By Wilfred Fue – Sightings from Tanzania

AFRICAN WILDLIFE

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Posted on by wilfred

Hello! My name is Wilfred Fue and I am a driver guide with Africa Dream Safaris. I would like to share with you an interesting wildlife sighting that occurred on my most recent safari this January between a family of cheetahs and a spotted hyena. This amazing event happened in the East Serengeti in an area between Sametu Kopjes and Gol Kopjes.

Leopards and lions are usually the only big cats known to climb trees due to their retractable claws, but here we spotted 3 young cheetah cubs who looked like expert climbers. This later proved to be advantageous when they spotted a gazelle in the distance. Their mother was able to stalk and chase down the gazelle enabling a successful hunt. The cheetah family succeeded to consume about 60% of the gazelle before a more powerful spotted hyena picked up the scent and quickly scavenged the kill from the cheetahs.

As my friend Ellison also said in his posting, some of the guides for ADS including myself were given small size cameras that fit in our shirt pockets. We plan on using them to take a couple pictures while on safari of some of the more interesting animals we encounter or some unusual animal behavior. We received computer training and we can post the pictures to this blog immediately after we finish our safaris. It’s very exciting as we are the first company in Tanzania doing this! You can post comments below too and I will try to respond when not in the bush.

Here the cheetahs are climbing the tree.

Lunchtime for the cheetah family after a successful hunt.

The spotted hyena scavenges the partially eaten gazelle from the cheetah family.

My guests and I enjoying lunch!

  1. How exciting! We too came upon a cheetah who had recently made a kill, but watched from afar as 2 hyenas ate it. I think it’s great that you and the guides can take pictures when you have time.

  2. Of course you would be the one to spot it Wilfred! Your guiding skills are unparelled. When we were on safari in September, I told Wilfred I’d like to see a snake and literally within 15 minutes he spotted a green python curled on the branch of a tree from at least 40 ft away. He had to patiently point it out repeatedly when we were directly under it!

    1. Hello Shannon,
      I am very glad that you still pursuing and enjoying to read ADS information. Your respond led me to be so excited that you valued my work effort! Thanks
      Fue

  3. I had to laugh at Shannon M.’s comment re: Wilfred’s ability to find a snake upon request. We too had the same experience with our amazing ADS guides, Everest and David, in September of 2006. Each day we would say we’d like to see this or that – and sure enough, they would spot it for us. The only thing they didn’t find was the elusive Dung Beetle (apparently we were there at the wrong time of year). But hey! even one more reason to return to beautiful Tanzania! I look forward to future postings from the guides – the dream-makers of ADS!

    1. Funny that Wendy A. was looking for a dung beetle which was one of our funnier moments. Wilfred, our guide, spotted a bunch of dung beetles which grossed me out. Laughing all the way, Wilfred grabbed my camera and pointed it inches away from the beetle activity to get some close ups. He laughed as I screamed not to drop the camera on them!! It’s not one of the pictures I included in my photo book.
      We also never stop talking about the safari we took last January. An unforgettable amazing adventure.

  4. I am looking forward to hearing my stories and seeing more pictures from you Wilfred. I agree with the people above, your guiding skills and knowledge are like no other. A year after my Safari I OFTEN think of the experiences we all had.

    My co-worker Teddi reports her family had the same great expereince with you. You are an invaluable resource/employee to ADS. Keep up the great work!

    1. Thanks Guy! I glad that your co-worker Teddi were proud of their trip! I will for sure keep it up and going to share with you more wilderness pictures and stories from the bush! I am sure you will enjoy much when you will be back in Tanzania.

  5. My niece Susan & I are leaving Sat. Feb. 2nd for our big adventure. We are so excited. We will feel very fortunate if you are our guide but we know from all the readings that all the guides are wonderful. We have been planning this for almost a year & the excitement has only been intensified by all the photos & postings from all the travelers. HELLO AFRICA….

    1. You are mostly WELCOME in Tanzania Gail and Susan. Traveling with me as your Guide will depends to my ADS office arrangements, hope the office members are reading this for consideration. Thanks

  6. Hey Wilfred, Glad to see you are still on top of it. We treasure our memories of last June, particularly our cheetahs. You are clearly the best.

  7. I hope all three of those beautiful cheetahs are still healthy and hunting.

    Wilfred was our guide for both of our safaris and would be our number one request for a third. Not only does he spot almost invisible game and not give up until we see it too, but he answers every question … often the same question more than once ….

    THANKS Wilfred!

