Kenya Safari 2009
Trip 2
Most everyone arrived at least one day early, and some several, to get rested and prepared. Three did not, but they arrived a bit of schedule and with their luggage, so the start looked good.
Day 1 – After a bit longer than normal briefing we headed out, arriving at Tree Trout around 1, and with plenty of Colobus Monkeys about, and in good position for shooting. We spent about 40 minutes photographing the monkeys, usually below the distant treeline, so that backgrounds were very complementary. We arrived in Samburu, seeing virtually all of the endemics en route, by 6PM.
Day 2 – Samburu
Rains had arrived in our absence, and the barren, near sterile landscape of our previous visit to Samburu was transformed. New growth, looking like sprouting fields of grass, covered many of the open areas and most of the acacias glowed in a fresh outbreak of new young leaves. The morning was successful for everyone, with Chris photographing 40 different species of birds, and the rest of us shooting just about everything, including all of the endemics.
At one point, as we neared the end of our morning game drive, a Somalia Ostrich male suddenly danced about, darting quickly for a few seconds before pausing to fan its wings. A Savannah Monitor lizard hunted right next to our vehicle, its long blue tongue constantly probing as it sauntered, left-right-left, about, looking for hidden beetles or toads. At one point the monitor almost walked beneath our vehicle, and was, regardless, completely oblivious or dismissive of our presence.
PM – Not long after starting the afternoon game drive we had to close the roof hatches, as a very isolated, but intense, shower poured down around us. We hoped to find some animals in the rain, but the rains ended before our luck started. However, it was a fruitful afternoon, with birds, scenics, and antelope.
Our vehicle did well with a launching Steppe Eagle – identical to a Tawny, and I’d have thought it was, ‘save for its wide gape that reached behind the eye, an aggressive African Hare that we expected to attack a Dik-Dik that encroached upon its feeding area, a great African Hare with ears erect, my best Golden-breasted Starling in years, and, for Don and Judy, plenty of infra-red scenics.
Day 3 – Samburu
We headed to the Buffalo Springs Reserve, driving into a red-sky where, throughout the morning cumulous clouds dominated the sky but where we were rarely beneath a cloud or in shadow. It was another productive morning for everyone, but for many the highlight was the male lion (the same lion we’d seen mating with a lone female not far away, two weeks earlier) that attacked one of the 2 yer old male cubs from the pride. As we drove up we saw one altercation, but not long afterwards the lion approached and dove on the cub, biting it viciously in the foreleg and paw. A lioness jumped to the rescue and bit into the hindleg and back of the lion, and then swatted him off, and in doing so, left no marks on the male’s hide. Later, the pride moved off and the male stayed behind, sleeping beneath a doum palm.
We had at least 17 Reticulated Giraffes in a loose herd, including one young giraffe whose hair, covering his sprouting horns, curled in a long, eyelash-like manner, or a curly-que. The light was great, although the giraffes did nothing but feed.
One group saw a Martial Eagle dive for a Dik-Dik, unsuccessfully, and a short time later almost all of us watched a mother Baboon groom her baby, holding it upside down, dropping it on its head, and, at times, stretching it between another curious sister. I had a great Gabar Goshawk that was the most cooperative, ever, and others had luck with other birds of prey.
Stephen’s vehicle caught a shy leopard as it climbed down from a tree, and with 9 lions, in total, it was a productive morning.
PM – Yesterday, virtually no one was in the park, and we had Samburu to ourselves. Tonight, with a good leopard spotted, tourists were everywhere and a Ranger monitored traffic, pushing people through the viewing area for relatively brief looks. That said, I thought the Rangers did a good job, as the vehicles all stayed on the road and we had none of the chaos that normally attends a leopard sighting.
Eventually, our treed leopard descended, walking right passed vehicles to feed on an impala carcass stored beneath a tree. Suddenly, the leopard grabbed the impalas neck and in a bound, carried the carcass up a very cluttered tree, too busy, in fact, for the carcass which fell back to earth. The leopard descended, and walked off, and began to call, grunting and giving the distinctive leopard ‘cough’ and we assume she was trying to summon her cubs. We stayed with her the rest of the afternoon, and some of our vehicles had great luck when she walked right to them, although we bet on her returning to the kill, with her cubs, and we were out of position for the great walking shots.
Earlier, we had a pair of Red and Yellow Barbets at a termite mound, and the shooting there was wonderful. Mary left the leopard after nailing the cat climbing down the tree, and found a well-fed cheetah – for a three cat Samburu day. Others did well with Gerenuk and zebras.
Day 4 – Samburu
We stayed on the Samburu side, instead of crossing to Buffalo Springs to hunt for leopards, in order to try, once again, for yesterday’s leopard. Our vehicles were the first to arrive, and the leopard had returned to its original tree, but this time with the impala carcass up the tree as well. No babies or young leopards, so we’re still puzzled as to why this leopard coughed and roared as it did last evening.
The leopard was a bit more animated than yesterday afternoon, prior to climbing down, but after an half hour or so we had about all we could expect. Later, Henry’s vehicle returned to the leopard and caught it as it descended, walked a short distance, and pulled itself up a vine-covered tree, completely losing itself in the foliage.
Mary’s vehicle found a young elephant we’d seen around earlier, now weakened and near death, on its side with its legs feebly kicking. Rangers were summoned, and we expect they’ll finish it. In contrast to the last trip, elephants are more cooperative, and we had four bulls, including the huge one with a collar, feeding quite close to the road, and later wading out, and crossing the river in front of us.
Later, a giraffe crossed the river as well, and several times it appeared as if it were about to drink, spreading its legs slightly before thinking better of it. As it neared the shoreline it exploded up the bank, water splashing, and making a great shot.
We can see an obvious difference in the birds, now that the rains have arrived, and we did well with Superb Starlings, Fork-tailed Drongos, Hornbills of all three species, and several others. After Mary and my walk, we spotted a Naked Mole Rat excavating a hole along the trail to our room, and both of us had our first good look at this unusual rodent. Mole Rats are indeed hairless, with wrinkled, pinking skin that looks infantile. Four protruding incisor teeth stick out from its snout, and these it uses to literally dig through the soil. Folds of skin behind these teeth prevent soil from going into the mole rat’s mouth, and, periodically, the mole rat would pause to kick out sand, creating the tell-tale pyramid like, or giant anthill-like, piles of sand. I hurried for my camera but by the time I arrived the mole rat was in the final stages of blocking up the hole, and I missed the shot.
‘PM – We headed over to the Buffalo Springs side, since we missed it this morning, and had a leisurely but productive afternoon, with Pale Chanting Goshawk, weavers, and displaying crested bustards. The highlight, as we began to drive back, was a hedgehog curled up on the road, which we moved to a safer location and photographed, still tightly in its ball.
Day 5 – Nakuru
We left Samburu on time, and arrived in Nakuru about 1:30 PM.
David had two passengers for transport, one of which, the soldier/guard for the camp, sat in Felix’s vehicle. En route, we think he stole $50 from Stephen, out of his computer case. I was going to call the office to report the theft, but the guides told me they’d catch hell, so they’re giving me $50 that I can then return to Stephen, or put into the tip award.
The PM game drive was great. We headed to Cormorant Point, but there were no pelicans, as we had hoped to see. However, stilts, avocets, and a feeding hippo – on shore, made for great shooting. Later we headed to several white rhinos, including the female we’ve seen in the past with a truly impressive front horn. She was with her, now two year old, calf.
Close to six, David spotted a leopard and called us in, and four of our vehicles got great shots, even though the light was marginal and we needed ISO 800 and 1600. Inexplicably, David, who had spotted the leopard, did not drive onto the side road that lead directly to the leopard and instead stayed on the main road, nearly 80 yards away and far out of reach of a good shot. My vehicle was the first to reach the leopard and I saw, and we took, a side road that led right to it, and our other three vehicles followed, with all of us getting great shots. David’s vehicle did not, and I can’t understand why he didn’t either back up or do a U-turn. I was very annoyed, as, I think, were the clients.
Day 6 – Nakuru to the Mara
A fairly productive morning in Nakuru, beginning with a very playful troop of Olive Baboons roadside, on a fallen euphorbia tree. Later, we did well with White Rhinos, and had a brief time, barely more than a glimpse, of a Black Rhino with a full grown baby. Along the bay, Lesser Flamingos were fairly close and the group obtained nice reflections, and some flying, shots.
As we headed out, hoping to reach the gate around 10:30 for the long drive to the Mara, we found two leopards that were finishing up, I presume, their mating honeymoon. The female tried, several times, to elicit a response from the male, who rarely did more than raise his head. We weren’t close, but with a tele-converter and our 500s the shot would have been decent, but the male refused to respond. Several times the female actually sat on the male’s head, but to no effect.
We didn’t get to the gate until 11:30 or so, but we were on the road by 12:18, and, with a 1:30PM stop for lunch, we arrived at Keekorak at 6. Our vehicle was the last to arrive and, just two miles from camp, we had a flat. Our group was waiting for us to assign rooms and give out some evening schedules, but the tire change went fairly quickly.
Day 7 – Lower Mara
The morning game drive was somewhat slow, although we followed a nice black-maned Lion who was following a trio of lionesses that seemed a bit uneasy with him. They had left a kill and three of the four cats were full. Later, we found another lioness with two cubs that were interested in, first, a herd of buffalo, and then a distant herd of gnu. Unforutnately, the lions fell asleep about the time that the gnus filed past at a slow trot, so they missed an opportunity for a hunt.
There was a constant wind all morning, and Mary had a lot of luck at the Sand River filming a ‘sand’ crossing with multiple herds. When she reached the room her face was black with dust, and, as we drove in from the morning drive we could see clouds of dust sailing by in the distance, probably from the sheep-denuded grasslands just outside the park. Sadly, as we drove in yesterday, there were multiple herds of both cows and sheep inside the park, and making no effort to hide. The western edge of the Mara had scarcely any game, and the ground was nearly barren from the Maasai over-grazing, especially by sheep.
PM – A fairly slow afternoon, although we had several lions and a continual wind. Writing this two days later, details are fuzzy.
Day 8 – Lower Mara
We had a spectacular morning, starting near the lodge (towards Sopa), then to the Kissinger Tree, and then on to the Sand River – a perfect itinerary for the day.
We started with three male lions, which posed wonderfully in the early light, and then an aborted lioness/zebra hunt. The male lions roared several times. From there we headed towards the K tree, and several saw two male lions chase cheetahs, which then captured an impala baby. Later, in a large burn area, we had an excellent black rhino that contrasted wonderfully with the black, ash covered soil. At the Sand River, Mary’s vehicle encountered an aggressive courting pair of lions that threatened to charge. At the river, scores of thousands of gnus and hundreds of zebras had amassed, and were crossing the dry river bed, running up the banks in clouds, and, most humorously, circling about so that the herds almost made a complete circle! The shooting of dust, running gnus, and vast numbers showing the migration were spectacular.
PM – Headed toward the Hammerkop area where my vehicle worked buffalo fairly well, and we had some lions that were interesting, but otherwise, a slow afternoon.
Day 9 – Lower Mara to Mara Triangle
Shortly after starting our drive David spotted some feeding lions, and we filmed a rib cage glowing brightly, as if on fire, back lighted against the sun while the lions fed. Later, when the lions left the kill they were quite playful, and all of us had great shots as they ran, wrestled, and jumped, and at the very end, a running lioness chasing vultures off the now abandoned kill. Patrick’s vehicle saw a zebra hunt where the lions missed, but apparently a close call.
Baby jackals were very curious, coming right up to our vehicle (miniature adults, not puppies), and along the Sand River we found a pride of 19 or 20 lionesses and cubs. After crossing the river things went slow, and we arrived at Serena by noon.
PM – From the hilltops gnus were scattered across the plains below us, but they did not appear to be gathered anywhere. We drove down to the river and checked various crossing areas, and while doing so a few thousand gnus crossed upriver, completely unexpectedly.
We hurried there, but it was passed, and although more gnus gathered, and were frightened off by crocs, no others crossed. A croc did catch one from the first crossing and we watched as the gnu struggled, fruitlessly, and was finally pulled down by two crocs. David’s vehicle was there, and he saw the croc lunge out and snatch the gnu, but he wasn’t sure if anyone was ready and shot it. Later, a lioness waited on the opposite shoreline for more gnus, but the croc activity cancelled the crossing.
We did have a great sunset, with silhouettes of gnus, zebras, and, for some, elephants. On a bad note, I had my camera slip off a chair in our room, and lightly hit the floor, and I thought nothing of it. Later, after shooting one image, error 99 appeared and the camera is now inoperable.
Day 10 – Triangle
Near the river we spotted a lioness and male at a gnu kill. Both were finished and wandered off, walking right by us as they headed inland. The male, a nice black-maned lion I suspect we filmed last year, roaring, was limping terribly with a left hind leg injury, two defined bite marks above the paw and below the ‘ankle.’ The wound was swollen, and hopefully that alone accounted for the severe limp. If the bones are broken, this fine male will die.
We headed upriver into Black Rhino country, and soon we spotted a lioness on a termite mound, obviously surveying her surroundings. A small herd of gnus moved in, and passed, and while the lioness moved in closer she didn’t look too serious.
Soon after a lone bull buffalo appeared, and it slowly grazed directly into our lioness. By then, we’d spotted at least three other lionesses, and we were hoping a male was present as well for a hunt to successfully proceed. The buffalo moved right into the ambush of lionesses, who began moving in, but the old bull simply swung around and faced them and the cats stopped cold. Still, it was very exciting, and we had a very open view if a hunt would have commenced.
While we watched, a junior warden of the Triangle pulled up and told us we were off-track and had to leave. We were clearly ON a track, but our vehicle, and the others, moved off as the hunt dissipated. The warden’s story was that the track was blocked by logs and closed, but there were no logs over any of the tracks our vehicles were on. Later, I had a chance to talk with that warden and defused the situation.
Around 11AM gnus were gathered at the crossings, but at one they only drank, while crocs swam about, inspecting, but ultimately swimming off. We about gave up on the crossing and were beginning to head back to the lodge when gnus started gathering at another spot, the traditional crossing. Most gnus simply came down to drink but several Thompsons gazelles crossed, splashing and leaping and, for once, safe from crocodiles as there were none in sight. In contrast, the other crossing had seven large crocodiles, but these were uninterested in gnus.
