Lions in Amboseli Park

On the last day of our Safari we were in Amboseli Park at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro. This park is best known for its herd of elephants (they have been extensively studied) and was one of the first preserves created in Kenya to stop the depletion of the elephant population by ivory poachers. The mountain is actually in Tanzania; it is 19,341 feet high and is an inactive volcano that is gradually losing its snow cover. In a few years if Hemingway were writing his short story he might need a different title since the snow may gone in some seasons. This picture was taken the evening before.

We came to a pride of six lions (all female) that were lying about doing nothing in particular. We waited around a bit but there was little action although some of them wandered off. So we drove away to see what else we could find.

A few minutes later we returned and found that they were working on a Wildebeest. Apparently one of the pride had been stalking while we were watching. Our guide told us that they kill the Wildebeest by putting their paws over its nose and suffocating it.
( Lions and Wildebeest )

The Crowned Crane

These handsome birds were seen in various places. These were in the Ngorongoro crater in Tanzania. They are 4 feet tall, weigh about 8 pounds and can live for 60 years.



A closeup and another variety I saw last year on the street in Napier, New Zealand.

Why it is a good idea to label jars

While making rice for dinner to accompany the charcoal grilled pork and grilled/burned carrots and parsnips I went to the pantry and grabbed a jar of little white objects and added them to the rice.

Small white beans are NOT pignolia nuts.

Since this was towards the end they were not very cooked. I ate some; Robert picked his out. And it turns out we had a jar of pignolia nuts in their original container so had I looked more carefully...