Paging Rocco!
 

Thought of you when I saw this earlier today. STD may need convincing, but, oh, the opportunity!
http://realestate.escapeartist.com/P-27291

SusanLynne,

That is very interesting!

I do have something like this more in mind, however:

http://www.shiwangandu.com/

;)

There is an interesting book I just started reading about this historic house, titled "The Africa House."

http://africanhistory.about.com/libr...fricahouse.htm

I may have a hard time convincing STD about the property that you proposed, but I think Shiwa Ngandu would be an easy sell! :)

Best of all, it is only a four hour drive from North Luangwa. If I am lucky, I will figure out how to end my Zambian holiday with a couple nights at Shiwa Ngandu next year, as North Luangwa (www.kutandala.com) is already on the list. :)

Ms. Susanlynne, why 'STD may need convincing'

Sexually transmitted diseases need convincing?

Hello Z,

Roccco's wife occasionally posts here under the online name of "scaredtodeath."

Folks around here refer to her by the nickname of STD.

SusanLynne -
Up to no good again - still trying to separate one of us Africaphiles from our money! Kidding! You just can't seem to get Africa out from under your skin. Good for you. One of these days someone on this board is going to up and chuck it all and just "do it." Reading the details re charges the camp applies for accommodations - that's what James pays when he travels around on his own. Not a bad deal. Sent this onto him as the island he's living on these days is getting smaller each day - and he's up for returning to Africa in a "hot second" if it's the right opportunity. Price is certainly more doable then that last piece of real estate (the ranch) in Kenya.

Roccco -
Africa House - you'll love this outstanding history of a young man who settled in Zambia at the turn of the last century, then raising a family and their interactions with the local tribes. Amazingly, the house is still there... in need of repair, but there! You'll enjoy this reading, as I certainly did.

Rocco: Wasn't talking about you staying here for holiday, but rather you buying it!

SusanLynne,

Neither was I! ;)

(but rather me buying Shiwa Ngandu) :)

(Anybody seen that winning lottery ticket???)

I keep trying to win Powerball, Mass Million, Tri-State Megabucks, any of them but to no avail.

Oh well ... Rocco, did you get the photo albums I emailed you from our recent trip? Thought Elsa's Kopje might be of interest to you.

Susan,

Thanks for the photos. I have only gone through the first group so far but they looked great. I look forward to the next few installments, and I will definitely go through them this weekend before I leave to Costa Rica on Monday.

Just a couple years ago I would be thrilled to be going to Costa Rica, but Africa has really spoiled me, and now it is almost a chore and I would trade it in a heartbeat for one week in Zambia, but this is kind of a free all expenses paid first class trip provided by a supplier of my business.

Still looking for that winning lotto ticket so I can spend half the year in Africa. :(

Susan,

Just treated myself to a slideshow of your 2nd set on your way to Klein's Camp and the camp itself. Looks like you timed your stay perfectly with all of those wildebeest...incredible!

My lack of knowledge about Eastern Africa is very apparent after viewing your pics. I never imagined that the Serengeti was so "barren" in comparison to some other parks, yet I guess this is part of what makes the gameviewing so favorable.

I loved that big maned lion at the end of your second set, although I am not sure I would like to get too close! ;)

Rocco: Serengeti means "endless plains," so that is certainly appropriate for the south-eastern part of the park. The further north you go more hills, kopjes, etc. Make sure you check out Elsa's in Album III. I think it is right up your alley as far as lodging criteria.

Susanlynne, may I see your pictures too? [email protected]

Z: I have not yet mastered the Ofoto system, which is the most convenient way for people to look at photos. (Call me dense but I just cannot figure it out.) I will send you the photo albums via the old-fashioned AOL photo album system. They will come from [email protected].

Susan,

Forgive my ignorance...will you please share more about Elsa the lioness. I would like to read whichever book tells her story.

By the way, you are right...I did love Elsa's Kopje. It reminds me of a slightly wilder Puku Ridge in South Luangwa. This will definitely be on my list whenever I finally make my way to East Africa.

Rocco: Elsa was made famous by the book and subsequent movie of the same name: "Born Free." Elsa's mother was shot by George Adamson, then a game warden in Meru. Upon discovering three cubs, one of which was Elsa, George and his wife, Joy, decided to raise the cubs. After a while, two of the cubs were sent to Europe to a zoo, but the littlest, Elsa, stayed with George and Joy. Their primary goal was to release Elsa back out into the wild. They raised her, taught her how to hunt, how to survive and eventually did release her. There is some argument about if they were truly successful, as Elsa always came when they called her, she would visit their camps and they occasionally would bring her food to eat. Anyway, Elsa died of a parasitic disease and upon her death, her three cubs were raised by George and Joy Adamson (but not nearly with as much human contact as Elsa had) and eventually released in the Serengeti. Elsa was an extraordinary lioness and one of Kenya's most famous residents. In addition to "Born Free," Joy Adamson wrote "Living Free" and "Forever Free" -a trilogy of Elsa, her life in the wild and a book about her cubs. There was a notoriously famous movie made "Born Free," as well as "Living Free." One starring Richard Harris was about George Adamson and his work with lions in Kora, which is adjacent to Meru. That movie is "To Walk With Lions" and I would highly recommend you see it. Joy Adamson was killed by a former employee in 1980 and George was killed in 1989 in Kora by Somali bandits. While most of the books are touted as for "young readers," I thoroughly enjoy reading them to this day! And it was "Born Free" the movie (released in 1964) which introduced me to Africa. I am wholeheartedly and forever in Elsa's debt.