The quick and the less adventurous

[twaffle]

You are all wonderful, I feel much brighter.

[Game Warden]

Group hug

[Atravelynn]

Today, of all days, I felt that we just wouldn't see anything worthwhile and that the Mara would fail us.

Glad this proved to be the silly statement that it is. The Mara? Failing to deliver? BWA HA HAHA! But I know how doubts can creep in. Just like you were wrong this time, those doubts have always been dispelled for me, usually within an hour, sometimes a couple, but always by the end of the day.

 

Your comment on serious photographers not going out midday because the direct, harsh light just doesn't produce top quality results makes me wonder if they are worried that if they did go out and they saw something great maybe they'd be doubly disappointed because the photos couldn't capture the sighting properly. One of those so near yet so far things.

 

You used the sun and the shadow brilliantly on the buffalo and oxpecker shot. Crowned crane ON the nest, that's a new one for me.

 

You find great shots! These are!

Edited March 3, 2013 by Atravelynn

[twaffle]

Thanks Lynn, I think that is exactly the problem ... find the most amazing sighting ever and you can't use the photos. However, under normal circumstances the sighting would be enough but I was doing some traing of my mind. Not convinced that I'll continue doing it that way.

 

One other thing, it is very tiring for the guides to be out for 12 hours. I can't justify doing it to them all the time, no matter how much they enjoy showing us the wild. At least that's how I feel, not what any guide would ever admit to. I just watch their body language.

[twaffle]

Nkorombo, despite some cosmetic changes was just as much salve for the soul as I remembered. Moses was the quiet and charming host and although he greeted us in khaki western clothes, by the time we returned from our game drive he had changed into his traditional Maasai dress. My son and I were the only ones in camp and because it was so quiet we were given a tent each. My son had spent quite a bit of time at this camp and so he felt very much at home. It was here, on New Year's Day were he saw lions hunt from the comfort of the dining mess, successfully killing a zebra. It was here where he appeared to make many friends and it is here where I always seem to feel the tension pour out of me. The hippos are close, the water rushes past over the exposed rocks (well, they were exposed this trip), the weaver nests on the nearby palm tree busily make and remake numerous nests and the surrounding bushes seem to hide the outside world.

Lunch was a wonderful and varied meal, of course. I felt a bit better knowing that my son could serve drinks so that Moses didn't feel like he had to do everything. I remembered one year when Moses found out that I enjoy a Bitter Lemon, that I ended up drinking about 2 with every meal, the 2nd one opened and served before I had quite finished the 1st. I meant to ask him whether he too enjoyed the scorned drink.

With a lift in spirits we headed out for the afternoon, glad on this day to have the canvas over the seats as the sun seemed really piercing and I swore at my inability to cope with the heat as well as I had previously.

 

After a short stop to admire some newly born topi just outside camp we headed up the slight rise to find some lions sleeping under the bushes. We stopped momentarily, as one always does, and keeping the mantra to be patient in my head didn't ask to head straight off towards the Talek river as I was itching to do. After a few minutes one of the young males sat up and looked around, then lay down again. Then he sat up again. Obviously restless, it caused a lioness which we hadn't seen to stand up and gaze down the valley. Then we saw another lioness on the other side of the bushes looking around with interest and so we decided that it would be worth staying for longer.

 

 

 

One of the lionesses starts to make tentative stalk movements although we struggled to see an obvious prey in the surrounding area.

 

 

One of the young males, obviously hungry, looked pathetically like a small puppy waiting for a treat which never came. (Well, I thought he was a young male but looking again I'm not sure so I'll have to look more carefully at the files in sequence tomorrow. Sorry. )

 

 

A lioness moved to the other side of the vehicle and sat on the road looking very casual.

 

 

James watching the lion action.

 

 

A second lioness stands up and gives the situation some attention.

 

 

The young boys are willing on the females but show no signs of physical contributions forthcoming.

 

 

One of the lionesses looks around ... notice the mark on her neck.

 

 

Come on girls, I'm quite hungry you know and waiting very patiently for dinner ...

 

 

The lioness with the strange marking on her neck starts to stalk. We can't tell whether it is an old snare scar or what might have caused it, but to be fair I didn't think to ask Mark or James as we were very quiet at the evolving drama.

 

 

The audience keeps watch.

 

 

By this time one lioness had disappeared down the slope into the long grass and we couldn't see her except for occasionally noticing the grass moving in a purposeful way. On our other side a lioness had moved in the opposite direction whilst a third sat not far from us surveying the scene from under a bush (seen in the middle of this photo). One young male had come closer to watch whilst the other remained behind in the bushes.

