The Absence of Bibi and the Question of Rain - Naboisho, Nairobi NP and Meru in December 2013

[pault]

Loving the report. keep it up.

And although your Jackal shot isn't a sequence, it looks very much like a dog scooting its bum across the ground when it has worms.

Hahaha... How did you know there is a sequence? There is, and this was the last and most ambiguous of the pictures - two rear legs high in the air would have been a giveaway.

 

@@Encounter Mara... Feel free to jump in if I accidentally libel either the camp or any of the staff. It would be accidental ;-)

 

Yes, the path is probably necessary - and it was fine for us too. But for sneaky people a hidden entrance would be nice.... at least until I fell down the slope and took the whole hide down with me into the salt lick (just joking... I am very nimble). But yes, you need to think about all your guests and not just a minority. Definitely.

 

There'll be a few more comments for you as we go - I promised Andrew and Sammy feedback and since my wife filled out the questionnaire at the end of our stay, this is a good forum for my own - none if it is negative.

[pault]

@@pault

Very enjoyable - text and photos - despite what you say about the light.

In fact the light makes some of them - ostrich sillouette, and the antelope with big sky.

 

It is hard seeing the fawn being killed - and that picture later of the other fawn laying low - it is a tough life out there.

Yes the light wasn't all bad.

[pault]

I’ll carry on day-by-day for now, at least until Day 4, and then we’ll see if it is worth doing it that way as it may get repetitive.

 

So, where are we?

 

We’re in Naboisho in the short rains, only there hasn’t really been much rain yet and it is cloudy but very dry. There is lots of wildlife around but the lions and the elephants haven’t been seen for a while and we are basically the only vehicle around. The other camps may have a few guests but we are only likely to see them once or twice, if at all. We know at least some lions of the 30-strong pride have been around, and last night we heard two of the three males letting everyone know the boys were back. However, both our sightings of the pride so far have been dead ends and we have seen no fresh prints or any other clues (and Daniel has been looking). All we know is they are on the move and some have been here. The birding is not good in the areas we have been hanging in, and with the weak light and white skies, woodland birding would be purely for looking and not for photographing. On the other hand we've had great Topi and giraffe viewing, and there are an abundance of wobbly youngsters and attendant jackals, which is great, and will keep us happy. There are no dens or young cubs or pups to fall back on and since we are not allowed off road until we actually see something (even clear tracks would be enough) we are at the point where Daniel is pondering his next move.

 

He decides we should go to the reserve the next day and in the meantime we’ll look for leopards (who have also been missing for a few days) and take a look at a different part of Naboisho. From his point of view it didn’t work out, but we were quite happy with the sunrise, Dik-diks, hyraxes and a Bushbuck that was caught short, in no position to run for once?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hyraxes on dark rock probably means you are looking for leopards...

 

You have me at a disadvantage, sir!

 

Down by the river, where leopards are regularly seen (but not by us), we stopped at a hippo pool that was in serious need of some fresh water. The smell was unpleasant but just bearable if you weren’t directly downwind. And when it became clear that no leopards were going to show themselves this morning, we stopped to watch vervets feeding and playing for a while. With the cloud cover increasing, it was still only pleasantly warm at this time and I found myself shooting at ISO 1600 at 10 am (okay it was monkeys, but still!). Huh?

 

Ewwww...

 

 

 

 

Ouch!

 

 

After brunch my wife decided to join me in the hide that afternoon. Of course, while waiting for her to get back from the tent (it is really quite a long walk from the central area to Tent 1, but it feels beautifully isolated when you get there) there was all sorts of wildlife down at the salt lick, including giraffes; but by the time we decided we were ready to go down everything had disappeared. So after an hour with just a few Impalas and a couple of wildebeest to show for it (in fact probably less than we would have seen from the area in front of the lounge tent) she decided to leave. I decided to join her and delete a few of the many dud photos I had accumulated so far instead of making more duds on a poor day at the hide. I am sure the very cool weather was a factor.

 

We were doing a night drive that night and my wife had decided to stay in, relax and enjoy the beautiful camp in the afternoon. So it was boys only (and in fact there may have been a third boy out, unknown to me, doing good work). Women are of course allowed to read this part though.

