Self Drive Kenya Safari - July 2013

[Sangeeta]

I'm seconding that Oi @SafariCal! I was gone for some days and came back to a bumper crop of TRs in progress. Was going through them systematically and very disappointed to see you stopped when you did. Nothing at all ordinary about many of your sightings and the photos are superb. Please persevere I too would like to hear more about your pit stops at dairy places and roads that have changed since you last them and all those little details that make this report uniquely yours.

[TonyQ]

I agree - it is a shame it has stopped where it is

I have been really enjoying it

Love the elephant in camp sequence, wonderful bird photos and fascinating (and funny) cheetah behaviour

I really like the elephant pictures - especially the on showing the baby from behind.

[Kitsafari]

You're done? but i'm just warming up to 1. a vervet monkey fighting off an eagle perhaps to save the guineafowl? 2. a cheetah nimbly walking on top of a bush?? 3. an ele in the camp? etc etc.

 

u gotta tell us more, please! and the close-ups are fantastic shots.

Edited October 5, 2013 by Kitsafari

[graceland]

Yes, add one more to the above - I'd love to hear more of your self drive ~ and the beautiful shots you've taken, please

[madaboutcheetah]

 

It's always decidedly dodgy writing about a place so well visited by most ST members, but for the time I've spent pulling the trip report together so far, I've realised I'm definitely not offering anything new. So... I've decided to wrap this up.

 

We had a great safari, as did many of you, Samburu was awesome, as was Nakuru, Naivasha has never let us down and the Mara was exceptional.

 

Hopefully next year will be even more awesome and we'll all have more to contribute..

 

Good luck in 2014 all you ST addicts.

 

Cheers.

 

Cal

Oi! If the cheetah sighting isn't new I'm not sure what is. And the Greater Kudu there? I can only surmise that people (like me) missed your second Samburu post because it is the last one on that page... that happens . I came here, saw Leely's post and thought she was commenting on the earlier ones.

 

I am actually very interested to hear from you about Samburu and see what you found and shot in Nakuru, Naivasha and the Mara. And to hear about the journey! Oi!

 

The destinations may be well traveled but the exceptional eye seeing them and the mode of travel are both new and interesting. Please don't stop now... That's cruel..... Almost as cruel as @@madaboutcheetah giving us snippets of information about his Tanzanian safari and never posting so much as a picture that I've seen.

 

Oi!

 

 

Ouch!!! Okay - will get to it .............. unfortunately, been very busy with work and my volunteer work with the Cancer Foundation (will post after I return from Botswana)

[pault]

@@madaboutcheetah..... Just a lreminder. Feel guilty ndw (just a little).

[Safari Cal]

Ok, ok... will add more when I have time

[Safari Cal]

Part 2 Day 3 16 July 13

 

Sorry for the delay... I couldn't log on for the last couple of days! So where were we, still in Samburu...

 

After a great nights sleep we were awoken early by the sound of low rumbling and munching of Acacia fruit outside of our tent. I peeked out and sure enough, there was Sam getting stuck into his breakfast. What a fantastic way to wake up in ‘Elephant Bedroom Camp’!

 

We had a coffee, which set us up lovely for our morning game drive and set off in search of better views of a leopard with our Samburu guide James, the most smiley person we met during our trip. His smile was infectious and we had a great morning in his company.

 

We stopped at a bend in the river to watch the sun break the horizon, an amazing sight every time we see it on safari and took a few shots as it quickly lit up the park and brought warmth to the morning.

 

 

We had said to James that we’d really like to see a Leopard, but although we tried hard it was in vain, as they were still in hiding this morning. We headed well out to the west of Koitigor and then circled back round to the east heading up towards the airstrip seeing a few birds on the way, mainly Weavers but a Von der Decken’s Hornbill was a very nice spot. A lovely female posed nicely for us allowing me to get this shot.

 

 

As well as this we saw Fawn-coloured Lark’s, Black-capped Social Weavers, Rosy-patched Bush-shrikes, Grassland Pipit and Black-faced Sandgrouse. The other sighting this morning was our first Beisa Oryx. Beautiful animals, especially when bathed in golden morning sunlight and a beautiful female Gerenuk looking lovely in the morning light.

 

 

 

 

We headed back to the Lodge for breakfast and then headed back out a little while later in the hope of catching some action by the river. We still hadn’t seen any animals drinking or playing in the water as I had done on previous visits.

 

We headed along the tracks that follow the river and within no time were parked up watching around 100 elephants crossing the river, taking mud baths and playing with each other.

 

It’s been a while since I’ve seen such a big herd, even in Amboseli where Elephants are everywhere. And to have them file across the river in front of us was such a great experience.