PM – All of the vehicles scattered, looking for the cheetahs and a serval, which has been eluding us on this trip. My van headed towards the escarpment and Tanzania, covering a lot of ground filled with gnus. One adult male lay, dying, beneath an acacia tree, its legs slowly swimming in the air. This is the first ‘natural’ death I’ve ever seen of a gnu, and we suspected it was diseased or cancerous, as its hip area was shrunken and thin, in contrast to so many healthy gnus we saw around us.
The skies were dramatic and we had a short shower, which made for great acacia/sky scapes wide-angles and telephoto sunset shots.
Day 11 – Triangle to Upper Mara
Henry spotted the cheetah family, that we normally see in the Upper Mara, just a few kilometers from our Serena lodge, and on the opposite side of the river. By the time my vehicle arrived the cheetahs were on the move, and we had only a few minutes before they passed us and climbed a hill. We circled around to find a track and to follow, and in the five or ten minutes required the four cheetahs had captured a young, half-grown impala that they began devouring before killing it. While they ate we could hear a few plaintive bleets, but fortunately that did not last very long.
Mary’s vehicle also had a very good serval, finally, and my vehicle stopped at a roadside waterhole where gnus and zebras had gathered. A lioness sat on the bank above the pool, but she didn’t hunt and we suspected she was the disposed owner of a zebra kill we’d seen nearby, that was now covered in safari ants. We waited over an hour but the wind was against her and whenever zebras or gnus came close, they’d catch her scent and run off.
Other vehicles did well with vultures and hyenas, and one vehicle had a full-frame Malachite Kingfisher, a real trophy here in the Mara. We arrived at camp by noon. In contrast with the first trip, where the gnus were in lines, obviously moving to somewhere, the gnus now are scattered in immense, settled herds, grazing in the Mara.
PM – It started raining minutes before our 4PM game drive, and continued for nearly an hour before dissipating to a dreary, chilly afternoon. But the animals loved it, and gnus, topis, etc cavorted, running and playing in the cool wetness.
David’s vehicle spotted running gnus acting a bit odd … a hyena was chasing one and eventually caught it. It took my vehicle nearly ten minutes to get there, but the gnu was still alive, being eaten alive around the hip joint by the hyena. Grisly stuff.
From there we went to three cheetahs that had also taken down a young gnu, and the shots were fine of bloody faces, but I restrained from shooting the carcass – draped about with looped intestines. Almost 6PM, we decided to look for the leopardess with cubs, but were side-tracked by another cheetah that walked through a bat-eared fox den area, and the cat was being closely followed by the foxes. These were quite tame and I got my only shots of Bat-eared foxes for this trip.
We concluded, still looking for the leopard, with an African Hare we’d started the game drive with, tucked under a bush, but now grooming itself in the open in the very, very low light.
Day 12 –Upper Mara
We continued our search for the leopardess, now pinpointed to a fresh impala kill hanging from a tree close to the ‘stinky waters’ bridge. Two private vehicles were parked off road below the kill tree, and from their position one could see the silhouettes of the cubs, and the mother’s tail, as they played in the brush. All of our vehicles staked out vantages for when or if the leopard moved, and Henry’s vehicle did get some poor glimpses as the leopard moved through the brush.
We moved on, discouraged by the presence of the obnoxious Governor’s Camp vehicles that pushed into brush, and we headed to the Talek where, at the lowest spot in the ford we filmed a gray heron almost at water level. A Malachite, Gray-headed, and Pied Kingfisher flitted by repeatedly as well, but not close for effective shots.
A radio call led us to a mating pair of lions, with another good male over-looking the action from an uphill vantage, but what little action we saw occurred with the lioness facing away from us. Later, we found two young lions atop a termite mound, which, from a distance, looked like cheetahs on the mound.
Two intent looking giraffes signaled something, and David was certain they had spotted a predator so we drove up and, sure enough, found a lioness with three cubs. She nursed near to us, but in somewhat heavy cover, but one of the cubs stayed in the open and yawned/snarled repeatedly for some great shots. The morning concluded with literal head shots of a Masai Giraffe, and, just minutes after our return to camp, a heavy rain shower.
PM – We headed out with the roof tops on, and throughout most of the game drive they remained in place. It was a slow afternoon, mainly because of the weather, which stayed dreary and rained periodically.
We had the lioness with cubs again, but my vehicle arrived too late for any shots, although others had luck as the lioness walked towards the cars with her cubs. Six lions had killed a warthog and were playful, but again we arrived too late for the action. With low light, at ISO 800 we were at 250th at f4, we decided to call it an early afternoon and arrived back at camp at 6. Five minutes later it began pouring again, right after we reached our tent!
Day 13 – Upper Mara
We were hoping for cheetahs, the only cat we still needed more coverage of, and we headed north. Just out of camp we found the leopardess with her cubs, and although they were actively playing they were deep in the brush at the same location as yesterday, and they offered no shots. We drove on after watching for ten minutes or so.
Later that morning the leopardess did leave the thicket, but she apparently was surrounded by mini-vans and they disrupted the hunt she was attempting. She crossed the river and disappeared.
We soon found four bat-eared foxes that were close to the road and very tame, but aside from one looking about, ears erect, they didn’t do very much so we moved on, giving room for another vehicle. Because of the rains termites were emerging, and on several large mounds we found Steppe Eagles, Tawny Eagles, Kori Bustards, and Secretarybirds all feeding. The Kori flared tail and wings to intimidate the Steppe Eagles, and later, another Kori displayed in a half-breeding show, with most of its neck feathers fluffed out.
Still looking for the cheetah we headed down towards Paradise and some crossings, but along the way we spotted three lion cubs playing, a lioness, and a mating pair. The mating pair were sullen, with both snarling at one another, but they were too far away for decent shots without deserting the cubs, which were putting on an incredible show.
Eventually, the mother lioness spotted vultures descending and started out at a trot, cubs jogging behind. She eventually decided there wasn’t a kill ahead, and started digging at warthog burrows, hoping to kick out a frightened warthog, but was unsuccessful. We finally lost her and the cubs as they headed across an area of scattered lava rock.
And we headed to the three Cheetah brothers, which were hunting. When we arrived, they were lying around a termite mound but soon after they moved towards us, pausing on termite mounds, and eventually crossing our track. We had a few good opportunities for poses and scent marking before they settled down beneath a tree where, two hours later, we left them.
PM – After a quick search for the leopardess we headed back to the three Cheetah brothers. By the time we arrived, the three cats were set up to hunt a topi that was slowly grazing towards them. Another group of topis had spotted the cats, but as they flattened and remained motionless the topis lost interest and wandered off. Doing so, whatever warning sign our target topi would receive was now gone.
The stalk was classic, with two of the brothers creeping forward, freezing mid-stride whenever the topi looked up. Eventually, less than one hundred yards away, the two cats flattened again, with their hind legs bunched up for the final sprint, and they waited. And, the third cheetah decided to join them, walking with much less caution and alerting the topi, which, suspicious, moved off. The hunt was ruined.
A family of warthogs – five young and three adults—fed in the field below and the cats started stalking them. They drew surprisingly close before charging, and all of the warthogs scattered. It took only a second for one of the cheetahs to tackle a baby, and just a few seconds more for one of the adults to come rushing in and bowling over the cheetah, who released the baby. The warthog didn’t stop, and pursued the cheetah for quite a distance, running right passed another cheetah now beaded in on another baby. This it caught, after the baby ran, squealing loudly, for a few score of yards. Another cheetah grabbed another baby while the adult warthogs ran about, one chasing the cheetah and the others dashing for cover.
The cheetahs carried the babies off and began to feed, and eventually the other cheetah shook its pursuer and joined the two. We think it was one of the original hunters, so we watched with satisfaction when it grabbed the warthog and, after a brief tug-of-war, stole the warthog baby from the cheetah we think blew the topi hunt.
Mary, David, and I headed out for a celebratory beer/sundowner, toasting the safari as is our tradition on the very last day of our last safari, and as we took a few photos of ourselves it began to rain. We packed up, drove back to camp in a heavy rain, and broke down our gear for the travel day tomorrow.
Day 14 – Upper Mara to Nairobi
We slept in, had breakfast at 8 under a rain of common bulbul bird-droppings, and after boarding our charter at 11 arrived in Nairobi by noon. In mid-afternoon I hit the gym and, somehow, popped or pulled a tricep or lat muscle, which just about crippled that side and ended both my weight workout and my long anticipated swim.
The group left at 7 after our farewell dinner, and a great slide show of our participants work. We were very sorry to see them go, and even sadder to know that tomorrow, after only a month, and two safaris, we were leaving too.
Kenya Safari 2009
Trip 2
Most everyone arrived at least one day early, and some several, to get rested and prepared. Three did not, but they arrived a bit of schedule and with their luggage, so the start looked good.
Day 1 – After a bit longer than normal briefing we headed out, arriving at Tree Trout around 1, and with plenty of Colobus Monkeys about, and in good position for shooting. We spent about 40 minutes photographing the monkeys, usually below the distant treeline, so that backgrounds were very complementary. We arrived in Samburu, seeing virtually all of the endemics en route, by 6PM.
Day 2 – Samburu
Rains had arrived in our absence, and the barren, near sterile landscape of our previous visit to Samburu was transformed. New growth, looking like sprouting fields of grass, covered many of the open areas and most of the acacias glowed in a fresh outbreak of new young leaves. The morning was successful for everyone, with Chris photographing 40 different species of birds, and the rest of us shooting just about everything, including all of the endemics.
At one point, as we neared the end of our morning game drive, a Somalia Ostrich male suddenly danced about, darting quickly for a few seconds before pausing to fan its wings. A Savannah Monitor lizard hunted right next to our vehicle, its long blue tongue constantly probing as it sauntered, left-right-left, about, looking for hidden beetles or toads. At one point the monitor almost walked beneath our vehicle, and was, regardless, completely oblivious or dismissive of our presence.
PM – Not long after starting the afternoon game drive we had to close the roof hatches, as a very isolated, but intense, shower poured down around us. We hoped to find some animals in the rain, but the rains ended before our luck started. However, it was a fruitful afternoon, with birds, scenics, and antelope.
Our vehicle did well with a launching Steppe Eagle – identical to a Tawny, and I’d have thought it was, ‘save for its wide gape that reached behind the eye, an aggressive African Hare that we expected to attack a Dik-Dik that encroached upon its feeding area, a great African Hare with ears erect, my best Golden-breasted Starling in years, and, for Don and Judy, plenty of infra-red scenics.
Day 3 – Samburu
We headed to the Buffalo Springs Reserve, driving into a red-sky where, throughout the morning cumulous clouds dominated the sky but where we were rarely beneath a cloud or in shadow. It was another productive morning for everyone, but for many the highlight was the male lion (the same lion we’d seen mating with a lone female not far away, two weeks earlier) that attacked one of the 2 yer old male cubs from the pride. As we drove up we saw one altercation, but not long afterwards the lion approached and dove on the cub, biting it viciously in the foreleg and paw. A lioness jumped to the rescue and bit into the hindleg and back of the lion, and then swatted him off, and in doing so, left no marks on the male’s hide. Later, the pride moved off and the male stayed behind, sleeping beneath a doum palm.
We had at least 17 Reticulated Giraffes in a loose herd, including one young giraffe whose hair, covering his sprouting horns, curled in a long, eyelash-like manner, or a curly-que. The light was great, although the giraffes did nothing but feed.
One group saw a Martial Eagle dive for a Dik-Dik, unsuccessfully, and a short time later almost all of us watched a mother Baboon groom her baby, holding it upside down, dropping it on its head, and, at times, stretching it between another curious sister. I had a great Gabar Goshawk that was the most cooperative, ever, and others had luck with other birds of prey.
Stephen’s vehicle caught a shy leopard as it climbed down from a tree, and with 9 lions, in total, it was a productive morning.
PM – Yesterday, virtually no one was in the park, and we had Samburu to ourselves. Tonight, with a good leopard spotted, tourists were everywhere and a Ranger monitored traffic, pushing people through the viewing area for relatively brief looks. That said, I thought the Rangers did a good job, as the vehicles all stayed on the road and we had none of the chaos that normally attends a leopard sighting.
Eventually, our treed leopard descended, walking right passed vehicles to feed on an impala carcass stored beneath a tree. Suddenly, the leopard grabbed the impalas neck and in a bound, carried the carcass up a very cluttered tree, too busy, in fact, for the carcass which fell back to earth. The leopard descended, and walked off, and began to call, grunting and giving the distinctive leopard ‘cough’ and we assume she was trying to summon her cubs. We stayed with her the rest of the afternoon, and some of our vehicles had great luck when she walked right to them, although we bet on her returning to the kill, with her cubs, and we were out of position for the great walking shots.
Earlier, we had a pair of Red and Yellow Barbets at a termite mound, and the shooting there was wonderful. Mary left the leopard after nailing the cat climbing down the tree, and found a well-fed cheetah – for a three cat Samburu day. Others did well with Gerenuk and zebras.
Day 4 – Samburu
We stayed on the Samburu side, instead of crossing to Buffalo Springs to hunt for leopards, in order to try, once again, for yesterday’s leopard. Our vehicles were the first to arrive, and the leopard had returned to its original tree, but this time with the impala carcass up the tree as well. No babies or young leopards, so we’re still puzzled as to why this leopard coughed and roared as it did last evening.
The leopard was a bit more animated than yesterday afternoon, prior to climbing down, but after an half hour or so we had about all we could expect. Later, Henry’s vehicle returned to the leopard and caught it as it descended, walked a short distance, and pulled itself up a vine-covered tree, completely losing itself in the foliage.
Mary’s vehicle found a young elephant we’d seen around earlier, now weakened and near death, on its side with its legs feebly kicking. Rangers were summoned, and we expect they’ll finish it. In contrast to the last trip, elephants are more cooperative, and we had four bulls, including the huge one with a collar, feeding quite close to the road, and later wading out, and crossing the river in front of us.
Later, a giraffe crossed the river as well, and several times it appeared as if it were about to drink, spreading its legs slightly before thinking better of it. As it neared the shoreline it exploded up the bank, water splashing, and making a great shot.