 

After only 15 minutes of the usual Topi and hartebeest and zebra we spied our first elephants – a small breeding herd feeding happily on thorn bushes and some grass, that were very relaxed as long as we stayed just a little distant. Elephants after an "elephant drought" warrant a limited off-road excursion under what I am sure is an only very slightly generous interpretation of Naboisho rules, and so we were able to stay with them for a while without annoying them and park and wait for them to come to us if they didn’t mind – and they didn’t. Since my wife is quite uneasy when surrounded by elephants (old story) even if they are not particularly agitated, in the nicest possible way I was glad that she wasn’t there and we spent a good long time with them, mostly waiting for them to emerge from behind bushes for a clear shot. And no light complaints now - sunny with clouds like you'd expect.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We left them and had a nice sighting of a small herd of Eland. They kept the sun behind them at first.

 

 

 

But eventually they decided we were okay and allowed us to get almost on the same side as the sun - although it was quite high.

 

 

We did another sweep of the river area for leopards before ending up near the Koiyaki Guiding School, where we saw a few wildebeest on the move and some trainee guides out learning to drive a truck. Daniel stopped to say hi to them for a moment and then we headed back towards camp, with Daniel calling ahead as usual to let them know we were coming (well I think so - I'd decided on no sundowner because we had the night drive to come and there wouldn't be a sunset anyway). However, he got some news back this time too. Someone from camp seemed to have been out that afternoon tracking lions, and they’d found some of them (now if true and Daniel was a bit coy, even for our own private camp that is good service). The find was a lioness with three well-developed cubs – the current youngsters of the pride – and it surely meant that more of the pride would be in the same area, which was just a few minutes from camp. Good news.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nice, natural toy (that comment will make sense soon)

 

 

We were having our early dinner just an hour or so later, when Daniel came and asked us if we were ready to go because the askari had spotted quite a number of lions on the plains outside our tent - actually very close to camp. Of course we were ready, and so off we went with our red spotlight. It was not the night drive I expected at all – which would be mostly trying not to disturb diurnal antelope while hoping for a genet and pleased with an occasional nocturnal mongoose and maybe a porcupine or two. This one was rather more full of incident and would have only added only one mammal and one bird to our list if we had one). Five minutes in and the lions were in the red beam and they were very active. It was difficult to count them, but when they stopped to drink at the waterhole next to camp, there appeared to be nine, mostly sub-adults with one and perhaps two adult females.

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, after drinking they all decided to jump over the stream feeding the waterhole and climb the steep bank on the other side.

 

 

That left us behind, but we decided to try and find them again anyway as it was clear they were up to something. While driving around to cross the lugga and start looking for the lions again we also saw a couple of Springhares, which are the most wonderful animals if you haven't seen them. But then we saw one, two, five lions stalking and we were back tracking them.

 

 

The red light revealed they were stalking a hippo and they launched an attempt at it too. This meant we went completely dark so as not to affect any outcome, but the sound of a lot of running and then a big splash, followed by upset grunting, suggested that the hippo was safe and the lions unfulfilled. However, the lions were not put off and shortly after they spotted a mixed group of gazelles and topis. We had to go black again, with older lions leading the stalk this time and the situation looking more serious. However, just before we turned off the light we saw one of the younger ones breaking cover and although we heard the sound of hooves close by, there were no desperate calls and when it was time to put the lights back on we could see the last of the lions continuing on their way at walking pace. We followed again and found ourselves surrounded again – they were constantly moving, spreading out and then coming together, stopping to play and then running to catch up…. lions all over the place. It was really a very nice experience and I have to say Daniel was handling the driving well.

 

Then the biggest male came across a nightjar and started chasing it around. As the pursuit gathered pace, everything went into slow motion. The bird escaped from the lion, but then flopped to the ground again, pursued by the lion. It then flew straight at us, followed by the excited lion. My wife and I could both see the bird was going to hit us, and were both wondering “What about the chasing lion? No, no no….. that couldn’t happen”. But at the same time, the thoughts are going like “But on that trajectory, what else could happen?” And we both had this same set of thoughts going, and whispered "s*#t" at the same time, and as Daniel began to turn to see why his normally politely spoken guests were swearing in tandem, the bird was a couple of feet from my face with the lion in pursuit (we could no longer see how close the lion was because the spotter, oblivious from where he was sitting, was just sweeping the spot, and had just unkowingly switched the light from lion to bird)..…… and “THWAK!”

