Roar of the Lion, Silence of the Leopard, Purr of the Cheetah
Now that I am half way through the safari portion of my trip (by the way, I discovered on my plane trip to Zambia that I had a one day hole in my trip and so I am spending that day today in Nairobi blogging away), I want to tell you about the cats. I’ll try to give you a rundown on the safaris and the other animals as well in other blog entries time permitting.
I have never heard and felt something as powerful as the roar of a lion when lying on my cot in a tent. It started out as being terrifying, but it soon became the highlight of my walking safari in Zambia. Each time we went on a walk and went towards a roaring lion or where we last heard them roaring I had to think this is the craziest thing I have ever done. When we were in Ngorongoro Crater, fourteen lions sat down next to our vehicles. When you see their power that close and feel their roar through your body and the guide aims you towards the sound, you really have to laugh about it. One night a lion approached our campsite and we could track its progress by how much louder it got and how much more it reverberated through our bodies. I listened for two hours and almost yelled at the workers when they lit the campfire at 4:30 AM with the beast being right around the camp. It’s just a lion! They are very used to them as I would be by the end of the walking safari. One day we were tracking lions and came across one. Our guide, Chris (more to say about him later), got all excited pushing us away from some tall grass. I was sure he was freaked about a lion coming out of the tall grass and my heart stopped. We were expecting to find the lions in shade and this was a very sunny location so there was a lot of surprise. Actually, Chris wanted us to get away from the grass so we could see it. Once my heart started again, I realized that we had missed seeing her. A few more meters later and I had forgotten about the opportunity to see more lions thinking they had all high-tailed it. Luckily, the guides do not get lulled into forgetting about anything. Suddenly we stopped and they pointed to another lion. Now my heart was racing. I couldn’t see it. I was looking out a hundred meters towards a tree line since that would be the normal view you get when on foot. No, no, no! The lion was fast asleep (apparently, her friend did not bother warning her or she was too out of it to hear) about 30 meters from us. Holy &*”*###!!! I fumbled with my camera and when the first camera shot was taken, she sat up and looked around. As soon as she saw us, she bolted which is the behavior of the animals when they see us walking (whereas when you’re in a vehicle they hang out – makes no sense to me!). I had my small camera, but still managed to get a great photo of her in flight which I will post at a later date. King of the Jungle? We’re the Kings and they all know it even if they could easily rip our heads off.
And then there is the leopard. I have seen a leopard in a tree eating a Thompson Gazelle, a few sleeping in trees, one coming down from a tree giving me a look that could kill (the photos of that one are amazing and will be posted, too) and one fleeing during our walking safari (I almost asked “where is the leopard in relation to that running baboon?” before I realized the leopard was the “baboon” – I still swear it was a baboon in a leopard outfit). But the greatest moment with a leopard was during a nighttime game drive in Zambia when one just did its thing right in front of us with no regard to our presence. If looks could kill, the leopard certainly wins that one, but what struck me most and what gives me the most fear about a leopard is that it is absolutely silent. I noticed that it made no sound while it was walking, but I thought maybe we were just out of sound distance. But then it made a “mistake” and broke a twig rather than somehow walking around all of the twigs, fallen leaves and other ground debris. That twig made plenty of sound and it confirmed that over 45 minutes of walking and it basically made no sounds. You should hear what a human sounds like on the same terrain! The guides shut off the light that we had shining on the leopard and we watched it half-heartedly (it was really early evening and it was just checking out its territory) stalk some antelope. When the antelopes started to make their warning noises announcing they had discovered the predator, the leopard abandoned the stalking. Considering we had the leopard lit up for a few minutes in plain view of the impala and pukos, I wasn’t too impressed by their detection. The leopard is the most beautiful animal here and it is also the scariest.
After leaving my Nairobi hotel for the Masai Mara National Park in Kenya, we had a planned stop at a cheetah orphange. I thought it would be OK, but frankly I was looking more forward to seeing the fastest animal hunting in the wild rather than in a zoo setting. Little did I know there was a surprise awaiting me – thank you Nichole and Solomon!!! We got to the outdoor pen containing the cheetahs and I was taking pictures happy enough to be six feet away from them with a substantial fence in between. Next thing I know they are opening the cage and walking in and they want me to follow. What? Are you crazy? Yes! So I go in and I am soon petting the cheetahs. As soon as you touch them they start purring like any house cat except their purr travels though your whole body as well as through the ground. All I could do is giggle and smile the whole time. It was an experience I will never forget and it was made even more ridiculous when I watched three cheetahs of about the same size eating a wildebeest a day later in the Mara.
Tags: Travel
vagabondrick
Sounds a lot like our cats except they are a little bigger. I’ve just gotten your link so I have a lot of reading to catch up on. From what I have seen you have already seen more than most of us ever will. Hope your trip continues to be filled with great things