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| 2001 Safari Journal | |||||||||||||||||
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Trip number six to Africa, fifth trip to Tanzania
Monday January 8th, 2001 and Tuesday January 9th, 2001 Day 1- Salisbury, Maryland - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Detroit, Michigan - Amsterdam, Holland I took an early flight from Salisbury, Maryland to Philadelphia, Philadelphia to Detroit, Detroit to Amsterdam and Amsterdam to Mt. Kilimanjaro. Everything went smoothly until Detroit. We sat in the plane for two hours due to mechanical difficulties. This whittled away my expected three-hour layover too less than an hour. This created a minor problem as I was planning on meeting for the first time; my seven times removed cousin in Amsterdam. Upon arrival in Amsterdam I need to get my boarding pass and was told that I did not have a reservation. I proceeded to the gate, through security to wait and see if I would be on the plane to Kilimanjaro. My reservation was found under the name vansinderenlyon, so I was on the plane and now on my way to Africa. I sat next to a very nice man from Holland on the flight from Detroit to Amsterdam. I showed him the Dutch bible I was taking to my cousin and he read to me all of the inserts and hand written details in the bible. We talked all night and he was very interesting but needless to say I was extremely tired, as I had only gotten two hours of sleep the night before. Now in two days I had only two hours of sleep. I planned to sleep on the flight from Amsterdam to Kilimanjaro but I sat next to another interesting person and we talked all the way to Arusha. When the plane landed in Kilimanjaro, I was surprised that only about a quarter of the people on the plane disembarked. Usually, the majority of the passengers would be headed on safari. I was one of the first off the plane, first to the luggage carousel and there I waited and waited. It was not much of a surprise that my luggage did not arrive as two years ago my luggage did not arrive either. So when my connecting time for my flight from Amsterdam was reduced to less than an hour, I knew that it would be a miracle if my luggage arrived on the same flight as me. So, after filling out a missing luggage form, I found my driver and we were on our way to the Dik Dik. When I arrived at the Dik Dik, I was greeted as if everyone remembered me. The bartender and the food and beverage manager, Simon did recognize me. I sat at the bar in the reception area to have my welcome drink and met another great couple, Caroline and Hans from Holland. They were on their honeymoon, had just arrived and were to be on the same flight as me the next morning to the Serengeti. We stayed and toasted and talked until 1 am and then finally went to bed. (TOP) Day 3 - of trip I slept like a baby but got up at 6:00 am, breakfast at 6:30, met my driver at 7:00 and headed to the airport for my 8:00 flight. When I arrived at the Arusha airport, I thought that I recognized the only other white person at the tiny airport, where there were only six people at that time. And I did. It was "Charlotte" from HBO's "Sex in the City". I excused myself and asked her if.... ? And she said yes. We then spoke in a semi code so they would not realize that she was famous in America. I told her how much I loved her show! She was going on safari by herself and soon departed. A gentleman came up to me and asked me if I had been to Tanzania last year, of course I said yes! It was Mustafa, the front desk manager from the Seronera Wildlife Lodge in Seronera and he had remembered me from last year. I thanked him for reintroducing himself to me. Hans and Caroline arrived shortly there after and our plane departed for Lake Manyara, Klein's camp and finally the Sereonera airstrip where I arrived at 11:00 am. Mohammed was no where in sight but I had a heartfelt greeting, hugs, kisses and a welcome drink from some of the Serena employees. It was a very pleasant surprise. Mohammed finally did arrive but I had hidden in another vehicle and pretended that I had not arrived. Everyone played along with me and Mohammed was very concerned that was not there. He was very happy to see me when I finally appeared from out of no where. So now I have finally returned to my serengeti home, my serengeti family and headed on game drive sans luggage and tripods. The pressure is off for this year. I plan on taking it easy and actually relaxing around the pool for at least part of some days. I realize that last year was extremely special with seeing a leopard every day so I do not even anticipate anything close to last years safari. Little did I know, how true and untrue this would be. Before landing in the serengeti as I was watching from the air, I felt that things were different. How different, I wasn't quite aware. I didn't see many animals or vehicles when we landed and this seemed odd. On our game drive it seemed unusually quiet. That is when I found out that the heavy rains that usually fall in Oct/Nov did not come until Dec/Jan. causing the migration to start and never stop. The long rains ran into the short rains and it was like baby El Nino. The animals that were migrating were far south about a three-hour drive from my lodge. Three years ago I was south and the animals