The bird hit the canopy bar rather than one of us and fell to the ground, leaving the lion braking, turning, confused “Where did it go?” and Daniel turning even more confused “What was that? What happened?” And then after 10 seconds the bird rose like Lazarus and flew away, again pursued by the confused but still enthusiastic younf lion. And we started quietly laughing and couldn’t stop for a little while. I have no pictures of this event.

With the lions 0 from 3 on the hunting, they settled down. Some played for a little while, but most settled down for a sleep. It was really quite cold, and the fearless would-be rulers of the night lay snuggled together like sardines. Daniel thought it might be a good time to go back to camp. We agreed, and he delivered us, still a bit giggly, right to our tent.

 

Hahaha ... You should have seen that guy's face when the bird hit the box!

 

 

Just for additional information, the red-lit night drives aren’t great for photography, especially on a pitch dark night, when the light was giving shutter speeds of 1/80s to 1/320s (depending on where the brightest part of the beam was in relation to the center of the frame) even at the ISO 16800 I had selected. Right at its brightest point, the beam gave faster shutter speeds at that ISO, but the brightest point was deliberately not on the face of the animal, unless completely by accident. Generally the spotter even seemed to try to bounce the light off the ground on to what we were looking at. That isn't a complaint - it's how I think it should be. I have a number of shots of “half-lions” where the lion has stepped out of the beam and its front half is completely invisible. The lions were not much put out by the light or our vehicle, but they did note our presence. That is a little disconcerting at first, since the lion is absolutely all that you can see and it is hard to get your head around the fact that to him you are just small part of a the whole environment, which they are seeing quite clearly. Once or twice they twitched when the light shone in the wrong place for a moment too long, but otherwise they were just doing their thing. And, in case you hadn't noticed, without any moonlight or even starlight all your shots come out completely red - there is no other colour in there at all. I could have changed them to B&W, but I think it's better to remember the drive like this - black and red.

[Soukous]

super photos Paul, the light looks pretty good now.

[twaffle]

Brilliant photos of the ostrich and the storytelling! Well, we almost don't need photos at all.

[graceland]

Love this report.

[pault]

Thank you all for your likes and comments.

 

@@Soukous.... Yes, the light is going to be fairly normal for a couple of days. No excuses other than the old midday sun one. Bliss.

[Sangeeta]

Wow on the black and red shots and and the vertical shots too.

 

What would you have said to the lion had he followed the nightjar into the vehicle?

[pault]

Wow on the black and red shots and and the vertical shots too.

 

What would you have said to the lion had he followed the nightjar into the vehicle?

 

"Please have my seat.." ?

[Kitsafari]

 

Wow on the black and red shots and and the vertical shots too.

 

What would you have said to the lion had he followed the nightjar into the vehicle?

 

"Please have my seat.." ?

 

 

you had me laughing away and everyone at work staring at me wondering what i was on about.

 

Loving the report so far. I felt i was there in the vehicle as well, thanks to your great nightjar chase report.

[pault]

Now, with the lions located, we were a little torn on whether to continue with our plan to visit the reserve the next day. We would have been pretty happy to stay in Naboisho. However, on the basis that you never know what each day is going to deliver anyway (a great justification for almost any decision), we decided to stick with our plans. We took a packed breakfast and lunch and drove the 40 minutes or so to the Talek Gate, which naturally takes you through Talek itself. Town was a bit of a shock for people with their own private camp in their own private conservancy, and when I looked at it like that I did wonder why we were doing this.

 

The drive to the reserve is in the "interesting" with inverted commas category, with travel through a part of the conservancy currently being grazed (that won't necessarily be the case when you are there) and then outside the conservancy on the rockiest of all the rocky roads we used. There was a 5 minute spell when tolerance and a happy ditty to hum was needed. On the way we came across a slightly puzzling scene.

 

 

 

My theories are that (1) the jackals are on steroids; (2) the lion that killed the topi was scared off by cattle bells or three jackals standing on top of each other inside a red robe; or (3) the topi just dropped dead - but that raises the question of how the jackals managed to eat so much. It was strange and rather sad that there were no vultures there, but I already knew there were vulture problems. The fact we only saw three hyenas in a week was the real surprise. That does raise a fourth possibility that I didnt even want to think about although I think Daniel would have sussed if something was amiss and done something about it.

