Tanzania Safari - Cheetah Story

To make a long story short, we took the bus from Dar Es Salaam to Arusha. It was an eleven hour sit in crowded bus with only one bathroom stop. Lots of stops in villages and roadsides, lots of poverty. The trip only cost $25 each, Linda made friends with a mom and her three year old boy, we got a taste of every day life in Tanzania and we finally made it. Then it was quite a change when we got to Arusha and our luxury hotel.

Our safari started the next day. Rather than tell all now I will relate just one event (hopefully more later). We wanted to see big cats and our guide/driver obliged. We had been driving on the pretty terrible dirt roads in Serengetti Park when our driver turned off and headed across country (you can't do that in Kruger Park). We came to a tree where there were two other safari vehicles, they were looking at a cheetah resting at the base of a tree. As we looked a third vehicle arrived and oddly, a baby zebra seemed to have adopted it and was following close alongside. The mother and  father zebras were about fifty yards away in a near panic. The baby followed the truck right up to where the cheetah was resting. The cheetah saw his opportunity and took off after the baby, but junior got to mom and dad first and they faced down the cheetah. All quite exciting! I got some of the key events on film.

Later the cheetah went off to stalk the wildebeest herd.

Cheetah resting under a tree

This is Momma, right?

Snuggling up to a Toyota Land Cruiser

The chase

Standoff

Slightly frustrated cheetah

Victoria Falls

Our tour of the falls was pretty good. At his time of the year the water flow is very high over the falls. You would think that is a good thing, but it can be too much of a good thing. Throughout most of the fall's width the mist makes viewing and photographing difficult. The falls creates it's own weather with a permanent cloud over it. The mist comes down as a constant rain.  For the tour we were given ponchos, they were almost totally useless. When done with the tour my clothes underneath were completely soaked and my camera was nonfunctional.  Fortunately both eventually dried out.

Later in the day we took a sunset cruise on the Zambezi River. Unfortunately my camera had not yet healed itself. It was a nice evening and we saw some elephants and hippos along the way. The hippo even obliged  by coming up and opening its jaws to full width. It even held that pose for about five seconds. But, of course, I didn't have my camera.

The next day it was back on the plane and back to Johannesburg. The day after tomorrow we will be off to Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania and another safari.

We have flown to Zimbabwe to view Victoria Falls. It's part of a tour. As such I expected to be put up at a middle of the road resort such as we had at Iguasu Falls in Argentina. The tour description described it as three star. When our transfer from the airport delivered us we first stopped at a posh place in town with massive grounds and a huge building. We almost got out there by mistake, but resolved to settle for something a bit less. We drove quite a ways out of town and our expectations continued to drop. Off on a side road we arrived at Victoria Falls Safari Lodge. The lodge is on a hillside overlooking a Nature preserve, there is a watering hole quite close. The grounds are beautiful the room is large and overlooks the watering hole. A book in the room lists this as one of the top one hundred hotels in the world. Jackpot!!

We spent the afternoon in the bar looking out over the bush. We saw lots of vultures and several wart hogs. Later we went to our room and Linda thought she heard elephants so we looked out and there they were two of them at the watering hole.

Pics of Linda at the bar and our room. Tomorrow we view the falls.

Kruger National Park

Our tour of Kruger Park began with our guide Rhys picking us up at Johannesburg Airport. He was actually there, a first for us. It was a bit over four hours to drive the park. Once in we immediately began seeing wildlife. My telephoto lens was very useful. After several hours of wildlife looking we arrived at our camp. This was a fenced compound that had a campground and a number of African style cabins. Rhys made us dinner on the barbecue. Barbecue is an South African passion.

The next morning we headed out at 5:30, wildlife viewing is best in the early or late hours. We made our way across the park to the next camp (Lower Sabie). This was similar to the first one but a little bigger. The fences around the camp are heavy and electrified, I am reminded of Jurassic Park.  All our meals are made on the barbecue.  Rhys is a nice young man and an excellent guide. His eyesight is incredible, he sees and identifies game before I can even make it out. We spend two nights at Lower Sabie. We also get two tours by the park rangers. The first is a sunset tour that continues ion the dark. The second is a morning tour that starts at 4:15 AM. These tours are done in large trucks with a raised platform and seating area in the back. The height gives a better view over the grass than we can get in Rhys' SUV.

On our last day we drive about three hours through the park and then the four hours to the airport where we go a hotel. We are a little sleep deprived but we thoroughly enjoyed the tour and the wildlife. Tomorrow we head off on a three day excursion to Victoria Falls.

Our first two days in Antarctica went as follows: 

We boarded the Sea Spirit on the afternoon of March third. The ship set sail out The Beagle Channel around 6:00 PM. First order of business was some safety stuff. We did a lifeboat drill so everyone would know where to go in an emergency. Our cabin is quite nice by cruise ship standards. The crew is very welcoming and helpful. With only a hundred people aboard it may be possible to get to know a significant percentage. Meeting new folks is half the fun of a trip like this and there are people from all over the world. There are lots of Ausies and Kiwis, some from South Africa, Britain, Brazil, Netherlands and the US. The expedition staff is equally varied, lots of Canadians, Ausies, Polish, Brits, etc.

Our first day and a half is spent crossing the Drake Passage. It is a bit rough seas ran about twenty feet high and the Sea Spirit is not very large as cruise ships go. Most people dosed themselves up with a variety of sea sick remedies. Linda and I, since we are used to being on the water didn’t bother. And I haven’t been sea sick in over sixty years. Linda was totally fine and I, of course, puked my guts out. I was ok in my bed but when I got vertical the nausea set in. Breakfast for me was a cup of tea, while Linda chowed down. I tried not to hate her. When we were almost done with the Drake we had the Doctor aboard give me some anti-nausea pills. They seemed to help, but we also moved out of the Drake passage into the calmer waters around the Antarctic Peninsula. I started to feel much better.

The first shore excursion was on Barientose Island. The ship carries about a dozen zodiacs to ferry everyone ashore. They are very careful about maintaining the environment. All our outer clothing had to be decontaminated. Before stepping in to the zodiacs boots are disinfected by walking in a tray of disinfectant. Ashore we were greeted by fur seals, gentu penguins, and chinstrap penguins. An elephant seal was also sighted on the beach. The wildlife, like in the Galapagos have no fear of humans. After several hours ashore we returned to the ship. While aboard, there a fairly frequent lectures on birds, marine life or history.

After our second night aboard (spent at anchor), we went ashore again at a place called Half Moon island. This was a rockier place, lots of chinstrap penguins, more fur seals and some beautiful vistas. It had snowed a bit overnight, giving everything a stark monochromatic look. Blue skies would have been nice but it was raining as we went ashore. There was an Argentine research station there. They set up a little spot on the beach where they tried to sell some handicrafts they had made during the long antarctic days. Of course no one thought to bring any cash ashore so they did not do very well.

In the afternoon we moved on to Deception Island. Much of this area has a fairly recent geologic history. Deception Island is actually an active volcanic caldera. The ring of the caldera is broken only at one place allowing are ship to get in through  narrow passage called Neptune’s Bellows. Inside there is an old whaling station, the remains of a British research station and the remains of the first airfield in Antarctica. The sands on the beach are somewhat warm due to volcanic activity. The British abandoned the area due to eruptions in the 1960’s and 1970’s. The weather was not great again with wind and snow, but it does give a small taste of what Antarctica is all about. 

There is much more to tell and I will try to catch up in the next several days.