Who sees a wild dog den on the first day in Africa?
Did I mention the lion?
and landscapes formed and constantly changing without man's intervention. make me ask, "how did that happen?"
I'm admitting that I am a closet twitcher. Must be -- I got too excited at my first spot which wasn't a leopard or a cheetah but rather a bird.
The ancient volcanic activity that formed Ruaha provides breathtaking landscapes and the animals are abundant and varied but the baobobs that invade the landscape of this park brought to mind Tolken’s Ents and had me expecting Hobbits under every tree.
Katavi, a remote and largely ignored park with few visitors gave us glimpses of amazingly large herds of ellies and cape buffalo, massive crocodiles and pods of hippos– I imagine it as a real view of how Africa must have been before safari camps, landrovers and tourists. While we were there, only seven other visitors roamed the 4000 square kilometer park and less than 500 people visited the park in all of 2009. The animals are less used to humans, more recently impacted by poaching activity and, not surprisingly, less willing to have us close by. Perhaps, as it should be for we just don’t live in a Hick’s Peaceable Kingdom painting. More pics later -- I have to pay for the next trip tomorrow...
