Had better times

I feel a bit sick today.....

Festo

I got a good guide.......
We had a bit of drive this afternoon, we saw lions and elephants and I had fun.

Me and Festo, the new guide I hired after the suggestion of a good friend, went to fetch Riaan and Kim. We drove to the bridge and then towards Ikuka, Festo knows a lot and more then that is very interested and curious, very good english and good driving.

I am happy, we also had a great sunset.

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Bad day

Another camp's truck rolled while helping us to fetch water, three guys flew out from the windscreen, Bakari, Amon and my good friend Naiti.
Luckily they all just suffered minor injuries.
They are now well looked after in Tosamaganga with Doc Giuseppe.
Lions in camp.

Getting there

I got blisters for all the grass cutting and racking of today, but was a good day.
A beautiful Rufous beak snake crossed the camp causing havoc with the staff, we cleaned the new car parking, we basically finished three tents and collected nice bundles of spear grass for decoration.
We are all tyred but at least I am loosing some of the fat accumulated in the last month.
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Back in camp

Long day of cutting grass, cleaning tents and checking every detail of camp... it is still very hot
Lions are roaring again, nothing changed

Towards Ruaha again

Selous, Ian and Matteo

Three days in the Selous, one in Beho Beho to see my great friend Ian who just came now to work in TZ and two at Impala to see another great friend, Matteo who has been busy rebuilding the lodge's lounge.
Good braai at beho and morning drive with Ian, nice scenery, nice game, also lions at pelikan pan. On the way back we got stuck so we had to walk to camp, 5 km under the midday sun in the Selous.... Good fun, we also bumped into ellies.
Matteo is doing a great job at Impala, the new building is stunning.
Pasta with boerewors and lot of beers made the first night perfect.
The day after we woke up with a bit of headache and went painting the deck when we heard an alarm call very strange and very persistent, we walked towards the sound to find a baboon barking with the strangest voice ever ( i first thought it was a kudu!!!!)
On the left side we spotted 3 lioness walking in the bush, we followed for a couple of hundred meters, every now and then the cats would stop two peer back at Matteo and me, eventually we turned our back to them and went fetching the car, impalas were now alarming everywhere, evidence of more lions around

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We "tracked" the lions back with the car, it was the siwandu pride, ten of them on the hunt.
thay tried a giraffe with no avail and then entered even thicker bush where we lost them.
Wonderful experience.

On the way out from the reserve we hybiscus and a beautiful Meller's chameleon.

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Mark and Chloe, Mufindi 08/05/10

In Mufindi for Mark and Chloe wedding.
Great atmosphere, the church was so beautiful and the people so nice.
We stayed at Tim's place and had great fun with all the people there, the area is stunning with all the tea plantations, the eucalyptus and the lakes.
We met many friends, old ones and new ones.
The wedding party lasted till 6 in the morning, danced as mad, had many drinks with Molly and Mark, plunged in the lake and enjoyed every single minute

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MILANO