Hey John,

Yeah perhaps, we meet in India or Australia too........or just at zib, that's great too.....

agreed.......

Hari

Standing next to my husband with our heads sticking thru the sun roof of our vehicle.
Seeing his beautiful smile with the vast Serengeti, cheetahs roaming and rays of sun coming up behind him - perfect. Don't gag.

I still have this visual locked in my head.

Hari, It was a <b>6</b> member cheetah family--a mother and 5 nearly grown cubs in 1998. We were told that this mother cheetah stole one of the cubs from another female to add to her own brood of 4. She had successfully raised them to near adulthood.

John, I agree with you about enjoying 100% of the animals, and a slightly lower % of people on safari. I even preferred the hippo that splattered the door of my hut with feces each night to some of guests I've met.

Let's hope I'm not lower than hippo dung on the list of some other travelers that have met me. Oh well, as long as I rank above spa girl.

Sherry,

I understand you perfectly!

After I met my wife (before I'd even thought about marrying her), I asked her if she would like to join me on my next trip to Africa. All my trips had been solo till then, and I just wanted to share the experience with somebody important. Well, it ended up being our honeymoon. Here's us on the last morning of that trip, heading for the airstrip to go home (and can you imagine, we didn't want to leave?): www.afrigalah.com/sel3img/Lionmike.jpg
(photographed by a Belgian friend who we have not yet met).

John

John,

All of us fodorites, would like to take a look at yourself and Yvonne. I clicked the link to find the focus on the big pride male, instead.....Hahaha

Hari

Hari,

The animals are always more important than the people on safari...I thoroughly approve of the photographer's focal point :D

That was one of the Selinda pride males in 2000, giving us a royal escort to our plane on the track between Zib and Selinda. There was a strong coalition in those days: Bruce (Willis) of the Bridge pride; and Arnie (Schwarzeneger), Brad (Pitt), Sly (Stalone) and Dopey (the dwarf) of the Selinda pride. Can't remember which one this was. They gave the two prides lots of cubs for a couple of years, then as is the way with lions, moved on or were kicked out. There were no obvious successors at the time, and three of them did return very briefly at one stage but weren't a power.

John

Oh Boy, so so many amazing experiences in Africa and, like Hari, not only just of the animals.

On our very first visit to Africa, our VERY first sighting was of of wild Elephants (my favourite animal!) and was on a cruise on the Zambezi . We saw a group of Ellies cross the river from Zambia into Zimbabwe. I still vividly remember the 'nudging' that went on at the riverbank - one ellie trying to encourage another to be the first to go in. I think this will be the one memory that will stand out in my mind and represents pure bliss for me.
Also on our first trip, sipping on a cool beer in the lounge area of camp and watching a large Ellie drink from the pool not more than 5 metres away.
Sneaking from our tent into the hide to watch Ellies drink at the waterhole (we weren't supposed to go there without a guard but couldn't resist).
Our first sighting of a very large herd of Ellies and having sundowners not more than 50m away across a stream... One of the Ellies had a burnt leg and was trying to cool it off - I still feel sad when I think of that Ellie.
Staying up late having 'drinks' with our guide Sean and Chris, one of the other guides - twa AMAZING guys.
Deck falling asleep on morning gamedrive (after one of those late night drinking sessions !) and Sean's reaction to this :D
Chasing through the bush to get to a leopard sighting in time ... sadly we missed it but the chase was fun.
Almost colliding with a large bull Elephant and having to rapidly reverse to get out of this way.
My first lion sighting when the lioness walked RIGHT by my side of the vehicle. I was afraid to breathe and didn't dare take a photo - I could have reached out and touched her.
The 'farniefelfolkers' as Sean called them - the miserable pair of tourists in our group that never had a good word to say,'stole' the blankets on the cold night game drives and tipped Sean the equivalent of $1 at the end of their stay.
I have to add one of DEcks most memorable - him having a nap in the tent and being woken by an Ellie JUST outside at the window beside the bed ... scared the **** out of him :)
All of the above was at the Honeyguide Tented Camp in SA.

Our first Whale sighting just outside of Cape Town and those adorable penguins at Boulders Beach.

I know I'm rambling now but I can't leave out our most recent memorable sightings, the most 'breath holding' of which was our first glimpse of the Amahoro Group in Rwanda ... AWESOME!
Spotting and seeing the Cheetah mom plus 5 cubs in the Mara.
Listening to the exciting build-up and seeing the wildebeest cross the Mara and watching them jump over those rocks.
Holding our breath when a large croc approached the crossing wildebeest but then decided he was full and didn't try to kill.
Seeing Mom Hyena plus two adorable black cubs at their den on our last full day in the Mara.
'Meeting' my foster babies in the Elephant Orphanage in Nairobi.
The famous cheetah hug in KWS in Nairobi.
The wonderful sighting of two 'unknown' cheetahs in the area and the fact that we were the ones that 'found' them.
And last but not least, Richard, our driver in Rwanda - a totally AMAZING person!

Hope I haven't bored you to tears but once I got going I couldn't help myself!

Imelda

Certainly not boring Imelda. You need to copy and paste this condensed version of good memories for yourself too.

Thanks Lynn,
I'm going to do just that and after I posted I thought of more I am going to add - like the balck backed jackal who started crossing the road in front of us and then suddenly lay down and just 'game-watched' us!
Also, the hippo out of water - a first for us..... anyways, no more rambling.. I promise!

Lynn, I have a question for you - I'm looking into a malaria free safari and I see you posted a question about Welgevonden - did you ever find out much about that area? There doesn't seem to be too much information on it!
(We're also looking into Namibia!)

Thanks,
Imelda

Imelda,

We are crossing paths.

I even emailed Selwyn, The Source on South Africa, about Welgevonden. His response to me was that he had to look it up himself and thought it appeared interesting. You could pioneer Welgevonden as you did Burundi.

Ha, ha Lynn, we are indeed crossing paths - I just replied to the other post :).... Somehow I think I would like my next adventure in Africa to be of the 'path well worn' type :D ... no unexpected surprisde please ;)

Imelda

Hi wonderful Safari Fodorites. I have been immersing myself with threads on this African board now for many weeks. I feel I know many of you. My husband and I are getting more specific on details. At the moment, we are planning 4 nights in Old Mondoro, LZ - 6 nights in Luangwa River Lodge and still debating Kafue NP. We also plan a 2 to 3 day stay in Lusaka (one at the end). We sponsor two children there that we will finally have a chance to meet. I have emails out to both camps to check available dates in Sept/Oct. Have not heard back yet. Our flights and stay will depend on their replies. The logistics are difficult for us to put our arms around. I want to spend 2 days at the beginning in case there is a problem with our BA flight and to see the kids. We can’t figure out which area to see first. Can someone help with the sequence? We want to spend some time seeing the local life in Lusaka and the small villages. I love reading and sharing your memories.

Akin,

To get the full benefit of Fodorite advice, you ought to start a brand new thread, with a descriptive title, instead of tacking it into this one.

Akin, You may wish to use a travel agent that specializes in Africa to assist with the internal flights.

Your internal transport may dictate whether SL or LZ should be first. I think either would work well in either slot. If you can spend at least 3 nights in Kafue, that would be good. You are going at an excellent time of year for Kafue.