We can see an obvious difference in the birds, now that the rains have arrived, and we did well with Superb Starlings, Fork-tailed Drongos, Hornbills of all three species, and several others. After Mary and my walk, we spotted a Naked Mole Rat excavating a hole along the trail to our room, and both of us had our first good look at this unusual rodent. Mole Rats are indeed hairless, with wrinkled, pinking skin that looks infantile. Four protruding incisor teeth stick out from its snout, and these it uses to literally dig through the soil. Folds of skin behind these teeth prevent soil from going into the mole rat’s mouth, and, periodically, the mole rat would pause to kick out sand, creating the tell-tale pyramid like, or giant anthill-like, piles of sand. I hurried for my camera but by the time I arrived the mole rat was in the final stages of blocking up the hole, and I missed the shot.
‘PM – We headed over to the Buffalo Springs side, since we missed it this morning, and had a leisurely but productive afternoon, with Pale Chanting Goshawk, weavers, and displaying crested bustards. The highlight, as we began to drive back, was a hedgehog curled up on the road, which we moved to a safer location and photographed, still tightly in its ball.
Day 5 – Nakuru
We left Samburu on time, and arrived in Nakuru about 1:30 PM.
David had two passengers for transport, one of which, the soldier/guard for the camp, sat in Felix’s vehicle. En route, we think he stole $50 from Stephen, out of his computer case. I was going to call the office to report the theft, but the guides told me they’d catch hell, so they’re giving me $50 that I can then return to Stephen, or put into the tip award.
The PM game drive was great. We headed to Cormorant Point, but there were no pelicans, as we had hoped to see. However, stilts, avocets, and a feeding hippo – on shore, made for great shooting. Later we headed to several white rhinos, including the female we’ve seen in the past with a truly impressive front horn. She was with her, now two year old, calf.
Close to six, David spotted a leopard and called us in, and four of our vehicles got great shots, even though the light was marginal and we needed ISO 800 and 1600. Inexplicably, David, who had spotted the leopard, did not drive onto the side road that lead directly to the leopard and instead stayed on the main road, nearly 80 yards away and far out of reach of a good shot. My vehicle was the first to reach the leopard and I saw, and we took, a side road that led right to it, and our other three vehicles followed, with all of us getting great shots. David’s vehicle did not, and I can’t understand why he didn’t either back up or do a U-turn. I was very annoyed, as, I think, were the clients.
Day 6 – Nakuru to the Mara
A fairly productive morning in Nakuru, beginning with a very playful troop of Olive Baboons roadside, on a fallen euphorbia tree. Later, we did well with White Rhinos, and had a brief time, barely more than a glimpse, of a Black Rhino with a full grown baby. Along the bay, Lesser Flamingos were fairly close and the group obtained nice reflections, and some flying, shots.
As we headed out, hoping to reach the gate around 10:30 for the long drive to the Mara, we found two leopards that were finishing up, I presume, their mating honeymoon. The female tried, several times, to elicit a response from the male, who rarely did more than raise his head. We weren’t close, but with a tele-converter and our 500s the shot would have been decent, but the male refused to respond. Several times the female actually sat on the male’s head, but to no effect.
We didn’t get to the gate until 11:30 or so, but we were on the road by 12:18, and, with a 1:30PM stop for lunch, we arrived at Keekorak at 6. Our vehicle was the last to arrive and, just two miles from camp, we had a flat. Our group was waiting for us to assign rooms and give out some evening schedules, but the tire change went fairly quickly.
Day 7 – Lower Mara
The morning game drive was somewhat slow, although we followed a nice black-maned Lion who was following a trio of lionesses that seemed a bit uneasy with him. They had left a kill and three of the four cats were full. Later, we found another lioness with two cubs that were interested in, first, a herd of buffalo, and then a distant herd of gnu. Unforutnately, the lions fell asleep about the time that the gnus filed past at a slow trot, so they missed an opportunity for a hunt.
There was a constant wind all morning, and Mary had a lot of luck at the Sand River filming a ‘sand’ crossing with multiple herds. When she reached the room her face was black with dust, and, as we drove in from the morning drive we could see clouds of dust sailing by in the distance, probably from the sheep-denuded grasslands just outside the park. Sadly, as we drove in yesterday, there were multiple herds of both cows and sheep inside the park, and making no effort to hide. The western edge of the Mara had scarcely any game, and the ground was nearly barren from the Maasai over-grazing, especially by sheep.
PM – A fairly slow afternoon, although we had several lions and a continual wind. Writing this two days later, details are fuzzy.
Day 8 – Lower Mara
We had a spectacular morning, starting near the lodge (towards Sopa), then to the Kissinger Tree, and then on to the Sand River – a perfect itinerary for the day.
We started with three male lions, which posed wonderfully in the early light, and then an aborted lioness/zebra hunt. The male lions roared several times. From there we headed towards the K tree, and several saw two male lions chase cheetahs, which then captured an impala baby. Later, in a large burn area, we had an excellent black rhino that contrasted wonderfully with the black, ash covered soil. At the Sand River, Mary’s vehicle encountered an aggressive courting pair of lions that threatened to charge. At the river, scores of thousands of gnus and hundreds of zebras had amassed, and were crossing the dry river bed, running up the banks in clouds, and, most humorously, circling about so that the herds almost made a complete circle! The shooting of dust, running gnus, and vast numbers showing the migration were spectacular.
PM – Headed toward the Hammerkop area where my vehicle worked buffalo fairly well, and we had some lions that were interesting, but otherwise, a slow afternoon.
Day 9 – Lower Mara to Mara Triangle
Shortly after starting our drive David spotted some feeding lions, and we filmed a rib cage glowing brightly, as if on fire, back lighted against the sun while the lions fed. Later, when the lions left the kill they were quite playful, and all of us had great shots as they ran, wrestled, and jumped, and at the very end, a running lioness chasing vultures off the now abandoned kill. Patrick’s vehicle saw a zebra hunt where the lions missed, but apparently a close call.
Baby jackals were very curious, coming right up to our vehicle (miniature adults, not puppies), and along the Sand River we found a pride of 19 or 20 lionesses and cubs. After crossing the river things went slow, and we arrived at Serena by noon.
PM – From the hilltops gnus were scattered across the plains below us, but they did not appear to be gathered anywhere. We drove down to the river and checked various crossing areas, and while doing so a few thousand gnus crossed upriver, completely unexpectedly.
We hurried there, but it was passed, and although more gnus gathered, and were frightened off by crocs, no others crossed. A croc did catch one from the first crossing and we watched as the gnu struggled, fruitlessly, and was finally pulled down by two crocs. David’s vehicle was there, and he saw the croc lunge out and snatch the gnu, but he wasn’t sure if anyone was ready and shot it. Later, a lioness waited on the opposite shoreline for more gnus, but the croc activity cancelled the crossing.
We did have a great sunset, with silhouettes of gnus, zebras, and, for some, elephants. On a bad note, I had my camera slip off a chair in our room, and lightly hit the floor, and I thought nothing of it. Later, after shooting one image, error 99 appeared and the camera is now inoperable.
Day 10 – Triangle
Near the river we spotted a lioness and male at a gnu kill. Both were finished and wandered off, walking right by us as they headed inland. The male, a nice black-maned lion I suspect we filmed last year, roaring, was limping terribly with a left hind leg injury, two defined bite marks above the paw and below the ‘ankle.’ The wound was swollen, and hopefully that alone accounted for the severe limp. If the bones are broken, this fine male will die.
We headed upriver into Black Rhino country, and soon we spotted a lioness on a termite mound, obviously surveying her surroundings. A small herd of gnus moved in, and passed, and while the lioness moved in closer she didn’t look too serious.
Soon after a lone bull buffalo appeared, and it slowly grazed directly into our lioness. By then, we’d spotted at least three other lionesses, and we were hoping a male was present as well for a hunt to successfully proceed. The buffalo moved right into the ambush of lionesses, who began moving in, but the old bull simply swung around and faced them and the cats stopped cold. Still, it was very exciting, and we had a very open view if a hunt would have commenced.
While we watched, a junior warden of the Triangle pulled up and told us we were off-track and had to leave. We were clearly ON a track, but our vehicle, and the others, moved off as the hunt dissipated. The warden’s story was that the track was blocked by logs and closed, but there were no logs over any of the tracks our vehicles were on. Later, I had a chance to talk with that warden and defused the situation.
Around 11AM gnus were gathered at the crossings, but at one they only drank, while crocs swam about, inspecting, but ultimately swimming off. We about gave up on the crossing and were beginning to head back to the lodge when gnus started gathering at another spot, the traditional crossing. Most gnus simply came down to drink but several Thompsons gazelles crossed, splashing and leaping and, for once, safe from crocodiles as there were none in sight. In contrast, the other crossing had seven large crocodiles, but these were uninterested in gnus.
PM – All of the vehicles scattered, looking for the cheetahs and a serval, which has been eluding us on this trip. My van headed towards the escarpment and Tanzania, covering a lot of ground filled with gnus. One adult male lay, dying, beneath an acacia tree, its legs slowly swimming in the air. This is the first ‘natural’ death I’ve ever seen of a gnu, and we suspected it was diseased or cancerous, as its hip area was shrunken and thin, in contrast to so many healthy gnus we saw around us.
The skies were dramatic and we had a short shower, which made for great acacia/sky scapes wide-angles and telephoto sunset shots.
Day 11 – Triangle to Upper Mara
Henry spotted the cheetah family, that we normally see in the Upper Mara, just a few kilometers from our Serena lodge, and on the opposite side of the river. By the time my vehicle arrived the cheetahs were on the move, and we had only a few minutes before they passed us and climbed a hill. We circled around to find a track and to follow, and in the five or ten minutes required the four cheetahs had captured a young, half-grown impala that they began devouring before killing it. While they ate we could hear a few plaintive bleets, but fortunately that did not last very long.
Mary’s vehicle also had a very good serval, finally, and my vehicle stopped at a roadside waterhole where gnus and zebras had gathered. A lioness sat on the bank above the pool, but she didn’t hunt and we suspected she was the disposed owner of a zebra kill we’d seen nearby, that was now covered in safari ants. We waited over an hour but the wind was against her and whenever zebras or gnus came close, they’d catch her scent and run off.
Other vehicles did well with vultures and hyenas, and one vehicle had a full-frame Malachite Kingfisher, a real trophy here in the Mara. We arrived at camp by noon. In contrast with the first trip, where the gnus were in lines, obviously moving to somewhere, the gnus now are scattered in immense, settled herds, grazing in the Mara.
PM – It started raining minutes before our 4PM game drive, and continued for nearly an hour before dissipating to a dreary, chilly afternoon. But the animals loved it, and gnus, topis, etc cavorted, running and playing in the cool wetness.
David’s vehicle spotted running gnus acting a bit odd … a hyena was chasing one and eventually caught it. It took my vehicle nearly ten minutes to get there, but the gnu was still alive, being eaten alive around the hip joint by the hyena. Grisly stuff.
From there we went to three cheetahs that had also taken down a young gnu, and the shots were fine of bloody faces, but I restrained from shooting the carcass – draped about with looped intestines. Almost 6PM, we decided to look for the leopardess with cubs, but were side-tracked by another cheetah that walked through a bat-eared fox den area, and the cat was being closely followed by the foxes. These were quite tame and I got my only shots of Bat-eared foxes for this trip.
We concluded, still looking for the leopard, with an African Hare we’d started the game drive with, tucked under a bush, but now grooming itself in the open in the very, very low light.
Day 12 –Upper Mara
We continued our search for the leopardess, now pinpointed to a fresh impala kill hanging from a tree close to the ‘stinky waters’ bridge. Two private vehicles were parked off road below the kill tree, and from their position one could see the silhouettes of the cubs, and the mother’s tail, as they played in the brush. All of our vehicles staked out vantages for when or if the leopard moved, and Henry’s vehicle did get some poor glimpses as the leopard moved through the brush.
We moved on, discouraged by the presence of the obnoxious Governor’s Camp vehicles that pushed into brush, and we headed to the Talek where, at the lowest spot in the ford we filmed a gray heron almost at water level. A Malachite, Gray-headed, and Pied Kingfisher flitted by repeatedly as well, but not close for effective shots.
A radio call led us to a mating pair of lions, with another good male over-looking the action from an uphill vantage, but what little action we saw occurred with the lioness facing away from us. Later, we found two young lions atop a termite mound, which, from a distance, looked like cheetahs on the mound.
Two intent looking giraffes signaled something, and David was certain they had spotted a predator so we drove up and, sure enough, found a lioness with three cubs. She nursed near to us, but in somewhat heavy cover, but one of the cubs stayed in the open and yawned/snarled repeatedly for some great shots. The morning concluded with literal head shots of a Masai Giraffe, and, just minutes after our return to camp, a heavy rain shower.
PM – We headed out with the roof tops on, and throughout most of the game drive they remained in place. It was a slow afternoon, mainly because of the weather, which stayed dreary and rained periodically.
We had the lioness with cubs again, but my vehicle arrived too late for any shots, although others had luck as the lioness walked towards the cars with her cubs. Six lions had killed a warthog and were playful, but again we arrived too late for the action. With low light, at ISO 800 we were at 250th at f4, we decided to call it an early afternoon and arrived back at camp at 6. Five minutes later it began pouring again, right after we reached our tent!
Day 13 – Upper Mara
We were hoping for cheetahs, the only cat we still needed more coverage of, and we headed north. Just out of camp we found the leopardess with her cubs, and although they were actively playing they were deep in the brush at the same location as yesterday, and they offered no shots. We drove on after watching for ten minutes or so.
Later that morning the leopardess did leave the thicket, but she apparently was surrounded by mini-vans and they disrupted the hunt she was attempting. She crossed the river and disappeared.
We soon found four bat-eared foxes that were close to the road and very tame, but aside from one looking about, ears erect, they didn’t do very much so we moved on, giving room for another vehicle. Because of the rains termites were emerging, and on several large mounds we found Steppe Eagles, Tawny Eagles, Kori Bustards, and Secretarybirds all feeding. The Kori flared tail and wings to intimidate the Steppe Eagles, and later, another Kori displayed in a half-breeding show, with most of its neck feathers fluffed out.
Still looking for the cheetah we headed down towards Paradise and some crossings, but along the way we spotted three lion cubs playing, a lioness, and a mating pair. The mating pair were sullen, with both snarling at one another, but they were too far away for decent shots without deserting the cubs, which were putting on an incredible show.
