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Kenya February 2018


ELIL

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11 minutes ago, ELIL said:

Unfortunately, not. I don't use the video function of my camera very often and I mostly forget to switch in such cases. Sometimes if I am lucky, my wife had made some with her iPhone, but not in this case.:(

 

No worries, just curious! - fantastic photos regardless!

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Kicheche Valley gave us a safari vehicle just for us. That allowed us to stop and stay as long as we wanted  at the different sightings. Since we did not see any wildebeests at Ol Pejeta, we enjoyed our first drive with extensively watching them in the great landscape. 

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And after having seen the Reticulated Giraffe in Laikipia, we came across the first of many Masai giraffes. 

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There are many occasions when you watch a wildlife documentary at home or read about interesting observations of animals, you wish too see these during your next safari. One of the things, we only had read about before is the fact that Baboons occasionally hunt other game and add it to their dinner menu. And now, we saw this when a Baboon walked by with a killed baby did-dik in his mouth.

 

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The baboon disappeared quickly into the bush and we were not able to follow. It would have been interesting to see what he will do with kill, e.g. keep it for him or share it with others. But nevertheless, it was a great sighting for us.

 

Most likely, this guy was not so amused about it.

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Sunset with wildebeests concluded our game drive.

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Exceptional photography and sightings! Thanks for sharing

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The next morning started with a cheetah encounter. Two cheetahs were crossing an open area at slow, but constant speed. 

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All their potential prey like wildebeests, zebras, antelopes around them had only a short look towards the cats but then continued to graze until the distance to cats was below a certain limit. Then they almost freezed, watching the cats very carefully. But since the cheetahs just continued walking without changing their speed, zebras & co went on grazing. A video would show this much better than a still photo, but it was quite funny to watch this "domino effect" when one group of animals after another went through this freeze/unfreeze cycle.

 

After the cheetahs had crossed the open area, they took a rest and laid down. Maybe it is too much of anthropomorphic thinking, but it looked almost like the cheetahs just wanted to show that they are in control of this area.

 

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We went on and spotted some nice Eland antelopes and thirsty giraffes at a water hole.

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Then another car from the camp had spotted a leopard and we went straight to it. Long before we reached the place we heard the baboons with their alarm calls. The leopard was in the thick bush and the trees around the place were full with baboons. The noise of their alarm calls was incredible and it was quite difficult to understand each other in our car. The leopard didn't bother at all and laid down to sleep. It took quite a while until we found him in the bush and got at least a some view of him. The photo below is actually the best view of him. The "live view" was much worse and only some photo editing revealed the beauty of the cat.

 

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I’m enjoying your report very much. We we were at Kicheche Laikipia at the end of January/first few days of February, so it’s bringing back lots of fond memories — I’m just slower than you in getting my report finished!  We, too, had Peter as our guide there, and really enjoyed him. 

 

I’m glad to see those lion cubs were still doing well. The situation with the male and an apparent territorial dispute with another male (whom some suspect may be the father of the cubs) was really interesting. They reportedly had been fighting off-and-on, but the young male did not have that nasty looking wound on his face when we were there, so that was a relatively recent development. 

 

That hyena/wild dog sighting is unique. We didn’t see that!

 

That’s quite a shot of the baboon with the baby impala at Valley Camp. The sunset photo is also lovely — hard to beat those Mara sunsets. 

 

Thanks for sharing. I look forward to more. 

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Cheetah and leopard in the same morning, impressed. It is enjoyable to have a vehicle to yourselves and not be concerned as to what other guests want to do.

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@Alexander33 Thanks for your kind words. We arrived at Kicheche Laikipia on 11-Feb and we were told that we missed the heavy fight between the lions only  for 1 or 2 days.

 

@CDL111 As we understood Kicheche Valley always tries to give you a vehicle to yourselves. At least during our stay there, all tents had their own car there and everybody happily enjoyed it.

 

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We went to another area of the conservancy during our afternoon and planned to see some elephants. During the search for the elephants we came across a lazy hyena in the shade.

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The ubiquitous lilac breasted roller was there as well

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and a Woolly-necked stork was looking around as well.

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A pair of agamas played hide-and-seek in the afternoon sun.