 

 

 

Climbing out after his mud bath

 

As we left the river we found a herd of Reticulated Giraffe feeding on the trees at the edge of the forest. There were around 20 or so giving us some good opportunities to take photos. Such beautiful and graceful animals, I prefer the clean cut reticulations of their pattern compared to those of the Maasai Giraffe.

 

 

Not to be outdone the Giraffe were closely followed by a troop of Baboons, which Laura loves, so we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take more photos. They are so photogenic though, and when you can get some eye contact it’s like looking straight into their souls. While Laura was photographing the Baboons a small group of Impala posed nicely for me.

 

 

 

We then headed away from the river to more arid areas to increase our chances of seeing Somali Ostrich, Beisa Oryx and Grevy’s Zebra. We found a group of Ostrich females strutting their stuff, but unfortunately there were no males around. We took some photo’s and decided to drive slowly back to camp and hope for some sightings on the way, but alas, we had a quiet trip back with nothing exciting to report.

 

 

However… once back at the lodge we decided to head back to the tent to chill for a while before heading back out for our afternoon safari. Sam was still in the area outside the kitchen tent but we thought the fence would hide us as we sneaked past on the main path that leads to the tents. We had gone around 15 yards when there was an almighty crash and as we turned in surprise all we could see was Sam coming through the fence and heading straight for us!!!! The fence had disappeared and was now little pieces of broken wood scattered everywhere but all we were really focused on was the three tonnes of young bull elephant bearing down on us!

 

Now, needless to say we don’t have any photos of this as we were in self-preservation mode at the time and we immediately ran for safety underneath the decking of the tent we were passing at the time. Once underneath the decking, with hearts pumping hard we could at last have a smile at each other and let off a collective “Phew!”

 

 

We made it back to our tent without any more adrenaline fueled moments as Sam walked off down the path in search of more food… or in search of mischief perhaps.

 

 

In the afternoon we headed back out in search of the elusive Leopard that had been sighted around Koitigor Hill, we bumped into Julius who had been reliably informed that a Leopard was in a tree in the scrubland between the southern tip of the hill and the river. We drove around the area trying to spot the Leopard but it seemed that the information wasn’t reliable. Julius even went as far as standing on his vehicle and putting his head through the leafy branches into the heart of the tree to see if he could spot anything. But, try as we might we couldn’t see it. We found a spot around 20m from the tree and parked up. I got my binoculars out and scanned the side of the tree I could see, and there, right at the top I could clearly see a few spots. It was a young female Leopard. She was resting up and there wasn’t much movement, but we weren’t in a hurry and decided to wait for the rest of our evening game drive to see what developed.

 

 

Now, in our time in Samburu so far we had maybe seen only 4 or 5 other vehicles and were under the impression that there weren’t that many vehicles around to crowd out the animals at a sighting… how wrong were we!!!

 

A matatu pulled up next to me and the guide asked what we’d seen, not realizing the impact my words would have here, I was honest and told him about the Leopard and within 15 minutes the tree was surrounded by around 30 safari vehicles (I couldn’t believe it, where did they all come from?). I got this shot then we decided to leave as the Leopard was quite obviously stressed by all the attention as were Laura and I by this stage.

 

 

Laura was really upset that what had started as a quiet moment with the 2 of us sitting watching a relaxed animal enjoying the last glows of the evening light had turned into such a stressful event for the young Leopard and I was upset with myself as I had caused this debacle by telling the matatu driver in the first place.

 

We headed straight back to the lodge and sat by the river with a drink trying to get our thoughts back on track and get over this terrible experience. I thought to myself “I really should know better!”

 

 

The Lodge had new self drive guests and was quite full again, a nice group of people we took to be a mixture of citizens and residents, one of whom looked familiar but I couldn't quite place him. That night the chef worked his magic again and provided a wonderful meal which we washed down with some cold beers for me and chilled white wine for Laura. The bar area is fantastic, the bar being made out of an old boat and flanked by shelves made out of an old wooden canoe that has been cut in 2; a really cool way of recycling something at the end of it’s useful working life. It looks just like you'd expect a safari lodge bar to look like.

 

 

After a couple of drinks it was off to bed on the hope that tomorrow would bring a happier experience. Tomorrow we were moving from Samburu to Lake Nakuru, so we had our fingers crossed for our last morning safari and were a bit sad at the prospect of moving on as we'd had a wonderful time at Elephant Bedroom Camp, being well looked after by the staff and meeting some wonderful people to boot.

Edited October 10, 2013 by Safari Cal

[pault]

You should know better! I love that Gerenuk shot - really pretty.

[Treepol]

Great gerenuk photo, and I too prefer the appearance of the strikingly marked Reticulated to the Maasai Giraffe. The markings on the Reticulated Giraffe remind me of crazy paving while I think of autumn leaves when I see a Maasai Giraffe.