were north. Now I am north and the animals are south. Nothing is ever the same. The other major change that I could determine was I could no longer distinguish landmarks as the grass was totally green, the sky's overcast obscuring hills and kopjis that would have otherwise been used a visuals in helping to determine the area we were in. All of the savanna grassland was green so you could not differentiate between the rivers where the green trees usually stood out like a sore thumb. The tree foliage was more lush making it more difficult to spot something in them. The grass sometimes came half way up the windows of the car so the animals that would easily be spotted either moved to shorter grass or were hidden. The roads were flooded and impassable to even four wheel drive vehicles so we could not travel to areas that we had frequented last year. Even given the unusually difficult conditions, I was taking a photograph at 11:55 am of my first leopard on this trip. It was in an area that we call Magadi, past the first dead tree and behind the next big broken branch and moved from 100 to 20 meters away. I did not realize how important that first leopard would be, as I sighed a sigh of relief. We drove to an area called Researcher Round and at 1:30 we spotted 3 cheetah a good distance away. In an area called Turner we encountered 1 female lion and a ton of tetse flies. I sure don't want to come back to this neck of the woods! On our way to the lodge we saw a large group of elephants with tons of small ones. Now it was check in time at the Serena Serengeti and what a reception. Everyone seemed so excited to see me, almost as excited as I was to see them! I was escorted to my room and it was the same room I had two years ago, number eight. It is on the second floor and has a great view. It is also close to the pool so I will be able to easily slip away to poolside. Charles Muia, the general manager of the Serena Serengeti, was not on property when I arrived so I was introduced to Harun who is the acting assistant manager. He said he could hardly wait to meet me as the employees had all been saying for weeks, "Sharon is coming" and he wanted to know just who this Sharon was. After showering and putting back on the clothes I had been in for the last 3 days I headed for the bar and dinner. Again the greeting was tremendous from the food and beverage service team. I can't remember the last time I hugged so many people and felt such a warm reception. Mohammed joined me for dinner and as we were finishing, out they came. The whole staff of the Serena Serengeti came singing, clapping and dancing, carrying a welcome cake that was a blaze in candles. Needless to say I was very moved and I cried tears of joy and joined them in their song and dance. I was home and it felt so good to be back. After an exhausting three days I finally made my way to the room, to a wonderful comfortable bed, knowing that I would sleep like a baby. Although I miss the stars and the night sounds that usually lull me to sleep I knew that tonight I'd sleep without them as I had now had a total of seven hours of sleep in three nights. Tomorrow I will head out at 6:00 am to Nabi (about two hour's south); to try and find the tiny baby cheetah others had seen and shared their video of with me.
Day five Today I was up at 5:30 and ready to leave on game drive by 6:00am.We headed to Nabi which is about two hours south of the Serena Serengeti. We will be going through the gate at Nabi and head towards Gol Kopje so I have to pay an additional park fee. Just a few miles down the road from Serena Serengeti we saw two young lions next to the road. They were maybe six months old and looked lost and rather hungry. The drive south was amazing. The previous years this area would be teaming with millions of animals from the migration, this year not an animal could be spotted or seen as far as you could see. As we reached Nabi Gate we acquired another guide, Noel. At 9:15 we spotted a female cheetah and then maybe a mile away we saw 4 more cheetahs, a female and three males. At first they were 20 meters away and as we watched them they started to head out. I encouraged Mohammed to quickly follow and lo and behold at 10:10 they killed a Thomson gazelle. I got some great shots! We didn't stay too long, as it did not take them long to devour their meal. At 11:00 3 lions, 2 female and a male were on the rock kopje. By noon we spotted 2 more female lions and at 12:30 four more male lions were within 20 meters of our Land Rover. Not too bad of a start...five cheetahs and eleven lions.... Now it is time for the leopard! We headed north back to the Seronera area to hunt for the elusive leopard. After navigating just about every area we could, that we had seen a leopard last year, we headed towards home. I was just preparing myself to answer the questions from the Serena employees about the success of my days' game drive. I was going to explain that, " today no leopard but it was ok, as I had been blessed by seeing many more than most people", then my guide shouted chui, chui, chui. Chui is Swahili for leopard. So at 5:05 p.m. the leopard at Magadi did us a favor and came out to make his presence known. You cannot imagine the feeling of elation at the sighting of this leopard! Both Mohammed and myself were so relieved. I