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Journal
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Wednesday, January 24, 2007 Click the image below to view the images - and video :) - from our day with the Sabyinyo group. 
Tuesday, January 23, 2007 I finally made a little progress processing some pictures. Click the image below to view our visit to the Amahoro group. 
Sunday, January 14, 2007 
Thursday, January 11, 2007 
Wednesday, January 10, 2007 And to round out the feline pictures (because we didn't see any leopards), here are a few lions.   And while this video isn't the most interesting, the audio is super cool. We captured it while tracking a HUGE male lion who was chasing off two juvenile male lion intruders. (and for those without access to youtube, here's a windows media version, although you'll have to be patient for the download.)
Tuesday, January 09, 2007  On our first afternoon at the Gorillas Nest Lodge, we heart drumming outside out room and were surprised by this fantastic performance by local entertainers. They performed for about a half hour, and then returned an hour later wearing different costumes and with some men doing acrobatics. It was fun to watch, especially because the little girls seemed to really be enjoying themselves. (and if you can't get to youtube, here's a windows media version, but you'll have to be a little patient with the download)
Monday, January 08, 2007 On just about every game drive in the Mara we saw cheetah, and on all but the first game drive they had cubs. One even had FIVE cubs!   A lot of times we were the only vehicle there, so we'd sit and watch for a while and then Samuel would move the vehicle so we could watch from a different angle. We could actually hear them purring and sometimes they would make little squaking noises. Although certainly not the most flattering picture :), here's one that shows proximity (looks like I'm on the ground, but we're in the Landcruiser). 
Sunday, January 07, 2007 As I mentioned in a previous post, we had a brief layover in Nairobi in transit from Rwanda to the Masai Mara. I queried a few travel websites for "what to do during a 6 hour layover in Nairobi" and found Kennedy at Waymark Safaris. We're pretty low key, and I knew we'd be wiped out from all the travel so I didn't want a jam packed itinerary. After a few email exchanges, we decided on visiting the Kenya Wildlife Service (Nairobi Safari Walk) and then perhaps do a little shopping. He also handled our transportation and day room when we flew through Nairobi on the way back - all went off without a hitch and I would highly recommend him. The Nairobi Safari Walk was pleasantly deserted when we arrived. It's pretty zoo-like, but it gave us a chance to stretch our legs, and I was there for a reason. I'd read that for a tip to the keeper you can pet the cheetah cubs, and considering that I'd hiked with mountain gorillas, AND been 500 yards into the Democratic Republic of the Congo, getting into an enclosure with a well fed predator cat was nothing. In retrospect, I consider driving after dark in Rwanda the most dangerous part of our trip. Still, I was sure not to tip until we were OUT of the enclosure :) We were escorted into the cheetah enclosure and introduced to the 5 year old female who trotted out and promptly flopped at my feet and started purring. OK, not a cub. At first I was a little intimidated, but she behaved exactly like a big housecat - liked to be scratched behind her ears and they are even MORE beautiful up close.  While Andy is busy taking pictures of me, the male cheetah pranced over to him (again, not a cub). Andy was sitting down, which the cheetah seemed to like because he rubbed his head all over Andy's shirt and licked his arm with his raspy cat tongue. Good thing I had several antibacterial wipes with me :) This picture was actually shot by one of the keepers - the guy had no qualms about using the D80 with a 70-200 lens!   So yes, a corny diversion. One I would recommend if you're a cat person? Sure. It was certainly interesting to interact with an animal that we would see in the wild a few hours later. 
