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

[graceland]

Hilary, at least you owned your "dill"-- I saw ostriches in Ruaha, and said," No way..there aren't any ostriches here; you guys are playing with me." Well they were there-- and everyone was excited (except me who saw way too many in Florida) who knew?, I sure didn't,but then again I am not an ostrich expert. But if they DO bury their heads in sand, then I am totally related to them

 

And your pic is lovely. Wait til you see mine

[twaffle]

A LAST MINUTE CHANGE OF CAMP

 

 

When our plans were all up in the air after the necessary decision to abandon Ishaqbini, and whilst we were waiting for our travelling companions to arrive, Squack, Terry and I sat around the fire at Macushla discussing the options we had to change our final camp. One such option was Ekorian’s Mugie Camp which Squack said would offer quite a different landscape and experience. We ran through so many alternatives that I completely forgot that we had looked at Ekorian when Squack suggested that we break our 5 night stay at LWC with a night there. Of course, we had originally only planned a 4 night stay at LWC but added a night when the new plans were made.

 

Personally, I felt quite a degree of excitement as we headed off to our new destination because it is always fun to explore new places. We were to meet Joseph, an LWC guide, on the main road at the turn off to Mugie as Barend was on his first trip there as well. Joseph stayed with us for our game drives, which we took in an Ekorian vehicle, and drove back to LWC with us and then helped with dog tracking when we were there.

 

Although the drive was longish, around 2 hours or so, I found it very relaxing. One of the few times I could lean back and not worry about spotting or photographing, so when we finally began our drive through the community lands leading to the secondary gate into Mugie I felt ready for the new camp. The community lands were well grazed but green as rain had been steady. Despite the proximity of domestic grazing herds, we saw quite a number of zebras and gazelles. Once into the ranch, the higher grass was very noticeable. Obviously, it was necessary to have a fence along this side and although we didn’t get over to the side of the ranch where the Maralal road runs, I would imagine that there would be a fence there as well. In fact, considering that this property was, until recently a home for black rhinos, one would hope that the fencing was of a pretty high standard.

 

 

 

“It's all Laikipia, all the same thing”

 

The above statement had been made by one of our group in the past whilst discussing different places in Laikipia, but it's quite erroneous to think that this vast expanse of land that reaches across so many eco-systems is anything but varied and interesting.

 

Under an overcast sky, with menacing clouds to the north and west (exactly our direction) we crossed the Ewaso Narok, and after a while we came out of its valley as we headed to Mugie Ranch, in the extreme north of the Plateau.

 

The rugged hills, kopjes and gorges and the thick Acacia mellifera thickets, with which we had grown so accustomed during our game drives through Ol Doinyo Lemboro, gave way to a more openly vegetated land, which appeared almost flat – this however was quite deceptive, since in reality we continued to gently climb the plateau as Ekorian's Mugie Camp is some 500m higher than LWC. 

 

Once we left Ol Maisor and Sosian behind, we entered some community areas. The herds of cattle were no longer attended by some ranch employee in western clothes, but by traditionally clad Samburu, youngsters and warriors, with their head ornaments, necklaces and spears.

 

 

 

This area lies at the crossroads of Pokot and Samburu countries, and the composition of its inhabitants is in a perennial state of flux. We met Samburu tribesmen, but at other times you may well encounter Pokot instead.

 

What was really interesting to observe were large herds of Common Zebra and Thomson's Gazelle peacefully mingling with the cattle and clearly taking advantage of the short grass.

 

 

We finally reached Mugie, a 49,000 acres ranch, where 22,000 acres are set aside exclusively for wildlife but the wild like roams the whole property. Here, until 2012, was Kenya's most northerly population of Black Rhino; under immense pressure by poachers, it was decided to relocate all remaining rhinos elsewhere, where they could be more easily protected (unfortunately, Mugie is relatively close to the road to Maralal) Inside this core area there is a 500 m long dam (Kenya's third largest dam in private land). The dam, constructed in 2009, and was filled overnight by a flash flood.

Edited December 16, 2018 by twaffle

[twaffle]

 

I didn’t remember to write many notes about this first game drive into camp, but I do remember thinking that it was very open compared to LWC and that the herds of elands, Beisa oryx and Grant’s gazelles were very healthy and visible.

 

 

 

 

I thought the small camp was very pretty, the sort of place you feel that you could go for a restful time, although the game was obviously very good. After a short time to settle in, we set out on a proper game drive.

 

 

 

One of the first attractions was a herd of elephants with a delightfully feisty young elephant who tried to see us off several times, but didn’t quite have the courage to approach too closely.

 

 

 

 

 

We had Joseph with us as well as another Joseph helping with the telemetry so that we could try and find lions. Mugie is one of the bases for the Laikipia Predator Project, hence some collaring of resident lions which meant that we had some chance of finding some. Well, I have to tell you that tracking lions is not easy. We easily found a signal, unlike the dogs, and followed it steadily. Then the rain came down and drenched us so we had to pull down the covers and all of us tried to find shelter.

