by Lufthansa Flyer | Dec 21, 2014 | Destinations, Featured, Travel, Trip Reports |
To continue with my Dulini Lodge trip reports, Part IV will be comprised solely of a Cheetah that within a few minutes managed to share several facial expressions. We came across her during an early morning Game Drive in the Sabi Sand Game Reserve and followed her for the better part of an hour. We were hoping for a hunt, but she had other ideas such as simply laying comfortably under a tree entertaining the ‘tourists’. Nevertheless I came away with several shots capturing her many expressions some of which are perhaps my favorite shots from the entire Safari.
You’ll notice in these photographs that I used Dulini’s logo as a watermark. The reason for this is that I had given permission to the Lodge to use these photos on their website, Facebook, Twitter and other Social Media outlets so instead of reprocessing the photos to have my ‘Aero-Shots’ watermark, I simply kept Dulini’s to save some time.
To get caught up on my previous Safari Posts, here’s is the index:
Part I: Cheetah vs. Wild Dogs vs. Warthog
Part II: A Leopard & Her Dinner
Part III: Tlangisa & Her Cubs
Enjoy!
I was hoping this stare was a precursor to a hunt but unfortunately it did not turn out that way. However this photo was voted as “Best Of Safari” by Mrs. LHFlyer.
For a moment, I thought she saw something of interest other than myself…..
Not exactly demonstrating her ‘Fastest Animal In The World’ capabilities…..
She must be bored by now….
My favorite expression of all the shots.
Ominous threat? Not hardly, just a well drawn out yawn…..
Gesundheit……
by Lufthansa Flyer | Nov 23, 2014 | Featured, Photography, Trip Reports |
I’m going to use Part III of my Safari Trip report to introduce to you Tlangisa and her cubs. Tlangisa is one of several female leopards that calls the Sabi Sand region home who earlier this year had given birth to a pair of cubs. Normally, this is a fairly non-descript event. What makes this special is the fact that both cubs have survived their early ‘childhood’ and are now moving towards ‘adulthood’. As you can imagine, there is a high mortality rate among newborn critters born in the wild and the fact that Tlangisa had protected both of her offspring successfully is actually quite an accomplishment. So much so, that the guides and rangers rate her among the best Leopards that they have ever seen as far has her ability to raise her cubs.
When we came across Tlangisa and her cubs, we spent over an hour tracking them as they moved through thick Grasslands. On occasion it looked as though they were hunting something specific but it turned out that they were scouring the area looking for opportunity. At one point they isolated a Scrub Hare, but it managed to get away from one of the cubs who was practicing his hunting skills.
This created a great opportunity for me to capture them in action. With them moving from point to point, it gave me a lot of places and positions to snap off several dozen shots of which some are my favorite from the entire trip.
Hopefully you enjoy these shots as much as I do!
Tlangisa (left) and her cub apparently see something of interest.
Tlangisa strikes a phenomenal pose. Leopards can be told apart by their distinctive ‘Necklaces’ and unique spot patterns on their heads.
One of the cubs scouring for opportunity….
I would love to know what she was thinking at this very moment….Was I too big for lunch?
This shot of one of the cubs is one of my top 3 favorite photos from among the 8,000 pictures that I took that week…..
Tlangisa walks by, fairly disinterested in us.
One of the cubs taking a brief break.
The temptation to bring one home was quite strong!
Safari Trip Report Index:
Part I: Cheetah vs. Wild Dogs vs. Wart Hog
Part II: A Leopard & Her Dinner
by Lufthansa Flyer | Nov 21, 2014 | Featured, Photography, Trip Reports |
In part two of this multi-part series covering my recent trip to the Dulini Private Game Reserve in the Sabi Sands region of South Africa, I’ll share the images that I was fortunate to capture showing a Leopard and her prey. We found this Leopard, known to the locals as Xikavi with her prized Impala that she hunted successfully, nestled safely in a tree. Leopards will typically ‘tree’ the carcass of their victim in order to protect themselves and the meat from opportunistic parasites such as Hyenas and Wild Dogs. Since Hyenas and Dogs hunt and travel in packs, a Leopard would be no match and would be risking her own life in protecting the carcass. You’ll see below how a Hyena stands ready to benefit from any scraps that would fall from the tree.
Fair Warning…..The images below are quite candid and show in detail how a Leopard feasts on the carcass and they may not be for everyone. These images were caught at last light using a Nikon D800 and a Sigma 150-500 (which proved to be a brilliant combo for the Safari). Fortunately the camera’s bells and whistles really helped maximize the moment. For you pixel-peepers, I did not do much with noise reduction in order to save time and the get photos ready for this post.
I leave the captions to you…..
The opportunistic Hyena is waiting for any scraps…you’ll notice a small bit behind her left shoulder…..
Click here to see Part I: Cheetah vs. Wild Dogs vs. Wart Hog
by Lufthansa Flyer | Oct 12, 2014 | Featured, Lufthansa, Trip Reports |
You may or may not have noticed, but LufthansaFlyer.com was fairly dormant for most of the last 10 days. It wasn’t for a lack of content or news regarding LH……
What created this vacuum in the blogosphere was the fact that my wife and I spent an unbelievable week on Safari in Africa. With polygraph attach, I can say that it was by far THE……BEST……VACATION…..that I’ve ever been on. What we saw, who we met and what we observed was unlike anything else that either one of us has ever experienced.
I do know that my cameras came back with 10 full memory cards and approximately 6500 photos and 4 hours of video. The prospects of sorting through all of it feels akin to putting a firehose in my mouth and turning the valve.
I’m having trouble where to start my series of trip reports due to the aforementioned statements.
