We’ve just prototyped an iPad cover for loyal Sandstorm customer Dr. Wolf Krug. We’ve used our signature mix of canvas with pull-up leather trim. The flap is secured with a simple velcro strip, and there are simple breaks in the side of the sleeve to allow access to side buttons and cable sockets. We think it’s nice to see old school materials being married with state of the art technology, and Wolf’s friends who have just ordered another two from us appear to think so too! (The check lining is being replaced with our pale yellow soft cotton drill.)

But the question is now, should we put it into production? As few as 50 pieces would make it worthwhile, and by our calculations it would retail in Kenya for Ksh 4,900, in the UK for £49 and in the United States for $69. A small price to pay for something so different from all that generic black rubbery stuff – and if it gets savaged by a lion or trampled by a buffalo we’ll replace it (the cover!) free of charge.

I think it could fly but what do you think? If we get 25 positive comments, we’ll make it and start taking advance orders on the website next week. Over to you.

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The first post from our User Group member, Mike McCartney

I’ve just returned to Nairobi after a wonderful safari, leading a family group of 10 clients from the United States.

On the evening of Thursday 1st July we set out from our camp on the Mara River and headed east to the Ntiakitiak River salt lick, with a specific objective in mind – spotted cats! We had already seen a female leopard and her full grown female cub in this area earlier in the week, and to be honest, we had enjoyed such great viewing of them that cheetah were more of a priority. We had not yet had a good sighting of these fastest of felines, and we had heard on the “Mara grapevine” that there was a female cheetah with two well grown cubs in the vicinity of the salt lick. Our mission was ON! With two vehicles in our group and many pairs of keen eyes on board, we knew that our chances of success were high. We were also buoyed by the fact that this was the last evening of what had been a magical 12 day safari from Amboseli, to Laikipia, to the Mara, and we felt sure that we would round it off in a very special way. Quite how special, we were about to find out!

When we got to the area of the salt lick we stopped on a hill with a great view of the area. This is quite a busy part of the Masai Mara, and this evening was no exception. Pretty soon we sighted two clusters of vehicles which surely indicated that others had found the cats before us. We decided that the vehicles down by the river were most likely looking at a leopard (or leopards), and as there was quite a crowd there already we decided to focus on the smaller group which we had determined (through binoculars) were watching the three cheetahs. When we arrived at the cheetahs the other vehicles had already moved on, and we were lucky enough to have them to ourselves for a good half an hour. They were on the move, but in no hurry – stopping from time to time to lie down, or have a quick scan for prey from the top of an ant hill. They were all looking quite slim and no doubt a good meal would go down very well indeed! At one point one of the youngsters climbed into the top of a low ol seki or cordia bush, and balanced precariously for a while about 8 feet above the mother and the other sibling, before deciding that discretion was the better part of valour and jumping clumsily back to terra firma.

Whilst all this was going on, our keen eyed Masai spotter, Kamete, had been keeping tabs on what was going on down by the river below us. He had now actually seen a leopard down there; it was moving with purpose away from the riverine undergrowth through the bushes of a feeder lugga or streambed, and towards a group of impala and Thomson’s gazelles which were feeding on the hill opposite. We decided to leave our cheetahs alone, and they moved off northwards towards the Olare Orok Conservancy. By now we had all managed to locate the leopard on the other side of the river through our binoculars, and were breathlessly following her progress towards the gazelles. There were still a few other vehicles down by the river, but it was clear to us that they could no longer see her as she moved away from the river, and that we had by far the best view from where we were, on the opposite bank and at least a kilometre away from the unfolding drama! The leopard adopted the classic leopard stalking technique, using every scrap of available cover as she edged closer and closer to the feeding gazelles. Our hearts were in our mouths! She finally stopped just on the downslope side of a small patch of croton bushes, the other side of which the lead male Thomson’s gazelle was grazing closer and closer to her - completely oblivious to the impending danger! It was now only yards away from her, the suspense was almost too much to bear! Suddenly there was an explosion of spots through the croton patch, and a flurry of outstretched claws and fleeing hooves. She had timed her attack perfectly; the gazelle had no chance! At this point we lost sight of the action, but had decided that we could now afford to improve our vantage point without spoiling the hunt. We wanted ringside seats!!

We gunned our trusty Toyota Land Cruisers down the slope towards the river, and had to negotiate a rather tricky crossing point, with a very steep and sandy exit. We were now on the other side of the Ntiakitiak, and heading up towards the action. The few other vehicles whose drivers had been patient enough to wait on the unfolding events of the last twenty minutes were just ahead of us when we arrived at the location of the kill. The gazelle was by now quite dead, and the leopard was dragging the carcass down towards the lugga. It was now a quarter past six o’clock and the light would start to fade quite soon. There was also the added possibility that if she did not get her kill into a tree soon, then she might be chased off it by any lions or hyenas that might have been in the area. This kind of interaction could be extremely risky for a leopard. We watched fascinated as she continued to drag the gazelle through the bushes along the lugga, stopping now and again to adjust her grip on the throat and to draw breath – she had already dragged the kill some 300 metres!!

We now figured out that she was making her way towards a rather spindly African olive tree, which was the only possible place where she could put her kill away from unwanted attention. We moved our vehicles so that we would have the best possible view of events. Sure enough, a few moments later she appeared at the base of the tree. She was faced with a climb of at least 7 metres up a straight trunk into the upper branches, carrying a 15 kilo deadweight in her mouth!! I have always been amazed at the power and strength of leopards and this one proved to be no exception. With one fluid movement she scrambled up the tree and within seconds had reached the upper branches where she could wedge the horns of the gazelle in such a way that the kill would not fall down. After a few awkward moments, where the carcass and her nearly fell out of the tree, she manouvered herself and the kill into a comfortable position and proceeded to start eating. By now the light was starting to fade, but our clients had managed to take some amazing photographs. We had quite a long way to go to get back to camp, and so we decided to leave our feline friend to her well-earned meal and head home to the campfire after what had proved to be an extraordinary final evening in this most incredible of wild arenas.

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At long last we’re getting our User Group up and running. You can read more about it here, but essentially as a business with it’s roots firmly in safari, lots of safari professionals use Sandstorm products, and we want to do our bit to promote them as individuals and also act as a platform to illustrate the value that a professional guide can bring to any safari. Beyond that I’ve heard so many great stories retold over a pint, that I wanted us to use our blog to share them with a wider world!

I’m delighted that Mike McCartney is our first Professional ‘User’ to feature on here. Mike is a guide with a wealth of experience and you can read more about him here.

Next week Gordon Church from Safaris Unlimited will be joining us and I’ll let you know as soon as we have his profile and his first post.

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