenly and looked around. The large matriarch looked at the cars in the road and suddenly decided to change the route of the family to the river and the turned 90 degrees and crossed the road.
We proceeded further along the road when we came upon another group of vehicles stopped by the road. Ernest pointed out the Lions! We watched and took pictures. There were 2 males, 3 females and 2 cubs spread out and mostly sleeping. One of the males got up and went over to rub against what was probably his brother, then he went over the remains of a buffalo that the pride had obviously been feasting upon. Ernest added commentary to what we were seeing " Oh brother, won't you get up and come help me drag this heavy buffalo under that bush?" with the reply being "Oh no brother! I'm much to tired and full, why don't you go drag it under the bush?" He then dragged the carcass under some bushes- an amazing sight! Evidently, he was trying to hide it some from hyena and all the vultures that were now watching from the trees! He went back to sleep. Apparently lion gorge themselves when they catch prey and then sleep alot and the gorge some more. Then they won't hunt for 2-3 days.
It was late afternoon so we headed back toward Swala Camp- probably an hour away. We were quite satisfied that we had seen almost enough to make the whole trip worthwhile! As we drove along we came upon some vehicles by the road again and this time we saw the scene in the picture- 3 young cheetah cubs playing! We loved seeing such cute little cats! Then we realized that the mother must be around and Ernest managed to get us a spot close to her when another car left. She was eating an antelope less than 30 feet from the road! She feasted away and the cubs would come over and eat too, then play some more. Mom growled at the cubs sometimes and she would go check on them too. It was an amazing thing to see from so close!
As we pulled in close to camp the sun was nearly set and we came around a bend in the road to find two large bull elephants right in front of us by the road. They were clearly a little startled- as were we- and we thought one might charge. Finally they settled down when we came no closer to them. Ernest said they were older males- one might be 50 years old. He said the like to 60 or maybe 65 years.
We pulled into to Swala Camp a little awestruck. We did not talk to othe guests much. We heard from Ernest, who spoke to the other drivers, that a larger group did not see too much this day. They had an expensive guide too. We felt very pleased with what we saw, but did not tell the others. At later places we found people tended to compare notes more on what they had seen. We did learn that it is very unusual to see a leopard. We did not meet anyone else on the trip who saw one while on their trip. It is relatively rare to see cheetah too. We heard that some people at another park saw 3, but they were far away and sleeping under a tree. The sightng of lion is more common than we thought- we probably saw more than 30 different lions on the whole trip- sometimes we saw the same group more than once. The Puff adder was also apparently unusual and the lilac breasted roller too. The Kudu was also an very rare sighting. That one was particularly good because our tent at Swala Camp was named "Kudu"! Very lucky people!