 

We paid our fees at the gate in cash (you may need cash if you are going to do this from Encounter, but there is a bank in Talek if you don't have it). There was not much going on near the Talek gate and it was 10 minutes' drive in before we started seeing much. And what we saw were wildebeest; lots of wildebeest. Daniel hadn't been into the reserve for a little while, but he had heard there were still a lot of wildebeest and even some crossings of the Mara - due to the very late rains in Tanzania. He (half) joked we might even see a crossing with so many wildebeest around, but I said we weren't here for crossings. I really wasnt interested. Anyway, the further we got into the reserve (our tentative final destination was Rhino Ridge via whichever route looked good and then back by another route, with detours) the more wildebeest there were. It really was like September. But we were not interested in sitting by the river waiting for stupid gnus again.

 

 

We came across a herd of maybe 300 plus buffalo. I can't give you a picture of that as they were quite spread out, and the fact is that such a scene is not that impressive in a picture, but is very impressive in reality, when you drive through them for what seems like ages. And then, past the buffaloes, there were more wildebeest.

 

 

We stopped next to what was probably a small tributary of the Talek, where a few zebras were drinking and eyeing up the other side. So we might see a crossing after all, we joked! But the zebras were willing to get their feet wet and drink, but not to cross.

 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, downstream.

 

 

 

Then some Topi came along, and they were more decisive, but they didn't even get their feet wet as they used stepping stones to get across. Doesnt count; it's just as if the wildebeest used the bridge to get to the Lamai Wedge in the Serengeti. A river crossing must surely involve getting wet!

 

And then, finally, the wildebeest arrived and contrary to expectations they didn't even hesitate... straight across! Following this the zebras finally went, and the wildebeest followed them back, as they do, and then some zebras crossed the opposite way. Everyone was crossing now and finding that the grass was exactly the same colour on the other side.

 

 

 

 

Having now seen (technically) multiple crossings, it seemed like an ideal time to have breakfast, and we did. Food at Encounter is excellent really a good chef and variety - but for bush picnic gourmands (okay that is a kind of oxymoron) the picnics are so-so. Still, they're fresh and fine and you certainly won't go hungry. .... and don't trust me about food anyway if you really are a gourmand.

 

After breakfast (during which I would like to stress that I just enjoyed the food and did not review it) we drove on, and now the wildebeest were clearly moving towards the river, in growing numbers. We kind of drifted that way too for no particular reason I could see - perhaps Daniel has a bit of wildebeest in him.

 

On our "drift" we saw a good number of vultures circling and it was a no-brainer to go and have a look. Even I could have done this bit of guiding. We followed a familiar-looking vehicle into the bushes to see, and sure enough there was a fresh kill. Also, that familiar vehicle was from Kicheche Valley (Naboisho) and the person driving was Francis, the lovely man who had been our guide at Kicheche Laikipia and the reason that @@armchair bushman received a tip. If you remember, very shortly after first meeting Francis two years before we had found a coalition of three cheetah brothers. And that was what we had found again, thanks to the vultures. Or at least I think it was three brothers. They all seemed very young, with ruffs still prominent, and I saw the testes of two, but the other seemed to have rather small lumps or none and I didn't get a good look at the rear end. Even in my photos, every time the tails obscures them. Shy, perhaps? Or a sister on whom I was rudely trying to spot testes? Anyway, if this is another three brothers then we will know about it soon. They were very comfortable with the vehicles and so I expect they were locals.

 

Note: As I mentioned before my full set of photos is stored on an external drive, and I havent had time to check a number of things like how long we were at certain locations or, in this case, whether I think these might be the same three cheetahs we saw a couple of days before. My impression at the time was that they were not, and I havent changed my mind but the coincidence of the two def. males plus one is so great that Ill definitely be having another look at that. However, if someone simply confirms that there are three new young cheetah brothers in town, that would save me some time!

 

 

 

 

 

And what about the vehicles? Even I could have guided us here, remember, so there must have been lots. Well, I have to say it was the most crowded sighting we had been at. If you counted us and Francis, there were three vehicles. It was probably close to breakfast time at the lodges, but even so I was a little surprised. This was not a remote corner of the Mara. I wonder if anyone even saw the hunt?

