Kavey

Providing rangers/ support to protect endangered animals from poaching or overzealous visitors is a world apart from getting a vet in to interfere with a natural event such as a thorn in a paw.

I would hope for intervention where injuries are caused by man's actions (such as snares or rubbish) but not when the natural order is simply playing out.

divine54

kavey

in case you are a safari novice and haven't educated yourself in view to conservation especially in view to cheetahs your lack of knowledge and understanding the situation is an excuse. but then you shouldn't state such a nonsense!


sorry - you are simply lacking insight and understanding.

as a safari tourist you should know that cheetahs lose 80% of their kills to other predators.
having 2 cheetahs means one has to hunt for both of them as long a the one cheetah cannot hunt.
an incident as such might probably drive both cheetahs at the edge of starvation causing their death.
and based on the extrem naroow gene pool any death of a cheetah is devastating.

pls do yourself a favour and don't mention such a rubbish while in africa being led by knowledgeable guides.



div

Kavey

Oh Div, you poor, poor thing. You really believe your own hype, don't you?

napamatt_2

Too funny

divine54

gosh....

good that we have such wise american tourists around who preach for whatever reason the actions or better non-actions of greedy camps which simply exploits the wildlife without caring for it.

very good solicitation for a bad cause!

div

HariS

I'll second Nappamatt's response ...... Too Funny, Indeed!!!

Divine Intervention, indeed for the cheetahs!!!!

Kavey

Oooh, when did I get American citizenship, that's a new one on me!?

PredatorBiologist

Welcome to America Kavey, we would be pleased to have you!

Div: any thoughts on how well medical intervention worked out for Honey. This has nothing to do with safari experience, although those you are talking down to have plenty of it, and everything to do with philosophies on wildlife management techniques. The prevailing view in most places is hands off for anything natural and intervention for direct human caused impacts, just as Kavey has stated. In some heavily managed places with rare species they might be more willing to interfere (they don't in most wilderness areas) but in a case like this its probably more risky and stressful to the cheetah to capture it than to let it deal with the thorn.

Kavey

Thanks PB but I think I'll stay put!

I dont think div is interested in prevailing view, having dismissed it as "such rubbish". Clearly, things are different in her own little world.

Treepol, back to your report. MOST MARVELLOUS!

atravelynn

8 black rhinos before 9 pm!?

Did you feel you spent about the right amount of time in Etosha?

After the stress of the barbs thrown around here, I was looking forward to some Namibia pics, but could not get in, even copying and pasting.

Treepol

Hi Lynn,

don't know what happened with that first link, but try this one - http://picasaweb.google.com/Treepol/...y=uUSuNMj81Z0# Sorry, no night photos of the rhinos though.

Kavey - good to hear that you are enjoying my report.

Cheers,



Pol

atravelynn

So I'm looking for some desert tranquility and immediately come upon more conflict with the fighting chameleons. What a variety of chameleon shots, even serving as prey. More conflict with the sparring oryx--you don't see that action shot very often. Loved the zebra snout closeup.

A delightful desert collection.

Kavey

Thanks for the photos, I like the close-up of the tiny dark grey chameleon!
Do you have any photos of the Etosha accommodations?

Treepol

Lynn - I though that 4 nights was good. I'd recommend 2 at Okaukeujo because the waterhole is quite active at night and the large herds of plains game coming in during the day are awesome.

I particularly enjoyed the drive in from Galton's Gate through the western sector which has more vegetation than the eastern side.

This was a return trip, and there was noticeably less wildlife in June than in October. Elephant numbers at Okaukeujo were right down this year and there wasn't an elephant in sight at Namutoni whereas in October 2005 we observed good elephant action there.

If I were going again I'd investigate lodges outside the park in the eastern sector such as Mushara and Onguma and combine with Namutoni and Okaukeujo.

Kavey - glad to read that you liked the chameleon. Accommodation photos are at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/Treepol/Accommodation2#

Cheers,



Pol

Kavey

Thanks for those, and for your email. Much appreciated.