 

 

 

Without warning, the lioness who had ventured furthest away suddenly exploded from the bushes in pursuit of a large male warthog who had been minding his own business. Sorry about the quality of the photos, by this stage the action was some distance away.

 

 

 

 

Missed it by "that much"! And the poor lioness had not even ONE of her pride come down to help her with this recalcitrant meal.

 

I couldn't help but thing that this lioness look a bit depressed, but she really didn't offer any assistance.

 

 

Forlorn.

 

 

We spent about an hour with them and it was a fascinating thing watching the dynamics of the hunt. The lionesses fanning out and around the small valley in front of them, the young males offering little support, the chase and the decision by the other lionesses that the hunt would be unlikely to succeed.

 

In the end, it was unsuccessful but we didn't feel we could have spent a better hour and so with a last look at the empty arena, we headed off towards the Talek.

 

 

As we drove off we did comment on the fires which had started to appear with heavy smoke palls hanging over the escarpment. I wondered if sunset would be better because of the smoke. Time would tell.

 

 

the afternoon drive will continue ....

 

 

 

 

[Mosquito]

We loved Nkorombo....Great camp, great location...

 

Your lions look fantastic and having the patience for them (scratch that her one and only) to hunt! shame no pork chops tho...

 

bet there is an amazing sunset coming...

[twaffle]

We decided that we had enough time to continue down to the Talek river to see if we could find a leopard as it is a popular leopard haunt. It does attract a lot of rather unruly 4x4 vehicles who don't seem to consider that the rules should be obeyed at all. Quite frustrating to be parked at the regulation stand off distance and to have someone rudely drive right in front of you and park. This happened last time and it was really out of hand. No rangers at all. I hoped that it would be different, should we be lucky enough to see a leopard this trip.

 

As an aside, I have to say that the MNC rangers were very diligent and although we had some cheetah sightings to ourselves for a short time, it wasn't long before a ranger turned up to observe our and any other vehicles which appeared, behaviour. They were less obvious around lions, but then there were distinctly more lions.

 

This is a view overlooking the crossing point of the Talek.

 

 

We made the crossing across the horrible sloping rocks, I don't really like this crossing point, and then moved up the hill on the other side where we saw a couple of vehicles sitting. It was obvious that they had seen something as the binoculars and long lenses were following something in the bushes. We felt optimistic, until we saw the spotted tail waving through the undergrowth and then disappear. The vehicles all scrambled to change position, but we felt incredibly disappointed. A leopard may not be the focal point of a safari, but being that close and not get a good view was sad. Still, James drove the opposite way from the other vehicles and around the back of the bushes (the other vehicles also moved to the back of the bushes but from the other direction) and then we saw her.

 

 

By this time it was getting rather late, around 6.30, and my poor old 7D was struggling a bit with the lack of light.

 

 

 

I'm no leopard expert but she looked young and delicate.

 

 

She moved down towards the Talek River and as luck would have it, the last remnants of sun streamed across the water just as she stepped out of the shadows. Unfortunately, we were all on the wrong side of the river but you take what you can.

 

 

 

And then she walked along the bank and across some of the rocks until she was at the narrowest point where she hesitated.

 

 

Before making the brave leap

 

 

Before falling well short

 

 

And then leaving with some dignity intact.

 

 

We crossed the river and could tell where she was hunting by the bird alarm calls and the rapid evacuation of the bushes by 3 dikdiks, but we didn't see her again. We did manage a few photos of a fine giraffe who had been browsing and the golden light really lit him up.

 

 

And so the sun set on the 4th day.

 

 

 

 

[twaffle]

So we had finished with 4 nights, with 3 left to go. 1 more at Nkorombo and 2 at Mara North Conservancy. I felt that I'd seen as much as anyone should expect to see after 3 full days but being greedy I hoped for still more excitement.

 

The Nkorombo sitting room tent.

 

[wilddog]

just catching up with your report, Twaffle. What a great 4 days so far and supported by your superb images. Thank you. Your artistic talents shine through; who else could have made a hand holding some grass look so fantastic.

[graceland]

Beautiful...Loved the cheetah splashing in the water; probably refreshed her!

 

and of course the sunset with the ellie strolling by. I can just see it now;

as we are expecting snow I am enjoying the warmth of the Mara.