 

The cheetahs may have been young but they were not inexpert. They had taken down a full-grown male impala and were clearly stuffed. I would guess they were not running on empty before this kill anyway. The vultures were gathering, but one of the cheetahs just couldn't bear to let them have such an amount of good meat, and tried to eat even more, and chase them off a couple of times, before surrendering to the inevitable and joining his brothers (?) under a bush.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once the vultures had had their initial frenzy over the kill, we left just behind Francis. We had a kind of ally now so whatever he found we'd know about and vice versa. We wouldn't stay even near him, but if he found leopards mating in a tree or something, we had the option. With texting it doesn't even make a sound - still not sure how I feel about that.

 

But the next destination was already clear. The number of wildebeest heading down towards the Mara was getting remarkable. Whether I liked it or not there was going to be a crossing, and we were five minutes from the river now (see what that crafty Daniel did?).

 

On the way we saw a young lion high up on a Kopje, enjoying the view and the breeze.

 

 

 

To further delay the inevitable, we stopped at a well-frequented hippo spot. They were all up out of the water on a sandbank and their reaction when we got out of the vehicle suggested they were not expecting visitors. And truly there was nobody else around.

 

 

 

Mara hippo possibly feigning surprise at the appearance of people

 

 

 

The hippos soon calmed down - some actually didn't even panic in he the first place and I like to think those that did were suitably embarrassed about making us feel guilty for disturbing them. We decided to move on to the crossing point.

 

On the way, we disturbed a very young baboon carrying something across the road and he dropped it. It wasnt difficult to work out what it was.

 

Baboon craftwork

 

 

 

Banded Mongooses

 

 

 

Gathering

 

 

Daniel was pretty sure where they were going to cross and we went there first. Sure enough they were gathering, but not down the banks yet, so we drove the very short distance to another crossing point where there were infinitely more vehicles (two, which is infinitely more than the zero at the first point).

 

I am pretty sure Daniel just wanted to agree with one of the guides waiting there that he'd give us a signal if a crossing became imminent there and we'd do here same for him at the other point. So he pulled in next to the minivan, like people do when waiting at a crossing, especially when wanting to chat to the other driver without shouting. Some women in the van took real exception to this and asked him to move since they were some kind of photographers. I heard "serious" photographers, but my wife heard "official" photographers and since they were on my deaf side I would trust her (they didnt look particularly like either, but who am I to judge?). There really whining away and waving at Daniel to reverse. Of course we weren't staying anyway, but I guess they just got up Daniel's nose because he reversed about six inches and told them that he was actually behind their vehicle, but since theirs didn't have a nose, he had no choice but to be in front. However, they were really getting on my wife's nerves and to avoid an international incident I told Daniel just to move back another two feet to shut them up (actually I probably said to make them happy). He did but do you think they did? Nope. I wasn't listening but my wife was and she was annoyed. Fortunately, Daniel saw or felt something and said we should get across to the other crossing point anyway.

Let's just put it down to the difficulties of cross-species communication (edit: I meant cross-cultural).

 

By now we had another vehicle waiting on the Serena side but we had an unusual problem on our side. Where should we watch it from? Too much choice. But I wanted the position that looked like it should be worse for photographing the crossing, but actually allows you to see right down into the massing herds as they enter the water. Besides, from a fallen tree in the river I realised we'd watched a crossing here from the other and "best spot" back in 2009. And there were thousands of wildebeest and hundreds of zebra, and that big din as the vanguard moved down the bank.

 

The crossing began as soon as I selected which camera I was going to use and got the beanbag set in position. And I hadnt wanted to be here at all really, but ooh, it was a big, dusty one.

 

 

 

 

 

I'll post some more photos and crossing stories a bit later - posting photos from the iPad is tortuous.

[Soukous]

Oh WOW! so much to take in Paul.

fabulous photos and great narrative. I'll have to read it again.

 

terrific zebras, love the cheetah chasing off the vultures and the lion on the rock.

