Paula at Lost In Translation has a weekly challenge “Thursday Special.” This week’s topic is pairs.

Elephants (mother and offspring) in Arusha National Park after a mud bath!

A pair of Bare-Faced Go Away Birds up in a tree

Curious mongooses check out what’s going on from the safety of their hole in a termite mound in Tarangire National Park.

The smallest antelope, the dik dik, is very elusive. They always travel in pairs.

Another animal that you always find in pairs is the jackal. The pair works together to hunt or claim their prey. This pair lives in Ngorongoro Crater.

Impalas are a common and beautiful antelope. Here are a mother and her fawn.

Shy boys at a Maasai Village near Ngorongoro.

This is a mating pair of lions that live in Ngorongoro Crater. The male and female will stay together for about four days, then go their separate ways.

Hippos in a pond at Serengeti National Park

These are weavers’ nests! Weavers are small, bright yellow birds. The male makes the nest using grass and other materials, then awaits approval from the female.

Another large and ubiquitous animal is the long and lanky giraffe. One way to tell the male and female apart is by noticing the stubs on their heads. The female giraffe’s have tufts of hair, while the male’s are flat.

A furry little resident of the Serengeti lives in the rocky kopjes (an Afrikaans word pronounced like “copies”). These are hyraxes, which, strangely, are related to the largest animal of the Serengeti, the elephant! Can you see the resemblance??

And finally, one of my favorites – a pair (actually mother and cub) of cheetahs in the Serengeti.  We watched these two for a long time.