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Finally we found a group of elephants.

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There were two baby elephants in the group who where full of energy. They were playing with each other, always pushing and teasing. They performed quite a cute show for us.

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After some time the two got tired and laid down.

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But just a few moments later, they continued playing and pushing again. Although they were already pretty exhausted.

 

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Finally, another family member arrived and separated the two. Maybe it was already bedtime for the two guys. For us, it was a quite entertaining and funny show.

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A very enjoyable report, thank you for sharing. Some great sightings and you captured them expertly. The Baboon/Dikdik photo is special indeed, and just wow to the Wild Dog/Hyena interaction. You know, worth making a documentary about stuff like that:

 

 

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@shouldbewriting, @michael-ibk

Thanks for your comments. I for myself enjoy browsing through the pictures for this report and remembering our great sightings during this trip to Kenya. But at the same time the desire for another safari is rising again  and it seems I have to start planning soon ;)

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The next day started with this baby wildebeest desperately looking for her mother.

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But after some minutes mother and child met again.

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This first sighting of the day should set the subject for whole morning drive.

 

A few minutes later we spotted hyeanas with  a baby wildebeest kill.

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These guys were waiting for their turn.

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while this vulture was able to secure a small piece of meat.

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Two hyenas were still busy with the remains of their kill.

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Just one or two minutes later we came across a pride of lions who had killed a wildebeest. Our guide mentioned that this might be the mother of the baby that had just been killed by the hyenas. 

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Some of the lions had already finished their breakfast and started their mix of cleaning and cuddling each other.

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Some of the younger ones was quite curious and checked  our vehicle.

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Meanwhile the last of the pride had finished her meal, but others were already waiting in the background.

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This black backed jackal was still carefully watching out for the lions after they had left.

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But soon the hyenas arrived and claimed their stake.

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But the little jackal did not gave up and managed to get some pieces here and there.

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One hyena was particularly interested in a leg and went away with it.

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Apparently, he regretted his misconduct and brought the leg back after a few minutes.1174270306_SpottedHyena(Crocutacrocuta)20180216_Kenya_2327.jpg.527397fcf1576cbe0bcdb2ba11740891.jpg

 

 

 

Lion (Panthera leo)20180216_Kenya_2206.jpg

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After these two kills, we decided that it is time for our breakfast. Our breakfast location in Naboisho was always on a small hill overlooking an open area with herds of wildebeest, zebras and antelopes.20180216_Kenya_1762.jpg.73c7c445c16e1e4cb77b7bb11d02c9fe.jpg

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After our breakfast we continued our game drive and watched the herds.

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At one point, our guide spotted this wildebeest.

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She was going to deliver and we decided to follow her.

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She continued her walk with the herd without any sign of laying down, but more and more became visible from the to be born baby.

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About 10 minutes after we first spotted her, she laid down for the first time, already with some significants part of the baby visible.

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She remained on the ground for 2-3 minutes, already pretty exhausted. Then she got up again for the final steps.

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Then a new wildebeest was born.

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First contact of mother and baby

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But soon the encouragement to get up and join the herd started.

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The young baby tried its best

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and after only a few minutes it was able to start the journey.

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Others were already waiting for her

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The whole episode from the time of first spotting the mother to the joining of the new wildebeest with the herd lasted not more than 20 minutes. It was the first time we have seen the birth of an animal during a safari and another great sighting. Somehow this morning drive showed us the whole cycle of life of a wildebeest.

 

 

 

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Terrific report so far @ELIL you have had a great variety of experiences in such a short time!

 

I echo the words of others - the Wild Dog/Hyena interaction was an unbelievable sighting, the sort of thing you could only hope to see in your wildest dreams!

 

The birth of the wildebeest calf another great sighting. The cycle of life is a fascinating thing, and one of the main reasons we are all drawn to Africa and all it has to offer.

