Saturday 6th September
We flew from Kigali to Nairobi via Kenya Airways, and I was interested to note we had a female captain. We had read on the previous Rwanda Air flight, in their inflight magazine, that they had a female first officer. Good to see.
As an aside, I had noticed when we flew into Nairobi, that there is an airline called Jambo Jet Airways, with Jambo Jet written large on the side of their aircraft. I thought it was a cute play on words, but didn’t get the significance, until we found out that Jambo means Hello in Swahili. So it is Hello Jet Airways!
We were picked up and introduced to our driver/guide, Lawrence, and then headed south towards the Amboseli National Park.
The road, which we drove on for some time, is the road from Nairobi to Mombasa, which is the main sea port. It is a 2 lane road, and completely, nose to tail, filled primarily with trucks. At no stage did we get above 80 kph, and mostly were around 40 kph. We stopped briefly for a bite to eat, and to give Lawrence a break, at a shop filled with carvings of elephants and other souvenirs, which, of course we didn’t buy, but a couple of local cheeky guys offered to take Bev off his hands in exchange for a couple of Masai girls. Andrew is considering the offer, – so is Bev I think!
We had packed lunches provided in the Land Rover, which proved to be way too much for us. As we were stopped in traffic at one stage, a young man who was trying to sell us something through the window, looked at my boxed lunch and pointed to it, then to himself. I slid open the window and handed him a piece of chicken, much to his surprise. This then caught on, as Lawrence gave some of his lunch to a young kid droving some goats.
After much browbeating by Elly, Lawrence agreed to do a safari in towards the lodge, rather than just drive through at normal speed. First we had to register at the park gate entrance. While we were waiting for him to return, a group of Masai moved in toward us. Elly, of course, wanted to photograph them in their traditional dress. This, of course they were ready for, and demanded money. Elly negotiated, and took the photos, and while this was happening, all the others, the men, were trying to flog carvings etc. to the rest of us. They were relentless, but we were determined. Andrew told them he wasn’t buying, but when they persisted he said ” all I can do is give you an orange”, which he subsequently did. We distributed all of our left over lunches in the next 15 minutes. They even wanted to do a currency exchange, and give us US$ for our local currency, obviously cash which they had received from other tourists.
Finally Lawrence emerged, and we removed the roof panels from the Land Rover, and headed into the park. I think we looked like 4 Meercats as we popped our heads through the roof, necks swivelling, looking for anything of interest. We had seen a few animals on the main road, prior to entering the park, some Gazelles, Zebra and a couple of Giraffe, but as we entered the park it became clear that this would be Elephant afternoon. They were there in large groups, scattered in all directions. We just looked and photographed on and on. The African Elephant is the large eared version compared with those we saw in Sri Lanka. We also saw Zebra and Thompson’s Gazelle and some Buffalo. We arrived at the lodge just as it was starting to get dark.
Zebra Crossing Kenya Sunday 7th September
This was the Serena Amboseli Lodge, which was just beautiful. All timber and very African, with outdoor leisure areas and bar, looking across from which you can see Zebra and Gazelle, in fact, later in the morning we had a long line of Gazelle stroll past the outdoor area in transit to wherever they were going.
We were up early for a 6am start for our first official safari, and we found ourselves with a large group of Zebra as the sun came up, it was a magnificent sight. This was followed by a couple of Lionesses and 3 cubs playing around and doing kid’s stuff. A couple of different types of Gazelle, and some Impala were on the list of sightings, along with Baboons with little kids as well.
As we drove in the previous day, we couldn’t see nearby Mt Kilimanjaro, because of cloud, but this morning we caught a glimpse around the cloud of the peak, so at least we know it is there.
There were lots of Black Faced Monkeys around the lodge, in the trees and on the roof. At one stage I was out taking some photos and Elly was on the phone to Dan. When I returned and knocked on the door, Elly came to the door, but had left the rear sliding door open for a few seconds. When I came inside I was greeted by the sight of a monkey sitting on the dressing table checking out the tea and coffee! We shrieked at it to get out, which it did immediately, but not before it had helped itself to a packet of hot chocolate, which it promptly opened as it sat outside the door!