Eventually, the mother lioness spotted vultures descending and started out at a trot, cubs jogging behind. She eventually decided there wasn’t a kill ahead, and started digging at warthog burrows, hoping to kick out a frightened warthog, but was unsuccessful. We finally lost her and the cubs as they headed across an area of scattered lava rock.
And we headed to the three Cheetah brothers, which were hunting. When we arrived, they were lying around a termite mound but soon after they moved towards us, pausing on termite mounds, and eventually crossing our track. We had a few good opportunities for poses and scent marking before they settled down beneath a tree where, two hours later, we left them.
PM – After a quick search for the leopardess we headed back to the three Cheetah brothers. By the time we arrived, the three cats were set up to hunt a topi that was slowly grazing towards them. Another group of topis had spotted the cats, but as they flattened and remained motionless the topis lost interest and wandered off. Doing so, whatever warning sign our target topi would receive was now gone.
The stalk was classic, with two of the brothers creeping forward, freezing mid-stride whenever the topi looked up. Eventually, less than one hundred yards away, the two cats flattened again, with their hind legs bunched up for the final sprint, and they waited. And, the third cheetah decided to join them, walking with much less caution and alerting the topi, which, suspicious, moved off. The hunt was ruined.
A family of warthogs – five young and three adults—fed in the field below and the cats started stalking them. They drew surprisingly close before charging, and all of the warthogs scattered. It took only a second for one of the cheetahs to tackle a baby, and just a few seconds more for one of the adults to come rushing in and bowling over the cheetah, who released the baby. The warthog didn’t stop, and pursued the cheetah for quite a distance, running right passed another cheetah now beaded in on another baby. This it caught, after the baby ran, squealing loudly, for a few score of yards. Another cheetah grabbed another baby while the adult warthogs ran about, one chasing the cheetah and the others dashing for cover.
The cheetahs carried the babies off and began to feed, and eventually the other cheetah shook its pursuer and joined the two. We think it was one of the original hunters, so we watched with satisfaction when it grabbed the warthog and, after a brief tug-of-war, stole the warthog baby from the cheetah we think blew the topi hunt.
Mary, David, and I headed out for a celebratory beer/sundowner, toasting the safari as is our tradition on the very last day of our last safari, and as we took a few photos of ourselves it began to rain. We packed up, drove back to camp in a heavy rain, and broke down our gear for the travel day tomorrow.
Day 14 – Upper Mara to Nairobi
We slept in, had breakfast at 8 under a rain of common bulbul bird-droppings, and after boarding our charter at 11 arrived in Nairobi by noon. In mid-afternoon I hit the gym and, somehow, popped or pulled a tricep or lat muscle, which just about crippled that side and ended both my weight workout and my long anticipated swim.
The group left at 7 after our farewell dinner, and a great slide show of our participants work. We were very sorry to see them go, and even sadder to know that tomorrow, after only a month, and two safaris, we were leaving too.
Kenya Safari 2009
Trip 2
Most everyone arrived at least one day early, and some several, to get rested and prepared. Three did not, but they arrived a bit of schedule and with their luggage, so the start looked good.
Day 1 – After a bit longer than normal briefing we headed out, arriving at Tree Trout around 1, and with plenty of Colobus Monkeys about, and in good position for shooting. We spent about 40 minutes photographing the monkeys, usually below the distant treeline, so that backgrounds were very complementary. We arrived in Samburu, seeing virtually all of the endemics en route, by 6PM.
Day 2 – Samburu
Rains had arrived in our absence, and the barren, near sterile landscape of our previous visit to Samburu was transformed. New growth, looking like sprouting fields of grass, covered many of the open areas and most of the acacias glowed in a fresh outbreak of new young leaves. The morning was successful for everyone, with Chris photographing 40 different species of birds, and the rest of us shooting just about everything, including all of the endemics.
At one point, as we neared the end of our morning game drive, a Somalia Ostrich male suddenly danced about, darting quickly for a few seconds before pausing to fan its wings. A Savannah Monitor lizard hunted right next to our vehicle, its long blue tongue constantly probing as it sauntered, left-right-left, about, looking for hidden beetles or toads. At one point the monitor almost walked beneath our vehicle, and was, regardless, completely oblivious or dismissive of our presence.
PM – Not long after starting the afternoon game drive we had to close the roof hatches, as a very isolated, but intense, shower poured down around us. We hoped to find some animals in the rain, but the rains ended before our luck started. However, it was a fruitful afternoon, with birds, scenics, and antelope.
Our vehicle did well with a launching Steppe Eagle – identical to a Tawny, and I’d have thought it was, ‘save for its wide gape that reached behind the eye, an aggressive African Hare that we expected to attack a Dik-Dik that encroached upon its feeding area, a great African Hare with ears erect, my best Golden-breasted Starling in years, and, for Don and Judy, plenty of infra-red scenics.
Day 3 – Samburu
We headed to the Buffalo Springs Reserve, driving into a red-sky where, throughout the morning cumulous clouds dominated the sky but where we were rarely beneath a cloud or in shadow. It was another productive morning for everyone, but for many the highlight was the male lion (the same lion we’d seen mating with a lone female not far away, two weeks earlier) that attacked one of the 2 yer old male cubs from the pride. As we drove up we saw one altercation, but not long afterwards the lion approached and dove on the cub, biting it viciously in the foreleg and paw. A lioness jumped to the rescue and bit into the hindleg and back of the lion, and then swatted him off, and in doing so, left no marks on the male’s hide. Later, the pride moved off and the male stayed behind, sleeping beneath a doum palm.
We had at least 17 Reticulated Giraffes in a loose herd, including one young giraffe whose hair, covering his sprouting horns, curled in a long, eyelash-like manner, or a curly-que. The light was great, although the giraffes did nothing but feed.
One group saw a Martial Eagle dive for a Dik-Dik, unsuccessfully, and a short time later almost all of us watched a mother Baboon groom her baby, holding it upside down, dropping it on its head, and, at times, stretching it between another curious sister. I had a great Gabar Goshawk that was the most cooperative, ever, and others had luck with other birds of prey.
Stephen’s vehicle caught a shy leopard as it climbed down from a tree, and with 9 lions, in total, it was a productive morning.
PM – Yesterday, virtually no one was in the park, and we had Samburu to ourselves. Tonight, with a good leopard spotted, tourists were everywhere and a Ranger monitored traffic, pushing people through the viewing area for relatively brief looks. That said, I thought the Rangers did a good job, as the vehicles all stayed on the road and we had none of the chaos that normally attends a leopard sighting.
Eventually, our treed leopard descended, walking right passed vehicles to feed on an impala carcass stored beneath a tree. Suddenly, the leopard grabbed the impalas neck and in a bound, carried the carcass up a very cluttered tree, too busy, in fact, for the carcass which fell back to earth. The leopard descended, and walked off, and began to call, grunting and giving the distinctive leopard ‘cough’ and we assume she was trying to summon her cubs. We stayed with her the rest of the afternoon, and some of our vehicles had great luck when she walked right to them, although we bet on her returning to the kill, with her cubs, and we were out of position for the great walking shots.
Earlier, we had a pair of Red and Yellow Barbets at a termite mound, and the shooting there was wonderful. Mary left the leopard after nailing the cat climbing down the tree, and found a well-fed cheetah – for a three cat Samburu day. Others did well with Gerenuk and zebras.
Day 4 – Samburu
We stayed on the Samburu side, instead of crossing to Buffalo Springs to hunt for leopards, in order to try, once again, for yesterday’s leopard. Our vehicles were the first to arrive, and the leopard had returned to its original tree, but this time with the impala carcass up the tree as well. No babies or young leopards, so we’re still puzzled as to why this leopard coughed and roared as it did last evening.
The leopard was a bit more animated than yesterday afternoon, prior to climbing down, but after an half hour or so we had about all we could expect. Later, Henry’s vehicle returned to the leopard and caught it as it descended, walked a short distance, and pulled itself up a vine-covered tree, completely losing itself in the foliage.
Mary’s vehicle found a young elephant we’d seen around earlier, now weakened and near death, on its side with its legs feebly kicking. Rangers were summoned, and we expect they’ll finish it. In contrast to the last trip, elephants are more cooperative, and we had four bulls, including the huge one with a collar, feeding quite close to the road, and later wading out, and crossing the river in front of us.
Later, a giraffe crossed the river as well, and several times it appeared as if it were about to drink, spreading its legs slightly before thinking better of it. As it neared the shoreline it exploded up the bank, water splashing, and making a great shot.
We can see an obvious difference in the birds, now that the rains have arrived, and we did well with Superb Starlings, Fork-tailed Drongos, Hornbills of all three species, and several others. After Mary and my walk, we spotted a Naked Mole Rat excavating a hole along the trail to our room, and both of us had our first good look at this unusual rodent. Mole Rats are indeed hairless, with wrinkled, pinking skin that looks infantile. Four protruding incisor teeth stick out from its snout, and these it uses to literally dig through the soil. Folds of skin behind these teeth prevent soil from going into the mole rat’s mouth, and, periodically, the mole rat would pause to kick out sand, creating the tell-tale pyramid like, or giant anthill-like, piles of sand. I hurried for my camera but by the time I arrived the mole rat was in the final stages of blocking up the hole, and I missed the shot.
‘PM – We headed over to the Buffalo Springs side, since we missed it this morning, and had a leisurely but productive afternoon, with Pale Chanting Goshawk, weavers, and displaying crested bustards. The highlight, as we began to drive back, was a hedgehog curled up on the road, which we moved to a safer location and photographed, still tightly in its ball.
Day 5 – Nakuru
We left Samburu on time, and arrived in Nakuru about 1:30 PM.
David had two passengers for transport, one of which, the soldier/guard for the camp, sat in Felix’s vehicle. En route, we think he stole $50 from Stephen, out of his computer case. I was going to call the office to report the theft, but the guides told me they’d catch hell, so they’re giving me $50 that I can then return to Stephen, or put into the tip award.
The PM game drive was great. We headed to Cormorant Point, but there were no pelicans, as we had hoped to see. However, stilts, avocets, and a feeding hippo – on shore, made for great shooting. Later we headed to several white rhinos, including the female we’ve seen in the past with a truly impressive front horn. She was with her, now two year old, calf.
Close to six, David spotted a leopard and called us in, and four of our vehicles got great shots, even though the light was marginal and we needed ISO 800 and 1600. Inexplicably, David, who had spotted the leopard, did not drive onto the side road that lead directly to the leopard and instead stayed on the main road, nearly 80 yards away and far out of reach of a good shot. My vehicle was the first to reach the leopard and I saw, and we took, a side road that led right to it, and our other three vehicles followed, with all of us getting great shots. David’s vehicle did not, and I can’t understand why he didn’t either back up or do a U-turn. I was very annoyed, as, I think, were the clients.
Day 6 – Nakuru to the Mara
A fairly productive morning in Nakuru, beginning with a very playful troop of Olive Baboons roadside, on a fallen euphorbia tree. Later, we did well with White Rhinos, and had a brief time, barely more than a glimpse, of a Black Rhino with a full grown baby. Along the bay, Lesser Flamingos were fairly close and the group obtained nice reflections, and some flying, shots.
As we headed out, hoping to reach the gate around 10:30 for the long drive to the Mara, we found two leopards that were finishing up, I presume, their mating honeymoon. The female tried, several times, to elicit a response from the male, who rarely did more than raise his head. We weren’t close, but with a tele-converter and our 500s the shot would have been decent, but the male refused to respond. Several times the female actually sat on the male’s head, but to no effect.
We didn’t get to the gate until 11:30 or so, but we were on the road by 12:18, and, with a 1:30PM stop for lunch, we arrived at Keekorak at 6. Our vehicle was the last to arrive and, just two miles from camp, we had a flat. Our group was waiting for us to assign rooms and give out some evening schedules, but the tire change went fairly quickly.
Day 7 – Lower Mara
The morning game drive was somewhat slow, although we followed a nice black-maned Lion who was following a trio of lionesses that seemed a bit uneasy with him. They had left a kill and three of the four cats were full. Later, we found another lioness with two cubs that were interested in, first, a herd of buffalo, and then a distant herd of gnu. Unforutnately, the lions fell asleep about the time that the gnus filed past at a slow trot, so they missed an opportunity for a hunt.
There was a constant wind all morning, and Mary had a lot of luck at the Sand River filming a ‘sand’ crossing with multiple herds. When she reached the room her face was black with dust, and, as we drove in from the morning drive we could see clouds of dust sailing by in the distance, probably from the sheep-denuded grasslands just outside the park. Sadly, as we drove in yesterday, there were multiple herds of both cows and sheep inside the park, and making no effort to hide. The western edge of the Mara had scarcely any game, and the ground was nearly barren from the Maasai over-grazing, especially by sheep.
PM – A fairly slow afternoon, although we had several lions and a continual wind. Writing this two days later, details are fuzzy.
Day 8 – Lower Mara
We had a spectacular morning, starting near the lodge (towards Sopa), then to the Kissinger Tree, and then on to the Sand River – a perfect itinerary for the day.
We started with three male lions, which posed wonderfully in the early light, and then an aborted lioness/zebra hunt. The male lions roared several times. From there we headed towards the K tree, and several saw two male lions chase cheetahs, which then captured an impala baby. Later, in a large burn area, we had an excellent black rhino that contrasted wonderfully with the black, ash covered soil. At the Sand River, Mary’s vehicle encountered an aggressive courting pair of lions that threatened to charge. At the river, scores of thousands of gnus and hundreds of zebras had amassed, and were crossing the dry river bed, running up the banks in clouds, and, most humorously, circling about so that the herds almost made a complete circle! The shooting of dust, running gnus, and vast numbers showing the migration were spectacular.
PM – Headed toward the Hammerkop area where my vehicle worked buffalo fairly well, and we had some lions that were interesting, but otherwise, a slow afternoon.
Day 9 – Lower Mara to Mara Triangle
Shortly after starting our drive David spotted some feeding lions, and we filmed a rib cage glowing brightly, as if on fire, back lighted against the sun while the lions fed. Later, when the lions left the kill they were quite playful, and all of us had great shots as they ran, wrestled, and jumped, and at the very end, a running lioness chasing vultures off the now abandoned kill. Patrick’s vehicle saw a zebra hunt where the lions missed, but apparently a close call.