[twaffle]

Death on the plains:

 

Have I said that it was the hottest I'd felt in the Mara? I found out the other day that it was the hottest February in the Mara for 30 years … and it was approaching 40C just the other day. I feel vindicated for my lethargy.

 

The morning started well.

 

 

 

The first death I noticed was one which made me feel quite sad. Some of you may recognise this tree from the series I made last year and it won quite a few awards. It felt like meeting up with an old friend and I felt really happy, until I noticed the terrible death of the euphorbia in the background. A pivotal part of my original composition had gone. Lightning, elephant, old age? I was surprised at how sad it made me feel. Obviously shot in a slightly different position but dammit, is nothing sacred?

 

 

And this euphorbia is another one I've had some success with in the past. Taken just 3 minutes later than the previous image, just shows how much difference the direction you shoot has at that time of the day. And for the purist, I have not adjusted the colour at all.

 

 

As you can see from this wider panorama taken on a different camera, the gold is almost only behind the tree itself.

 

 

15 minutes later we happened across 2 male lions on a buffalo kill. This story was related on FB later on and as far as I can tell, the buffalo was killed by some lionesses who were attacked by the males. One of the cubs was severely injured, whereupon the lionesses beat a retreat. Not far from the buffalo ill, several hyaenas were cleaning up a smaller kill and we speculated that perhaps the buffalo was a cow, and the lionesses killed her calf after being chased off by the lions. No one to tell us that though. There was a large herd of buffalos in the valley nearby and we caught up with the lionesses and the poor, beaten up cub. I wonder if he recovered. Also near enough to be very concerned was a lone lioness, apparently she had some small cubs hidden under some rocks and so we left her alone, not wanting to encourage more vehicles over there and so to incite the interest of the males (we didn't know how they were connected). With small cubs, my motto is to leave them alone as much as possible.

 

 

A hyaena circles around the kill.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I rather enjoyed seeing this intrepid tourist taking bird photos with his iPad.

 

 

Beating a retreat.

 

 

One of the healthy cubs

 

 

The injured cub following bravely. He had a badly swollen left side of his face and was quite wobbly on his feet. He had marks all over his little body. He looked quite dazed.

 

 

After spending some time with the various groups of lions, we found a tree overlooking the slopes on which they rested and had breakfast. James posed for some shots I needed.

 

 

After breakfast we spent some more time with another lioness and various other bits and pieces and then headed back to camp.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[twaffle]

Alex and his team have introduced a life sized hippo into Nkorombo and he greets you as you head towards the tents.

 

 

He actually is a rather clever bbq.

 

 

Moses looks after the camp very well and is a lovely young man. He spent one evening showing me his photos on his cameras, some of them are really very good. His family is a very distinguished Maasai family.

 

I usually avoid going around to the staff areas in camps as I feel that it is their private space. However, I knew that Moses had developed a small vegetable garden so that he could grow some fresh salad vegetables so I asked whether he would show me. It was obvious that he was very proud of his patch, and certainly the lettuces were growing strongly although the tomatoes looked a bit heat stressed.

 

 

Lanterns.

 

[Mosquito]

Feel like I am there. Great sightings, images and storytelling. Artistry is truly a gift

[twaffle]

Thanks Mosquito, I'm glad that you're staying for the ride, it is a little drawn out I'm afraid, but getting to the end now.

 

The afternoon's drive might appear to have been slow, given the dearth of photos I'm posting, but it certainly didn't seem so to us. We started out by looking for a black rhino which the driver of vehicle we passed said he'd seen earlier in the day. Despite our quite rigorous bumping and searching around the croton bush groves, we never found it so perhaps we 'wasted' time looking, but if we had succeeded we would have felt very lucky. A risk you take, and well worth it in my view.

 

We did come across an interesting sighting of someone in urgent need of a bush stop. We were just following a vehicle up the road when it stopped and out jumped one of the guests who dropped their trousers right in front of us. James did the most discreet thing he could, by turning the vehicle around to face the opposite direction but the expanse of white flesh did upset our game viewing for a while.

 

Then we found a lioness and followed her over some rocky ground, we were some distance behind her as she was able to walk quite swiftly over the rocks. We could see her greet maybe 3 cubs, quite small ones, so we stopped the vehicle and waited in case she was moving them. However, she set off and the cubs retreated to the bushes so it was obvious that the lioness was heading out for some hunting or socialising and we chose not to go closer to the cubs as they were very small and vulnerable.