The week on Safari in Africa was framed with 3 long haul flights by Lufthansa and 1 by United. I changed our outbound flight from the USA to UA since LH pilots had announced a long haul strike for the day were flying to FRA. I did not want to jeopardize our trip so was proactive but in hindsight we would have been fine on the LH flights since most long haul flights operated as usual.
As I sort through content and photos, I’ll use this post as an introduction and future installments will go in more details on our experiences. I’ll go into much greater details on the fantastic lodge, our hosts and the wonderful creatures that we saw from sun up to sun down (and later) each day!
So for now, enjoy a small appetizer of what my cameras captured……..
A Lioness guards her pride while they rest after a successful hunt…..
One of the first things we saw, a Leopard guarding his kill from a pack of Hyenas….
A monkey takes a moment…..
Taking a breather before continuing his dinner.
Of all the ‘Big 5’, the buffalo is perhaps the most dangerous.
A rare sighting as Rhinos tend not to lay down.
Kings of the jungle caught having a ‘moment’…..
One of my favorite moments as the Zebras almost appear to pose….Why does the one on the right remind me of Jerry Lewis……
A cheetah ponders her options prior to stalking her prey……
An adolescent Elephant uses our plunge pool as an open bar…….
It wasn’t all ‘claws and paws’, the scenery and sunsets were spectacular.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Jun 17, 2014 | Featured, Hotel, Trip Reports |
On a recent trip to Europe that took me to Hamburg for ‘Hamburg-DO’ and Istanbul to pick up someone special’s Birthday present, I also built in a 2 day stay in Zurich specifically for Plane Spotting purposes.
Ahead of the trip I was debating on which hotel in Zurich to choose from among the options that were near the airport. I wanted to stay in a hotel on or very near the airport property since I would be spending my entire time at the airport and did not want to spend time commuting back and forth between hotel and airport.
After doing a bit of research, I narrowed it down to the Park Inn and Radisson Blu which are both Radisson properties. The Park Inn is barely off of the airport property and a shuttle bus can have you at the hotel (or back at the airport) within 10 minutes. The Radisson Blu is located on the airport property, across the street from the terminal and is easily accessible via an underground shopping center connected to the airport. You don’t even have to step outside into the elements in order to reach the hotel.
When I compared rates, the Park Inn was about 30-40% less per night compared to the ‘Blu’ which amounted to about a $120-140 a night difference on the dates that I was going to be in ‘ZRH’. This had made the initial decision easy so I made the reservation for the Park Inn. I figure I could ‘tolerate’ a 10 minute shuttle ride to the airport in order to take pictures of airplanes and in the process save $240-280. That buys a lot of film.
However, I did wind up changing my reservation to the Blu after discovering a very useful thread on FlyerTalk that kept track of promotional codes, etc. for Radisson properties. After a quick search, I did find a promotional code that would bring the Blu down to $120/night which beat out the Park Inn rate by about $40/night. This was a no brainer and I pick up the big benefit of being right at the airport and a short walk away from the parking structures and observation deck that I would need for my ‘work’. Not to mention the promotional code included breakfast, which was a fantastic buffet filled with the kind of things you’d want and need in the morning.
By no stretch am I an aficionado of hotels and I never pretend to be. In a busy year, I may spend 20-25 nights staying in hotels which makes me a relative lightweight. However, even on 20-25 nights a year I can start to draw comparisons between hotels that I liked and did not like. The Blu, though convenient and pragmatic, left me a bit disappointed.
Upon entering the hotel, it is very impressive. A very nice and modern lobby awaits guests with lounges and a restaurant. It even sports a multi-story ‘Wine Rack’ which provides entertainment for guests as they watch very acrobatic women scale the structure as they retrieve bottles of wines. My first impressions were positive and I was looking forward to my stay.
Once I checked-in and went to my room is where the bit of disappointment kicked in. I was hoping that the modern look and feel of the lobby would carry through to my room but that was not the case. I walked into a room that was fine in terms of cleanliness, space and a few amenities but was showing its age with decor, wear and tear.
As you’ll see in the photos, the rooms colors and scheme (at least in my humble opinion) looked dated and thrown together almost as an afterthought. The clash between carpets and bedding maybe me wince just a tiny bit when I first walked in.
First glance of the room….
I was not a fan of the Red/Blue combination…..
Now of course, it’s not really important how things look but how they function. I was hoping that things were better than they looked but it did not work out that way. The bed itself was ‘OK’ at best. Good mattress, but the pillows were perhaps the worst that I’ve experienced in a hotel. No structure or support and it took 3 of them to make me feel like I was actually using a pillow.
Good Mattress but the pillows need some serious work……
The bathroom would follow suit and was nothing more than acceptable, and only because it was clean. The fixtures, floor, tub all showed signs of significant use and aging and could use a facelift. Again, it functioned and everything worked the way it was supposed to, but still was a bit of a let down based on my previous hotel experiences.
Functional, just a bit aged and worn.
In summary, if you haven’t figure out my opinion, the room is acceptable. Nothing special, no upside surprises and if you don’t mind a stark color combination then it is perfectly OK!
However, a typical room in this hotel can go from anywhere between $200 and $400 a night and what I DO KNOW from my hotel experiences, when I spent that kind of money, I am usually treated to a fantastic room that I typically love. All I can say is that I was VERY happy that I had a promotional code for this room and only paid about $115/night. I would have been REALLY disappointed had I dropped $250 or more like I’m sure other guests have done for the same experience!
However, I do realize that Zurich and Switzerland at large have very high prices for hotels (and most everything else) and I know that there is a premium to pay for staying on the airport property. I just wished that they took some of this revenue and gave the rooms a bit of a facelift to compliment how great the rest of the hotel looks and feels!
Long story short….Would I stay there again? Yes, but for the right price. Would I recommend it? Yes, but for the right price! 🙂