After the morning safari, the others chose to visit a nearby Masai village to check out their way of life, while I elected to stay at the very beautiful lodge and catch up on the Blog.
Bev and Elly’s visit to the Masai
The drive to the Masai village was less than 5 minutes drive away, but the difference in vegetation is quite striking. As I write this, I am sitting on a comfortable patio area at our lodge in well watered luxurious surroundings, overlooking grassy plains where zebra and gazelles are grazing. The village is located amidst dry, flat, rocky surroundings and seems like stepping back in time. We were greeted by about two dozen men and women dressed in their colourful traditional clothes – the men in royal blue or bright red and the women in a variety of bright colours with lots of beaded jewellery.
They performed some welcome dances and said a welcome prayer. Next a young boy of 16 years who was learning to be the next village medicine man (a hereditary role being taught by his father) explained to us about the herbs they use – all collected from the slopes of ‘nearby’ Mt Kilimanjaro! Walking long distances is not a problem. We were shown into one of the houses, which are built by the women. The men are in charge of the cattle. We saw the well which was built last year from money received from tourists. Previously they walked long distances to underground water sources. We then had to go to their ‘shop’ – individual stalls set up on rugs on the red dirt and ‘walk the gauntlet’. It was difficult to show our appreciation of their work without being guilted into buying things we didn’t want.
Lastly we were taken to visit the school. As it was Sunday, there is normally no school, but they had got a group of children to come to the classroom and perform for us. The school is a small two room mud brick hut with a blackboard, small old fashioned wooden desks where 3 or 4 children squash in together, a few very old books and a map of the world on the back wall. The children sang us a song about Jesus and recited a rote learnt poem. It was sad in terms of the poverty and lack of everything except a desire to start some education. Daniel, our guide talked about how the community now recognise the importance of educating their children as the only way to escape the desperate poverty . It seems to be the only way life will improve for the Masai and yet there will be the challenge of adapting to modernity while keeping the traditions.
In the afternoon we headed out for another safari, with similar sightings, but this time also gracing us with their presence were Ostrich and Giraffe.
We saw a line of Elephants walking from the swamps back to their night time camping spot, so Lawrence drove the vehicle to a point well in front of them, but in their line of travel. It was a fantastic sight watching this lumbering convoy heading straight for us, eventually crossing our road just metres from us.
We then headed over to the swamp area, where lots of other Elephants were wallowing – a great sight, especially when a really young one decided to have a bit of a play, firstly with one of the other youngsters, then also with the oldies. They humoured him for a while, but then ignored him.
A sunset photo opportunity with Wildebeest in the foreground topped off the day very nicely.
Tanzania Monday 8th September
Poor old Lawrence, he was just supposed to drive us from Amboseli to Arusha in Tanzania, but due to heavy browbeating from Elly and Bev, he agreed to get up early for a 6:00 am start and take us on an early safari before departing for Arusha.
The weather was perfect, once again and we saw the usual suspects, however, there is a lone hill among all the flat landscape, and Lawrence took us there along quite a circuitous road, passing, on the way, a river where we paused to see about five or six Hippos in various degrees of submergence. On to the base of the hill, where we disembarked, much to our surprise, because you are not normally supposed to leave the vehicle. We took our packed picnic breakfasts up the hill and admired the view while we ate breakfast, looking down and across to Hippos, Pelicans, Ostrich, and what was visible of Mt Kilimanjaro.
Very beautiful. Then a drive to the Kenya/Tanzania border, which was predictably chaotic. Fortunately they had run out of departure forms, so we didn’t have to fill one in, which sped things up a little. Andrew was fingerprinted again, which seems to happen every time he changes countries. Doesn’t happen to us!
We said goodbye to Lawrence, until our return to Kenya later, and picked up our new driver, Peter, a different character to Lawrence, and I’m sure Elly will train him to be compliant and do her bidding, – just like me!
Peter drove us to Arusha, which was really only a rest stop overnight to break up the journey. It is a large bustling town, which is the 4th largest city in Tanzania, and which appears relatively prosperous, but probably isn’t. We visited the quite impressive Cultural centre and art gallery, which is a very imposing and spectacular building, housing some really impressive African artwork.