 

 

 

Once the worst of the rain subsided, we headed off again. We moved through little copses of bushes, quite dense bushes in fact. Over there, very close, that is where the lions should be. Around and around we went. Perhaps those bushes? Around and around we went again. Some time later we eventually found two male lions hiding in the depths of some heavy bush. One appeared very nervous and we heard that he was the younger of the two and wasn’t comfortable with vehicles. The other male peered out at us without much concern, but was not going anywhere in this weather.

 

 

It was certainly an interesting exercise and quite fun, but the lions weren’t going to give us anything further so we headed off to the huge expanse of water which was the 3^rd largest private dam in Kenya to enjoy a drink with the setting sun.

 

 

 

Edited December 16, 2018 by twaffle

[twaffle]

 

 

 

If you look at a rainfall map of the Laikipia Plateau, you will notice that the west is much wetter than the east (and Mugie is in the west), and that, contrary to the lowlands just to the north and east, you are bound to get rained on in July and August. Having said that, 2013 has been a peculiar year so far, and as Donna said, it has been raining for month. As a result the plains were incredibly lush and green. Something that none of us expected.

 

Even more singular was watching large herds of Beisa Oryx, Eland, Grant's Gazelle and smaller groups of Grevy's Zebra (all animals that you would generally associate with the browns, ocher and yellows of the dry bushland) roaming this greenery.

 

 

 

 

Impala, Common Zebra, Reticulated Giraffe and elephants were also conspicuous, whilst a few lone male buffaloes really impressed us for the size of their heads and their massive horns.

 

 

Mugie Dams attract a lot of waterbirds and other creatures, including....Defassa Waterbuck. Defassa Waterbuck?? that was really a surprise. It is widely maintained that Common Waterbuck live to the east of the Rift Valley (and in the Rift Valley), whilst Defassa Waterbuck occurs to the west. We were definitely to the east of the Rift Valley, so – theoretically – in Common Waterbuck country. Quite amazing.

Edited December 16, 2018 by twaffle

[twaffle]

 

I knew that one of our group wanted to see the Jackson’s Hartebeest (well, that’s what the various ranches call them although Dr Nicholas Georgiadis & Collins Ouma in their 2006 paper say “Laikipia hartebeest have long been considered by some to be hybrid between Lelwel and Cokes. Cokes is the common form in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. Lelwel were once distributed between central Kenya and the Central African Republic, but persist today in highly fragmented remnants.” – so confusing), and I was feeling a little guilty that with 3 photographers in the vehicle, he may be missing out a little. I pulled Barend aside and had a quiet word with him, asking if we could, in the morning, spend our time in the area where the hartebeest normally hang out so that we could perhaps see them.

 

So the following morning we headed out in pursuit of these special hartebeest. On the way we had good light to enjoy some more elephants, some Grevy’s zebra which were hanging out with some common zebra. Fortunately, we also spent some time with a most unusually coloured reticulated giraffe with large expanses of white instead of the usually tan coloured netting pattern. I had glimpsed this young female the previous afternoon, but not in a place that was easy to photograph so this was a great opportunity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We came across a couple of really magnificent buffalo bulls. I’m not a great lover of buffalo for many undisclosed reasons, but these were fine looking beasts.

 

 

 

Unfortunately, we didn’t come across the elusive hartebeests so decided to try and find the lions again which led to some of the more trying times of the drive. Again the tracking didn’t give up the lions on a plate with us circling bushes and moving from one group to another as the telemetry equipment got more and more excited. Just as we moved up close to a small group of heavy scrub, we hit a snag or rather a sharp piece of a broken tree trunk went straight through our tyre.

 

 

Naturally we had to all get out of the vehicle and stand around whilst Barend and Joseph and Joseph set about changing it in quick time.

 

 

 

Every now and then someone would turn on the tracker and check that the lions hadn’t moved, despite the fact that none of us could see them.

 

 

With the tyre changed we moved closer to the lions, only moving forward 50 or so metres before low and behold, the new tyre sank to the ground. Now, closer to the lions and with no second spare, we had to call in to the camp for a fresh tyre.

 

Although the camp wasn’t too far away, it did take some time to find us, hidden as we were in quite heavy scrubby bushes. During this time we kept a check on lion movement, and I sat on top of the vehicle on watch and because I had coverage, Facebooking photos of our predicament. It was quite a fun time and made us all feel quite alive.

 

 

 

Eventually the cavalry arrived and our tyre was changed and we set off finally to find the lions.

 

 

Our reward for such patience was to find them in a similar position as the previous evening, well hidden in thick bushes with the younger of the two slinking off in a very unmanly fashion at our approach.

 

Just goes to show that you could drive right past lions and never see them there and that tracking lions with collars on is no easy matter.

After lunch we again hit the road, heading back to Steve and Annabelle’s Laikipia Wilderness Camp and hopefully a meeting at last with the elusive wild dogs.

 

 

Edited December 16, 2018 by twaffle

[twaffle]

We finally found the elusive hartebeest, not at Mugie but on the drive back to LWC.

