Safari

Last week i was on safar in Tsavo East national park, and it was an awesome experience. We went on two game drives a day and covered a fair bit of the park. The truck we had was a massive green thing with about 20 seats. All the other vehicles in the park were little vans that could seat 8 or so. This had its advantages and disadvantages. With it being so big, we would often scare off some animals with the sound of the big loud motor. But we were able to see further, being higher up, and over other vans when there was a few around.

during our time there we saw elephants (lots of them) Dik Dik's, buffalo, eagles, Cheetahs and some lions too. The most exciting one to see was the lioness We spent about an hr following other vans who had radios and were able to track it better. When we eventually found it, it just walked into the middle of the road and layed down to rest. Our guide, Winston, then said that lions have no fear of any thing at all. This was when our big truck payed off. there were about 20 vans around, all of them jammed in pretty right to see the lion. Alot of people were having trouble seeing, but not us, we towered over the other vans, and because of that, i got some awesome fotos.

Another time the big truck paid off was when we had a bull elephant charge us. That was awesome fun, but the guides were shit scared of it. Had our van been smaller, it would not have seen us as a threat, and would not have challenged us. Apon reflection, had the bull actually made contact with the truck, we still would have been in trouble. That elephant weighed in at about 7 tonnes, and while our truck prolly weighed more, our truck wasnt angry - the elephant was. In the end it walked away, knowing it couldnt really do much to us.

The other highlight was the cheetah. When we first say it, it was a good couple of hundred meters away. We all wanted fotos, but didnt have the soom to do it. I has the bright odea of using the binoculars as a sort of telephoto lense. It was tricky to line it all up, but it was possible. The fotos didnt turn out very well - very blurry. the day after that, we saw them again much closer, and discovered that is was a mother with its cubs. predictably, all the girls were awwing at it.

i think thats about it for safari.

now, this is my last weekend at camp, im leaving on tuesday to get my Uk working visa. Then while thats getting processed, im going to climb mt kenya. Hows that for short notice. I made the final decision today to do it, and i start climbing on the 22nd of november. Im nervous about it. More so than Kilimanjaro because apparently Mt kenya is harder. Francis, our gap co-ordinator, says that ill be one of few people who have climbed both in the space of 3 months. Not sure about that one.

thats all for now. I will probably post again when im off Mt kenya.

cheers