Arusha Tanzania Tuesday 9th September
This morning we had an appointment to visit St Jude’s school; the reason being that it is strongly connected with MLC in Melbourne, and receives financial support from there as well, and it happens that Bev teaches at MLC. MLC sends students and teachers to St Jude on a short term basis, and, coincidentally, they currently have a group there. Bev was very excited to meet up with the MLC teachers and students, and the school was very keen to show us around.
St Jude’s is an amazing success story, taking its first students only 12 years ago, and now having around 1300. It was started by an Australian woman, Gemma, who had the hope of giving free, quality education to underprivileged children, and she has achieved just that.
The school takes around 150 students each year, out of 2000 applicants, and nurtures them right through to, and including university. Only one child is taken out of any one family, to ensure maximum chance of breaking the poverty cycle in the region, and only very poor children are considered. Even Gemma’s own children cannot attend St Jude’s because she earns too much money.
The school is funded mainly by donations, particularly from Australia, and, although running at a slight loss currently, gives the impression of a very well equipped, modern establishment, which is comparable to Australian schools. They even have a visitor co ordinator, an Aussie named Nathan, who showed us around.
We were taken around the school and into classrooms, where the kids all welcomed us in chorus, spoke to us in good English and clapped us when we made our personal introductions, and were very impressed that Elly and I are pilots.
This is not intended to be a school promotion Blog, this was just a coincidence, but this is a very impressive demonstration of what can be done in this area in this part of the world. They do have a website if you feel like checking it out.
From St Jude’s we headed west to Lake Manyara, where we did a safari for a few hours. This is not a major park, but we saw Elephants, Baboons, Impala, Monkeys, and Hippos. Overnight was at a lodge on top of a high ridge overlooking the lake and the Rift Valley – superb position. Elly was up at 6:00 am taking sunrise photos.
Lake Manyara Wednesday 10th September
This was to be quite a long day, driving out of Lake Manyara towards the Serengeti. On the way we climbed up to the top of the Ngorongoro Crater, which presented a fabulous view down into the enormous crater, and which we are due to visit on our return from the Serengeti.
We entered the Serengeti National Park after a long drive over roads that threatened to cause the Land Cruiser to disintegrate, with the windows rattling so loudly, talking was impossible. Once in the park we cruised around searching for wildlife, and we found it. I will let Elly’s photos tell the story. There were literally thousands of Zebra, such beautiful animals, spoilt only by their call, which is somewhere between a dog and a donkey.
This is the middle of the dry season, and some of the wildlife is supposed to be sparse, as the bulk is north in the Masai Mara in Kenya, where we will visit later, however, we saw lots during this first drive, and even more the next day, when we spent around 10 hours out in the Land Cruiser, only stopping for a picnic lunch provided for us by the lodge. We had intended to have our lunch under a nice shade tree, which we had spotted, but when we arrived we found 4 young Lions lying there having a nap, so we ate in the car and photographed them.
Most of our Lion sightings had been some distance away, but we arrived at this spot which had a small hill, with a Lioness perched on top, right out in the open, surveying the surrounding spaces, which contained Zebra and other tasty morsels. Next to her was a large male, and they sat watching around themselves, while totally ignoring us.
Our driver, Peter, suggested that they would be too tired to hunt, as that had been mating for the last week, which involved over a thousand encounters. Sure enough, after about 20 minutes he mounted the female in a Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am 30 second encounter. Not only that, it was repeated after another 15 minutes.
The Lioness had snarled at him prior to this as they changed onto another small mound, and he was following her, obviously making indecent suggestions, but she mellowed. But, as fierce and regal as he looked, the female was obviously in charge.
At the end of the day we were trying to locate a Leopard, which is a prized sighting. A report had been received that a Leopard had been sighted, so we, and lots of other vehicles headed for the spot and waited and waited, but with no luck, so it was back to the lodge after more than 10 hours.
The lodges we have been staying at are fantastic – the Serena group, the major shareholder, we found, is the Aga Khan. Each one is unique and very beautiful.
Friday 12th September
Our departure from the Serengeti, which means ” Endless Plains”, was combined with another safari on our way out.
