An amazing African adventure

Editor's note: Susan Prentice, a Sandusky resident and photographer, recently took a 12-day trip with five other photographers to Africa. She recapped her journey. SANDUSKY — While out shooting short-eared owls one day in mid-December, a friend whispered in my ear, "Hey, you have a passport?" I responded, "Sure do." Then she said, "Wanna use it?" I was intrigued. An African safari has been on my bucket list since I was a child. I simply love the wild animals found on this mysterious continent. So when she said "Africa," I jumped in with both feet and took the plunge. Thirty-five days later and a lot of jumping through hoops to make it happen, I was on a plane headed to Africa. Hopping hemispheres We flew into Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, and were met by our guide for the next 12 days, Geoff. Geoff has been a safari guide for years and is an absolute wealth of knowledge. He is also an excellent photographer, so the perfect guide for our group. We drove from Nairobi to our first camp, Chui Lodge, which is located in the Oserengoni Wildlife Sanctuary, a private 18,000-acre preserve exclusively for Chui guests. Chui, in Swahili, means leopard — and the No. 1 animal I wanted to see was a leopard, so I was excited at the possibility to see a real-life leopard in the wild. We settled into our beautiful huts at Chui and then headed out on our first safari drive. We saw so many different animals on this first drive. Our heads were swiveling, and the shutters were going non-stop. Here are just a few of the animals we saw: • Giraffes • Herds of cape buffalo • Dik-diks, or small antelopes • Herds of common zebra • Grevy's zebras • Numerous male and female ostriches • Tons of warthogs and wildebeests Looking for leopards But we didn't see any leopards yet. On our first night's drive, Geoff had gotten wind that the local leopard had a kill in a tree just outside of camp. Off we went, and there she was: a real leopard with a kill in a tree right in front of me. Pinch me. I could have ended the trip right then and been completely happy, but there was so much more to come. Criss-crossing the continent We spent three wonderful days at Chui then headed to the Amazing Mara Camp in the Maasai Mara. The Maasi Mara is a vast plain, tall grass with trees dotted as far as the eye can see along with cheetahs, more leopards, elephants and many different lion tribes. Seeing these magnificent wild animals in their natural habitat is an incredible experience. Four days and thousands of images taken later, we took a charter plane to Amboseli to see the super-tusker elephants as well as lions and most of the other animals we saw at the first two camps. Seeing a super tusker up close is something I will never forget. Check out Craig Enter Craig. Craig — a 52-year-old, 11,000-pound elephant, is the most famous super-tusker in Amboseli. The week before he was on a private preserve, so we were not sure we would be fortunate enough to see him but he appeared at our lodge's watering hole on Day 2. We saw Craig a handful of times, but there was one encounter that sticks out in my mind. We were in the bush and saw Craig in the distance headed our way, so we got out of the safari vehicle and hunkered down to get some head-on shots. He headed right toward us and didn't stop until his huge tusks were about 3 inches from me. I stayed calm and got the shots, but my hands shook for about an hour after this incredible encounter. A typical day Our daily schedule at each camp was to take a safari drive before dawn, have a "bush breakfast" then head back to camp between 11 a.m. to noon for lunch and to recharge ourselves and our camera batteries, have afternoon tea then head back out for a late afternoon drive. The highlight of each day, aside from the animals, were the sundowners. While out on afternoon safari, the staff from each camp would set up chairs, a bar, snacks and start a fire somewhere in the bush. That's what we called sundowners, a happy hour revolving around good times as people gather around and watch the sun set or go down. Sundowners were the perfect way to end the afternoon safari, lasting until after sunset when we would head back to camp for a wonderful dinner. The food was amazing and some of the best I have ever had. I cannot say enough about what an amazing experience this trip was: cncredible and perfect from start to finish. I came home with thousands of images, so many wonderful memories and new friends. My heart is full.