Baby jackals were very curious, coming right up to our vehicle (miniature adults, not puppies), and along the Sand River we found a pride of 19 or 20 lionesses and cubs. After crossing the river things went slow, and we arrived at Serena by noon.
PM – From the hilltops gnus were scattered across the plains below us, but they did not appear to be gathered anywhere. We drove down to the river and checked various crossing areas, and while doing so a few thousand gnus crossed upriver, completely unexpectedly.
We hurried there, but it was passed, and although more gnus gathered, and were frightened off by crocs, no others crossed. A croc did catch one from the first crossing and we watched as the gnu struggled, fruitlessly, and was finally pulled down by two crocs. David’s vehicle was there, and he saw the croc lunge out and snatch the gnu, but he wasn’t sure if anyone was ready and shot it. Later, a lioness waited on the opposite shoreline for more gnus, but the croc activity cancelled the crossing.
We did have a great sunset, with silhouettes of gnus, zebras, and, for some, elephants. On a bad note, I had my camera slip off a chair in our room, and lightly hit the floor, and I thought nothing of it. Later, after shooting one image, error 99 appeared and the camera is now inoperable.
Day 10 – Triangle
Near the river we spotted a lioness and male at a gnu kill. Both were finished and wandered off, walking right by us as they headed inland. The male, a nice black-maned lion I suspect we filmed last year, roaring, was limping terribly with a left hind leg injury, two defined bite marks above the paw and below the ‘ankle.’ The wound was swollen, and hopefully that alone accounted for the severe limp. If the bones are broken, this fine male will die.
We headed upriver into Black Rhino country, and soon we spotted a lioness on a termite mound, obviously surveying her surroundings. A small herd of gnus moved in, and passed, and while the lioness moved in closer she didn’t look too serious.
Soon after a lone bull buffalo appeared, and it slowly grazed directly into our lioness. By then, we’d spotted at least three other lionesses, and we were hoping a male was present as well for a hunt to successfully proceed. The buffalo moved right into the ambush of lionesses, who began moving in, but the old bull simply swung around and faced them and the cats stopped cold. Still, it was very exciting, and we had a very open view if a hunt would have commenced.
While we watched, a junior warden of the Triangle pulled up and told us we were off-track and had to leave. We were clearly ON a track, but our vehicle, and the others, moved off as the hunt dissipated. The warden’s story was that the track was blocked by logs and closed, but there were no logs over any of the tracks our vehicles were on. Later, I had a chance to talk with that warden and defused the situation.
Around 11AM gnus were gathered at the crossings, but at one they only drank, while crocs swam about, inspecting, but ultimately swimming off. We about gave up on the crossing and were beginning to head back to the lodge when gnus started gathering at another spot, the traditional crossing. Most gnus simply came down to drink but several Thompsons gazelles crossed, splashing and leaping and, for once, safe from crocodiles as there were none in sight. In contrast, the other crossing had seven large crocodiles, but these were uninterested in gnus.
PM – All of the vehicles scattered, looking for the cheetahs and a serval, which has been eluding us on this trip. My van headed towards the escarpment and Tanzania, covering a lot of ground filled with gnus. One adult male lay, dying, beneath an acacia tree, its legs slowly swimming in the air. This is the first ‘natural’ death I’ve ever seen of a gnu, and we suspected it was diseased or cancerous, as its hip area was shrunken and thin, in contrast to so many healthy gnus we saw around us.
The skies were dramatic and we had a short shower, which made for great acacia/sky scapes wide-angles and telephoto sunset shots.
Day 11 – Triangle to Upper Mara
Henry spotted the cheetah family, that we normally see in the Upper Mara, just a few kilometers from our Serena lodge, and on the opposite side of the river. By the time my vehicle arrived the cheetahs were on the move, and we had only a few minutes before they passed us and climbed a hill. We circled around to find a track and to follow, and in the five or ten minutes required the four cheetahs had captured a young, half-grown impala that they began devouring before killing it. While they ate we could hear a few plaintive bleets, but fortunately that did not last very long.
Mary’s vehicle also had a very good serval, finally, and my vehicle stopped at a roadside waterhole where gnus and zebras had gathered. A lioness sat on the bank above the pool, but she didn’t hunt and we suspected she was the disposed owner of a zebra kill we’d seen nearby, that was now covered in safari ants. We waited over an hour but the wind was against her and whenever zebras or gnus came close, they’d catch her scent and run off.
Other vehicles did well with vultures and hyenas, and one vehicle had a full-frame Malachite Kingfisher, a real trophy here in the Mara. We arrived at camp by noon. In contrast with the first trip, where the gnus were in lines, obviously moving to somewhere, the gnus now are scattered in immense, settled herds, grazing in the Mara.
PM – It started raining minutes before our 4PM game drive, and continued for nearly an hour before dissipating to a dreary, chilly afternoon. But the animals loved it, and gnus, topis, etc cavorted, running and playing in the cool wetness.
David’s vehicle spotted running gnus acting a bit odd … a hyena was chasing one and eventually caught it. It took my vehicle nearly ten minutes to get there, but the gnu was still alive, being eaten alive around the hip joint by the hyena. Grisly stuff.
From there we went to three cheetahs that had also taken down a young gnu, and the shots were fine of bloody faces, but I restrained from shooting the carcass – draped about with looped intestines. Almost 6PM, we decided to look for the leopardess with cubs, but were side-tracked by another cheetah that walked through a bat-eared fox den area, and the cat was being closely followed by the foxes. These were quite tame and I got my only shots of Bat-eared foxes for this trip.
We concluded, still looking for the leopard, with an African Hare we’d started the game drive with, tucked under a bush, but now grooming itself in the open in the very, very low light.
Day 12 –Upper Mara
We continued our search for the leopardess, now pinpointed to a fresh impala kill hanging from a tree close to the ‘stinky waters’ bridge. Two private vehicles were parked off road below the kill tree, and from their position one could see the silhouettes of the cubs, and the mother’s tail, as they played in the brush. All of our vehicles staked out vantages for when or if the leopard moved, and Henry’s vehicle did get some poor glimpses as the leopard moved through the brush.
We moved on, discouraged by the presence of the obnoxious Governor’s Camp vehicles that pushed into brush, and we headed to the Talek where, at the lowest spot in the ford we filmed a gray heron almost at water level. A Malachite, Gray-headed, and Pied Kingfisher flitted by repeatedly as well, but not close for effective shots.
A radio call led us to a mating pair of lions, with another good male over-looking the action from an uphill vantage, but what little action we saw occurred with the lioness facing away from us. Later, we found two young lions atop a termite mound, which, from a distance, looked like cheetahs on the mound.
Two intent looking giraffes signaled something, and David was certain they had spotted a predator so we drove up and, sure enough, found a lioness with three cubs. She nursed near to us, but in somewhat heavy cover, but one of the cubs stayed in the open and yawned/snarled repeatedly for some great shots. The morning concluded with literal head shots of a Masai Giraffe, and, just minutes after our return to camp, a heavy rain shower.
PM – We headed out with the roof tops on, and throughout most of the game drive they remained in place. It was a slow afternoon, mainly because of the weather, which stayed dreary and rained periodically.
We had the lioness with cubs again, but my vehicle arrived too late for any shots, although others had luck as the lioness walked towards the cars with her cubs. Six lions had killed a warthog and were playful, but again we arrived too late for the action. With low light, at ISO 800 we were at 250th at f4, we decided to call it an early afternoon and arrived back at camp at 6. Five minutes later it began pouring again, right after we reached our tent!
Day 13 – Upper Mara
We were hoping for cheetahs, the only cat we still needed more coverage of, and we headed north. Just out of camp we found the leopardess with her cubs, and although they were actively playing they were deep in the brush at the same location as yesterday, and they offered no shots. We drove on after watching for ten minutes or so.
Later that morning the leopardess did leave the thicket, but she apparently was surrounded by mini-vans and they disrupted the hunt she was attempting. She crossed the river and disappeared.
We soon found four bat-eared foxes that were close to the road and very tame, but aside from one looking about, ears erect, they didn’t do very much so we moved on, giving room for another vehicle. Because of the rains termites were emerging, and on several large mounds we found Steppe Eagles, Tawny Eagles, Kori Bustards, and Secretarybirds all feeding. The Kori flared tail and wings to intimidate the Steppe Eagles, and later, another Kori displayed in a half-breeding show, with most of its neck feathers fluffed out.
Still looking for the cheetah we headed down towards Paradise and some crossings, but along the way we spotted three lion cubs playing, a lioness, and a mating pair. The mating pair were sullen, with both snarling at one another, but they were too far away for decent shots without deserting the cubs, which were putting on an incredible show.
Eventually, the mother lioness spotted vultures descending and started out at a trot, cubs jogging behind. She eventually decided there wasn’t a kill ahead, and started digging at warthog burrows, hoping to kick out a frightened warthog, but was unsuccessful. We finally lost her and the cubs as they headed across an area of scattered lava rock.
And we headed to the three Cheetah brothers, which were hunting. When we arrived, they were lying around a termite mound but soon after they moved towards us, pausing on termite mounds, and eventually crossing our track. We had a few good opportunities for poses and scent marking before they settled down beneath a tree where, two hours later, we left them.
PM – After a quick search for the leopardess we headed back to the three Cheetah brothers. By the time we arrived, the three cats were set up to hunt a topi that was slowly grazing towards them. Another group of topis had spotted the cats, but as they flattened and remained motionless the topis lost interest and wandered off. Doing so, whatever warning sign our target topi would receive was now gone.
The stalk was classic, with two of the brothers creeping forward, freezing mid-stride whenever the topi looked up. Eventually, less than one hundred yards away, the two cats flattened again, with their hind legs bunched up for the final sprint, and they waited. And, the third cheetah decided to join them, walking with much less caution and alerting the topi, which, suspicious, moved off. The hunt was ruined.
A family of warthogs – five young and three adults—fed in the field below and the cats started stalking them. They drew surprisingly close before charging, and all of the warthogs scattered. It took only a second for one of the cheetahs to tackle a baby, and just a few seconds more for one of the adults to come rushing in and bowling over the cheetah, who released the baby. The warthog didn’t stop, and pursued the cheetah for quite a distance, running right passed another cheetah now beaded in on another baby. This it caught, after the baby ran, squealing loudly, for a few score of yards. Another cheetah grabbed another baby while the adult warthogs ran about, one chasing the cheetah and the others dashing for cover.
The cheetahs carried the babies off and began to feed, and eventually the other cheetah shook its pursuer and joined the two. We think it was one of the original hunters, so we watched with satisfaction when it grabbed the warthog and, after a brief tug-of-war, stole the warthog baby from the cheetah we think blew the topi hunt.
Mary, David, and I headed out for a celebratory beer/sundowner, toasting the safari as is our tradition on the very last day of our last safari, and as we took a few photos of ourselves it began to rain. We packed up, drove back to camp in a heavy rain, and broke down our gear for the travel day tomorrow.
Day 14 – Upper Mara to Nairobi
We slept in, had breakfast at 8 under a rain of common bulbul bird-droppings, and after boarding our charter at 11 arrived in Nairobi by noon. In mid-afternoon I hit the gym and, somehow, popped or pulled a tricep or lat muscle, which just about crippled that side and ended both my weight workout and my long anticipated swim.
The group left at 7 after our farewell dinner, and a great slide show of our participants work. We were very sorry to see them go, and even sadder to know that tomorrow, after only a month, and two safaris, we were leaving too.
Kenya Safari 2009
Trip 2
Most everyone arrived at least one day early, and some several, to get rested and prepared. Three did not, but they arrived a bit of schedule and with their luggage, so the start looked good.
Day 1 – After a bit longer than normal briefing we headed out, arriving at Tree Trout around 1, and with plenty of Colobus Monkeys about, and in good position for shooting. We spent about 40 minutes photographing the monkeys, usually below the distant treeline, so that backgrounds were very complementary. We arrived in Samburu, seeing virtually all of the endemics en route, by 6PM.
Day 2 – Samburu
Rains had arrived in our absence, and the barren, near sterile landscape of our previous visit to Samburu was transformed. New growth, looking like sprouting fields of grass, covered many of the open areas and most of the acacias glowed in a fresh outbreak of new young leaves. The morning was successful for everyone, with Chris photographing 40 different species of birds, and the rest of us shooting just about everything, including all of the endemics.
At one point, as we neared the end of our morning game drive, a Somalia Ostrich male suddenly danced about, darting quickly for a few seconds before pausing to fan its wings. A Savannah Monitor lizard hunted right next to our vehicle, its long blue tongue constantly probing as it sauntered, left-right-left, about, looking for hidden beetles or toads. At one point the monitor almost walked beneath our vehicle, and was, regardless, completely oblivious or dismissive of our presence.
PM – Not long after starting the afternoon game drive we had to close the roof hatches, as a very isolated, but intense, shower poured down around us. We hoped to find some animals in the rain, but the rains ended before our luck started. However, it was a fruitful afternoon, with birds, scenics, and antelope.
Our vehicle did well with a launching Steppe Eagle – identical to a Tawny, and I’d have thought it was, ‘save for its wide gape that reached behind the eye, an aggressive African Hare that we expected to attack a Dik-Dik that encroached upon its feeding area, a great African Hare with ears erect, my best Golden-breasted Starling in years, and, for Don and Judy, plenty of infra-red scenics.
Day 3 – Samburu
We headed to the Buffalo Springs Reserve, driving into a red-sky where, throughout the morning cumulous clouds dominated the sky but where we were rarely beneath a cloud or in shadow. It was another productive morning for everyone, but for many the highlight was the male lion (the same lion we’d seen mating with a lone female not far away, two weeks earlier) that attacked one of the 2 yer old male cubs from the pride. As we drove up we saw one altercation, but not long afterwards the lion approached and dove on the cub, biting it viciously in the foreleg and paw. A lioness jumped to the rescue and bit into the hindleg and back of the lion, and then swatted him off, and in doing so, left no marks on the male’s hide. Later, the pride moved off and the male stayed behind, sleeping beneath a doum palm.
We had at least 17 Reticulated Giraffes in a loose herd, including one young giraffe whose hair, covering his sprouting horns, curled in a long, eyelash-like manner, or a curly-que. The light was great, although the giraffes did nothing but feed.