[pault]

crossing began with the zebras, who all wanted a drink and so pushed past the wildebeest down to the river. The wildebeest followed and just kept going across the river, while the large number of zebras on the banks forced them upstream a bit to cross, and eventually the wildebeest mostly abandoned the easy way and came down a steeper rocky path to enter the water. Other than the crocodiles this is a relatively comfortable spot to cross, without high banks and only gentle rapids. A steady stream of zebras followed the wildebeest across the water, and about five minutes in, a crocodile that had at first seemed very indifferent eventually moved into the line and plucked out a zebra, dragging it bleeding and kicking downstream to drown. The crossing carried on as if nothing had happened, with a second column forming, mostly of zebras.

 

But I wasn't watching the crossing of the water itself so much. When zebras started to cross from the other side things really began began to descend into chaos on the banks.

 

A dazzle of zebras

 

 

 

Watching as the crossing starts

 

 

 

Encouragement for those desperately unsure

 

 

 

All quite sedate in the water at first....

 

 

 

Crossing both ways

 

 

 

A wildebeest's-eye view (well, nearly)

 

 

 

 

 

 

The wildie workout (with the sight of the crocodile and it's catch in background keeping those knees pumping high)

 

 

 

No Mas

 

 

 

And... stop!

 

 

 

After a second crocodile joined the first eating the zebra near the point where most of the wildebeest were entering the water, the flow of wildebeest slowed a bit. Eventually the crossing came to a slightly premature halt.

 

It was a significant crossing, and probably the biggest crossing of zebras that I have personally seen, but with the number of wildebeest remaining on the bank and the number of wildebeest we saw still heading to the water later, I would guess there was an even bigger crossing that evening. Then again, who knows with wildebeest?

 

 

Next will come an event which will raise a fundamental philosophical question for the safari addict. If you don't actually see something can it still be a sighting?

Edited January 9, 2014 by pault

[pault]

Well, of course we had been joined by Francis watching the crossing, and he had a tip in return for the "Now!" text message from Daniel (I am making this up - there may have been no text message and Daniel may have found the next sighting purely by chance, but how much coincidence can you accept?). It was mating leopards in a tree. You thought that was a joke when I mentioned it before? Well, in terms of a photographic opportunity it was a bit of a joke. The tree was thickly leaved and of course the leopards were not intent on entertaining us by trying to be visible. Plus, we naturally stayed a long way from them. It was nice to see all of the massive crowd of vehicles (3) respecting the rules for this kind of sighting.

 

Can you even see two leopards?

 

 

 

One peeking out

 

 

Unfortunately, I have to confess that I didn't actually see leopards mating. I had to focus manually as I would otherwise be focusing on the nearest branch on the tree and not leopards, and it was a big, big tree so that branch was probably three meters or more in front of either of the leopards, and it was pretty windy. As a result, I was missing some of the action when I focused too far one way or the other. I saw a lot of leaves shaking, a flash of movement, and heard some roaring, and asked my wife what was happening. "They're mating" she told me; and then "oh, one of them fell out of the tree."

 

So now I know, and I share this gem of information with you. Yes, leopards can mate in trees, fairly safe from lions and the like, but this choice is not without its own hazards.

 

And for the philosophical question. Around the campfire in the future can I actually say that I saw leopards mating? Well, obviously I can - but I'm talking about in the "interesting sightings" category sipping the first drink, rather than in the "embellished stories" category over the third drink.

 

Randomly inserted hippo butt picture

 

 

Anyway, at some point we had lunch on the banks of the Mara, in a spot where our last lunch had been shared with three crocodiles eating a dead hippo in the river. There were just a few birds this time.

 

Mara River scene

 

 

I actually told Daniel to stop because I liked the birds in the rapids picture. To be honest I initially thought the carcass was a rock and had to crop the picture a bit when I realized there was another element to incorporate.

 

We took a circuitous route back, seeing much less of interest. We found Francis temporarily stuck, but not by the non-existent mud. A big male lion (I am sure somebody will recognize him - I do, but am not good with lion names) had sneaked behind his vehicle and flopped down to lean against one of his nice, warm rear tyres. I tried to get the camera from one of Francis' guests so I could take a picture for them, but we couldn't get close enough without disturbing the lion (which would have rather defeated the objective). Perhaps they read Safaritalk and can have this, but the idea was to get them in the picture if they wanted ... a "Mara Moment" for the album, as it seemed like it might be their first time.

 

 

 

In the end, Francis had to start his engine and the lion moved to a small, abandoned termite mound to continue napping.