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To see hyenas with a kill followed by lionesses with a kill, and then to see the birth of a wildebeest has to be so pleasing. I can fully understand you wanting to go back. We thought our first safari would be a once in a lifetime, but we have just booked our seventh trip for 2019 and are planning for 2020

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Thanks for your comment @mopsy. Indeed, Kenya really delivered and we had excellent sightings and it is definitely a place we like to go back. But this is actually true for all safari locations we had been before :D

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@CDL111 The same here, my safari roadmap is already pretty packed. Just the alignment with some other boundary conditions like vacation days, family preferences, budget etc. is sometimes challenging ;)

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We had already quite a "bloody" morning drive, and the afternoon drive continued seamlessly. We found a cheetah that had just made a successful kill and was still relaxing from the exhausting hunt.

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The cheetah was heavily breathing and carefully scanning the area for possible competitors for the prey. After having regained energy, the cheetah started her meal by opening the antelope from the back. But she never stopped to look around nervously for potential enemies.

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We also found the lion pride again that made the kill in the morning. They were just doing what they can do best: laying around, controlling the area by intimidating other game only by their presence and the younger ones playing with each other.

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Edited by ELIL
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Some birds from Naboisho

 

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Northern Whole-Crowned Shrike

 

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Grey-backed fiscal

 

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Grey-Headed Kingfisher

 

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White-headed Barbet

 

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Egyptian Goose

 

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Tawny Eagle

 

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Dark Chanting Goshawk

 

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White-bellied Bustard

 

 

 

 

Edited by ELIL
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On our departure day from Kicheche Valley camp we were supposed to have a morning drive in the conservancy, then stop for our bush breakfast. Afterwards we will be picked up by another car that will bring us to our next camp in the Mara reserve. Our guide proposed to look for another lion pride with young cubs and see what will happen.

 

There were three lionesses with cubs. One group of cubs was about 5-6 months old, the other group even younger with an age of several weeks.

 

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Although this was quite an idyllic scene, there was some tension in the air. There were 4 male lions around in the bush and our guide mentioned that they may want to take over the pride. But this would pose some danger for the cubs.

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Suddenly, all cubs got up and disappeared into the thicker bush. Apparently, they got some signals from their mothers to hide.

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And then roaring and brawling started. The lionesses wanted to defend their cubs against the males.

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This went on for some minutes, when another actor appeared on the stage.

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We had followed the confrontation between the lions without noticing that a herd of buffalos was behind us.

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We had a completely new situation when a buffalo started to chase the lions, possibly wanted to go for the cubs as well, and the same time all lions defending against the lonely buffalo.

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It was quite a confusing scenario, since most of the chasing and fighting happened in the thick bush. We did not see much but only heard the roaring from lions and buffalo. I found a video on my wife's iPhone which gives at least a slight impressions of the scene and acoustics.

 

After several minutes, the roaring stopped suddenly and it was silent, really frightening silent. There were 3 or 4 other vehicles at the scene and nobody was speaking. Everybody seemed to think about what happened to the cubs.

 

 

 

 

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After some minutes waiting for the appearance of the lions, we decided to move on and look were they are. We had an excellent guide who was the first to find them again. The lionesses were still confronting the males.

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This went on for another 15 to 20 minutes until the situation calmed down a little bit. But no signs from the cubs.

 

The lionesses were disappearing into the bush again, after some some time the males started moving again. They were particularly sniffing around the location were one of the lionesses had been laying and showed the Flehmen response. Our guide explained that most likely one of the lionesses was in heat and this was one of the reason why the lions did not want to leave the lionesses. 

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We went on to look if any of the cubs were still there. After scanning through the area for 20 to 30 minutes, we finally saw this little guy.

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He most likely did not know the danger he had been in and was just enjoying the world around him.

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The lioness was transporting one cub after another to a hopefully safe hide.20180217_Kenya_2979.jpg.2acebb317024234ea38427fbe42c7abd.jpg

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We were quite relieved that at least some of the cubs survived this time. Since we had to move on to our meeting spot for the transfer, we left this place soon. But such a sighting with lions fighting each other, then getting chased by a buffalo was absolutely exciting and the cherry on the cake for our visit to Naboisho.

 

 

Edited by ELIL
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Love the sequence of the Wildeebeest birth, very special.

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Cubs AGAIN?! And a wildebeest birthing sequence?! Are you the luckiest person there is?! :)

What an incredible trip

 

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A wonderful sequence of wildebeest giving birth, and a great way to end your time at Naboisho with lion and cubs interactions.

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