One group saw a Martial Eagle dive for a Dik-Dik, unsuccessfully, and a short time later almost all of us watched a mother Baboon groom her baby, holding it upside down, dropping it on its head, and, at times, stretching it between another curious sister. I had a great Gabar Goshawk that was the most cooperative, ever, and others had luck with other birds of prey.
Stephen’s vehicle caught a shy leopard as it climbed down from a tree, and with 9 lions, in total, it was a productive morning.
PM – Yesterday, virtually no one was in the park, and we had Samburu to ourselves. Tonight, with a good leopard spotted, tourists were everywhere and a Ranger monitored traffic, pushing people through the viewing area for relatively brief looks. That said, I thought the Rangers did a good job, as the vehicles all stayed on the road and we had none of the chaos that normally attends a leopard sighting.
Eventually, our treed leopard descended, walking right passed vehicles to feed on an impala carcass stored beneath a tree. Suddenly, the leopard grabbed the impalas neck and in a bound, carried the carcass up a very cluttered tree, too busy, in fact, for the carcass which fell back to earth. The leopard descended, and walked off, and began to call, grunting and giving the distinctive leopard ‘cough’ and we assume she was trying to summon her cubs. We stayed with her the rest of the afternoon, and some of our vehicles had great luck when she walked right to them, although we bet on her returning to the kill, with her cubs, and we were out of position for the great walking shots.
Earlier, we had a pair of Red and Yellow Barbets at a termite mound, and the shooting there was wonderful. Mary left the leopard after nailing the cat climbing down the tree, and found a well-fed cheetah – for a three cat Samburu day. Others did well with Gerenuk and zebras.
Day 4 – Samburu
We stayed on the Samburu side, instead of crossing to Buffalo Springs to hunt for leopards, in order to try, once again, for yesterday’s leopard. Our vehicles were the first to arrive, and the leopard had returned to its original tree, but this time with the impala carcass up the tree as well. No babies or young leopards, so we’re still puzzled as to why this leopard coughed and roared as it did last evening.
The leopard was a bit more animated than yesterday afternoon, prior to climbing down, but after an half hour or so we had about all we could expect. Later, Henry’s vehicle returned to the leopard and caught it as it descended, walked a short distance, and pulled itself up a vine-covered tree, completely losing itself in the foliage.
Mary’s vehicle found a young elephant we’d seen around earlier, now weakened and near death, on its side with its legs feebly kicking. Rangers were summoned, and we expect they’ll finish it. In contrast to the last trip, elephants are more cooperative, and we had four bulls, including the huge one with a collar, feeding quite close to the road, and later wading out, and crossing the river in front of us.
Later, a giraffe crossed the river as well, and several times it appeared as if it were about to drink, spreading its legs slightly before thinking better of it. As it neared the shoreline it exploded up the bank, water splashing, and making a great shot.
We can see an obvious difference in the birds, now that the rains have arrived, and we did well with Superb Starlings, Fork-tailed Drongos, Hornbills of all three species, and several others. After Mary and my walk, we spotted a Naked Mole Rat excavating a hole along the trail to our room, and both of us had our first good look at this unusual rodent. Mole Rats are indeed hairless, with wrinkled, pinking skin that looks infantile. Four protruding incisor teeth stick out from its snout, and these it uses to literally dig through the soil. Folds of skin behind these teeth prevent soil from going into the mole rat’s mouth, and, periodically, the mole rat would pause to kick out sand, creating the tell-tale pyramid like, or giant anthill-like, piles of sand. I hurried for my camera but by the time I arrived the mole rat was in the final stages of blocking up the hole, and I missed the shot.
‘PM – We headed over to the Buffalo Springs side, since we missed it this morning, and had a leisurely but productive afternoon, with Pale Chanting Goshawk, weavers, and displaying crested bustards. The highlight, as we began to drive back, was a hedgehog curled up on the road, which we moved to a safer location and photographed, still tightly in its ball.
Day 5 – Nakuru
We left Samburu on time, and arrived in Nakuru about 1:30 PM.
David had two passengers for transport, one of which, the soldier/guard for the camp, sat in Felix’s vehicle. En route, we think he stole $50 from Stephen, out of his computer case. I was going to call the office to report the theft, but the guides told me they’d catch hell, so they’re giving me $50 that I can then return to Stephen, or put into the tip award.
The PM game drive was great. We headed to Cormorant Point, but there were no pelicans, as we had hoped to see. However, stilts, avocets, and a feeding hippo – on shore, made for great shooting. Later we headed to several white rhinos, including the female we’ve seen in the past with a truly impressive front horn. She was with her, now two year old, calf.
Close to six, David spotted a leopard and called us in, and four of our vehicles got great shots, even though the light was marginal and we needed ISO 800 and 1600. Inexplicably, David, who had spotted the leopard, did not drive onto the side road that lead directly to the leopard and instead stayed on the main road, nearly 80 yards away and far out of reach of a good shot. My vehicle was the first to reach the leopard and I saw, and we took, a side road that led right to it, and our other three vehicles followed, with all of us getting great shots. David’s vehicle did not, and I can’t understand why he didn’t either back up or do a U-turn. I was very annoyed, as, I think, were the clients.
Day 6 – Nakuru to the Mara
A fairly productive morning in Nakuru, beginning with a very playful troop of Olive Baboons roadside, on a fallen euphorbia tree. Later, we did well with White Rhinos, and had a brief time, barely more than a glimpse, of a Black Rhino with a full grown baby. Along the bay, Lesser Flamingos were fairly close and the group obtained nice reflections, and some flying, shots.
As we headed out, hoping to reach the gate around 10:30 for the long drive to the Mara, we found two leopards that were finishing up, I presume, their mating honeymoon. The female tried, several times, to elicit a response from the male, who rarely did more than raise his head. We weren’t close, but with a tele-converter and our 500s the shot would have been decent, but the male refused to respond. Several times the female actually sat on the male’s head, but to no effect.
We didn’t get to the gate until 11:30 or so, but we were on the road by 12:18, and, with a 1:30PM stop for lunch, we arrived at Keekorak at 6. Our vehicle was the last to arrive and, just two miles from camp, we had a flat. Our group was waiting for us to assign rooms and give out some evening schedules, but the tire change went fairly quickly.
Day 7 – Lower Mara
The morning game drive was somewhat slow, although we followed a nice black-maned Lion who was following a trio of lionesses that seemed a bit uneasy with him. They had left a kill and three of the four cats were full. Later, we found another lioness with two cubs that were interested in, first, a herd of buffalo, and then a distant herd of gnu. Unforutnately, the lions fell asleep about the time that the gnus filed past at a slow trot, so they missed an opportunity for a hunt.
There was a constant wind all morning, and Mary had a lot of luck at the Sand River filming a ‘sand’ crossing with multiple herds. When she reached the room her face was black with dust, and, as we drove in from the morning drive we could see clouds of dust sailing by in the distance, probably from the sheep-denuded grasslands just outside the park. Sadly, as we drove in yesterday, there were multiple herds of both cows and sheep inside the park, and making no effort to hide. The western edge of the Mara had scarcely any game, and the ground was nearly barren from the Maasai over-grazing, especially by sheep.
PM – A fairly slow afternoon, although we had several lions and a continual wind. Writing this two days later, details are fuzzy.
Day 8 – Lower Mara
We had a spectacular morning, starting near the lodge (towards Sopa), then to the Kissinger Tree, and then on to the Sand River – a perfect itinerary for the day.
We started with three male lions, which posed wonderfully in the early light, and then an aborted lioness/zebra hunt. The male lions roared several times. From there we headed towards the K tree, and several saw two male lions chase cheetahs, which then captured an impala baby. Later, in a large burn area, we had an excellent black rhino that contrasted wonderfully with the black, ash covered soil. At the Sand River, Mary’s vehicle encountered an aggressive courting pair of lions that threatened to charge. At the river, scores of thousands of gnus and hundreds of zebras had amassed, and were crossing the dry river bed, running up the banks in clouds, and, most humorously, circling about so that the herds almost made a complete circle! The shooting of dust, running gnus, and vast numbers showing the migration were spectacular.
PM – Headed toward the Hammerkop area where my vehicle worked buffalo fairly well, and we had some lions that were interesting, but otherwise, a slow afternoon.
Day 9 – Lower Mara to Mara Triangle
Shortly after starting our drive David spotted some feeding lions, and we filmed a rib cage glowing brightly, as if on fire, back lighted against the sun while the lions fed. Later, when the lions left the kill they were quite playful, and all of us had great shots as they ran, wrestled, and jumped, and at the very end, a running lioness chasing vultures off the now abandoned kill. Patrick’s vehicle saw a zebra hunt where the lions missed, but apparently a close call.
Baby jackals were very curious, coming right up to our vehicle (miniature adults, not puppies), and along the Sand River we found a pride of 19 or 20 lionesses and cubs. After crossing the river things went slow, and we arrived at Serena by noon.
PM – From the hilltops gnus were scattered across the plains below us, but they did not appear to be gathered anywhere. We drove down to the river and checked various crossing areas, and while doing so a few thousand gnus crossed upriver, completely unexpectedly.
We hurried there, but it was passed, and although more gnus gathered, and were frightened off by crocs, no others crossed. A croc did catch one from the first crossing and we watched as the gnu struggled, fruitlessly, and was finally pulled down by two crocs. David’s vehicle was there, and he saw the croc lunge out and snatch the gnu, but he wasn’t sure if anyone was ready and shot it. Later, a lioness waited on the opposite shoreline for more gnus, but the croc activity cancelled the crossing.
We did have a great sunset, with silhouettes of gnus, zebras, and, for some, elephants. On a bad note, I had my camera slip off a chair in our room, and lightly hit the floor, and I thought nothing of it. Later, after shooting one image, error 99 appeared and the camera is now inoperable.
Day 10 – Triangle
Near the river we spotted a lioness and male at a gnu kill. Both were finished and wandered off, walking right by us as they headed inland. The male, a nice black-maned lion I suspect we filmed last year, roaring, was limping terribly with a left hind leg injury, two defined bite marks above the paw and below the ‘ankle.’ The wound was swollen, and hopefully that alone accounted for the severe limp. If the bones are broken, this fine male will die.
We headed upriver into Black Rhino country, and soon we spotted a lioness on a termite mound, obviously surveying her surroundings. A small herd of gnus moved in, and passed, and while the lioness moved in closer she didn’t look too serious.
Soon after a lone bull buffalo appeared, and it slowly grazed directly into our lioness. By then, we’d spotted at least three other lionesses, and we were hoping a male was present as well for a hunt to successfully proceed. The buffalo moved right into the ambush of lionesses, who began moving in, but the old bull simply swung around and faced them and the cats stopped cold. Still, it was very exciting, and we had a very open view if a hunt would have commenced.
While we watched, a junior warden of the Triangle pulled up and told us we were off-track and had to leave. We were clearly ON a track, but our vehicle, and the others, moved off as the hunt dissipated. The warden’s story was that the track was blocked by logs and closed, but there were no logs over any of the tracks our vehicles were on. Later, I had a chance to talk with that warden and defused the situation.
Around 11AM gnus were gathered at the crossings, but at one they only drank, while crocs swam about, inspecting, but ultimately swimming off. We about gave up on the crossing and were beginning to head back to the lodge when gnus started gathering at another spot, the traditional crossing. Most gnus simply came down to drink but several Thompsons gazelles crossed, splashing and leaping and, for once, safe from crocodiles as there were none in sight. In contrast, the other crossing had seven large crocodiles, but these were uninterested in gnus.
PM – All of the vehicles scattered, looking for the cheetahs and a serval, which has been eluding us on this trip. My van headed towards the escarpment and Tanzania, covering a lot of ground filled with gnus. One adult male lay, dying, beneath an acacia tree, its legs slowly swimming in the air. This is the first ‘natural’ death I’ve ever seen of a gnu, and we suspected it was diseased or cancerous, as its hip area was shrunken and thin, in contrast to so many healthy gnus we saw around us.
The skies were dramatic and we had a short shower, which made for great acacia/sky scapes wide-angles and telephoto sunset shots.
Day 11 – Triangle to Upper Mara
Henry spotted the cheetah family, that we normally see in the Upper Mara, just a few kilometers from our Serena lodge, and on the opposite side of the river. By the time my vehicle arrived the cheetahs were on the move, and we had only a few minutes before they passed us and climbed a hill. We circled around to find a track and to follow, and in the five or ten minutes required the four cheetahs had captured a young, half-grown impala that they began devouring before killing it. While they ate we could hear a few plaintive bleets, but fortunately that did not last very long.
Mary’s vehicle also had a very good serval, finally, and my vehicle stopped at a roadside waterhole where gnus and zebras had gathered. A lioness sat on the bank above the pool, but she didn’t hunt and we suspected she was the disposed owner of a zebra kill we’d seen nearby, that was now covered in safari ants. We waited over an hour but the wind was against her and whenever zebras or gnus came close, they’d catch her scent and run off.
Other vehicles did well with vultures and hyenas, and one vehicle had a full-frame Malachite Kingfisher, a real trophy here in the Mara. We arrived at camp by noon. In contrast with the first trip, where the gnus were in lines, obviously moving to somewhere, the gnus now are scattered in immense, settled herds, grazing in the Mara.
PM – It started raining minutes before our 4PM game drive, and continued for nearly an hour before dissipating to a dreary, chilly afternoon. But the animals loved it, and gnus, topis, etc cavorted, running and playing in the cool wetness.
David’s vehicle spotted running gnus acting a bit odd … a hyena was chasing one and eventually caught it. It took my vehicle nearly ten minutes to get there, but the gnu was still alive, being eaten alive around the hip joint by the hyena. Grisly stuff.
From there we went to three cheetahs that had also taken down a young gnu, and the shots were fine of bloody faces, but I restrained from shooting the carcass – draped about with looped intestines. Almost 6PM, we decided to look for the leopardess with cubs, but were side-tracked by another cheetah that walked through a bat-eared fox den area, and the cat was being closely followed by the foxes. These were quite tame and I got my only shots of Bat-eared foxes for this trip.
We concluded, still looking for the leopard, with an African Hare we’d started the game drive with, tucked under a bush, but now grooming itself in the open in the very, very low light.