During the drives we saw a lot of the Maasai, who are one of, if not the, largest tribes in the country. They stand out because of their colourful robes, and are seen herding cattle and goats, or sometimes you will see a lone figure walking the plains. Walking long distances are normal for them, and they walk everywhere. Their children will leap out from nowhere if you stop the vehicle to take their photo, they want money for that privilege. Sometimes we carried picnic lunch boxes supplied by the lodges, and typically they were far more than we needed, so we have been making up ” Masai boxes” from the bits and pieces that we don’t want.
As we pass a group of Maasai, we pull over, and they rush up expecting money, but we give them food.
Some of these Masai kids are quite amusing, as you come around a corner, they start jumping up and down. This constitutes ” dancing” and therefore justifies money. Once you have passed them they stop jumping.
On this next drive we did find the Leopard, but so did everyone else. We were astonished at the number of vehicles cruising the park. We were obviously aware of other vehicles passing us as we travelled, but there must have been 50 at least where the Leopard was found. Obviously the drivers keep in touch with each other, and advise of sightings, and the Leopard is rare and in demand.
We had a lovely experience when we came across a pride of Lions sleeping under a tree. We had spotted 2 Lionesses walking in the general direction of this group, and when we tired of watching thes lazy beasts sleeping, we went to try to find the 2 females. It didn’t take long, as they were walking along the road towards us. Peter said that the lead female was the matriarch, and was coming home after a fruitless hunt, and she was trailed by another female, who, we noted, had a research collar around her neck.
We turned around and went back to the pride under the tree, and they rose as one to meet the matriarch, and crowded around her in what appeared to be a group hug, fussing around her snuggling into her, before drifting back to their resting spots. It was an amazing sight. The group practically ignored the other female as she arrived a minute or so later.
After our morning safari, we drove for a few hours back to the Ngorongoro Crater to our Serena Lodge in preparation for another early start for a safari down to the floor of the crater. The lodge is incredible, with all the walls made of stones, and with a stunning view down into the crater. The temperature was noticeably cooler due to the high elevation, and open fires were the order of the evening.
Ngorongoro Crater Saturday 13th September
Another early start at 06:30 to drive down the 2000 ft descent into the Ngorongoro Crater, which is enormous and impressive. This was a mountain bigger than Kilimanjaro which erupted more than a million years ago, and now is ringed by the crater sides and home to masses of animals.
There are no Giraffe in the crater, but just about everything else. Lots of new birds, including Flamingo.
An amazing bit of luck came our way, when we saw a male Ostrich running towards a female, and then coming to a stop about 10 metres apart. They both, then, began this extraordinary mating dance involving incredible contortions and gyrations. Andrew captured it on video, but I can’t manage to post it on the blog, but we have photos. This performance was rudely interrupted by the appearance of another male, and everyone seemed to lose interest and wander off in their separate directions. Disappointing, but fun while it lasted.
Lots of lions were around, some doing their lazy sleeping stuff, and one pride was dragging a kill along, to where we weren’t sure, but finally lost interest and started sharing the meat, which had been, until shortly before, a baby Buffalo. Another pair were lying together, the same as the pair we saw the other day, and suddenly became animated for fast sex, then back to boredom again.
We stopped for our picnic lunch beside a lake, which was very pleasant, so we stepped down from the Land Cruiser to stretch our legs, and suddenly became aware of about a dozen heads sticking out of the water. We had been used to seeing Hippos lying together, completely immobile, looking for all the world like large rocks in the water. Not these guys, they would surface, take a few breaths, then slide under again. Sometimes the water would be empty, then there might be two or three sets of eyes, then maybe twelve, all surfaced ot once. Fascinating and beautiful to watch, but we asked Peter why Hippos are classed as one of the most dangerous animals, which have regularly killed people, and yet it was safe here for us and lots of others to be sitting near the edge of the lake having a picnic.
His response was that if humans are in the water, even in small boats, and Hippos are in the water, they are very dangerous. If humans are on land, and Hippos are on land, they are also very dangerous, but if humans are on land and Hippos are in the water, they are not dangerous! So we survived our picnic!
After about 10 hours on the crater floor, we climbed back up to the rim to our fabulous lodge for happy hour and a game of 500.
