DAY SEVEN – 23 October
Lions are all around. One might think there isn’t an issue with the state of lions and their threatened populations, but alas they are very threatened, mainly by corruption in the canned hunting industry.
Driving along the river in the early morning, we joined other trucks of safari-goers enjoying a nice viewing of 4 younger lions drinking from a shallow section. They seemed quite comfortable with the trucks nearby.
The older boys tried to wander off away from us, but the younger female had other plans, refused to join them, instead wandering toward us slowly until the others joined her. They paraded alongside the vehicles, taking us on Safari with them for quite a ways, often coming so close to the vehicle, we could have reached out to touch them. They seemed out of sync with 
their young sister, who seemed most keen to hone her skills. She was quite put off that the others were not listening to her. When she wanted to stay put, they would meander off. The boys flushed out a rabbit toward her, but she hardly flinched to help out. Seemed she had her sights on a feast they all could enjoy that would fill their tummies as growing lions require.
They were definitely showing us their ways, emanating confidence in all they did, even if it did vary between the males and 
female. She seemed most keen to test her skills and learn her lessons of life, while the others still seemed to take life for granted. The young girl later set her sights on a herd of zebras, whom she sent on a rampage of alertness. She was successful at separating one animal, but the others didn’t partake… Just strolled along. That’s as far as the hunt went. Then she returned to rest and recover from her run under a tree. She seemed less than welcoming to the others for not partaking, but was panting too hard to do more than snarl at them a bit. But she felt she accomplished something and was now ready to rest feeling good about herself. One day, she’ll likely be a great huntress and provider for her future families.
Just past where they rested were another group of lions who seemed to be a part of the larger pride and got a sense they all hunted beautifully as a team, but were separated to hone skills before reaching maturity.
Later in the morning we saw a lone adult female (Photo of lone lion) who’d recently taken down a wildebeest on her own and napped by the river, under a bush next to her kill with a big full tummy. Perhaps a glimpse at the skill the 1st young female is learning to acquire.
Nearby, elephants cooled themselves under the shade of a tree with ears flopped open enjoying the breeze and calm of the mid-day heat.
There was a darling baboon family by the water (photo) and elegant giraffes (photo) and a fun family of busy mongoose.
You’ll eventually get to hear from the others on the Safari and what their experiences were like from an animal communication point of view. Right now, this is a note from Sandy about her experience so far:
Carol has done a great job teaching us all along the way and encouraging us at every turn. We all are making progress it seems tuning in to various animals at hand and finding we all come up with similar connections verifying our connections. Today we tuned into the lions on their walkabout, and an interesting communication with the Spirit of a gazelle whose body was then being consumed by a leopard. We did this because we all to understand how the wild animals view death.
We tuned into the moments leading up to the animal’s attack and death and where/when the Spirit took flight. We all seemed to come up with the same thing. Yes, there certainly is truth and reality to telepathically communicating with animals. By the way, the communication with the gazelle was quite lovely really. Yes there was adrenaline, struggle and a fight for life, but then there was a moment when it was time to give in and part from that earthly body for the sake of another’s life. None of us felt great fear, nor great pain in the way we might think and we all saw or felt the animal’s Spirit expand out and away to a place it could observe from afar and was free to carry on to whatever was next.
It’s an active trip for sure and we’re rewarded with very special sightings along the way.
We saw our 9th Cheetah which was amazing because apparently you don’t get to see them much at all. Philip, our guide/driver was so excited because the Cheetah is his favorite animal.
It’s our last evening here in this camp and the staff was so fun to make us a special cake which came complete with dance and song performance by the entire crew… What a treat. Philip joined in on the fun. He’s a great dancer and his enthusiasm for festivities is contagious. Semele and another guy were asked to cut the cake, sending Semele’s hips dancing around the table to join the fun.
Tomorrow is yet another long drive on a very bumpy and dusty road to Lobo in Northern Serengeti, so off to bed we headed to rest up.