Niyam's African Adventure (August 2013)

[africapurohit]

Our afternoon in the Lamai Wedge was absolute bliss! I think we were the only ones to cross the river that afternoon but we did encounter one vehicle from Singita Mara River Tented Camp, which is based in the Lamai Wedge. What I loved most about Lamai was the vast open spaces, which are harder to find in other parts of Northern Serengeti, and apart from the animals we literally had it to ourselves! The stars of our afternoon visit were lions but, before I get to them, here are some other images from the afternoon..........

 

Tawny Eagle

Hippos basking on the banks of the Mara River, including this newborn calf with a smiley face

Saddle-billed Stork

Wattled Starling

Elephants in Tanzania with Wildebeests and Zebras in Kenya

This beautiful female Thomson's Gazelle seemed very relaxed and let us approach within a few metres of her. Even then, she remained seated. We suspected that she was in late pregnancy, and most likely preparing for the birth so we left to avoid drawing any attention to her.

She was accompanied by this male who wasn't as relaxed

Common Sandpiper

After 6pm the Lamai area was bathed in a fantastic warm light, quite different compared to the other side of the river.

[africapurohit]

The Lions of Lamai

Lonyoki's amazing vision located a male lion sitting in the grass from about 1km away. On approach we found a total of four lions - two males and two females. One couple was courting and the other couple seemed to be keeping a distance apart. As we were stationary for a long time, it attracted the attention of the Singita vehicle but they were thankful to us for alerting them. The Singita vehicle only spent 5 minutes at the sighting before moving off. The courting male was a magnificent specimen with a beautiful mane and it was a delight to have this private sighting - even though we were invading the lions' privacy. Normally when we stopped at a sighting, we would always try to give Niyam an explanation of what was happening or give him an insight into the animal's behaviour but on this occasion Mdebe and I remained silent . So Niyam came to his own conclusion - "mummy and daddy lion are very angry and fighting". I suppose he had a point with all the biting, snarling, hitting and roaring - so we left it at that. When we got back to camp, he described the "fighting lions" sighting to Alex, and Alex just smiled. Note: many of the x-rated photos have been omitted

 

Mdebe suspected that these four were part of a larger pride. Here is the lone lioness calling to other members of the pride - she was even louder than the courting couple!

The courting pair

As it was getting late we decided to head back, as we wanted to make sure we crossed the river before the sun started to set. But just before we left the male shook his head, displaying his magnificent flowing mane - just magical!

 

[AKR1]

Just superb sightings and photography. The picture above of the male lion shaking his mane is magnificent.

[michael-ibk]

The lions are National Geographic stuff! But I like the smiling hippo calf even more.

[twaffle]

You did a great job with the lion shaking his mane, great photos.

[africapurohit]

Thanks @@AKR1, @@michael-ibk and @@twaffle. On the other side of the river, mating lions could have seen a gathering of 10-20 vehicles. In Lamai, we had no company and combined with the ability to go off-road, presented a great opportunity to position the vehicle as required. Most other guides were still apprehensive about crossing the river but Mdebe seemed to enjoy it. Having Lonyoki with us was a huge advantage, as he knew every nook and cranny in the Lamai area.

[Sangeeta]

Just got caught up all the way - I love the light in your images, AP - there is so much warmth and a lovely golden hue to everything.

 

What wonderful father and son memories you are making together. The wildlife is superb but the patience and curiosity in that child of yours just blows me away

[madaboutcheetah]

@@africapurohit - Thanks for the continued report ............ You got me thinking about the Lemai Wedge too (Friends of mine want to do a Kili Trek - maybe in 2015) so might add this on....... Will get in touch with you when it's time to plan, if that's okay with you. I had a bad Serengeti (Ndutu) experience earlier this year - where the safari didn't meet my expectations (vehicle/guide and their awful work ethic) ........ So, will just have to plan properly before I return to the Serengeti.

Thanks again - Love every word and image of the report.

[Treepol]

I've just caught up with the latest posts in this thread. The photo of the baby hippo is so sweet and the post 6pm photo of the zebras is beautiful in the pink dusk light.

 

Gosh, Niyam is certainly having a heavenly first safari!