really had no idea how much subconscious pressure I had put on myself to find a leopard every day! The light was perfect. The leopard was about 50 meters away on a dead branch on the ground. It then proceeded to climb a big old dead snag and stayed on the very top surveying the Savannah. I was so excited that I did something I have never done. I forgot to rewind my film and opened the camera back and exposed the roll of film. I guess everyone eventually does this at one time or another and believe me it will not happen again! As a result my camera now locked up and even a new roll would not advance. In the meantime I finished the roll I was taking with my other camera body and smaller lens. Of course the leopard was not going to wait for me to get my act together and he took full advantage of my ineptness and came down from his perfect perch. As I was reading the camera manual to figure out how to make my camera work, the leopard sauntered across the path of our car and decided to sit in the tall grass watching us about 15 meters away. Thank goodness by this time my camera was back in operation and I got some great shots with my 1000mm lens. What a day! I can't be too upset about my blunder and I justified my lack of expertise as, no big deal as the photos would have been good without the use of my tripods. I would have been REALLY upset if I thought that I had The Best shot, The best opportunity and had taken it using my tripod. I can only hope that I will get another equally great opportunity when my tripod finally arrives. Now back to the lodge and tonight I do my first slide show presentation, "Serengeti 2000". Tonight as I prepared to do my show I was presented with yet another challenge. The humidity had affected my slides so they were all getting stuck in the slide carousel and I ruined one slide trying to retrieve it. As a result I improvised the best I could and from that time on I hand fed the slides individually into the machine! It wasn't a very professional presentation but it was definitely better than ruining more slides or not showing them at all. Even with the piecemeal presentation, everyone who was watching seemed to enjoy the show immensely. It is really fun to show the slides to those who see me in the bush and to the employees and guides who knew me from last year. It is good for them to see the fruits of my labor and they seem to appreciate the effort and hard work that went into taking them. We heard that my luggage should be here at the Seronera airstrip at 11:00 am, I can hardly wait for the tripods.
Day six This morning shortly after we left for game drive, at 6:30, as we crept down the road a serval cat walked in front of us on the road for about 1000 meters and then it jumped into the bushes. Then 9:25 a leopard was spotted in a tree by the hippo pool on the crossroads of arusha, Nabi, Seronera and Masai roads. The leopard was 50 meters away in a great location for everyone to see. I shot a few photos and watched his behavior. I believe that it is a male with a black nose? I shot some photos from both sides of the river as he turned around and both locations were equidistance. We headed for the airport and were so happy to get my luggage. My bag was torn but it didn't much matter I got out the Lyon tracker uniforms and gave Mohammed his shirt, pants and hats. He loved them and was as excited as I was. I hooked up my tripods and we were on our way. We headed to the sopa area to look for more leopards and to see the lions that had been rumored to be hanging out in a tree. Sure enough there were 7 female lions high up in a tree. We then headed towards the bird nest and spotted a male lion far off. We then headed back to the Seronera river area to find more leopards and drove down Wandamu. The roads were amazing, just like black ice. At 1:35 we saw a leopard 75 meters away. I believe it is a male. (Enough time difference and close enough to be same?) I met Bill from San franscio who grew up in Dewey beach. Back to the lodge, unpack, get comfortable and do the slide show presentation
Day seven I have yet to see a sunrise, a sunset, or the stars at night. I haven't
heard the familiar African night sounds that usually awaken me and then
have to I remind myself that I am in Africa. Now the sky. Last year it was so dry and clear every day that you could see many of the distinguishable landmarks, Nabi, Masai kopje, Lake Magadi, Moru kopje, Mukoma hills, well you get the picture. This year it is so socked in with fog, and overcast with clouds that I am surprised that the planes are flying. Very poor visibility and HEAVY thunder storms daily. So you drive around in a fog not knowing where you are or what direction your going in and it is so different than last year! Now for the roads. Here's El Nino! Many and some day most are not accessible and are closed. It is another year that you need a four wheel drive if you are to get around at all. We would head up a road and travel as far as we could before the threat of getting permanently stuck outweights the advantages of continuing. There were many times that Mohamud was at a definite disadvantage. He would tell me how bad the roads were and I would remind him that I made it to Lobo during El Nino. He would tell me we have no radio, and I would say we didn't have a radio during El Nino either. And