Sunday 14th September
A departure from the lodge in heavy fog which is apparently quite normal for the top of the crater rim, for a 4 hour drive to the Kilimanjaro Airport to take us back to Nairobi for the night, before heading into Northern Kenya for more animal adventure!
Samburu National Park Monday 15th September
After an overnight in Nairobi, we were collected at 06:30 by our old friend Lawrence, to be our driver/ guide for the next week or so. After a quick city tour in choked Nairobi traffic, it was a 6 hr drive to the north to the Samburu National park. We climbed to around 2500 metres with Mt Kenya, 5200 metres, on our right, and the air was cool as we crossed the equator.
Mount KenyaThen we headed down into the Great Rift Valley which runs 8000km from Cairo to Mozambique, with the temperature climbing into the 30s. Eventually we arrived at Samburu entrance, followed by a 30 minute massage over rough, corrugated roads to The Samburu Intrepids Lodge, our accommodation for the next 2 nights.
This is a very attractive lodge with open covered areas for relaxing and dining, and the rooms are luxury tents, fully enclosed with insect netting, and set on elevated timber floors, overlooking the river. All the tents have en suites and net enclosed beds.
This is the only way I will camp. We have to zip up the entrance and tie the zippers together when we go out, because the monkeys can get in and destroy your room if there is any possible access.
Power is turned off from 3 till 5 in the afternoon, and from midnight till 5 at night, this means limited wi- fi as well, because they obviously believe you should be on safari in the afternoon, and asleep at night.
Tuesday 16th September
Up at 0515, ( what’s new) for an early breakfast and out to the park.
Samburu has a lot of the usual animals, but a few of them have versions particular to this are, for instance, the Giraffe here is called Reticulated Giraffe, which has very different markings to the Giraffe we know. It has large polygon shapes delineated by white strips and is a milk chocolate colour.
The Zebra is another example; called the Grevy’s Zebra, it is larger than the others we have seen, and has much finer stripes and a white underside.
Elephants and Lions remain the same, and we saw plenty. One amazing creature we hadn’t seen before is the Gerenuk, a gazelle like animal, which, if it can’t reach the leaves on a tree, will stand up on its hind legs, with its front feet on the branch it is reaching for, and munch away in that position for up to 10 minutes, even letting go of its front feet and walking short distances on 2 legs to change branches.
A few magnificent lions on the wayWe drove around till midday, when the sun was getting high, and I, in my back row seat was doing a contortionist act trying to stay out of the sun coming through the side windows, and the sun coming through the open roof.
My view of AfricaElly and Bev wanted to take the option of visiting a local Samburu village, and because we were close by, Andrew and I acquiesced. The Samburu people are similar to the Masai, and speak the same language with only minor differences.
The guy who met us was well educated and spoke good English. He is obviously a good investment for the community who paid for his education, because, although it was interesting to see the way they live, his main objective, it seemed to me, was to remove money from us.
Some of their warriors sang a couple of songs, and the women did a dance in which Elly and Bev were obliged to join.
We were given a description of their lifestyle, which is semi nomadic, their diet, which is mainly milk, blood and meat, and their way of living.
Their assets are counted in cows, and the men are allowed more than one wife, although the women aren’t allowed more than one husband. They have circumcision for both males and females for transition to manhood/womanhood.
We had trinkets placed around our necks to wear for the visit, and purchase if we wished. We sat in one of the houses, a tiny temporary structure designed for 2 adults and 6 children; we could barely fit in. As we heard the village story, the poverty became apparent, however, the word ” donation” featured often.
We then went over to the small group of kindergarten kids, and they recited the alphabet, and counted to twenty. These kids go to a local school, often quite a distance, around 10km ( which they walk), when they finish kindergarten.
We were then asked to walk along laid out displays of local handicraft, and it was suggested we find something we liked, and would be told how much it would cost. Elly & Bev selected a couple of trinkets, but the price was ridiculous, so we declined.
We had a little farewell at the gate, and headed off.
On our afternoon safari, we were watching a journey of Giraffe ( they are a herd until they start walking, then they become a journey), when 2 young males stopped just in front of us, and started nudging each other, just like a couple of naughty teenagers. This gradually progressed to neck to neck fighting. One of them would swing his head to impact on the other guy’s neck, then would come the retaliation. The least agressive combatant wasn’t very good at retaliation, so he kept getting hit, but failed to land any significant punches.