[africapurohit]

Thanks @@Sangeeta, @@madaboutcheetah and @@Treepol

 

Sangeeta ......Niyam was good and better than I expected but the iPad and iPhone were required at times when things got too tedious. Last week, he asked if he could have laser surgery (like dad) to make him a better spotter . I had to explain that more experience on safari will make him a better spotter.

 

MAC..... happy to help. Access to the Lamai Wedge is usually restricted to the dry season (August to October), when the water levels of the Mara are low. Even August can't be guaranteed - I was there towards the end of August (albeit a good rainfall year) and many guides were still apprehensive about crossing. The Serian set-up was fantastic, especially with the spotter/tracker onboard. On so many occasions, Lonyoki also acted as Mdebe's navigator as he could see more of the path ahead, standing up at the back, especially when we were off-road. The Serian guides love spending all day out there and sometimes you have to remind them that you need to go back to the camp! No work-ethic issues here. The other bonus is that all Serian guests get a private vehicle. Despite all the peak season migration hustle going on, Lamai felt like having your own private concession in the Serengeti. MAC......You will especially love the next instalment, when we headed back into Lamai the following morning.

 

Treepol.......the light in Lamai was great but later in the trip, we returned one afternoon when there were thunderclouds and it produced a magical effect with light in Lamai. Coming soon.....

[Kitsafari]

Lamai looks crowded with all the wildlife, unlike the empty spaces when we were there in early July, but that was just before the wildebeests crossed over. But you are right , @@africapurohit, iLamai was devoid of humans, and you have the whole place to yourself, which made it so serene and more enjoyable.

 

We didn't dare cross the river to the south side of the river though we saw a handful of vehicles in lamai wedge from the other end.

 

The tommies look so lovely in your photos - great close-ups!

[africapurohit]

@@Kitsafari the crossing is next to the Kogatende Ranger Post (and airstrip) - it's a shame you didn't cross into the Lamai Wedge - were the water levels very high?

[TonyQ]

@@africapurohit

Great lion sequence

The Thompsons gazelles are beautiful

[Kitsafari]

@@Kitsafari the crossing is next to the Kogatende Ranger Post (and airstrip) - it's a shame you didn't cross into the Lamai Wedge - were the water levels very high?

 

we were actually staying in Lamai Wedge at Olakira Lamai, and our driver/guide was very new to the area. we stopped to look at the "bridge" into the Kogatende side, and he kept emphasising that we couldn't cross back if the waters rose. the waters were not that high, but an Olakira vehicle had fallen into the river, and we didn't want to end up the same way with a driver that was not experienced with that crossing! so we spent all the time in Lamai wedge. it was lovely though, very few vehicles in sight. we shared a sighting of 3 cheetahs with only one other car.

[africapurohit]

Thanks @@TonyQ

 

Thanks @@Kitsafari, it makes sense to me now.

[africapurohit]

The plan for the morning gamedrive on Day 3 had already been set - I wanted to go straight back into the Lamai Wedge! We left camp just as the sun was rising and Niyam was fascinated by the fact that the moon was still shining bright. It was also the first day of the trip where he decided to take photos with his own camera (I'll share some of these at the end of the trip report). Three other vehicles from Serian Camp were also heading into the Lamai Wedge this morning, after hearing about the "fighting lions" we encountered the previous day, but we were the first vehicle out.

 

Gnu Moon

The crossing doesn't look too bad, does it?

On reaching the other side, there was already a beautiful glow to the place so I targeted the first animals I saw, which were impala. There also seemed to be much more plains game present this morning, particularly wildebeest and zebra. Within 15 minutes, Lonyoki had found three lionesses but they were not relaxed in our presence so we left them and moved on. They were most likely from the same pride as the lions we saw the previous day.

 

 

Female White-bellied Bustard

[Safari Cal]

Loving your adventure @@africapurohit, great photos, those crossing shots are ace.

[africapurohit]

Lonyoki spoke very little English but his constantly smiling face made communication very easy, even for Niyam. Considering three of Niyam's grandparents were born in Kenya (the other in Uganda), Mdebe decided that Niyam should have breakfast in Kenya this morning, which was a nice thought. We headed for the border, found a suitable spot and set up the table. In some parts of the Lamai Wedge, bushes (toilets) are hard to find so you need to think carefully about picnic sites! After breakfast, Niyam challenged me to a "camera battle" - this when two opponents arm themselves with cameras and try to take pictures of each other while moving around and dodging each other .