Day 12 –Upper Mara
We continued our search for the leopardess, now pinpointed to a fresh impala kill hanging from a tree close to the ‘stinky waters’ bridge. Two private vehicles were parked off road below the kill tree, and from their position one could see the silhouettes of the cubs, and the mother’s tail, as they played in the brush. All of our vehicles staked out vantages for when or if the leopard moved, and Henry’s vehicle did get some poor glimpses as the leopard moved through the brush.
We moved on, discouraged by the presence of the obnoxious Governor’s Camp vehicles that pushed into brush, and we headed to the Talek where, at the lowest spot in the ford we filmed a gray heron almost at water level. A Malachite, Gray-headed, and Pied Kingfisher flitted by repeatedly as well, but not close for effective shots.
A radio call led us to a mating pair of lions, with another good male over-looking the action from an uphill vantage, but what little action we saw occurred with the lioness facing away from us. Later, we found two young lions atop a termite mound, which, from a distance, looked like cheetahs on the mound.
Two intent looking giraffes signaled something, and David was certain they had spotted a predator so we drove up and, sure enough, found a lioness with three cubs. She nursed near to us, but in somewhat heavy cover, but one of the cubs stayed in the open and yawned/snarled repeatedly for some great shots. The morning concluded with literal head shots of a Masai Giraffe, and, just minutes after our return to camp, a heavy rain shower.
PM – We headed out with the roof tops on, and throughout most of the game drive they remained in place. It was a slow afternoon, mainly because of the weather, which stayed dreary and rained periodically.
We had the lioness with cubs again, but my vehicle arrived too late for any shots, although others had luck as the lioness walked towards the cars with her cubs. Six lions had killed a warthog and were playful, but again we arrived too late for the action. With low light, at ISO 800 we were at 250th at f4, we decided to call it an early afternoon and arrived back at camp at 6. Five minutes later it began pouring again, right after we reached our tent!
Day 13 – Upper Mara
We were hoping for cheetahs, the only cat we still needed more coverage of, and we headed north. Just out of camp we found the leopardess with her cubs, and although they were actively playing they were deep in the brush at the same location as yesterday, and they offered no shots. We drove on after watching for ten minutes or so.
Later that morning the leopardess did leave the thicket, but she apparently was surrounded by mini-vans and they disrupted the hunt she was attempting. She crossed the river and disappeared.
We soon found four bat-eared foxes that were close to the road and very tame, but aside from one looking about, ears erect, they didn’t do very much so we moved on, giving room for another vehicle. Because of the rains termites were emerging, and on several large mounds we found Steppe Eagles, Tawny Eagles, Kori Bustards, and Secretarybirds all feeding. The Kori flared tail and wings to intimidate the Steppe Eagles, and later, another Kori displayed in a half-breeding show, with most of its neck feathers fluffed out.
Still looking for the cheetah we headed down towards Paradise and some crossings, but along the way we spotted three lion cubs playing, a lioness, and a mating pair. The mating pair were sullen, with both snarling at one another, but they were too far away for decent shots without deserting the cubs, which were putting on an incredible show.
Eventually, the mother lioness spotted vultures descending and started out at a trot, cubs jogging behind. She eventually decided there wasn’t a kill ahead, and started digging at warthog burrows, hoping to kick out a frightened warthog, but was unsuccessful. We finally lost her and the cubs as they headed across an area of scattered lava rock.
And we headed to the three Cheetah brothers, which were hunting. When we arrived, they were lying around a termite mound but soon after they moved towards us, pausing on termite mounds, and eventually crossing our track. We had a few good opportunities for poses and scent marking before they settled down beneath a tree where, two hours later, we left them.
PM – After a quick search for the leopardess we headed back to the three Cheetah brothers. By the time we arrived, the three cats were set up to hunt a topi that was slowly grazing towards them. Another group of topis had spotted the cats, but as they flattened and remained motionless the topis lost interest and wandered off. Doing so, whatever warning sign our target topi would receive was now gone.
The stalk was classic, with two of the brothers creeping forward, freezing mid-stride whenever the topi looked up. Eventually, less than one hundred yards away, the two cats flattened again, with their hind legs bunched up for the final sprint, and they waited. And, the third cheetah decided to join them, walking with much less caution and alerting the topi, which, suspicious, moved off. The hunt was ruined.
A family of warthogs – five young and three adults—fed in the field below and the cats started stalking them. They drew surprisingly close before charging, and all of the warthogs scattered. It took only a second for one of the cheetahs to tackle a baby, and just a few seconds more for one of the adults to come rushing in and bowling over the cheetah, who released the baby. The warthog didn’t stop, and pursued the cheetah for quite a distance, running right passed another cheetah now beaded in on another baby. This it caught, after the baby ran, squealing loudly, for a few score of yards. Another cheetah grabbed another baby while the adult warthogs ran about, one chasing the cheetah and the others dashing for cover.
The cheetahs carried the babies off and began to feed, and eventually the other cheetah shook its pursuer and joined the two. We think it was one of the original hunters, so we watched with satisfaction when it grabbed the warthog and, after a brief tug-of-war, stole the warthog baby from the cheetah we think blew the topi hunt.
Mary, David, and I headed out for a celebratory beer/sundowner, toasting the safari as is our tradition on the very last day of our last safari, and as we took a few photos of ourselves it began to rain. We packed up, drove back to camp in a heavy rain, and broke down our gear for the travel day tomorrow.
Day 14 – Upper Mara to Nairobi
We slept in, had breakfast at 8 under a rain of common bulbul bird-droppings, and after boarding our charter at 11 arrived in Nairobi by noon. In mid-afternoon I hit the gym and, somehow, popped or pulled a tricep or lat muscle, which just about crippled that side and ended both my weight workout and my long anticipated swim.
The group left at 7 after our farewell dinner, and a great slide show of our participants work. We were very sorry to see them go, and even sadder to know that tomorrow, after only a month, and two safaris, we were leaving too.
Kenya Safari 2009
Trip 2
Most everyone arrived at least one day early, and some several, to get rested and prepared. Three did not, but they arrived a bit of schedule and with their luggage, so the start looked good.
Day 1 – After a bit longer than normal briefing we headed out, arriving at Tree Trout around 1, and with plenty of Colobus Monkeys about, and in good position for shooting. We spent about 40 minutes photographing the monkeys, usually below the distant treeline, so that backgrounds were very complementary. We arrived in Samburu, seeing virtually all of the endemics en route, by 6PM.
Day 2 – Samburu
Rains had arrived in our absence, and the barren, near sterile landscape of our previous visit to Samburu was transformed. New growth, looking like sprouting fields of grass, covered many of the open areas and most of the acacias glowed in a fresh outbreak of new young leaves. The morning was successful for everyone, with Chris photographing 40 different species of birds, and the rest of us shooting just about everything, including all of the endemics.
At one point, as we neared the end of our morning game drive, a Somalia Ostrich male suddenly danced about, darting quickly for a few seconds before pausing to fan its wings. A Savannah Monitor lizard hunted right next to our vehicle, its long blue tongue constantly probing as it sauntered, left-right-left, about, looking for hidden beetles or toads. At one point the monitor almost walked beneath our vehicle, and was, regardless, completely oblivious or dismissive of our presence.
PM – Not long after starting the afternoon game drive we had to close the roof hatches, as a very isolated, but intense, shower poured down around us. We hoped to find some animals in the rain, but the rains ended before our luck started. However, it was a fruitful afternoon, with birds, scenics, and antelope.
Our vehicle did well with a launching Steppe Eagle – identical to a Tawny, and I’d have thought it was, ‘save for its wide gape that reached behind the eye, an aggressive African Hare that we expected to attack a Dik-Dik that encroached upon its feeding area, a great African Hare with ears erect, my best Golden-breasted Starling in years, and, for Don and Judy, plenty of infra-red scenics.
Day 3 – Samburu
We headed to the Buffalo Springs Reserve, driving into a red-sky where, throughout the morning cumulous clouds dominated the sky but where we were rarely beneath a cloud or in shadow. It was another productive morning for everyone, but for many the highlight was the male lion (the same lion we’d seen mating with a lone female not far away, two weeks earlier) that attacked one of the 2 yer old male cubs from the pride. As we drove up we saw one altercation, but not long afterwards the lion approached and dove on the cub, biting it viciously in the foreleg and paw. A lioness jumped to the rescue and bit into the hindleg and back of the lion, and then swatted him off, and in doing so, left no marks on the male’s hide. Later, the pride moved off and the male stayed behind, sleeping beneath a doum palm.
We had at least 17 Reticulated Giraffes in a loose herd, including one young giraffe whose hair, covering his sprouting horns, curled in a long, eyelash-like manner, or a curly-que. The light was great, although the giraffes did nothing but feed.
One group saw a Martial Eagle dive for a Dik-Dik, unsuccessfully, and a short time later almost all of us watched a mother Baboon groom her baby, holding it upside down, dropping it on its head, and, at times, stretching it between another curious sister. I had a great Gabar Goshawk that was the most cooperative, ever, and others had luck with other birds of prey.
Stephen’s vehicle caught a shy leopard as it climbed down from a tree, and with 9 lions, in total, it was a productive morning.
PM – Yesterday, virtually no one was in the park, and we had Samburu to ourselves. Tonight, with a good leopard spotted, tourists were everywhere and a Ranger monitored traffic, pushing people through the viewing area for relatively brief looks. That said, I thought the Rangers did a good job, as the vehicles all stayed on the road and we had none of the chaos that normally attends a leopard sighting.
Eventually, our treed leopard descended, walking right passed vehicles to feed on an impala carcass stored beneath a tree. Suddenly, the leopard grabbed the impalas neck and in a bound, carried the carcass up a very cluttered tree, too busy, in fact, for the carcass which fell back to earth. The leopard descended, and walked off, and began to call, grunting and giving the distinctive leopard ‘cough’ and we assume she was trying to summon her cubs. We stayed with her the rest of the afternoon, and some of our vehicles had great luck when she walked right to them, although we bet on her returning to the kill, with her cubs, and we were out of position for the great walking shots.
Earlier, we had a pair of Red and Yellow Barbets at a termite mound, and the shooting there was wonderful. Mary left the leopard after nailing the cat climbing down the tree, and found a well-fed cheetah – for a three cat Samburu day. Others did well with Gerenuk and zebras.
Day 4 – Samburu
We stayed on the Samburu side, instead of crossing to Buffalo Springs to hunt for leopards, in order to try, once again, for yesterday’s leopard. Our vehicles were the first to arrive, and the leopard had returned to its original tree, but this time with the impala carcass up the tree as well. No babies or young leopards, so we’re still puzzled as to why this leopard coughed and roared as it did last evening.
The leopard was a bit more animated than yesterday afternoon, prior to climbing down, but after an half hour or so we had about all we could expect. Later, Henry’s vehicle returned to the leopard and caught it as it descended, walked a short distance, and pulled itself up a vine-covered tree, completely losing itself in the foliage.
Mary’s vehicle found a young elephant we’d seen around earlier, now weakened and near death, on its side with its legs feebly kicking. Rangers were summoned, and we expect they’ll finish it. In contrast to the last trip, elephants are more cooperative, and we had four bulls, including the huge one with a collar, feeding quite close to the road, and later wading out, and crossing the river in front of us.
Later, a giraffe crossed the river as well, and several times it appeared as if it were about to drink, spreading its legs slightly before thinking better of it. As it neared the shoreline it exploded up the bank, water splashing, and making a great shot.
We can see an obvious difference in the birds, now that the rains have arrived, and we did well with Superb Starlings, Fork-tailed Drongos, Hornbills of all three species, and several others. After Mary and my walk, we spotted a Naked Mole Rat excavating a hole along the trail to our room, and both of us had our first good look at this unusual rodent. Mole Rats are indeed hairless, with wrinkled, pinking skin that looks infantile. Four protruding incisor teeth stick out from its snout, and these it uses to literally dig through the soil. Folds of skin behind these teeth prevent soil from going into the mole rat’s mouth, and, periodically, the mole rat would pause to kick out sand, creating the tell-tale pyramid like, or giant anthill-like, piles of sand. I hurried for my camera but by the time I arrived the mole rat was in the final stages of blocking up the hole, and I missed the shot.
‘PM – We headed over to the Buffalo Springs side, since we missed it this morning, and had a leisurely but productive afternoon, with Pale Chanting Goshawk, weavers, and displaying crested bustards. The highlight, as we began to drive back, was a hedgehog curled up on the road, which we moved to a safer location and photographed, still tightly in its ball.
Day 5 – Nakuru
We left Samburu on time, and arrived in Nakuru about 1:30 PM.
David had two passengers for transport, one of which, the soldier/guard for the camp, sat in Felix’s vehicle. En route, we think he stole $50 from Stephen, out of his computer case. I was going to call the office to report the theft, but the guides told me they’d catch hell, so they’re giving me $50 that I can then return to Stephen, or put into the tip award.
The PM game drive was great. We headed to Cormorant Point, but there were no pelicans, as we had hoped to see. However, stilts, avocets, and a feeding hippo – on shore, made for great shooting. Later we headed to several white rhinos, including the female we’ve seen in the past with a truly impressive front horn. She was with her, now two year old, calf.
Close to six, David spotted a leopard and called us in, and four of our vehicles got great shots, even though the light was marginal and we needed ISO 800 and 1600. Inexplicably, David, who had spotted the leopard, did not drive onto the side road that lead directly to the leopard and instead stayed on the main road, nearly 80 yards away and far out of reach of a good shot. My vehicle was the first to reach the leopard and I saw, and we took, a side road that led right to it, and our other three vehicles followed, with all of us getting great shots. David’s vehicle did not, and I can’t understand why he didn’t either back up or do a U-turn. I was very annoyed, as, I think, were the clients.
Day 6 – Nakuru to the Mara
A fairly productive morning in Nakuru, beginning with a very playful troop of Olive Baboons roadside, on a fallen euphorbia tree. Later, we did well with White Rhinos, and had a brief time, barely more than a glimpse, of a Black Rhino with a full grown baby. Along the bay, Lesser Flamingos were fairly close and the group obtained nice reflections, and some flying, shots.
As we headed out, hoping to reach the gate around 10:30 for the long drive to the Mara, we found two leopards that were finishing up, I presume, their mating honeymoon. The female tried, several times, to elicit a response from the male, who rarely did more than raise his head. We weren’t close, but with a tele-converter and our 500s the shot would have been decent, but the male refused to respond. Several times the female actually sat on the male’s head, but to no effect.
