The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men … a somewhat turbulent safari to Kenya

[Kitsafari]

It's back and as absorbing reading as ever - even about the merits or not of swarowski. Still loving all the photos.

[AKR1]

When I was in Amboseli in 2010 after the historic drought the previous year, we were staying at Tortellis camp and did game drives both in Amboseli and outside where there was a dried lake bed where off-roading was allowed. I remember it being very dusty in that part. I did not know the name of the conservancy but I now guess it was indeed Kitirua.

[Safaridude]

I love Rinaldi taking over the kitchen...

 

An evocative shot of the zebras in the heat haze.

 

Glad that the fringe-eared oryx are still around.

[graceland]

Happy to see Rinaldo and his wine in the new locale. Hope he adds his own thoughts at the end of this provacative report. Even if it is just a wine review

 

Great shots, Hahn Family!

[Safaridude]

On 10/18/2013 at 10:26 PM, graceland said:

Happy to see Rinaldo and his wine in the new locale. Hope he adds his own thoughts at the end of this provacative report. Even if it is just a wine review

 

Great shots, Hahn Family!

 

Now that would be hilarious... @@graceland

Edited December 17, 2018 by twaffle

[pault]

Lovely again. I have never really wanted to go to Amboseli but I love looking at the landscape (not so much being in it I think! Hope it wasn't too windy around camp).

 

Another really fine installment from you. 

Edited December 17, 2018 by twaffle

[marg]

Not only the olive oil, but tomatoes and garlic. We are being very much spoiled with the wonderful trip reports that are being written. Thank you!

[graceland]

Sorry. something going on with my mac..Its doubling every post I make so I think I'll just read.....

and keep my comments to myself, as much as I can!

 

perhaps one of the GREAT powers that be can delete it; I dont want to look like I am aiming for a "pith" illegally

Edited October 19, 2013 by twaffle
Deleted! Happens from time to time. :)

[samburumags]

Thanks everyone.

 

AKR, just should mention that the aerials were shot with 24-105, I defy anyone to shoot aerials with the 200-400.

I wish I understood what you mean!!!!! But I guess it doesn't apply to a Canon Sureshot!!! I have asked you a question regarding this on the FB message service

[TonyQ]

Continuing great photos love the elephants and the giraffe sunset!

Also really enjoying the writing - the Lion Guardians project is really interesting and sounds a very positive programme

[twaffle]

Bigger than Ben Hur came to mind as I struggled to choose the right photos, reducing from about 300 I initially selected for this next installment to a mere 90ish. So many had to get the cut, but I hope that the remaining ones give everyone a feel for Kitirua and the wonderful sightings we enjoyed. I think that the dust we complained of could really be thought of as Fairy Dust.

[twaffle]

Kitirua Conservancy or more accurately, Amboseli on steroids without the crowds.

 

I won’t do a drive by drive experience for these last 4 days apart from the final game drive on the last morning, leaving the photos to tell the stories from each day.

 

So to begin with, as you've already heard … dusty was the keyword for Kitirua, like the finest powder it infiltrated everywhere and in fact was still appearing along with dried beans, for some time after my return home. The dried beans, which Squack had purchased prior to our arrival, were for my bean bags. I only ended up using one bag and as it was new I had no idea how many beans it would need. Apparently not 1kg, and certainly not 2kgs as I used up the beans Squack had bought for 2 bags on just the one jumbo sized one. So to make it work I stuffed plastic shopping bags and tissue travel packs into the bag until Squack and I went into the Nakumatt supermarket in Nanyuki to get supplies and I bulked up with another 3 kgs, removing all the rubbish I’d used as fillers. So memo to self, 5 kg next time. The beans were given to the kitchen on our last day and I was very careful to shake out any remaining beans in the bag before packing, however, the tissue pack mysteriously hid any number of them, only releasing them when unpacking in Melbourne. So the dusty aroma of Lake Amboseli wafted around us as we stumbled around our hotel room in a state of advanced jet-lag trying to get ready for the trade show, treading on beans in our bare feet and cursing the fact that we would rather be ‘on safari’. But I digress …

 

A measure of how fortunate we had been already with our sightings was when I saw a gerenuk in the scrub by the side of the road, not long after leaving the airstrip. I sung out to everyone but got a “do you want to go back?” and a “gerenuk?, How nice!” and that’s when I realised that we had really seen a LOT of gerenuks as everyone looked very disinterested, but perhaps it was just the dust. The villages were very interesting and very authentic. So authentic that when we unfortunately rolled to a stop with a flat tyre right beside one, we had an instant grouping of red shuka clothed men offering to help (or at least watching the others help), children shyly trying to communicate and youths squatting at a distance watching curiously. Not one person came asking for money, nor anyone offering to sell anything. The tourist mini vans don’t come this way, obviously.