Saturday, January 06, 2007 And now...some video snippets. This is Kajoliti, the second silverback from the Amahoro group. After watching him for a while from above, our guide (Patience) suggested that one at a time we could move to another position for a different view. After descending through a slippery patch of nettles, we were within 15 feet of him. While this was quite thrilling for us, Kajoliti seemed indifferent and just looked around and scratched himself. (and if you can't get to youtube, here's a windows media player version, but you'll have to be a little patient for the download.) This is Guhonda, THE silverback from the Sabyinyo group. He weighs about 450 pounds - must take a lot of bamboo to sustain that weight! (and if you can't get to youtube, here's a windows media player version, but you'll have to be a little patient for the download.) And this is Guhonda with two babies from the group. (and if you can't get to youtube, here's a windows media player version, but you'll have to be a little patient for the download.)
Friday, January 05, 2007  I finished a first pass through all the images, and the "keeper" rate seems to be around 5%. This rate assumes that if there are 5 images shot in a row, and they are all good, only one makes the cut. We shot 1327 images in Rwanda, 1192 images in Kenya, and 7 images in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (more on that side trip later). The rest of the subject matter breakdown is as follows: Andy (83) Art (7) Bird (63) Caracal (6) Chameleon (4) Cheetah (506) Crowned Crane (1) Elephant (64) Entertainers (97) Fish (2) Flower (29) Food (2) Gazelle (6) Giraffe (55) Gorilla (1064) Guide (22) Guinea Fowl (2) Hikers (17) Hippo (26) Hyena (6) Jackal (37) Jennifer (96) Kazuri Beads (7) Lake (22) Landscape (132) Leopard (3) Lion (270) Lizard (19) Lodge (33) Mongoose (7) Owl (6) Plant (13) Rhinocerous (20) Rhinocerous beetle (1) Topi (5) Tracker (5) Vehicle (2) Vulture (1) Zebra (1)
Thursday, January 04, 2007 I'm still nowhere near going through all of the images, but I thought I'd post some of the "keepers" in the mean time. Today's image is from our visit to the Sabinyo group. When we first found them they were in a dense part of the bamboo forest, but after a while they moved out into an open clearing where the light was just perfect. 
Wednesday, January 03, 2007 Gorilla picture of the day - the second silverback from our visit to the Amohoro group. 
Monday, January 01, 2007 And after about 20 hours of travel we are back in Chicago. We had a day room at the Stanley Hotel in Nairobi (home of the Thorn Tree Cafe, which should ring a bell to Lonely Planet readers) and departed for the airport around 8:30. The guy in front of us in the check-in line was trying to carry on a bow and arrow - he'd bought it as a souvenir but it was a full size working item. He kept saying "souvenir" and the check-in people kept pointing at the list of weapons, and wouldn't you know it bow and arrow is on there. When exiting Kenya, our passports got a bit of scrutiny (might have been that passport stamp that we got when we tip-toed into the Democratic Republic of the Congo for ten minutes when visiting Gisenyi). Our secret hideout in the airport (the cafe past gate 14) was totally mobbed, but after hovering for a few minutes we were able to score some seats. You can't get into the gate area until about an hour before your flight, and there are like 15 seats in the entire Nairobi airport. Our plane took off an hour late, around 1am. I fell asleep about 3 minutes after they came through the cabin to spray pesticides. About an hour later we landed in Uganda - this was apparently scheduled but a little bit of a surprise to us since it was never announced and our flight didn't list any stops. We had an hour and a half in Brussels, and this was just enough time to go through security and then check in at the gate. Before takeoff, a security person approached us in our seats to confirm we were on the plane. Our theory is that it had something to do with luggage coming from Nairobi or the mass of cables (chargers). This flight took off on time and we actually landed early in Chicago. Immigration has become a little more efficient, and the only passport scrutiny we got was "you travel a lot, what do you do for work?" If my bag hadn't been the last one off the plane we'd have been home sooner, but we were still home less than an hour after we landed which is pretty darned good. It took most of today to backup all of the images from the P2000 and now I'm making backup DVD's before looking at anything. In 8 days we shot 2523 images and 51 video snippets (many are just audio) - totaling 11.2 gig. I'll try to post some as I go through them, but for a few days you might have to live with the ones we posted from Kigali.
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