I would tell him to go a bit further, forge onward and forward. Another factor that is noticeable this year is fewer safari vehicles. The impact that this has is several folds. Fewer vehicles on game drives means less communication amongst the drivers when game is spotted, less vehicles spotting and reporting less game. As safari vehicles pass one another on game drive, the driver/guide always inquires where and what have you seen, and this information is passed on from vehicle to vehicle. Sometimes it is beneficial to have several vehicles in the same area. It could cause the leopard to move therefore making it easier to spot. Until you experience the migration in the serengeti you really cannot appreciate it. And sometimes it helps us to appreciate it more when we've seen it and now it's not here! The migration just makes it that more exciting! This year I am shooting allot less film. I am allot more selective and having had fewer opportunities, trying to capitalize on the special opportunities with the best light. We are spending more time with many of the animals and appreciate just watching and observing, not necessarily shooting film. The weather is really a drag. It is very overcast similar to Bellingham and looks like it it's going to pour if and when it's not pouring, ugly. We drove towards Mokoma hills and I stood at the picnic site and took a series of photographs showing a full 360-degree view and you could not see one vehicle or a single animal. Wow what a difference from last year. It's just amazing how different it is year to year. This year people cannot believe that the photos I show in my slide shows are from the same time of year same area. At 9:25 we finally spotted 2 lions in the Masai kopje area. They were a long way off. Today there were more planes than animals. Every time we turned around we heard and then spotted another plane. There were at least 10 to 15 planes! Finally at 12:35 as we were driving down an area called 16, there he was about 100 meters, Too far away to tell if it was truly a male or what color it's nose was, but it was a leopard! We were driving along the Seronera River when a group of 15 hippos were totally out of the water. They started running and they were pretty close to us so that was cool. It was great to be home and I reorganized my slide show presentation. Instead of showing two separate shows, one from 2000 the other from 1999, I showed only one consolidated show. It consisted of 100 of my favorite slides of hippos, giraffes, elephants, zebras, lions, cheetahs and leopards from the past two years. Tonight a great couple from Holland talked to me before during and after dinner. They sat through my slide show several times. Their names were Rolf and Ern and they were very nice. They referred me to Edith Brinker's from Africa and Holland.
Day eight This trip has been similar in many ways to my El Nino trip. The weather and the road conditions. It's similar to my trip two years ago where my luggage was lost and the migration was north and I was south. Again I am driving 2 to 3 hours each way to reach prime migration viewing. The only difference is I am north and the animals are south this time. UGLY, RAINY headed to Nabi. At 7:40 we were driving down 16 and the leopard was in the same tree as yesterday. I think it is a female about 100 meters away in a sausage tree left lower branch. 10:25 two cheetah a way off in Makoma. 11:35 a serval on Nabi road We stopped by Nabi gate and picked up Joseph the park Ranger. He knew me from last year as he worked as a guard at Serena Serengeti. He had been at the party I threw last year. We headed for the road that leads to Ndutu and spotted a cheetah there. As I was shooting photos of her I realized that it was the only cheetah that I can identify...toothless scar face. This was very encouraging, as it had been two years since I had seen her. This time she also had a kill 2:20 6 lion 5 - 10 meters away Gol kopje 2:35 4 lion on rocks 3:00 4 cheetah the same cheetahs that we saw on day 2 We left Nabi at 4:35 and the only road from Seronera to Serena was blocked by a huge group of elephants. This was the first group of elephants to cross my path this year. They were really well behaved but we were also on our best behavior after being charged last year. They came really close to the land rover and had allot of very small babies with them. They seemed really comfortable with us as even when we were stopped they continued to come closer and closer until they were 10 meters away. Tonight I met Daniel and Betsey. Daniel is a Swiss guide that was raised in Arusha all of his life. Betsey is from Aspen, meeting friends here and staying five nights.
Day nine I can finally see the sky! It might be nice today decent sunrise 7:25 leopard at 16 same as day 4 or five We picked up Noel Peter Sawe the ranger and headed to Gol. 9:15 6 lions 2 male 4 female 9:30 3 lions 1 female 1 male 1 male running 10:23 6 lions 10:25 1 cheetah (same as day 2) 11:35 2 cheetah 1 mother and female baby We stopped by Ndutu to say hello. The managers were on game drive but some of the staff recognized me and that was nice. I treated Noel and Mohamud to a beer and then we left. 3:30 1 leopard same vicinity as hippo pool 400 meters Great slide show tonight 50 people very interested. Monday January 15 on TV.
