Off the Map: A cheetah that plays football...?

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Peponi Beach, Tanga, Tanzania
We left Nairobi almost a week ago, last Saturday. Since we first ran a couple of errands, including picking up Simon’s car from the workshop, we didn’t get out of the city until lunchtime. But luck was on our side this time, since the traffic wasn’t at all as bad as the previous time we were driving down to Athi River where Simon lives.
It was really good seeing Laila and Simon again, and it was especially fun to see Simon walking around without the crutches. We had a nice evening filled with laughs, serious talks, card games and wine. Needless to say, we weren’t quite fit to make the 6-hour drive to Mombasa the next morning… So we postponed our take off until the next day, and instead spent Sunday together with Simon, Laila, Gray and Suzy, two of Simon’s neighbors.
We started with a short game drive, or should I say bird drive. We had earlier spotted a lot of vultures landing a bit further down from Simons house, so we got in the cars and drove down to see what was the big attraction for them. It turned out to be the carcasses of two dead cows and beside the huge group of vultures feasting there, there were also a couple of eagles. It turned out that one of the eagles were a rare sighting in Africa, a lesser spotted eagle. Simon, who sees thousands of birds each year, said that this particular species he only sees once every three or four year, if he’s lucky… So i guess we brought them some good luck again! :-)

Vulture going in for dinner...

Från Off the Map - Africa

After the bird watching we went over to Gray and Suzy’s place and had a wonderful lunch. Also, to Gustav’s great pleasure, he and Gray went off in Grays seriously modified Land Rover Defender 90. There is an off road competition in Kenya called Rhino Charge. In short; the one who goes between a number of checkpoints the shortest route wins. So the key to success is therefore to have a car that can go pretty much straight through or over anything. Grays has that…
When the guys returned from their little adventure in the nearby quarry, they literally walked on air! Boys and their toys, huh…?

Simon, Gustav & Gray with a seriously pimped Land Rover.

Från Off the Map - Africa

We then decided to take a drive up to another neighbors house, where they have a tame (somewhat at least) cheetah. Her name is Toli, and she was previously a luxury pet in downtown Nairobi. Of course that is not a proper place for such a cat, so now she has been relocated to her new owners out on the countryside instead.

On the way over there, it was a couple of kilometers drive, we spot something rare these days in this particular area. A wild cheetah crosses to road in front of us, and we silently watch her for the following 15 minutes as she stalks a pray, an impala, and makes a go at a kill. However, this wasn’t her lucky day, the impala got away with a few inches to spare. We were nevertheless happy, since we got some amazing wild life viewing without expecting it.

Wild cheetah stalking a pray...

Från Off the Map - Africa

Later on when we pull up to the farm where Toli lives, we get our next encounter with a beautiful cheetah. Toli is resting on the side of the pool when we get there. Gray and Suzy had bought a football for Toli to play with, and that was probably a really good thing… Because when we’re walking up to her she suddenly rises and get a really dangerous look in her eyes. She lowers her head and set focus on Gray, and then she begins to stalk… Gray sounds a bit panicked when he urges Suzy to throw the football, and I for one can understand him!
Luckily, Toli finds the football a more tempting pray than Gray so she sets off after it right away. :-)
We spend another half an hour or so playing with her, and it is just mind-blowing being this close to such a magnificent creature.

Toli is taking a brake from the football game.

Från Off the Map - Africa

Frankly, we are really lucky.
On this trip we have gotten to do so many things that one normally doesn’t come close to, and we owe it all to our friends in Africa. Thanks to them and their generosity, we have experienced things that the every day tourist can only dream of. So thank you to all of you out there!!!

Now we have left Kenya for Tanzania, and we are setting course for Malawi within the next week. The drive from Athi to Mombasa was easier then expected, and on Tuesday we arrived were we are now; Peponi beach just south of Tanga. We are leaving this place today though and instead we are on our way to the beaches south of Dar es Salaam. This place was supposed to be somewhat of a paradise, but unfortunately it hasn’t lived up to our expectations. This could have something to do with the fact that there’s been two school classes the entire time we’ve been here, and they’ve made A LOT of noise. Teenagers and slack teachers = bad combination.
Anyway, we spent the day out at sea yesterday, taking a dhow to a nearby coral reef and we did some snorkeling. It was good fun, although it can’t really compare to the snorkeling in Asia. We have to look forward to the scuba diving in Lake Malawi instead! :-)

Toli seems to think that Gray looks tasty...