    1. I am glad to read your comments and very excited when you told me before you left Africa that the second trip you made was more of the wilderness actions than the first one, thanks for that.

  8. Hi Wilfred! So glad to see your smiling face when we got up this am. We were with you in May 2007–4 Evans. We still talk about our wonderful trip and especially our great guide. Hope you haven’t picked up any more of those smelly turtles.

    1. Hi Jeans, I am also so glad to read your massage, its long time which didn’t expect that you still remember me and my company ADS. Thanks

  9. Wilfred,
    You are still doing your magic and finding the best viewing. Hope to take another trip with you in the future!

  10. Wilfred, you were our family/friend tour guide a few years ago and were awesome in your ability to spot critters, answer endless questions, keep your sense of humor and make the whole trip extra special. We continue to use the phrase “who needs to check the tires?” for you know what! 🙂
    Would love to reconnect sometime soon in your fabulous country!
    Thanks and all the best,
    Dad Jim, Sister Rene, daughter Suz, son Scott ( the bird lover), and friends Shar & Anna

    1. Hi, many greetings to all, Dad Jim,Rene,Suz,scott,shar and Anna, thanks for your promise to reconnect in my country soon, hopefully will be the same family/friend members, thanks.

  11. Wilfred, I was so happy to see your post and very happy that we were lucky enough to have you for a guide. By the end of the trip, you were “Uncle Wilfred” to the girls. You, as much as anything we saw or did, made our safari a fantastic experience. Best wishes and I promise to write more and post some pictures soon. We took over 6000 and it is so hard to choose just the best of the best! One of my favorite shots is of a Cheetah cub climbing a snag. That group was also a mom and three cubs, could it be the same Cheetah family? I posted a link to the picture, (http://www.pbase.com/teddi_and_roger/image/148467025)hope it works.
    Miss you!
    The Edington family,
    Roger, Teddi, Randi and Rian
    12/31/12-1/9/13

    1. Hi Teddi,

      Your pictures are AMAZING! I love the baby elephant and baby cheetah photos. I guess I am a sucker for baby animals. It looks like you saw everything and then some more. How long of a safari did you have? Is that the private camping pictured, as well?

      1. Hi Maureen,
        Glad you liked the pictures! We loved the baby animals too. Wilfred got to where he would just automatically stop whenever he saw a baby animal – three girls with cameras equals a lot of Ooohhhing and Ahhhing. We had a 10 day safari and the private camp was one of my very favorite places. (Pics at the camp are mostly 1/4/13). We did see an amazing amount – but you can never see it all. We’ll have to come back for the Honey Badger, Python and Pangolin. We missed some photographs (monitor lizard and blue duiker were just too fast!) and took many that I didn’t post just trying to get it down to a manageable number. If you haven’t gone yet, I hope you can soon – no pictures or words are adequate to convey the wonder. Thanks.
        Teddi

        1. Thanks Teddi for the reply. I will ask about the camping. It looks and sounds like something my family would enjoy just for the adventure. Not the whole time, mind you, I still need somewhere luxurious for at least 1 night!!

    2. Hi Teddi I am glad to hear from you!
      although cheetah can move in very big home range, however I have to assure you that those are not the three cubs we saw for two reasons; The cubs we saw together were at Lobo and Mbuzimawe, northern serengeti while the other one were far down south serengeti and second the cubs we saw together were too younger to move in that long distance.

  12. Wilfred, Wonderful to see your smiling face. We were just looking at our Africa pictures two nights ago from our 2008 trip with you and our friends Jon and Beth. We talk often about coming back. Thank you for a trip we will never forget and never surpass. SallyZ

    1. Thanks Sally and Carly and even other friends Jon an Beth if they can see this. I hope you will be succesfull on your plan of coming back in Tanzania.

  13. Fue,

    So glad to see you in your photo and that you are still leading amazing and interesting safaris in beautiful Tanzania. I think so often about the magical safari Beverly and I took with you over 4 years ago and am still talking about it with everyone who will listen.

    Michael,

    You are a brilliant marketer as always. What a great idea to give your guides cameras and computer “Know How” to keep the conversation going.

    All the best,

    Beth Devermont

  14. Amazing story, Wilfred, and so good to see your smiling face. Joe and I have so many incredible memories (and photos) of our amazing adventure with you. I long to return, and if we ever do, we will be insisting upon you as our guide. Hope you are well.

  15. Hi Wilfred
    Just wanted to say Hi. Looking forward to more posts from you. I have been working on photo books from our October trip. Whenever I look at our photos it brings back so many memories of our trip!