We didn’t get to the gate until 11:30 or so, but we were on the road by 12:18, and, with a 1:30PM stop for lunch, we arrived at Keekorak at 6. Our vehicle was the last to arrive and, just two miles from camp, we had a flat. Our group was waiting for us to assign rooms and give out some evening schedules, but the tire change went fairly quickly.
Day 7 – Lower Mara
The morning game drive was somewhat slow, although we followed a nice black-maned Lion who was following a trio of lionesses that seemed a bit uneasy with him. They had left a kill and three of the four cats were full. Later, we found another lioness with two cubs that were interested in, first, a herd of buffalo, and then a distant herd of gnu. Unforutnately, the lions fell asleep about the time that the gnus filed past at a slow trot, so they missed an opportunity for a hunt.
There was a constant wind all morning, and Mary had a lot of luck at the Sand River filming a ‘sand’ crossing with multiple herds. When she reached the room her face was black with dust, and, as we drove in from the morning drive we could see clouds of dust sailing by in the distance, probably from the sheep-denuded grasslands just outside the park. Sadly, as we drove in yesterday, there were multiple herds of both cows and sheep inside the park, and making no effort to hide. The western edge of the Mara had scarcely any game, and the ground was nearly barren from the Maasai over-grazing, especially by sheep.
PM – A fairly slow afternoon, although we had several lions and a continual wind. Writing this two days later, details are fuzzy.
Day 8 – Lower Mara
We had a spectacular morning, starting near the lodge (towards Sopa), then to the Kissinger Tree, and then on to the Sand River – a perfect itinerary for the day.
We started with three male lions, which posed wonderfully in the early light, and then an aborted lioness/zebra hunt. The male lions roared several times. From there we headed towards the K tree, and several saw two male lions chase cheetahs, which then captured an impala baby. Later, in a large burn area, we had an excellent black rhino that contrasted wonderfully with the black, ash covered soil. At the Sand River, Mary’s vehicle encountered an aggressive courting pair of lions that threatened to charge. At the river, scores of thousands of gnus and hundreds of zebras had amassed, and were crossing the dry river bed, running up the banks in clouds, and, most humorously, circling about so that the herds almost made a complete circle! The shooting of dust, running gnus, and vast numbers showing the migration were spectacular.
PM – Headed toward the Hammerkop area where my vehicle worked buffalo fairly well, and we had some lions that were interesting, but otherwise, a slow afternoon.
Day 9 – Lower Mara to Mara Triangle
Shortly after starting our drive David spotted some feeding lions, and we filmed a rib cage glowing brightly, as if on fire, back lighted against the sun while the lions fed. Later, when the lions left the kill they were quite playful, and all of us had great shots as they ran, wrestled, and jumped, and at the very end, a running lioness chasing vultures off the now abandoned kill. Patrick’s vehicle saw a zebra hunt where the lions missed, but apparently a close call.
Baby jackals were very curious, coming right up to our vehicle (miniature adults, not puppies), and along the Sand River we found a pride of 19 or 20 lionesses and cubs. After crossing the river things went slow, and we arrived at Serena by noon.
PM – From the hilltops gnus were scattered across the plains below us, but they did not appear to be gathered anywhere. We drove down to the river and checked various crossing areas, and while doing so a few thousand gnus crossed upriver, completely unexpectedly.
We hurried there, but it was passed, and although more gnus gathered, and were frightened off by crocs, no others crossed. A croc did catch one from the first crossing and we watched as the gnu struggled, fruitlessly, and was finally pulled down by two crocs. David’s vehicle was there, and he saw the croc lunge out and snatch the gnu, but he wasn’t sure if anyone was ready and shot it. Later, a lioness waited on the opposite shoreline for more gnus, but the croc activity cancelled the crossing.
We did have a great sunset, with silhouettes of gnus, zebras, and, for some, elephants. On a bad note, I had my camera slip off a chair in our room, and lightly hit the floor, and I thought nothing of it. Later, after shooting one image, error 99 appeared and the camera is now inoperable.
Day 10 – Triangle
Near the river we spotted a lioness and male at a gnu kill. Both were finished and wandered off, walking right by us as they headed inland. The male, a nice black-maned lion I suspect we filmed last year, roaring, was limping terribly with a left hind leg injury, two defined bite marks above the paw and below the ‘ankle.’ The wound was swollen, and hopefully that alone accounted for the severe limp. If the bones are broken, this fine male will die.
We headed upriver into Black Rhino country, and soon we spotted a lioness on a termite mound, obviously surveying her surroundings. A small herd of gnus moved in, and passed, and while the lioness moved in closer she didn’t look too serious.
Soon after a lone bull buffalo appeared, and it slowly grazed directly into our lioness. By then, we’d spotted at least three other lionesses, and we were hoping a male was present as well for a hunt to successfully proceed. The buffalo moved right into the ambush of lionesses, who began moving in, but the old bull simply swung around and faced them and the cats stopped cold. Still, it was very exciting, and we had a very open view if a hunt would have commenced.
While we watched, a junior warden of the Triangle pulled up and told us we were off-track and had to leave. We were clearly ON a track, but our vehicle, and the others, moved off as the hunt dissipated. The warden’s story was that the track was blocked by logs and closed, but there were no logs over any of the tracks our vehicles were on. Later, I had a chance to talk with that warden and defused the situation.
Around 11AM gnus were gathered at the crossings, but at one they only drank, while crocs swam about, inspecting, but ultimately swimming off. We about gave up on the crossing and were beginning to head back to the lodge when gnus started gathering at another spot, the traditional crossing. Most gnus simply came down to drink but several Thompsons gazelles crossed, splashing and leaping and, for once, safe from crocodiles as there were none in sight. In contrast, the other crossing had seven large crocodiles, but these were uninterested in gnus.
PM – All of the vehicles scattered, looking for the cheetahs and a serval, which has been eluding us on this trip. My van headed towards the escarpment and Tanzania, covering a lot of ground filled with gnus. One adult male lay, dying, beneath an acacia tree, its legs slowly swimming in the air. This is the first ‘natural’ death I’ve ever seen of a gnu, and we suspected it was diseased or cancerous, as its hip area was shrunken and thin, in contrast to so many healthy gnus we saw around us.
The skies were dramatic and we had a short shower, which made for great acacia/sky scapes wide-angles and telephoto sunset shots.
Day 11 – Triangle to Upper Mara
Henry spotted the cheetah family, that we normally see in the Upper Mara, just a few kilometers from our Serena lodge, and on the opposite side of the river. By the time my vehicle arrived the cheetahs were on the move, and we had only a few minutes before they passed us and climbed a hill. We circled around to find a track and to follow, and in the five or ten minutes required the four cheetahs had captured a young, half-grown impala that they began devouring before killing it. While they ate we could hear a few plaintive bleets, but fortunately that did not last very long.
Mary’s vehicle also had a very good serval, finally, and my vehicle stopped at a roadside waterhole where gnus and zebras had gathered. A lioness sat on the bank above the pool, but she didn’t hunt and we suspected she was the disposed owner of a zebra kill we’d seen nearby, that was now covered in safari ants. We waited over an hour but the wind was against her and whenever zebras or gnus came close, they’d catch her scent and run off.
Other vehicles did well with vultures and hyenas, and one vehicle had a full-frame Malachite Kingfisher, a real trophy here in the Mara. We arrived at camp by noon. In contrast with the first trip, where the gnus were in lines, obviously moving to somewhere, the gnus now are scattered in immense, settled herds, grazing in the Mara.
PM – It started raining minutes before our 4PM game drive, and continued for nearly an hour before dissipating to a dreary, chilly afternoon. But the animals loved it, and gnus, topis, etc cavorted, running and playing in the cool wetness.
David’s vehicle spotted running gnus acting a bit odd … a hyena was chasing one and eventually caught it. It took my vehicle nearly ten minutes to get there, but the gnu was still alive, being eaten alive around the hip joint by the hyena. Grisly stuff.
From there we went to three cheetahs that had also taken down a young gnu, and the shots were fine of bloody faces, but I restrained from shooting the carcass – draped about with looped intestines. Almost 6PM, we decided to look for the leopardess with cubs, but were side-tracked by another cheetah that walked through a bat-eared fox den area, and the cat was being closely followed by the foxes. These were quite tame and I got my only shots of Bat-eared foxes for this trip.
We concluded, still looking for the leopard, with an African Hare we’d started the game drive with, tucked under a bush, but now grooming itself in the open in the very, very low light.
Day 12 –Upper Mara
We continued our search for the leopardess, now pinpointed to a fresh impala kill hanging from a tree close to the ‘stinky waters’ bridge. Two private vehicles were parked off road below the kill tree, and from their position one could see the silhouettes of the cubs, and the mother’s tail, as they played in the brush. All of our vehicles staked out vantages for when or if the leopard moved, and Henry’s vehicle did get some poor glimpses as the leopard moved through the brush.
We moved on, discouraged by the presence of the obnoxious Governor’s Camp vehicles that pushed into brush, and we headed to the Talek where, at the lowest spot in the ford we filmed a gray heron almost at water level. A Malachite, Gray-headed, and Pied Kingfisher flitted by repeatedly as well, but not close for effective shots.
A radio call led us to a mating pair of lions, with another good male over-looking the action from an uphill vantage, but what little action we saw occurred with the lioness facing away from us. Later, we found two young lions atop a termite mound, which, from a distance, looked like cheetahs on the mound.
Two intent looking giraffes signaled something, and David was certain they had spotted a predator so we drove up and, sure enough, found a lioness with three cubs. She nursed near to us, but in somewhat heavy cover, but one of the cubs stayed in the open and yawned/snarled repeatedly for some great shots. The morning concluded with literal head shots of a Masai Giraffe, and, just minutes after our return to camp, a heavy rain shower.
PM – We headed out with the roof tops on, and throughout most of the game drive they remained in place. It was a slow afternoon, mainly because of the weather, which stayed dreary and rained periodically.
We had the lioness with cubs again, but my vehicle arrived too late for any shots, although others had luck as the lioness walked towards the cars with her cubs. Six lions had killed a warthog and were playful, but again we arrived too late for the action. With low light, at ISO 800 we were at 250th at f4, we decided to call it an early afternoon and arrived back at camp at 6. Five minutes later it began pouring again, right after we reached our tent!
Day 13 – Upper Mara
We were hoping for cheetahs, the only cat we still needed more coverage of, and we headed north. Just out of camp we found the leopardess with her cubs, and although they were actively playing they were deep in the brush at the same location as yesterday, and they offered no shots. We drove on after watching for ten minutes or so.
Later that morning the leopardess did leave the thicket, but she apparently was surrounded by mini-vans and they disrupted the hunt she was attempting. She crossed the river and disappeared.
We soon found four bat-eared foxes that were close to the road and very tame, but aside from one looking about, ears erect, they didn’t do very much so we moved on, giving room for another vehicle. Because of the rains termites were emerging, and on several large mounds we found Steppe Eagles, Tawny Eagles, Kori Bustards, and Secretarybirds all feeding. The Kori flared tail and wings to intimidate the Steppe Eagles, and later, another Kori displayed in a half-breeding show, with most of its neck feathers fluffed out.
Still looking for the cheetah we headed down towards Paradise and some crossings, but along the way we spotted three lion cubs playing, a lioness, and a mating pair. The mating pair were sullen, with both snarling at one another, but they were too far away for decent shots without deserting the cubs, which were putting on an incredible show.
Eventually, the mother lioness spotted vultures descending and started out at a trot, cubs jogging behind. She eventually decided there wasn’t a kill ahead, and started digging at warthog burrows, hoping to kick out a frightened warthog, but was unsuccessful. We finally lost her and the cubs as they headed across an area of scattered lava rock.
And we headed to the three Cheetah brothers, which were hunting. When we arrived, they were lying around a termite mound but soon after they moved towards us, pausing on termite mounds, and eventually crossing our track. We had a few good opportunities for poses and scent marking before they settled down beneath a tree where, two hours later, we left them.
PM – After a quick search for the leopardess we headed back to the three Cheetah brothers. By the time we arrived, the three cats were set up to hunt a topi that was slowly grazing towards them. Another group of topis had spotted the cats, but as they flattened and remained motionless the topis lost interest and wandered off. Doing so, whatever warning sign our target topi would receive was now gone.
The stalk was classic, with two of the brothers creeping forward, freezing mid-stride whenever the topi looked up. Eventually, less than one hundred yards away, the two cats flattened again, with their hind legs bunched up for the final sprint, and they waited. And, the third cheetah decided to join them, walking with much less caution and alerting the topi, which, suspicious, moved off. The hunt was ruined.
A family of warthogs – five young and three adults—fed in the field below and the cats started stalking them. They drew surprisingly close before charging, and all of the warthogs scattered. It took only a second for one of the cheetahs to tackle a baby, and just a few seconds more for one of the adults to come rushing in and bowling over the cheetah, who released the baby. The warthog didn’t stop, and pursued the cheetah for quite a distance, running right passed another cheetah now beaded in on another baby. This it caught, after the baby ran, squealing loudly, for a few score of yards. Another cheetah grabbed another baby while the adult warthogs ran about, one chasing the cheetah and the others dashing for cover.
The cheetahs carried the babies off and began to feed, and eventually the other cheetah shook its pursuer and joined the two. We think it was one of the original hunters, so we watched with satisfaction when it grabbed the warthog and, after a brief tug-of-war, stole the warthog baby from the cheetah we think blew the topi hunt.
Mary, David, and I headed out for a celebratory beer/sundowner, toasting the safari as is our tradition on the very last day of our last safari, and as we took a few photos of ourselves it began to rain. We packed up, drove back to camp in a heavy rain, and broke down our gear for the travel day tomorrow.
Day 14 – Upper Mara to Nairobi
We slept in, had breakfast at 8 under a rain of common bulbul bird-droppings, and after boarding our charter at 11 arrived in Nairobi by noon. In mid-afternoon I hit the gym and, somehow, popped or pulled a tricep or lat muscle, which just about crippled that side and ended both my weight workout and my long anticipated swim.
The group left at 7 after our farewell dinner, and a great slide show of our participants work. We were very sorry to see them go, and even sadder to know that tomorrow, after only a month, and two safaris, we were leaving too.