 

 

 

Edited December 16, 2018 by twaffle

[pault]

Excellent observations about Laikipia. Photographs are great - all from the perpective of the travelogue (love the in-vehicle shots) and especially the elephants just from a photographic perspective @@twaffle. Those buffalos are indeed wonderful specemins, and I am so glad you got your hartebeest in the end.

 

It's kind of warts and all, but with pretty warts. So enjoyable.

 

 

One more thing... Where is Mzee? He has been very quiet.

Edited December 16, 2018 by twaffle

[Safaridude]

Got your Mount Kenya hartebeest. Excellent.

 

Though it is unclear where you baged the Mount Kenya hartebeest...

 

So true about Laikipia... there are so many changing sceneries. I hope all the representative small biomes in Laikipia can be protected forever.

Edited December 16, 2018 by twaffle

[johan db]

Haven't been here for ages. Saw this one and I have to say: a feast for the eyes and an excellent read

[TonyQ]

@@twaffle

Enjoying the report!

Is it unusual to see Common Zebra and Grevy's together?

Do you know if they interbreed?

[stokeygirl]

I asked Steve the same question- he said they could interbreed but the offspring are sterile, like mules.

[Whyone?]

Donkeys and Zebra can and have interbred so it wouldn't surprise me at all if Common and Grevy's could do likewise.

[Sangeeta]

Year of the Hartebeest

 

Wonderful doggie tales, guys. Buster was sick from eating wild dog 'leftovers' when I was there. Now I am dying to meet the Ekorian trio too. What a hoot these guys can be.

[BJlock]

Thank you for taking us through your journey. This account of your trip is both amazing and intimidating! For someone like me, just getting ready for a first safari, it is a little daunting to realize what a complete neophyte I am! This is just full of first hand experience and a level of knowledge that just boggles the mind. Don't even get me started with the pictures!

[AKR1]

@@twaffle

Some photography equipment questions. How did you like the 1DX and 200-400 combination. Did you find it was a huge upgrade from your previous equipment and got you many more keepers. If I recall correctly you used an APS-C sensor camera before so the full frame must help in challenging conditions. Did you utilize the exceptional frame rate of the 1DX. Was the 200-400 too heavy and was the built in TCs really useful.

Thanks

[twaffle]

AKR, I loved the 1DX although I found I became a little complacent with some situations because it has such abilities in low light which is exactly the reason I bought it. Definitely used the fast shots per second rate but found that if I forgot to set it to low for shooting animals standing around, that I burned through quite a few images. It did help me capture sharp images in a series when I was having trouble with people moving continually in the vehicle … always an issue with a few people travelling together. Loved the lens - body combination and used the extender quite a bit. Biggest issue was with the extender on, any sort of heat haze was highlighted, much more than I'd experienced with other combinations. It was heavy but I managed quite a few handheld shots and as time went on I found more successful ways to hold it. Much heavier, of course, than anything else I'd shot with in recent years. Surprisingly, I quite enjoyed using it for landscapes, both single captures and blended ones as it gave a quite different perspective. I really liked the bokeh with that combination, much nicer than I'd been used to.

[wilddog]

On 10/2/2013 at 5:36 AM, Sangeeta said:

Both Doug and Steve used them just to confirm presence. Rest was all tracking and legwork.

@@Sangeeta How interesting; I have never seen Doug use telemetry for dogs. I assume this was at Vundu Camp?

 

 

I too have been away for a week and it is so good to get back to the latest on this report (will get to the other TRs later today). Thanks .... and Twaffle

[kittykat23uk]

@@wilddog Yep, Vundu.

[johan db]

...., my safaris days are gone that's why I am no longer posting anymore.

[kittykat23uk]

@@johan db sorry to hear that.

[Game Warden]

@@johan db, whilst your Safari days are over, I sincerely hope your Safaritalk days aren't. I'm glad to hear from you and hope you are well. Matt.

[Sangeeta]

On 10/5/2013 at 10:30 AM, wilddog said:

 

On 10/2/2013 at 5:36 AM, Sangeeta said:

Both Doug and Steve used them just to confirm presence. Rest was all tracking and legwork.

@@Sangeeta How interesting; I have never seen Doug use telemetry for dogs. I assume this was at Vundu Camp?

 

 

I too have been away for a week and it is so good to get back to the latest on this report (will get to the other TRs later today). Thanks .... and Twaffle

@@wilddog - yes, this was indeed with Nick's telemetry equipment at Vundu.

 

Nick was kind enough to lend the project's equipment to Doug and we headed off into the mopane with it. But it took a lot of visual tracking and listening by Doug to finally locate them. Several hours later, after we finally found them, they growled at us and so we left without even seeing them at their den

 

@@twaffle - sorry for interrupting!

[johan db]

Dear all,

 

I am extremely busy these days but never say never again.

[ice]

interbreeding of common and grevy zebras may not cause a threat to these particular species but interbreeding between blue and black wildebeest does because their hybrids are fertile

[ice]

 

 

right now I only know of one park where they presently both occur and that is Mokala NP - afaik the black wildebeest were "imported" back when the park was still a hunting concession but I am not 100% sure

Edited December 16, 2018 by twaffle