 

Breakfast in Kenya

The Giant

Niyam arming himself

He put up a good fight

But when I moved in close, my height advantage meant that he had to look up and got distracted by the bright sky - tactical awareness!

 

After breakfast we came across a group of about 30 topi - on the other side of the river we rarely saw more than two together - so I asked Medebe to stop for some topi photography. It wasn't easy to get close to them, so went for more scenic shots.

 

Stopping for the topi proved a masterstroke - whilst stationary, Lonyoki's supervision spotted a cheetah heading towards the direction we had just come from. On closer inspection with his binos, Lonyoki confirmed there were three cheetahs. Mdebe turned the car around and drove just over a kilometre to catch the cheetahs up. The three males stopped at a tree to make their marks (a territorial post) but even Mdebe was surprised by what we saw next. Whilst one sprayed the tree in typical cat fashion, the other two climbed about two metres up, defecated, and then came back down again. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera ready to capture this sudden event.

 

Marking

Coming back down after doing it's thing

[africapurohit]

We approached the cheetahs cautiously, not knowing how they might react to the vehicle, but had nothing to worry about - these three boys were confident, nonchalant and barely gave us a glance! Despite the heat they were quite active, passing by a water hole and scent-marking and clawing other trees in the area. We had called the sighting in to the other three Serian vehicles in the Lamai Wedge, so when the cheetahs started heading towards the Masai Mara border, we backed off hoping they might stay on the Tanzania side long enough for the other Serian guests to see them. Luckily they found a shaded spot on the Tanzanian side and it looked as though their work was done for the rest of the day. We spent more than 30 minutes with them before the first of the Serian vehicles found us, unfortunately the other guests only saw them resting in the shade. The Lamai Wedge and Lonyoki (and the topi) delivered again.

 

Edited November 13, 2013 by africapurohit

[madaboutcheetah]

Awesome!!! These are 3 big boys!!!! Note to self - forget the goose chase in trying to find them in the Mara.

[Kitsafari]

@@africapurohit hey, the 3 cheetahs look familiar - just like the 3 we saw back in July, also spread out in the shade under that tree in Lamai wedge that gave the tommy a scare, or rather early gave us a heart attack..... ..

 

but gorgeous pix of the cheetahs.

[TonyQ]

@@africapurohit

Beautiful cheetah pictures

I see you had to draw on all of your experience, strategy and physical attributes to beat Niyam at the camera game! (Did you get to use a long lens as well?)

[africapurohit]

Thanks all

 

@@madaboutcheetah they are in prime condition but I think they have the potential to grow a bit more.

 

@@Kitsafari they are the same trio you saw in the Lamai Wedge this year. @@PCNW also saw them recently in the Lamai Wedge. The area close to the Masai Mara border where that big tree and waterhole are, seems to be a prime territorial spot for them.

 

@@TonyQ I needed to be agile and quick, so I stuck with the wide-angle lens . Lost count of the number of blurry shots between us!

Edited November 14, 2013 by africapurohit

[africapurohit]

Our morning still wasn't over! After leaving the resting trio, I was taking some more topi images when Lonyoki (again) spotted a distant hyena den. There was a large female sitting in a hole and she seemed a bit apprehensive. Thinking that she might have young ones, we didn't try to get closer. Instead, we focussed on other members of the clan who seemed more relaxed, allowing me to get some portrait shots. We then came across a breeding herd of elephants with a very impressive matriarch and a beautiful youngster.

 

What a morning! Every sighting was exclusive with no other vehicles in sight (unless we called them) - not bad for peak season in northern Serengeti! Lonyoki has to be credited with much of the success, not only his amazing vision but he knew the Lamai Wedge inside out - every ditch, every shortcut, best places to cross streams and rivers, how to best negotiate the swampy areas. Serian Camp seem to have a perfect model for this part of Africa.

 

[Kitsafari]

that hyena looks gorgeous in your pictures. tho' i guess many people will think i'm crazy calling them gorgeous, but i find them very mesmerizing somehow.