We're waiting for our cars to Lion Sands and making room for Eugene, Gail et al to keep the Leopard Hills bush boys on their toes.

We finished yesterday's drives with the biggest of the six male lion coalition calling for his brothers. Mating was done, he was hungry and it was time to get back to the guy way of life. He must have named them individually, as he roared over and over again. We had a delightful boma dinner.

Hannes is the man for the wine recommendations, Eugene. He has yet to steer us wrong. As we headed back to our rooms, the lion was keeping up the pressure on his brothers to knock it off with the girls and show up!

This morning had action upon action, of the animal and human variety. We woke to another roaring session, but it sounded like there were two lions calling to each other. Gary, having won the Best in Group - Tracker in Training Seminar (BIG TITS) yesterday, was ready to defend his title. He grabbed the First Class section; Mary Ellen and Jim rode Business and Ngaire and Ken filled up the Economy row. We came across a perfect sunrise. Marius, Hannes and Ranger Gary were game hunting, so they split up and headed after three possible leads.

The radio was active, and then - wham! - the reunion of the two male lions who'd been roaring. They jumped and did the chest bump. Any of you ever seen someone dance "The Worm"? The dance is a copy of these male lions' greetings. the two boys hit the ground, whipped over on their backs, and did a synchronized dust bath, keeping the beat with their feet. Then they rolled over again and started grooming themselves. We were in the golden sunlight hour and got good shots. The junior brother started to move out quickly.

Marius thought the junior guy was heading to the lioness with the two cubs. Family reunion? Cub killing? Only time would tell. We went crashing and thrashing through the bush. It was the total guy kind of a game ride. Time to back up and get the logs out from under the truck's drive train. Such fun!

Meanwhile, Hannes is closing in on a leopard sighting. We lose the track of the lioness and decide to back up Hannes. Ranger Gary, meanwhile, sees the senior brother hear something and bound through the bush. He bounds behind Simba.

Simba arrives at the intersection of Hannes and Ranger Gary to find the leopardess with a fresh, full sized impala kill. Simba bounds over to the leopardess, who knows she's either going to give up the kill or make breakfast a two-course meal for Simba. Simba sets on the impala for his meal. Once again .. the female does the stalk and kill, and the male grabs the prey.

Hannes tracks the leopardess, whose confidence has slumped. She pounces after a mongoose, missing it by millimeters. She ambles through the bush and finds a dead tree. Knowing her star quality rating depends on it, she dutiful leaps on to the branch so we can get our photos. She sees something else that may substitute for her breakfast, and off she goes.

We circle back to Simba and his much-diminshed impala. I got some wonderful video of his breakfast dining technique. Suffice it to say it's highly efficient but would garner much disapproval from Aunt Francis, a devotee of Emily Post and her etiquette standards.

We had a full morning, but were pressing on at it was our last game drive. We searched and searched for our favorite sighting. Around the bend, near the dam at Ulusaba, we came across our perfect kill .. Hannes and Oscar having coffee, amarula and muffins. Mmmmmmm...

Gary and Ngaire, being unaware of local custom, must have been inspired by Simba. They each took one side of a muffin and deftly tore it in two. They simultaneously ate their share of the muffin in one synchronized, smooth motion. Umm .. that's the African wedding custom. No matter .. Ken and I will reclaim them after their muffin stupor subsides.

Not wanting to give our bush boys any slack, I reminded Marius there had been no new species checked off on the sighting list. He went a bit bonkers. I decided to write in the rare sighting of the olive-backed spitting ranger bush boy. No problem .. it was as unusual as the sighting yesterday of a pair of drab bicycle-toting poaching patrol buck.

Marius was bound and determined, though, to find something on the checklist. We settled for the water thick knee bird. As we rounded the bend to Leopard Hills, we saw another lilac breasted roller. We missed the first two shots as he flew from tree to tree. He grabbed and managed to consume a full grasshopper. That's about as generous a breakfast for the bird as Simba's stolen impala was for the lion.

Jim, our photo coach, helped us synchronize our shots. We got the grand slam of truck photography: all four of us got crystal clear shots of the lilac breasted roller on the wing. Thanks to Jim's efforts, we got all the various parts of the wing beat - gary, ken, mary ellen and anne.

What else could one want for a morning game drive?

Breakfast .. amidst super fine weather. I have so thoroughly enjoyed Leopard Hills and the five day stay. Looking forward to Lion Sands and a whole new checklist, along with undiscovered new species to add to the list.

Pleasure, No. 7