Day ten 6:30 1 African wildcat was just beside the road just before the first hippo pool as you come to Seronera River 7:35 we drove down 16 to see if we could find the leopard we saw days 4, 5 and six. If we see it again that would be four days in a row the most consecutive sighting of the same leopard. We stopped the land rover in approximately the same area and listened. As we were looking and looking we heard a grunt, and another and another. Boy that caught our attention! It was a leopard. We couldn't see it just heard it. We then saw a leopard jump up a tree 30 meters away. Then he moved a bit and was 10 meters away and the light was perfect! He came down at 8:00 and headed south. We watched and we listened. We heard a few more grunts and then we saw a reed buck run across the road in front of us so we moved in that direction. We then saw the leopard up in another tree about 500 meters from the first tree and about 100 meters away from the road. As we watched the leopard then moved to a third tree. At 9:45 the leopard came down and we stayed until 10:30 to see if we could spot him again. (Possibly the same as Magadi leopard) We went in search of the other leopards that we had seen this year. At 11:25 we found the Wandamu leopard a male with a pink nose (#26 on roll) On game drive today we heard that people had seen us on ITV in arusha on Monday January 15. It was reported that A & k vehicle, Ranger safari vehicle and a Africa Dream Safaris vehicle (Mohamud and I) were taped at the cheetahs at Gol kopje and aired yesterday.
Day eleven We drove down 16 then to Magadi, As we were driving on Magadi I pointed to a tree across the river that Willi and I had seen a leopard in. in fact it is the leopard on the front of my flyer from 1999 and it had a baby ad a kill in the tree and was 25 meters away. We then headed to Seronera, Wandamu, Masai, and Seronera again and headed back to Magadi when we heard that a leopard was spotted. And believe it or not it was within 500 meters from the area I had pointed out earlier to Mohamud! So we were excited and planted ourselves within 20 meters away. I anticipated the path the leopard would take when they came down. I'd wait as the light would only get better and there certainly wasn't anything else happening that could possibly have better potential. So we waited and waited and waited and waited. Vehicles came and went and more came and left and we held several business meetings! Mohamud lay down and slept while we waited. As the day wore on I knew this leopard would come down. And some vehicles decided to wait it out with us. At 5:30 he came down, and he took his sweet time and looked at me several times and it was definitely worth the wait. It was a good research day! Male with pink nose. Slide show went really well 40 people from UTC Betsey and friends Bill and Carol Lawler (cheesecake Sam's)
Day twelve Slightly overcast, then sunny then absolutely poured. Finally at 8:45 we heard that there was a leopard in sopa so off we went to find the leopard. This was the first time that it would be dry enough to get to that area. At 10:30 we heard that there was another leopard in sopa. So our excitement increased. We decided to head toward the leopard that we heard about last, as it was the closest. Well the road that we needed to take was a road that we had frequented many times last year to find the lions in an area I called the swamp. Now you know why we had not been to this area at this entire trip. Well I think someone played a game on us and sent us on a wild goose chase because nobody in his or her right mind would have gone on this road. We were following another car so we were not totally alone just in case we did get stuck there would be help...maybe! This road was every bit as challenging as the roads during El Nino. We slide sideways just like on black ice, hit ruts that felt like you would be swallowed up and not come out, went through water that came almost up to the windows. We traveled this area until we could get to the other road that would lead us to the first leopard that we heard about. We needed to get on sopa rd past the first bridge on the way to the lodge. At 11:25 (2 & 1/2 hours later) we finally saw the male sopa leopard. It was 75 meters away really well hidden in the center of the tree. There was allot of traffic and it had been obvious that some had gone off road. There was a car that was stuck off road, (Roy's Safaris) was the guy who had told us about the "other leopard". Mohamud finally helped them. There was one other vehicle there with us and before he helped Mohamud help the other guy, the other driver drove off road to right under the tree and I took his photo, (simba safari) 12:00 8 lions in a tree at sopa. We went back to the leopard to see if it had moved. We waited for a while until1: 15 and then left. 1:38 we came into contact with 4 female lions and three babies in the first gravel pit to the left when you turn on sopa road off of Nabi rd 50 people for slide show, Dinner with Charles, Betsey till 1:00
Day thirteen We headed to Nabi. At 6:30 2 male lions were 10 meters from the road. It was so dark that Mohamud didn't even see them. We crossed the normal roads around Seronera River and it was obvious what effect the rain had had for today's game drives. We crossed an area that was flooded and the water was within inches of the window. We weren't in any danger as the water was just a flooded area not a raging river. We knew today would be an extra slow day for the non-four wheel drive vehicles. We arrived in Nabi to pick up the ranger at 8:45 it was Noel again. At 8:45 we were with the 4 male lions and the light was perfect. They were about 10 meters away. By 10:03 we were at the 4 cheetah again and they were about 20 meters away, (3 males and 1 female). We left at 11:00. At 11:40 we heard that there was a leopard at Serena and at1: 35 we finally saw the leopard. It was at least 150 meters away and was very well hidden and rather hard to see.
