The crocodiles at Chobe park looked particularly evil.
And chubby.
But they were just sleeping.
It’s a lot of work to move when you are that big.
Some were also cooling off while showing off all of their teeth.
We were glad we were in a boat.
And not in the water.
Lions cannot take down an adult African elephant.
But when one gets old or sick and dies they will guard the body to make sure they get it first.
And then they will feast
They drool over even the least appetizing bits.
Eating it involves a surprising amount of licking, which you wouldn’t expect to work well with meat.
Even when she uses her teeth it’s not very effectively.
The vultures sit in a nearby tree waiting for their turn.
Watching very intently for their opportunity
The next morning the lions were gone and the vultures had taken over the body.
They ate it enthusiastically, even though they had split open the intestine and it smelled absolutely disgusting to us.
The dingos also got in there and were taking back pieces to their cubs..
In a couple of weeks it will look like this one, with nothing left but skin and bones.
Nothing eats the tough skin.
We saw another hyena at Chobe.
He was heading down to the river to get a drink.
But he was watching us intently because he wasn’t sure if it was safe.
So we got a good look at him.
We saw two pearl spotted owlets in Chobe.They often hunt during the day, and the small birds don’t like them around because they eat chicks. So they make a horrible racket trying to annoy it into flying away. This makes the owls really easy to find even though they are tiny and camouflage well.
They have fake eyes on the back of their head. Kind of like Mom.
They also have real eyes on the front of their head.
And they can turn their head so far around that they don’t need eyes on the back.
Two young impalas were practicing fighting as we drove by.
The warthogs seemed entertained by this display.
We are glad our little brothers did not have horns.