Edited December 17, 2018 by twaffle

[twaffle]

The layout of camp was very similar to the Meru one with Terry and I on the outer edge. The kitchen tent had been sited to a different side than before due to the entry road coming in at a different direction. All the small pup tents and behind scenes storage were behind bushes so all was very peaceful and pretty. The biggest drawback with this camp were the vervet monkeys who were extremely bold. We observed one using our tent as a slide and another, the metal basin as a Frisbee. They were particular interested in using our shower tent as a toilet so in desperation Mirjam employed one of the Maasai as a vervet discourager. On the first night I was woken up by a smallish animal running up and down the flysheet of the tent and making a lot of noise. Terry was sound asleep and although not at all nervewracking, the activity made it impossible to fall back asleep. I tried banging the canvas of the roof of the tent above my bed, it being quite low, and managed to bounce a few of the mystery creatures off, eventually scaring them away and they didn’t return for the rest of our time there. Squack said that they were most likely bushbabies, an animal I hadn’t considered.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Talking about little animals, we did have some luck with a couple of sightings. At one stage I thought I saw another hare leaping about in the long grass when out driving one day, but it turned out to be a serval on closer inspection. I have brilliant photos of out of focus grass, but Terry managed a better view with the serval’s ears clearly visible. Not a keeper, but evidence. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts we have no evidence of our next sighting which was of a honey badger which went to ground before we were close enough to photograph it. Despite the lack of keeper shots, as with our mating leopards and zorillas, the sightings themselves were a wonderful addition to our safari. One day I hope to get nice, close and interesting honey badger photos.

 

The four of us had decided that the way Laikipia Wilderness Camp constructed its day’s activities worked very well for smaller areas whereby we had a very light breakfast at 6am on our way out. A plate of fruit or a bowl of cereal with a tea or coffee and we were ready to safari. This was followed by a brunch around late morning instead of a late lunch with afternoon tea then an afternoon drive and dinner around 8 or 9. The midday sun was quite fierce, of course, and unlike a place such as the Mara where you can really make use of a full day, Kitirua and LWC were much smaller and closer to base. So Squack and the team rearranged our days to follow much the same schedule although we had tea or coffee out in the conservancy some time in the morning which was nice. Mirjam’s mother managed to change her menu plan to accommodate a brunch instead of a lunch and everything worked well, with one minor addition to the plan which happen later.

 

 

We also, unanimously, decided that entering the Park was totally unnecessary and we spent all our time in the conservancy with many animals and few vehicles. We also avoided any of the building and human intrusions which disturbed Safaridude’s visit as we entered through from the Namanga side and never entered the Park itself. Win-win.

Edited December 17, 2018 by twaffle

[twaffle]

On the first full day, Squack offered an extra midday game drive and as luck would have it, it suited exactly the sort of photography I didn’t know that I wanted to pursue. So I said I’d love to, if he really didn’t mind. So the following days followed the same pattern whereby Terry and I would head out with Squack (and sometimes Leyian) into the dazzling midday sun and photograph the skulls and skeletons that I’d fallen in love with. Certainly, not in a million years did I think that the stars of my show would be carcasses and bones and what a challenge I gave myself when I saw the desiccated bodies lying on the dusty, dried up pans. Using the midday period made perfect sense as it didn’t disrupt anyone else’s normal game drive activity and I felt really happy lying on the hot and crispy ground peering through my view finder. What the end point will be for these images I have yet to determine, but I know that they will end up being something interesting, at least to my eyes.

 

 

I don’t consider us blessed with the greatest of light with only glimpses of the rich red colour we all love to see early in the morning or late in the evening, however we had long periods of soft, dusky light which with a little careful processing ended up being quite rewarding. For the most part, the game drives gave us wonderful moments with Amboseli’s well researched elephants despite the fact that most of the big tuskers have gone now. We were rewarded with multiple sightings of a pride of lions, and a cheetah with her 4 small cubs. Wildebeest, zebras, giraffes, hartebeest, Grant’s and Thomson’s gazelles along with the rare sighting of the fringe eared oryx made up the majority of other sightings.

[twaffle]

I’ve included captions on most of the photos and ordered them to indicate their place in the chronology of the drives.

 

[twaffle]

[twaffle]

[twaffle]

'fear' NOT 'hear'

[twaffle]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 17, 2018 by twaffle

[ZaminOz]

Wow, stunning photos as usual. And I love the pics of that camp.

[twaffle]

[twaffle]

[twaffle]

And then there was just the last morning's drive before we headed back to Nairobi.

 

One last chance for something extraordinary.

 

One opportunity for me to say categorically that it was "the best morning game drive of the trip".

 

but for this last game drive we will all have to wait just a little longer

[Kitsafari]

And then there was just the last morning's drive before we headed back to Nairobi. One last chance for something extraordinary. One opportunity for me to say categorically that it was "the best morning game drive of the trip".

but for this last game drive we will all have to wait just a little longer

 

Awwww. Not too long pse.

[Safaridude]

Oh man, through Twaffle's lenses, Amboseli never looked better. I can't believe the quality of sightings you guys had. And there's a better morning drive to come?