Day fourteen This morning I slept in but the askari was unaware so he still knocked at my door promptly at 5:50 am. I said later but never went back to sleep. Last night I agreed to take Charles to the airport much to his concern for my delay in starting my game drive day. As I explained to him I'd rather spend the short amount of time together. So with that on the agenda I had breakfast, took some photos of employees, loaded Charles up and off we went to the Seronera airstrip. After an emotional hug till we see each other again, off we went into the bush in search of the almighty leopard. At 11:15 we headed to Wandamu and as we were headed back when we heard that there was a leopard on the way to Kirawira, about 1 - 2 hours away. Mohamud immediately wanted to head there but I was very apprehensive, as I have never seen a leopard anywhere close to Kirawira. So as we started I suggested that we mosey by Masai rd, Seronera River, 16, Magadi and then venture towards Kirawira if all else failed. Mohamud did not like this idea as Kirawira was closer to being home but he accommodated me. And by 12:32 he was thanking me as I spotted a leopard about 400 meters away. It was a male with a pink nose. He just so happens to be my career # 100 leopard and it was significant that I spotted him! We figured that the view would be better on the other side so we headed to the other side with a pack that if w encountered another vehicle that we would not tell them about our find until we got to the other side and had a better view. It wasn't a problem as nobody was around this area, I imagine they were at the Kirawira leopard or in Nabi. From the other side of the river he was only 60 meters away and he was not that far from the hippo pool intersection, maybe a couple of miles. I still get excited when I see a leopard! We had him all to our selves until a car drove up at 2:10. Word quickly spread after that and a few more people got to see this leopard before he came down at 3:50; we then headed for home.
Day fifteen Masai - Sopa_ 16- Magadi- picnic- Masai - Wandamu 7:30 we were headed on sopa road when we saw 7 lions, a pride of four mothers and three babies. They were willing and good subjects. We thought that they were going to hunt but finally left them alone and headed for the leopard. Sopa leopard by El Makati special campsite area, trees on the right, 75 meters, male, pink nose with a kill. 7:40 took the kill up the tree 75 meters away. 7:56 brought the kill down 8:02 up a tree 125 meters away 8:09 down the tree 8:17 up another tree 200 meters away We left at 8:30 According to these numbers a male leopard can walk approx. 10 meters a minute carrying a kill. 2:10 Wandamu saw a leopard 120 meters away female with a pink nose 2:44 down quickly as baboons were coming down the road. We keep trying 1000-meter increments but didn't see her again 4:00 heard about another leopard at Seronera and the fifteen cars helped to be able to locate this one. 4:20 we see it. It was at least 150 meters away. Leopard three for the day. A record for this trip and a total of over 100 leopards in the last three years. 4:56 leopard number four at serena. Another shy leopard quite a distance away.
