112 / 29 / 7 - Ice in the NCA

[Jochen]

Hah, great shots!

[ice]

Hah, great shots!

 

wait till you see them on my car

[Atravelynn]

Those are the guys!

 

You're lucky with those kites. Could have messed up the whole safari.

Edited March 23, 2014 by Atravelynn

[Soukous]

Super stuff @@ice

I agree with all your comments on Ndutu Safari Lodge, but it is hard to argue with the value for money.

 

Lunch boxes - yuk. Although, to my immense surprise - we got a brilliant lunch box from Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge last time I was in the Crater. Perhaps it was because we were a group that they could be a bit more adventurous.

[ice]

we spent about an hour at the cheetah kill but finally left for Two Trees where we found cheetah #3 - a big male

 

 

With him we stayed for almost six hours. For the most of the time it was just us and the film crew cars but every once in a while a few other cars joined - and then left again.

 

#3 was obviously hungry, he even (although half-heartedly) chased a zebra foal. At about 5 pm we were told that other guides had found a female leopard in the Marsh. Hamisi and I decided to leave #3 while the film crew stayed.

 

They call this leopard "Half Tail" although only a tiny piece of her tail is missing. Anyway, looking back this was probably the biggest group of cars I saw during my entire stay, about a dozen vehicles or so had formed a neat circle around the tree she was relaxing in.

 

45 minutes later I told Hamisi to call it a day - during my 2013 stay at Mashatu and Kruger I had had so many exceptional leopard sightings, this one was nothing special to me.

 

 

 

Edited March 24, 2014 by ice

[Atravelynn]

Wild Frontier Ndutu Wilderness Camp and KIA Lodge had great lunch boxes. I wish I had those contents in the fridge for a couple of meals right now.

 

I can tell the female leopard in the tree was not "my leopard" because her ears are in good shape and not terribly flea bitten like the leopard I saw.

[pault]

Wild Frontier Ndutu Wilderness Camp and KIA Lodge had great lunch boxes. I wish I had those contents in the fridge for a couple of meals right now.

 

I can tell the female leopard in the tree was not "my leopard" because her ears are in good shape and not terribly flea bitten like the leopard I saw.

 

Good information @@Atravelynn ... especially since I may have the option of a KIA Lodge lunch box or nothing or a sandwich purchased at Arusha airport one day this year!! Isn't it amazing how the smallest things can be helpful?

[pault]

Thanks for the updates @@ice

[ice]

I'm not sure if I will ever finish this trip report but I am now in the midst of editing my video footage and since it was requested earlier on, I will share the links here as well

 

I'll start with the Crater Rhinos

 

[ice]

cheetah kill 1 of 7

 

 

I know 5 minutes is probably a tad bit long but this was the first kill I ever witnessed from start to finish (although I was unable to film it all)

Edited April 22, 2014 by ice

[ice]

cheetah mountaneers

 

[Atravelynn]

Mountaineers, very clever.

 

The cheetah kill video is "not available in your country." Maybe Youtube is censoring for me because the video has a kill. The mountain climbing video played just fine. Nice going with the black rhinos. Looks like there was a wildebeest who thought he was a rhino in there.

[ice]

@@Atravelynn

 

it's probably not available because I used music which I don't have a license for

[Atravelynn]

What if I promise Youtube I'll turn off the sound and just hum my own tune?

[SafariChick]

I couldn't see the cheetah kill either - makes sense since I live in the same country as @@Atravelynn - bummer. I enjoyed the others though. Why DO the cheetahs get on the cars? Just so habituated and like having a high place?

[Atravelynn]

I believe you have answered the question, @@SafariChick. It is behavior taught by their mothers. Of course there had to be a first.

[ice]

I don't think it's such a big mistery or surprise, they may use cars as a lookout point just like they use termite mounds

Edited April 26, 2014 by ice

[SafariChick]

It's just interesting to me as I've only been to South Africa and Botswana and haven't seen this behavior there.