Capturing the Leopard
The image I took of the leopard was an amazing experience. A colleague at Nairobi University had arranged for a driver to collect me very early so that we could get out into the park at dawn. Which we did, not sure how they managed it but we were the first vehicle on the park that morning. At first we saw very little as it was quite dark but as the sun rose we managed to see more and more. From the lower plain it was hard to see too much so the guide (Harry) decided to get some height. We went up quite a way onto the plateau until we had a very good veiw. We stayed there for about 20 mins whilst Harry scanned the horizon.
I was watching a herd of Zebra just a few kilometers from us and I could see they were all looking in the same direction and did not seem at ease.
As we got lower Harry slowed down and kept the revs low as we approached the area we saw from above. The Zebra were still there and still on alert. Harry stopped the Landrover and we started scanning the grass bewteen us and the Zebra...nothing...camera at the ready I was sure there would be something there..perhaps a Cheetah as these are fairly common and like to lay in the khaki grass. Nothing. We were getting ready to move on when I looked on the other side of the rover, into some scrub at the base of the hill we had just come off...I was stunned.
There was a leopard just stood there looking at us. I told Harry and then took some snaps. It took a while to get a good shot but finally I did and luckily as just then the big cat turn and sauntered away.
Perhaps we had disturbed his hunt but I did some reasearch on the cats and read that they prefered to hunt in the scrub rather than on the plain, so I guess he was just having a snoop at the two humans who were in the area :0)
Harry was pleased and told me he had never seen a Leopard in the park...but perhaps he said that all the time :)
An amazing experience!
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We took 3 taxis from the Norfolk Hotel and headed out to the Carnivore Restaurant. It took about 20 minutes of bumpy travel to get to an area bordering the National Park and the city proper.
What greeted us was a vast restaurant that seemed to cater to both tourists and the wealthy(ish) locals. We had booked a table for 20 as we had friends coming from the Serena and the Landmark. We had booked ahead as we were unsure if they could cater…we need not have worried as a table of 20 is small fry to Carnivore.
We were welcomed very warmly and lead to our table. Arrange before us was a long table with a spotless white table cloth (that would not be spotless and hour later!) that had the basics on it. We all sat and ordered a huge round of Tusker Beer that arrived fast and cold…and then kept coming and the merest request @)
Basically Carnivore is an all you can eat restaurant with a great bar and also a nightclub/discothèque attached.
You raise a small flag on your table and the waiters will start circling the table with all sorts of bar-b-q-ed meat on them. They will tell you what it is, you nod and then a hunk (and I do mean hunk) of meat will arrive on your plate…this is not a place for the squeamish or anti-meat eater.
The portions simply keep coming, with lashings of ice cold beer until you simply have to give up and lower your flag!! A pal did raise his again to see what would happen and the waiters descended once more, I had to help him out @)
The meat ranged from the commonplace to the exotic, we had:
Ostrich
Beef
Wildebeest
Crocodile
Impala
Giraffe
Chicken
Waterbuck
And a few I could not identify or was not told about. It was all fantastic and after the meal (and settling up…about £25 ($50) per person) we then danced until about 2am when we started to form splinter groups returning to the hotel.
The taxi driver was delighted to wait all night for us and as such was richly tipped at the end of the trip.
A real must for any visitor to Nairobi, unless you really love to just look at the wild life (I understand that the meat is all farmed and is not bush meat!).
Yummy @)
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