pet connection

I went on vacation with the hope of seeing African wild dogs. No such luck, but the trip did turn out to be highly catcentric. Not that that’s a bad thing.

First stop was Amsterdam. We’ve been to the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh museum on previous visits, but the Cat Cabinet, a museum dedicated to art depicting cats, was always closed. I guess it’s true that the third time’s a charm. Located in a 17th century canal house with two cat statues guarding the entryway, the tall, narrow building is filled with paintings, woodcarvings, ceramics, posters, advertising and more–all featuring felines. In the dining room is a quite lifelike sculpture of two cats mating, with the male biting the female’s neck. Seems like that wouldn’t really be conducive to good digestion, but I guess it’s no worse than a still life with dead birds.

In the piano room were a number of paintings, a cat mummy on the mantel, and a live cat snoozing on the sofa. An entire room is dedicated to Steinlen’s illustrations of cats. If you happen to be strolling the Herengracht canal, have 5 euros for the entry fee, and love cats, it’s worth a visit.

Our destination was Tanzania, and the first animal we saw there was felis domesticus, a cat named Felo, who strolled up to our table as we were having a late dinner after our arrival. He must have liked having his head scratched and sent out the word to his larger relatives, because our big cat sightings over the next seven days were extraordinary.

On our first day at Tarangire National Park, we saw a leopard and a lion. All the leopards we saw throughout the safari were in trees and at first it was difficult to make them out, but by the end of the week I was spotting them almost as soon as our sharp-eyed guide pointed them out. Tarangire is known for its tree-climbing lions, and I’m glad I scheduled a full three days there because it wasn’t until the afternoon of the third day that we saw any, but the wait was worth it: three lionesses napping in the same tree, with 6 to 8 cubs on the ground.

We saw our first pair of cheetahs at Ngorongoro Crater the next day (sleeping) and our first male lions (sleeping). It was rare that the cats we saw weren’t sleeping. A lot like, well, cats.

At the entrance gate to the Serengeti, I saw a bright yellow vehicle with the words Serengeti Cheetah Project on the side. Naturally, I went over and asked for more information. Cheetahs have unique spotting patterns, which can be used to identify them, so the organization asks visitors to send in photos they take of cheetahs, with information on where and when they saw them, so they can track them. We saw what was probably the same cheetah on two different days, and I’ll be sending Jerry’s photos this week with a report. It was in the Serengeti that we hit the kitty trifecta: lions, leopard and cheetah all in the same day. The cat goddesses were smiling on us.

A few days R&R in Zanzibar brought more domestic cats: two living at the resort and numerous street cats. All were incredibly friendly and willingly approached people, even jumping into our laps, so I can’t say they were feral. I told my husband it was a good thing we didn’t live in Zanzibar or I’d probably become the local cat lady. He’s grateful we don’t live in Zanzibar.

Dogs weren’t entirely missing from this trip. We saw several jackals, a young Masai boy with a puppy, and numerous dogs in Amsterdam, including the same pair of Salukis several times, Pugs, a Beagle puppy and a small mystery black spaniel that I’m still trying to identify.

It’s hard to get back to work.