This went on for some time, at a fairly sedate pace, since all the punches were clearly telegraphed. Then along came another male, either an older brother or the father, Lawrence suggested, and he stopped in front of the other two, who immediately stopped the punch up, and stood at attention whilst backing into a tree.
You could almost hear them saying ” What? We weren’t doing anything”. The father was saying ” You think I was born yesterday? Just wait till I tell your mother about this”. Then the kids turned around together and walked away with Dad right on their heels.
“Just wait till I tell your mother”It was a fabulous little episode to witness. So we headed back to the lodge as the sun set.
Lake Nakuru Wednesday 17th September
We left Samburu for the drive to Lake Nakuru, taking time on the way out of the park to do a bit of a game drive.
We have found that the radio Lawrence has in the vehicle can tell us a few things. He uses it to monitor activity in the park, as well as to communicate with the other drivers, as they all announce if they have found anything of interest. As the pitch and intensity of chatter increases ( all in Swahili ) we know something is afoot ( or apaw). This happened on this morning, and Lawrence drove like a man possessed to the designated place, where, supposedly a Leopard was hiding in a bush. Sure enough, it darted out , first of all right under one of the vehicles, then off into the scrub. We all, including Lawrence, have a problem with a dozen or so Land Cruisers converging on an animal, much as the boats in Sri Lanka did with the dolphins, so Lawrence said we should move to where he thought the Leopard would reappear, which was well away from other vehicles.
He was brilliant. There we were, on our own, when along padded our Leopard. I know I rave about this animal, but there is something special about it, the way it moves, the fact that it is always spotless ( sorry), and it has such a beautiful face.
For those contributors to my binoculars, thank you so much, they are fabulous and I am using them every day.
After the long drive we arrived on the shores of Lake Nakuru, and had time to do a bit of a game drive on the way in to the lodge. We were cruising along looking for anything of interest, when we came across two Black Rhinos appearing out of the edge of the forest. The black Rhino is very shy and difficult to find, so we were really lucky to get a good sighting of them before they turned and retreated back into the forest. They weigh up to 1.8 tonnes, compared to the White Rhino which can weigh up to 4 tonnes. White Rhinos are not actually white, but the name is a mistaken interpretation of “Wide Mouthed Rhino”.
We drove further around the lake, and then Lawrence suddenly pulled up and picked up his binoculars and pointed to where he had sighted a Lion up a tree!
We searched around for some time before we could see it, with our binoculars. This was an amazing performance by Lawrence, who had been driving along a fairly narrow track, and talking to us, and at the same time sighted this Lion with his naked eyes.
Once we had found it, it was quite easy to see, and was an amazing sight. We were hoping we would see a Leopard in a tree at some stage, but never expected to see this.
Masai Mara Thursday 18th September
Another early start for a long drive to the Masai Mara, which is the most famous of all the game reserves as far as we are concerned. It is simply the northern extension of the Serengeti, and commences at the Tanzania/Kenya border, but you can’t simply drive north through the Serengeti to reach it as there is no access, so we accessed it through Kenya.
Thousands of nesting StarlingsWe did another game drive on the way out, concentrating on one of Elly’s favourites, Flamingos. We also came across a few White Rhino on the drive.
We were parked on the shore of the lake photographing the hundreds of these beautiful birds, sharing the space with lots of Buffalo which were grazing next to us. Suddenly we heard a loud series of grunting and bellowing, and we looked across to see a Buffalo on the ground in the mud, surrounded by others which were pushing it with their horns. My first thought was that the Buffalo was being attacked by the others, but it became apparent that they were actually trying to help it up.
The poor creature was obviously in a lot of trouble, and after much struggling and grunting, it became still, and the other Buffalo stepped back and just kept watching. The distressed animal now had stopped moving, and was just lying in the mud, and showing no sign of life, no sign of breathing, and with its eyes wide open.
The other animals seemed to have given up, and we were shocked to think what had caused it to die, perhaps wounds from the other animals horns, unintentially inflicted, but it seemed definitely dead. We were out of our vehicle by now and could get a good view. One does not get out of ones vehicle very often on a game drive but on this occasion the buffalo were very preoccupied and we were very close to our jeep.
