Joy, tears and laughter
Lorenzo really wanted to go and try to see Sable antelope. I had no guests to guide and to be honest a nice sleep-in was luring....Friendship is friendship so I decided to bring him there and there we went with Saidi, Tony and Daudi, the new trainee guide.
At 6.30 we left camp and ventured around 8.00 into the kingdom of tse tse flies, the road was well maintained so we could proceed steady. We spotted a big lioness in the reeds but no sign of sable, not even hartebeest showed themselves to Lorenzo's disappointment. Lot's of duikers, impalas and giraffes!! Birding was stunning, we got a handful of nice species like Raquet tailed roller, Shelley's francolin, Black collared barbet and Ruaha black and white chat, a bird recently identified as a new specie by Rob and Sue. Even Lore was happy regardless the sable was a no-show.
But there was also something horrible; we found a dead elephant, a decent size bull, possibly wounded by poachers, it was dead for a month, a pile of bones and rotting meat. We could see what looked like small caliber bullet holes on the forehead. The tusks were still there and quite big, so probably the poor chap was shot, was not killed and ran away to die somewhere else, the poachers unable to track him down. We called the rangers that later on came to deal with that, removing the tusks. Nothing should be killed in this way... I really feel the pain and the fear of this bull...Let's shake the sadness off and proceed...
The big surprise had yet to come.... we were driving back around 2.15 when we suddenly run into a pack of 10 hunting dogs. They were resting under the shade of a big bush. We decided to stay and watch and wait patiently them to move. We told other guides as well, so other cars came and we waited together. Jan Corlett and Rogers Burrows also managed to arrive which was perfect timing considering how mad the are about dogs... soooo happy for them! The dogs tested our patience and did not move before 6.10.... but then it was a show, great light, dogs going and coming back, playing around, checking the surroundings, sniffing the ground, running one after the other. It was healing joy after all we had the last month. Now Lore was really happy.
A couple of Serengeti for dinner and then to bed. Sara the manager, called me at 2.00 in the night from tent number one she is sharing with her sister in visit, "Pietro, there are lions eating something between my tent and the lounge, can you please check the waiters are not going to wake up guests at 5.45 by foot".
Sawa, I woke Lorenzo up and we went to have a look, we walked up to the lounge to find a lioness just outside, by the birdbath. She moved off, joined by other three and then came back some twenty meters from the lounge in the grass munching something. We left her reassured from the fact that they were eating something small and they would be long gone in the morning. Happily we went back under the duvet. Now I hear snoring and the Lorenzo's voice asking me how it was possible that from the staff quarter someone could be heard all the way to our tents. It was weird so we decided to investigate. We went behind our tents and surprise!!!! An elephant bull was sleeping on its side, on the ground and snoring like no man's business!!! We had a good laugh and I was still smiling when my eyes closed..
