Prepping for Crocodiles….

The first day of our sightseeing was in the city of Maputo, Mozambique. There were numerous fun things to see and I have put them into a video that will premier on Friday.

After that day, we moved to the Massingir district of Mozambique.

The story starts here…..

On this trip, Michael is looking at various animals….Crocodiles in particular!!

The search for crocodiles on the Massingir lake was an interesting exercise.

The first plan was to bait them into a small island (aptly named Alcatraz) so we could observe them. The day prior to our plan, our guide, Dylan, and his tracker, Albino, built a blind for us to sit in.

It was interesting to watch them pulling up large plants by the roots and replacing them on a rock ledge overlooking the shore…..

As the blind grew…..

….Dylan contracted with some of the villagers to bring fresh branches across the lake….

With the addition of a tarp and camouflage…..

…. the structure quickly turned into a comfortable den for us to sit in….

Michael had a chair at the front opening, and I was awarded this mattress that I could choose to sit on OR lie back on!! Such luxury.

The final preparation step was to cut a hole in the brush to give us a viewing window….

We left at the end of the day with the blind set up and ready to go.

Tomorrow morning we will get busy watching crocodiles!!

Michael and I love to travel and see new parts of the world and then I love to take those memories and turn them into quilts!!! I hope that you enjoy traveling along with us!!

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Are you nervous?

Michael and I are having a wonderful time in Africa and I am finding tons of time to relax.

Here is one vignette from today…..

As our rowboat slipped into the still waters of Lake Massingir, Michael turned to me and whispered “Are you nervous?”

You mean in a 10-foot rowboat, in the middle of a lake infested with 12 to 16 foot Crocodiles….

….with a pod of Hippos vocalizing on an island in the middle of the lake……

…..with over $6,000 worth of camera equipment strapped to my body…..

….and the boat has a slow leak.

What is there to be nervous about?

Michael and I love to travel and see new parts of the world and then I love to take those memories and turn them into quilts!!! I hope that you enjoy traveling along with us!!

Be sure to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss a single trip!!

Walking with a Cheetah

I began this Mungari adventure with the story of taking the Pangolin for a walk. To end this trip, we got to walk with a cheetah….literally!!

The adventure started early on Sunday morning when Tamar approached me and said that when the satellite imaging came thru, one of the cheetahs was on the edge of the floodplain and that we could drive there to see it!!

Did we want to go????

YES PLEASE!!!

We climbed into the back of Bredger’s Land Rover and headed to the selected area. As we got closer, Tamar guided Bredger and then climbed on top of the cab to get a better reading…..

This particular antenna is a smaller version of the one that she used in the helicopter.

We drove some more and she isolated him to a small clump of palmettos. Bredger kept circling the trees and eventually, we caught sight of him…..

We kept nudging him and he move a bit further into view….

Then Tamar asked the wonderful question…..do you want to go walk out there with him??

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!

When we answered in the affirmative, she told us to quietly walk at an angle to him and enjoy watching him close up.

As we walked off, Bredger gave us confidence by saying “God speed….”

It was the coolest thing to walk so close to him when he was in the wild.

Eventually he got tired of us ogling him and he took off one last time….

HOW COOL WAS THAT!!!

Tamar explained why it was safe for us to do this….. Cheetahs use their speed to hunt, coming up on the animal from behind and bowling it over and to the ground when it catches up to it. They do not like to approach an animal head-on!! So, unless we started running away from it, we were perfectly safe!!

As we returned to camp, the final sunset put a wonderful closure on our time in Coutada 11, in the Maramao complex of Mozambique……

Michael and I love to travel and see new parts of the world and then I love to take those memories and turn them into quilts!!! I hope that you enjoy traveling along with us!!

Be sure to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss a single trip!!

Mungari Miscellany

Unfortunately, on this trip I got sick. Fortunately, we had antibiotics that I could take to kill all of the foreign bacteria floating in my stomach but, it meant that I lost 1-1/2 days of fun!!

These were the days that I was going to spend doing photography around the camp so I was truly disappointed, but there was still plenty to enjoy.

One of the days we took a Reedbuck to Chief Thozo. I wrote about him in this post about the blessing of the Cheetah Boma….

The Cheetah blessing

We arrived at his house carrying the much-appreciated meat animal that would feed his family for days…..

The Chief arrived and thanked Bredger profusely……

….while a number of his children looked on, excited that they would have meat to eat that evening…..

As we drove along, Vashko was sitting next to me on the back of the truck….

….and he gestured for Bredger to stop. He had seen a lion track in the road…..HOW DID HE SEE IT?

It was a huge track….sorry that I didn’t put my hand down there for context!!

On one of our forays, we ran into one (of many) termite mounds. Here I AM next to it for context….

There was one night when Michael and I were the only people in camp and, since we are not considered to be guests, the staff decided to do a “sundowner” together……ie drink Gin & Tonic and watch the sunset!!! I hate that Mark Haldane wasn’t there but this is a magnificent photo of the entire crew…..

….and NO, the color is NOT photoshopped!!

The camp itself was a usual hive of activity.

This was our tent…..

…..and this was our Warthog……

….who wandered around the camp, immune to the people wandering past him.

There were monkeys on the roofs…..

Red Duiker at the firepit…..

….and an amazing millipede…..

Look at all of those legs…..

And then there was the HUGE scorpion…..

….originally found ON my bed!!! Fortunately, we found him right before we left camp so I didn’t have nightmares about it while we were there!!!

Our time here is growing to a close so, one more fabulous sunset shot……

Michael and I love to travel and see new parts of the world and then I love to take those memories and turn them into quilts!!! I hope that you enjoy traveling along with us!!

Be sure to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss a single trip!!

Portrait of a Palmetto

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, my position in the truck is in the back, with my head over the cab. While this leaves me open to all sorts of disasters, it also means I have a GREAT view of the world as we travel.

On our early morning adventure, I started enjoying the Palmetto trees, particularly in the “golden hour” light…..

THEN, I started looking at the curve that forms when you look at the leaf from the side…..

Do you see a paper-pieced quilt or is it just me????

Next, I noticed the “angel” type wings that you see when you look at it head on…..

Then I started looking at how they overlap in the trees…..

….and then at the tree as a whole……

Wouldn’t it be fun to play with something like this…..

Now, let’s be honest….

I am not SUPER excited about the paper-piecing process so this particular design will probably NEVER materialize, but it sure was fun to think about for a couple of hours as we drove thru the flood plain of Coutada 11!!!

So….if this tickles your fancy……PLEASE….be my guest!!!

Michael and I love to travel and see new parts of the world and then I love to take those memories and turn them into quilts!!! I hope that you enjoy traveling along with us!!

Be sure to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss a single trip!!