Just as we were about to get back in the vehicle, the other Buffalos decided to give it another try, and all gathered around to push again. This time the ” dead” one stirred and manage to stand up. We couldn’t believe it, as we had been convinced it was gone.
Such a wonderful thing to see the teamwork and desire to help another animal in trouble.
Continuing along the way we stopped at Lake Naivasha, where we did a boat journey out onto the lake for a couple of hours, really peaceful, visiting lots of semi submerged Hippos, and lots of bird life. Our boat driver had a few pieces of fish, to feed a tame Pelican which swam up to us, and also a Fish Eagle which swooped down to put on a show for us.
A Giraffe appeared, which was a surprise, and Jimmy, our boat driver told us that the Giraffe had been used in the filming of “Out of Africa” as some of the filming had been done in that area, and they had made it a permanent, protected home ever since.
Another long drive took us to the gate on the Masai Mara with the sun getting low. Lawrence was a bit concerned about arriving at the camp later than we should, but did a fabulous job driving over this countryside in very low light on roads that could barely be called tracks. How he knew where we were going is beyond me.
Elly had expressed a desire to find a Giraffe at sunset, much like the picture at the beginning of this blog. There were no Giraffe available, but he said, would an Elephant do? Whereupon he manoeuvred, in semi darkness to position a couple of Elephants adjacent to what was a magnificent sunset. Just fabulous.
Friday 19th September
Superb Starling
Out early again, this time expecting to see lots of Wildebeest, because they are due to begin migrating south into the Serengeti. It had been raining the previous night as we arrived and overnight, so there was a lot of mud, deep at times, along the tracks. We attempted a crossing which was too much for our Land Cruiser, even in 4wd, so we were stuck.
A couple of other 4wds came to our rescue, and eventually after some attempts at towing, Lawrence managed to extricate himself, while we watched, keeping our eyes open for a Lion family which we had just been watching a few minutes ago, but they didn’t come for us.
Our camp at Masai Mara is one of the Intrepid group, and is almost identical to the one we stayed at previously, with the luxury tents overlooking the river, every beautiful.
At this time of year, there is a large migration of animals, primarily the Wildebeest, although they are preceded by the Zebra, who have a close relationship with the Wildebeest, and are usually mixed in with them when grazing. The migration is from the Masai Mara back to the Serengeti. Nobody can predict when it will begin, but it develops into a stampede and when it comes time to cross the Mara river, which has quite steep banks, the animals panic, leaping down steep banks, or simply jumping or being pushed down into the water, where many are injured, or fall victim to the waiting Crocodiles and Hippos.
We, of course, would love to see this chaotic scene, but we don’t have lots of days to wait for it. We did get a taste of it today, when a herd of Wildebeest started moving towards a small river crossing where we were, and the animals formed a single line, and as it progressed, they started running. We then witnessed this seemingly endless stream of galloping Wildebeest determined to keep up with the one in front – this is apparently to minimise the possibility of attack. We then tried to imagine what that would be like, involving hundreds of thousands of animals, and the mind boggles.
We came across a Lion walking along with a dead baby Warthog in her mouth. We tracked her after quite a long distance to her family sheltering among trees. We watched, fascinated, expecting her to give it to her cubs, but, instead she kept it to herself, untouched, while the cubs came around pestering her. They received a thorough growling for their efforts. Apparently in tough times, lions will eat their fill, and then, if any is left, the cubs will eat.
This pride had 3 adult females and around a dozen cubs, who were so entertaining to watch, scrapping with each other and bowling each other over, but at the same time, you could see them training, crouching low and then leaping on the adult, trying to bring her down.
As we drove away, two cubs ran after us which is most unusual, and Elly was thrilled, because she said that one of them made eye contact with her as they ran with us for a short distance.
On the way back to the camp, we spent some time admiring a Leopard up a tree. It looked very uncomfortable, but apparently it wasn’t, because it didn’t move for ages, but a fascinating sight.