Day sixteen Our intentions were to head to Nabi right at the crack of dawn, but as we left, somehow I was still attracted to trying all of the previous areas we had seen leopards, before we tried to see something else. So we started slowly trying to find the Serena leopard, waiting for it to get light enough so we could see. Mohamud said we needed gas so we stopped before getting on the main road to Nabi. While getting fuel Mohamud showed me a broken fan belt and a broken bearing which both needed replacing. At 9:30 we finally left the gas station. I suggested we look around Seronera, Wandamu, Masai, Magadi and 16 before we head to Nabi. This change was due to the fact that it would take us three hours at least to find the cheetahs and then it would be horrible light. So if I wanted to take any photos of the cheetahs I would prefer late afternoon light which would at least afford me an opportunity at decent light. So the way I saw it we had several hours to find a leopard before we headed to Nabi. Get rid of any ideas of a short day, after all it is my last day of game drive for this year. We were coming from a quick jaunt down Wandamu and heard about a leopard at Magadi. A male with a pink nose, 75 meter away. I believe that this is the same leopard that I spent 5 1/2 hours with one day we watched until we left at 11:25. At 11:53 we were at sopa rd and Nabi rd. 12:20 we picked up Eva the guard 12:44 6 lions off the side of the road. 1:43 4 cheetah. As we watched a herd of wildebeest and zebras were headed in the direction of the cheetahs. We felt that this was a great opportunity for a kill. Unfortunately as other vehicles saw us they came over and inadvertently cut off the path between the prey. After a while the cheetahs gave up and the people got restless so they left. As the prey came closer and we were all alone with the cheetahs another car came and as I motioned for them to stay left, they did, and we all were well rewarded. About 10 minutes later all four stretched, started to walk, walk faster, faster, now starting to run, all running, running faster, all going fast in different directions, which to follow, which one is fastest, this one is, is close, go! Go! Faster, faster! Has a kill, go! Go! Go! Faster, go! closer, closer, go! Go! Go! Ok! Ok! Ok! Stop! Stop! Stop! Here, here! Oh oh this is good, something new. Four full grown cheetahs taking down a full size wildebeest. All four on it at once. Action! My heart is beating. We probably didn't move fast enough to be close enough to have decent kill photos but there was a struggle and it took a while for the actual take down. Man you have to be always READY! READY! READY! READY! That happened so quickly! 3:10 leave 3:15 two cheetah, mother and baby female. FUN 3:30 leave Starting to POUR, POUR, POUR Met Mustafa from flycatcher with the elderly couple I saw regularly last year from two weeks. Met peter that wants to buy a cheetah kill photo 4:50 we returned to the leopard of the day and guess what. He as still asleep in the same tree in the same position and we stayed until the park ranger asked us to leave at 5:45. A great last day for 2001. Now a relaxing evening at bush dinner and what a trip. They are all different!
Day seventeen This morning I am all packed and not ready to go. I shot some photos of some of the employees but not as many as i would like. I will have to make a concerted effort to finish what I started next year. I was going to go on game drive on my way to the airport but we gave a ride to Housekeeper Devota as she was going to Arusha so it was not really conducive for a game drive. After Mohammed dropped me off at the airport they were leaving directly for Arusha. Abraham picked me up at the airport. We stopped by cultural heritage and said hi to Saif, bought a belt and two spears. I went to the mountain village and met Wilson who was the assistant manager at Serena Serengeti last year. After checking into my room I met Wilson for lunch. Robert from serengeti was also working there. It was goo to see old friends. Wilson and I met for dinner at 6:30 and Abraham and I left for the airport at 7:00. While I was waiting at the airport several people came up to me and had recognized me from game drives or from my slide shows. It was fun. (TOP) Day Eighteen - Home I arrived in Amsterdam at eight o'clock in the morning after sleeping all the way from Kilimanjaro. I went to the Touch Down Cafe, which took me forever to find as it was on the third level and you had to take three different elevators in order to get there. I waited for about one half hour for my cousin to arrive. When Marten had not shown after about a half an hour I called him on his cell phone. He suggested that I take a cab to his address, he would meet me and then return me to the airport. So I caught a cab and went to Marten's flat. It was great to meet a long lost relative that I had been corresponding with via email. We sat and chatted for a while, he gave me a tour of his home and then we went sightseeing around the city of Amsterdam. All in all we spent about three hours together before he returned me to the airport for my next flight to America. It was great to see the city from the perspective of a local. He pointed out all of the points of interest and historical sites which were in the immediate vicinity of his home, as he lives directly on one of the four main canals that go through Amsterdam. We decided that time was too short and that we would have to continue our liaison at a later date. I boarded my flight headed for Detroit at 2:00 p.m. and slept most of the way. I had a couple hours lay over in Detroit before I boarded an hour and a half flight to Philadelphia. Once in Philadelphia I had an hour wait before my flight departed for Salisbury. I arrived in Salisbury at 11:00 p.m. and got home inside my house at 11:45 PM after having been on planes a total of 22 hours exclusive of layovers, a total of 44 hours including layovers. A very long and exhausting trip home! Of course I had to call my mother and wish her a happy birthday and by the time I got off the phone it was 3:00 am my time and 10:00 am in Tanzania, almost 48 hours after I left! And yet I can hardly wait for next year's adventure in the Serengeti! (TOP) |
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