 

The lioness met another lioness and some larger cubs and they walked purposefully past us to sit on a small look out knoll from where they could see many delicious looking meals grazing below. We remained with them until the light effectively drove us back to camp.

 

 

 

A close up of a shuka.

 

 

 

And so the sun set over the Serena Hill on the 5th day.

 

[twaffle]

Day 6 - What an eventful day this turned out to be. We went out early but returned to camp for a late breakfast as we were returning to main camp in the Mara North Conservancy.

 

We planned to head back to where we left the lionesses but as is the normally the case, we became distracted.

 

Because of the long grass, I had given up on seeing any of the smaller beasties so was extremely pleased to get a brief bat eared fox sighting.

 

 

Which was just in the other direction from a more imposing sight as two big male lions started roaring, one we could see immediately, the other we had to drive around the bushes to find later.

 

 

His less than impressed prospective girlfriend.

 

 

 

Wild and free

 

 

 

 

 

The brother … alone.

 

 

 

[SafariChick]

That's some serious bedhead on that lion! I can imagine their roars from these great photos. So many wonderful lions you saw. That life-sized hippo that turns into a BBQ is very cool!

[twaffle]

Thanks Safarichick, I'd love to have the hippo bbq in my garden, imagine the fun it would be cooking on that.

 

I saw the most number of big male lions on this trip than I've ever seen, luck of the draw I guess.

[JohnR]

Some great photos of lions but my favourites are the hyenas in the long grass on day 5.

[twaffle]

Thank you all for sticking with it, I seem to be taking forever but this day had a lot of sightings and then only one more day. Phew!

 

Only advantage of going drive by drive is that someone thinking about the Mara would get an idea that even off season with long grass there is plenty to see.

 

Thanks for the comments on the colour, it has taken me a while to get a consistent result that I like but I'm happy for the moment. Next trip I'll hope to lift my work more, I have some ideas.

[marg]

thank you! This is a pleasure to read and your photographs are beautiful!

[twaffle]

I meant to include this with the camp photos. When the hippo bbq first made an appearance, Moses told me that one of the hippo bulls came up from the river and attacked the metal beast quite severely. I saw some of the damage!

 

 

Back to the game drive.

 

After spending our time with the lions, we drove off and wandered around until we found a rather nice herd of breeding elephants. We noticed a very small calf so decided that it would be worth sitting with them for a while. As the tiny calf came closer we noticed that the mother had part of her trunk missing and because of the still pink flesh and the way the trunk was damaged it certainly looked like a snare. I would rather think that it was a crocodile as that would imply a natural cause. She seemed healthy enough and was certainly eating and suckling her calf, but it was sad indeed and only the next day we would find another cow with a similar, although older appearing, injury.

 

 

 

 

 

and then it was time to head back to camp for a late breakfast and to pack our bags.

 

 

I think this crane was having a crazy day, both it and the grass seemed to be leaning.

 

 

 

[Mosquito]

:D :D :D :D :D not much more to say...among the highest ever calve images for cuteness...almost makes you forget about the mother's trunk for a bit....need to learn what the elephant loses when the lose the tip of their trunk....

[SafariChick]

Funny about the real hippo attacking the fake one! What an adorable little baby elephant! Sad about the Mama's trunk - I hope it won't affect her too badly.

[twaffle]

Breakfast on the banks of the Mara river, it was beautifully relaxing. This is from my iphone, hence the lower quality.

 

 

After packing we headed off through the croton bushes, past the spot where I saw a caracal last visit, and in the distance we could see many vultures swirling high in the air, round and round. When I was a child and we would go on safari, I remember the vultures would lead us to kills but in recent safaris I have commented on how seldom we see this now, compared to my unreliable memories.

 

 

We headed in that direction, of course, and found the vultures (4 species) and marabou storks feasting. We had to wait some time before we could see what animal had died. Spending a longer time than normal with the birds was really interesting as they flew in and out in waves, circling above and then landing, eating and then taking off again. A rewarding time indeed. The absence of predators or mammalian scavengers led us to believe that the carcass had either died naturally, or been so debilitated from injury that the vultures were able to feed prior to death. After a while we were able to see that the unfortunate animals was a male impala, so it could have been involved in a fight, possibly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[twaffle]

We came across a buffalo kill with a couple of young lions feeding. I wonder if it is the same kill described by @@AKR1 in his recent report as the area looks the same. We are obviously looking at the buffalo soon after his death and certainly there were no mature lions as shown in AKR's report. It was such harsh light that I'm not that happy with the photos, but it does illustrate our day's journey and sightings.