Masai Mara Saturday 20th September
This morning things started even earlier than usual. Pick up at 05:00 for a hot air balloon flight over the Masai Mara. We, and some other guests boarded a game drive type bus and trundled off in pitch darkness, how they knew where they were going I don’t know. After about half an hour we managed a flat tyre, still pitch dark. The guys said that another bus was coming, and that we were only walking distance from our launch site anyway. We assumed, correctly, that walking distance to Masai, and people in that area can be 10 or 25 km, and what about the lions and leopards? So we waited for the bus.
Pre take offIt was a beautiful morning and the sun was rising as we lifted off. We spent the next hour floating over the countryside, and occasionally swooping down to just a few metres above the ground, which frightened a few animals which were alerted to our presence by the bursts of flame jets being activated.
The pilot was a Canadian, and a bit of a character, but obviously very skilled, as he had us about 2 metres above the ground at one stage and held it accurately. His landing was excellent, and we all walked away unscathed for a champagne breakfast.
Landing survivedWe were surprised at the lack of animals below us; we had been expecting many more, but it seems most had moved to other areas. But it was a great morning.
Lawrence had tracked us and was waiting for us at the breakfast point, so we headed off for a game drive.
Today we found the two animals missing up until now. The first was an enormous Black Rhino lying in a shallow stream, not intending to move for anyone.
The next was the Cheetah, two in fact, lying in bushes under a tree. In fact we saw another Cheetah later and Elly had some good photo opportunities. They are beautiful animals too.
We found two Leopards up a tree, which is apparently very unusual, even to find two together, tree or not. They had apparently been engaging in unsafe sex; unsafe because they might fall out of the tree.
A long day today, arriving back at the camp 12 and a half hours after leaving for the balloon flight. Hopefully tomorrow will be easier.
Masai Mara Sunday 21st September
Up early ( why do I keep mentioning that?) and out searching for things of interest. We spotted 3 Land Cruisers parked together, usually a sign that they have found something.
As we drew closer we were presented with an unbelievable sight. A Cheetah had climbed up on the rear of the roof of one of the vehicles. It was using it as an elevated vantage point as it searched for breakfast. On board there were four passengers and a driver. The passengers had cameras out pointed at this animal which was just about within reach, and with looks on their faces somewhere between ecstasy and horror.
In fact this was potentially a very dangerous situation, and non of us would have wanted to be in that situation. Finally the Cheetah climbed down, and we, along with a couple of other vehicles tagged along as it walked. The next thing we knew, it had decided to climb onto another vehicle. This was just amazing. It was totally unconcerned about the people a metre or so away, it just wanted a vantage point. Then it climbed down and kept walking.
We decided we would move out ahead of it and monitor its progress in finding breakfast. There were quite a few Topi and Gazelles along with a few Wildebeest around us, and without exception they were heads up, fully aware of the Cheetah. Then they all bolted. She had no breakfast in sight, and we left her heading into rocky country where we couldn’t follow.
We found ourselves in an area near the Mara river where there was an accumulation of Wilderbeest. This is the time when these large herds will suddenly start moving towards the river, as they migrate towards the Serengeti.
Their behaviour is very frustrating. We found a large herd heading in the direction of the river, so we waited for the anticipated crossing of the river. The herd seemed to be gaining momentum, with most of the Wildebeest breaking into a gallop. This is what we had been waiting for, it was all happening and we were there to see it with cameras poised.
Then they stopped! And then they turned around and started moving in the opposite direction, then stopped and put their heads down and started grazing!
Suddenly, what had been an absolute necessity ; crossing the river full of crocodiles and hippos and migrating into the Serengeti, wasn’t really important any more.
Zebras thinking about itSo began a series of similar happenings with a couple of different herds throughout the whole day.
Our flight out to Nairobi and Zanzibar the next morning wasn’t until 11:00, which would mean a sleep in, but no, we can’t do that, so Bev and Elly organised with Lawrence to have an early morning game drive on the way out to the local airport, in the hope of catching a crossing.
Monday 22nd September
The said game drive in the morning happened almost as a carbon copy, with us finding another herd at full speed towards the river, then they stopped too!
We then drove around the airport area sighting thousands of wilderbeest scattered around not going anywhere. After which we caught a Cessna caravan to Nairobi and on to Zanzibar for r & r for the boys.
Hyenas
Jackal
Lilac Breasted Roller