[africapurohit]

@@Safari Cal thanks for continuing. Love the gerenuk, female ostrich pose and the elephant coming out of the bath.

[Safari Cal]

@@pault Don't I know it! Honestly, we hadn't seen more than a handful of vehicles the whole time we were there, it was a real shock to see so many descend on us!

[Safari Cal]

@@Treepol You're so right, never thought of it like that before but autumn leaves seems right for the pattern on Maasai Giraffes.

[Safari Cal]

@@africapurohit Thanks, been so busy at work lately but managed to find time to fill in the basics, glad you liked the photos and really enjoying your TR

[TonyQ]

I am really pleased you are continuing this. The gerenuk photo is superb (I had to call MrsQ to come and look at it). Great bird pictures - including the wonderful ostrich.

photo.

 

The bar looks ideal.

[Safari Cal]

@@TonyQ The Gerenuk is the stand out photo for sure.

 

As for the birds, I love the little Firefinches and don't you think that the White Headed Mousebird looks like it's wearing a toupee? Thanks

[armchair bushman]

Glad you didn't stop where you said you would. Your photos are superb. Really enjoying this. Looks like you had a great time in Samburu especially.

 

I'd be interested to know where you hired your Pajero from. (just curiosity).

[Rainbirder]

Only just caught up with this report Cal, don't know how I missed it!

What a superb report!!!

 

The experience with the Martial Eagle is amazing and your images are superb -especially the Grey-headed Kingfisher in flight!

Unfortunately we saw no cheetah in Samburu at all and our only views of Greater Kudu were of backsides slipping into the bush.

 

Don't feel bad about the young leopardess as she had to endure even greater hassle and bad behaviour a few weeks later (on one occasion 17 vehicles circled the large bush in which she took refuge, sadly vehicles from all the major camps were in evidence). Ben, our driver did not like what was going on (neither did we!) and so we didn't hang around but on speaking to another guy at Samburu Lodge that evening he told me he got great views and showed me his photographs. His images were of good quality but clearly showed that the young leopard was distressed.

 

This report is a very useful resource for anyone considering visiting Samburu and will also stimulate increased interest in self-drive safari options.

Thanks for taking the time to post this!

[Safari Cal]

Hi @@armchair bushman, thanks for the feedback. Work has been manic lately and as we all know it takes a fair bit of time to pull TRs together, was sinking slowly while burning the candle at both ends. About the Pajero, I've got a friend who works for Simba Colt, got it direct with pick up via Avis in the old arrivals hall at JKIA. Not your old car is it???

[twaffle]

Heavens, I am very happy that you didn't stop when you said you were going to. Love all the photos and the experiences are very well written about. Thoroughly enjoying it all.

[Safari Cal]

@@Rainbirder Cheers Steve, the Martial Eagle and Cheetah were a great welcome back to Samburu and the Kudu was a real surprise, I didn't expect to see one at all, but it was just so comfortable in our presence it really surprised me.

 

It must be hellish being a Leopard around that area, they can't get a moments peace eh? Self drive in Kenya is fairly easy with a little bit of leg work, a good set of maps and a GPS. But it's a lot easier for sure if you've lived there and know the lay of the land

[Safari Cal]

Thanks @@twaffle, it's hard finding the time to write it up at the moment, but will keep plugging away

[armchair bushman]

Hi @@armchair bushman, thanks for the feedback. Work has been manic lately and as we all know it takes a fair bit of time to pull TRs together, was sinking slowly while burning the candle at both ends. About the Pajero, I've got a friend who works for Simba Colt, got it direct with pick up via Avis in the old arrivals hall at JKIA. Not your old car is it???

haha. no my old pajero was the first model from the 80's. very boxy, round lights, vomit beige, 350,000 km on the clock, rattle box. and unfortunately, it is no more. A family friend borrowed it to drive it around for a week in the hopes of buying it, but a big lorry wrote it off on a round-about on langata road cutting into his lane. Sad day.

That car had many good memories and had taken me many beautiful places. She even had a name: "the baya maya" (swedish for porta-potty - since they're exactly the same colour). I was very fond of her and I hate that she's no longer with us. Very capable 4x4 with big square windows for game viewing and spring mounted seats that make you feel like you're floating.

 

Nuts. now I'm getting emotional.

[Kitsafari]

Thanks Cal for continuing the adventure. I'm only now finally finding time to catch up all TRs. While other veteran ST-ers have been there and done that, the chances for a nooobie like me to experience it are almost nil. So I'm living the adventure through your eyes and words, and am thoroughly enjoying it.

[richard trillo]

Stunning photos Calum - really outstanding. Quite a lesson in perseverance for anyone who's ever made the effort - many congratulations!