“I’m a happy camper!” declares Mike Appelbaum. He has spent most of his life doing the things that make him happy: Tennis pro, African safari leader, wildlife photographer, and enthusiastic volunteer. “I don’t know anybody who’s had it better.”
A native of Paramus, N.J. Mike was surrounded by books on wildlife as a child. “My earliest memories are about wildlife.” His parents had wildlife books everywhere and some of Mike’s earliest books were on exploration. “I remember reading ‘Gods, Graves and Scholars’ before I was ten years old.” The book, first published in 1949, chronicles the history of archeology including the story of Heinrich Schliemann, the discoverer of the ancient city of Troy. It was not the kind of book most preteens were reading.
Not all of his reading was academic. One of his favorites was the comic strip “Tim Tyler’s Luck” about a youth whose father had disappeared in Africa.
A good athlete, he played numerous sports through high school, though tennis became his favorite in college, and he was a county tennis instructor during that time. “One of the reasons I liked tennis was that it was played during the summer.” He went to south Florida after college and ended as an assistant tennis pro at the Palm Aire Country Club in Sarasota.
After several years teaching on the courts, he put it all together. He had been doing a lot of Florida wildlife photography, had always wanted to visit Africa (remember “Tim Tyler’s Luck”), and photograph wildlife there. “And so, I took my first African safari in 1977. I was in heaven every day of the entire trip—Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda—the only regret I had was that the person leading the trip was not great.”
Mike felt that he could do better as a guide.
Taking off from his Florida tennis duties in the summer was not a problem. His next safari was with a group from Kane College where the professor, who was also doing research, was happy to let Mike take over some of the tour guide tasks. “It was a turning point in my life,” Mike recalls. “I’m getting to do the best things on the planet. I’m getting to go to Africa, photograph wildlife, and teach tennis.” He also started writing about his adventures, illustrating articles from his own vast store of photos.
After a dozen years teaching tennis at Palm Aire and leading safaris in Africa, Mike had to make a tough decision: tennis or safaris? Safaris won, and he teamed up with a New York company to lead Nile cruises and African safaris. It was a successful venture until ‘the “Achille Lauro” incident’ in October 1985 when terrorists hijacked the Italian cruise ship, killed a passenger, and sparked a major international confrontation. It also forced the travel industry into a global decline, adversely affecting Mike and his group.
He took the only possible action: he got married and went back to being a tennis pro, at Eastpointe Golf & Racquet Club in Palm Beach Gardens. But he could not give up Africa, and, after showing his tennis clients photos and telling stories, they begged him to take them on safari. Soon he was in Africa again.
“In fact,” he recalls, “I was in the middle of the Kalahari Desert on my way to South Africa with clients when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. I couldn’t reach my wife, Sandy, here in the U.S. And she couldn’t reach me in the middle of the desert.” It was several days later before they talked, and Mike learned that the storm had moved west and devastated the Gulf coast.
Mike and Sandy were tired of hurricanes, having suffered through several in the 80s and were discussing retirement. “We loved Florida, but wanted someplace in the state that didn’t have as much hurricane activity.” That eventually brought them to The Villages. “We looked and did the lifestyle preview,” Mike says. “Honestly, it was like a Disney experience coming into Spanish Springs from U.S. Hwy. 441.” In 2005 they bought a villa in Mira Mesa. At first, they used it as a getaway, becoming permanent residents in 2007.
In The Villages Mike found the other love of his life: Patriot Service Dogs. PSD was founded in 2009 by Susan Bolton and Julie Sanderson and five other dedicated volunteers and has grown to over 100 active volunteers. The dogs are intensively trained for two years by inmates at the Lowell Correctional Institution in Marion County. The dogs are frequently “socialized” by volunteers from The Villages who take them to social events, other homes, and shopping to acclimatize them to normal situations
At the end of training the dogs understand about 85-100 commands and are placed with veterans, especially those with PTSD and mobility issues. “It’s a trifecta! With tennis, photo safaris, and patriot dogs.”
Lately Mike has been sorting through his thousands of slides and digitizing many of them. “I remember every one as if it was yesterday—the story behind the photo.” He has posted some photos and stories on his Facebook page for friends. More recently he has committed to posting a photo story on ‘Hallard Press Breakfast Serial’ every month. The first installment features close up photos and the story behind a personal safari encounter with cheetah family.
“I do this to connect with people who love wildlife and the outdoors,” says Mike. The first “Breakfast Serial” brought many online comments. “I answer every comment and try to make a lasting connection,” he says. He is also considering new public Facebook postings in the future.
“For a long time, I thought of the photos as the main attraction and the words as just descriptions. Now I understand that the photos and stories magnify each other. Together they make each other better.”
Looking ahead, Mike Appelbaum (“Mike Apps” as he is often called) is ready for more fun. “How could it be better,” he asks. “I live in Florida, taught tennis, and led wildlife photo safaris. I’ve spent my whole life wearing shorts.”
John W Prince is a writer and Villager. For more information visit www.HallardPress.com. If you know of someone with a “Good Story and a Good Book,” contact him at [email protected].