We started off at 6:15 and ran right into a male and female cheetah leisurely strolling about and stopping every now and then to pose on a rock or downed tree limb or just in the grass. We drove to a different spot and in the low bushes in front of our jeep was a little dik dik standing as still as a statue and gazing off into space. He would not move a muscle. He sensed the cheetahs. I was terrified that the cheetahs would see him and eat him. I got a photo of the dik dik hiding while the cheetahs passed by him. Then the little dik dik crouched down out of sight. Unaware, the cheetahs kept walking. I let out a sigh of relief. We followed the cheetahs down a gentle, slope where they sat in the grass for a rest. Right when they had just settled in, the dik dik sprang from behind the bush and took off. His movement scared the bejesus out of the cheetahs. They jumped and started to run before stopping to see form whence the noise had come. Too late, the dik dik was long gone.

After the saga of the scared cheetahs and the brave dik dik, we continued driving only to find the same pride of lions led by the two brother lions. They too were strolling about. The two male lions saw each other from a distance and slowly strutted towards each other. It was great because there were herds of zebras in the background. When they came together, they started play fighting and rolling around. It was quite a joy to watch the two brothers, kings of the jungle, roll about like two housecats. Then they were joined by some females before all flopped down for a rest.

Next we drove out to the northern part of the plains and saw a zebra convention. As far as the eye could see there were hordes of zebras roaming about. We sat for hours watching them and then we saw one lone wildebeest in the center – the odd man out.

On our way back to camp, we saw the same leopard from yesterday. Again, he was peacefully sleeping in a tree, but this time no lions underneath. He was going nowhere so we drove back to camp for lunch.

I must say, I feel like I am stuck in an EM Forster novel – perhaps A Room with a View would be a good choice because the dinner companions keep getting better and better. We started with the 4 elderly, retired English doctors who monopolized every conversation, then came a young boastful, Indian orthopedic surgeon and his silent yet doting blonde, American surgical nurse/fiancé, then came an elderly British, by blood but Kenyan in the heart, couple. She has the face and hairdo of Anne Miller, just frozen in time by fillers and Botox, and her husband who resembles and sounds like John Wulp. Then there is an over-baked, orange couple from Vancouver. They are a lively, well-exercised twosome in their 70s. The wife looks like Rod Stewart and her husband looks like Tony Roberts from the early Woody Allen films. It is all forced, polite traveler chitchat punctuated by the occasional self-deprecating joke.

This afternoon I spent with the leopard again. I hoped he would come down from the tree. But he did not. I think from sitting in that same position in the tree that his legs have suffered paralysis and he cannot come down. His name is Morty and he has a cell phone that he uses to call the park rangers to order breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They send his boxed meals up to him with a highball and desert in a crude dumbwaiter type setup involving a rope tossed over a branch and on the other end is tied a bucket with his meal that they hoist up to him in the tree.

On my way back to camp, the sun was setting and I got a great photo of the red sky with an acacia tree in the distance and a giraffe’s head and neck in silhouette towering above the tree – a perfect ending photo to my time in Tanzania.

Tonight, the camp was packed. Four more couples came into camp during the afternoon so all 8 tents were filled. The majority were Americans, 1 Japanese woman who was married to one of the Americans, the two Brits and the 2 Canadians, and me – Miss Honeychurch. Two of the American men started bitching about third world countries and politics. I was glad I was at the other end of the table with the orange, Canadian, female Rod Stewart. We were laughing and singing Maggie May and thinking of being sexy.

The best part of the evening – I had asked Ken if there were any women guides because I had never seen one. He told me there were a few. Well, I met one my last evening and her name is Vicki. I had my photo taken with her. She has been a guide for 13 years. She is my alter ego doing my dream job. We hugged and she offered to take me out the next morning. Unfortunately, today was my last day so I will have to go with her the next time. What a perfect end to another visit to Tanzania!!!
The next morning before leaving I got a picture with Ken. He was a terrific guide and if you stay at a Nomad camp you should ask for him.