Africa vacations

Hello,
I'm a student in a college class. I have been assigned by my
professor to ask all of you in this group for your favorite place to
visit in Africa.

Mozambique coast, anywhere north of Vilancoulos.

Marc

On 24 May 2006 19:02:12 -0700, "nickie"
wrote:

Hello,
I'm a student in a college class. I have been assigned by my
professor to ask all of you in this group for your favorite place to
visit in Africa.

One last question. Can you share a favorite moment you may have had
there or anywhere?

For me is East Africa. Reason is the rich culture, wildlife and
scenery. My one memorable time is when I witnessed amazing wildebeast
migration crossing Mara River in Masai Mara and a zebra which was being
killed by a lion and it was groaning like a human being. I petied the
Zebra so much, but that is works of nature. I was so moved, I will
never forget it.

William
www.culturelinksafaris.com

There are far too many great times to be able to single out one as a
favourite.

Spending an overnight trip on a Dhow between islands was a hell of an
experience, but then so is rough camping in the Quirimbas, and so is
the serendipidous discovery of a small restaurant/bar on the beach in
Inhassoro with great local chicken and cold beer.

Marc

On 25 May 2006 04:48:47 -0700, "nickie"
wrote:

One last question. Can you share a favorite moment you may have had
there or anywhere?

For relaxing vacation.. South Africa
Purely for wildlife.. Kenya
For drama.. Mali, Egypt, Ethiopia

nickie writes ...

I'm a student in a college class. I have been assigned by my
professor to ask all of you in this group for your favorite place
to visit in Africa.

My favorite place is the south end of the Serengeti in Tanzania, the
"short grass plains" that turn green after the 'short wet' season and
harbor the mass of the wildebeest and zebra migrations. As many as
2,000,000 large animals packed into one large area with sweeping views
and lions, cheetahs and hyenas following the moveable feast. Pretty
impressive, though hard to catch just right due to the unpredictable
rains.

One last question. Can you share a favorite moment you may have
had there or anywhere?

Here are a few, in no particular order ...

* watching a cheetah trio as one approaches the car ... I assume he's
going to lay down in the shade but he jumps on the hood and, as I reach
down for a shorter lens, jumps onto the roof a few inches from my head.
I move back a few feet to the back seat and we photograph him as he
calmly scans the plains for girlfriends, enemies and prey. Pretty
cool.

* two lions are hogging a buffalo carcass for two days and finally a
lioness approaches and swats one in the nose ... both males attack her
and for 5 seconds it's a blur of fur and claws as they maul her and she
gamely fights back ... caught it all on film at 8 frames/sec ...

* two cheetah males resting in the shade, then they pop up as
wildebeest graze nearby. We have to wait several hours as they stalk
the gnus and wait for the right opportunity but are rewarded by a 100
yard burst as they kill a yearling wildebeest ...

* finding eight 10-week old lion cubs, eight sub-adults about ready to
leave the pride, nine mature lionesses and three large stately males in
one pride in the Olduvai Gorge, where we photographed them for three
days as they mated, played and fed on fresh zebra and wildebeest kills.
This was where the Leakeys found the 3 million year old pre-human
fossils and I couldn't help but wonder how my ancestors, armed with
rocks, sticks and their wits, survived against the lions' ancestors.

We have photos of most of these encounters posted on the web if you
wish to see them.

Bill

What is the web address? I would be interested in seeing them. Also,
I would like to thank you for taking the time to answer my questions.

nickie writes ...

What is the web address? I would be interested in seeing them.

They are scattered around a bit but here are the links ...

(* watching a cheetah trio as one approaches the car ...
jumps onto the roof a few inches from my head)

http://members.aol.com/bhilton665/ta...06/cheetah.htm

(* two lions are hogging a buffalo carcass for two days and finally a
lioness approaches and swats one in the nose ... both males attack
her ...)

http://members.aol.com/bhilton665/ta..._2006/lion.htm ... the
actual attack is one page deeper but this shows the two hour run-up to
the fight ...

(* two cheetah males resting in the shade, then they pop up as
wildebeest graze nearby. We have to wait several hours as they stalk
the gnus and wait for the right opportunity but are rewarded by a 100
yard burst as they kill a yearling wildebeest ... )

http://members.aol.com/bhilton665/ta...etah_T4710.htm

(* finding eight 10-week old lion cubs, eight sub-adults about ready to

leave the pride, nine mature lionesses and three large stately males in

one pride in the Olduvai Gorge, where we photographed them for three
days as they mated, played and fed on fresh zebra and wildebeest kills)

http://members.aol.com/bhilton665/ta...lion_T2707.htm and
following 5-6 pages as we took many shots of this pride ...

Enjoy! Wish I was going back soon ...

Bill

What awesome photographs!