 

Not hungry, thank you.

 

 

 

Wildebeest were still heading towards the river in columns, passing some newish camp or other that I have never seen before and might have been better using green canvas in this location. Nice looking camp, but not in that location. Listen to me, all righteous-Mr-Safari-Design!

 

 

Seriously though, they were having a great view of the wildebeest and the lion from their tent - but also having a nice view of us having a view of them - really not far away.

 

 

Elephants were next - working the trunk

 

 

 

We passed by the cheetahs again to see if anything had happened. Basically, time had passed and that was about it. The vultures had more or less finished the carcass and the three cheetahs had moved from their right sides to their left to ease the pressure on their bulging stomachs.

 

No surprises and so we moved on towards Talek. We saw very little the rest of the way. Some more vultures and jackals. A few Eland. And one hyena!

 

Meager feast

 

 

 

Whistling thorns and hyena

 

 

 

Back at our private camp a camp fire and dining table had been set up outside our tent, so we were able to have an extra glass of wine or two, safe in the knowledge that our two personal guards would make sure we made it the two meters to our tent for bed, safe from the lions... because they were around tonight and letting everyone know it.

 

 

 

Well-cared for (and well-wined if we are being totally honest)

 

Edited January 9, 2014 by pault

[TonyQ]

@@pault

Great pictures - especially of the large number of zebra in the crossing (do you have zebra crossings in Bangkok?)

Really enjoying the writing and the pictures - excellent report.

[pault]

Even in April when it was all very green in Olare Motorogi, Ol Kinyei and the main reserve, Naboisho was noticeably dryer. Did you notice the same thing or was it consistently somewhat dry everywhere?

Missed a question! Will try to catch up. Yes, it was drier than the reserve. Both were dry for the time of year, but I understand that Naboisho had seen almost no rain, while the reserve had just seen little.

 

And yes @@TonyQ, there are zebra crossings in Bangkok; but whatever you do, don't try to use them!!

Edited January 9, 2014 by pault

[Soukous]

LOVE your dazzle

[Soukous]

very evocative - love the photos - especially the dazzle of zebras.

[bettel]

Pictures of crossing are just breathtaking!

[Kitsafari]

i would have loved to be in francis' stuck vehicle. at least i can then boast of the time the lion hid below where i sat.

[Atravelynn]

Such a great report. That encounter with the nightjar and the lion must have been harrowing. Seeing a crossing in Dec is so lucky, along with everything else. Absence of Bibi is not quite true, but does apply to the safari. The baby topis, the dusty migration, the lion peeking from behind the vehicle, the younger playful lions. Lots of great sights. You even made the very best of a lack of classic sunrises and sunsets. The muted golden light is lovely, and the clouds and ostrich shots are super. So you sometimes never read your travel book either? That makes me feel better.

[ZaminOz]

Awesome, so many great photos and stories to go with them. So many great pics but that one of the cheetah and the flying vultures is fantastic!

[pault]

@@Atravelynn .... I never read my travel book. Drives my wife crazy. Why bring it? She sneaked it out of my luggage in Nairobi this time and left it with Cheli & Peacock. I didn't notice.

 

Thank you everyone, especially for saying it is "evocative" @@Soukous.

[pault]

Now that the lions were around, we basically had a lions/ something else choice for every game drive. Since we would be visiting Nairobi NP and Meru NP afterwards, there would be lots of "something else" and no opportunity to off-road, so we generally chose to spend the early morning and evening with the lions, when they were most likely to be active and when we might get a little nice light (we did get the activity but not the light). Another factor, initially, was that the weather was beginning to look ever more threatening and there was even some rain. At any time we could be severely restricted from off-roading by heavy rain. So, take the lions while we can was my thought.

 

What's the big deal with lions?

 

 

Since the heavy rain never did come, our story becomes a little repetitive over the next two and a half days and with a sunny fifth day morning giving way to mostly heavy cloud, a fairly cold wind and occasional showers. It becomes really very unimportant what took place when.

What was of interest in its timing was that Andrew (a young American-Kenyan who helps out with management, guiding and I am sure things we don't know about at Encounter, doing the work experience he needs for his South African guiding qualification to kick in) followed us out on the morning after the Reserve visit, when we made the easy find of about a dozen lions, soon attended by what may have been the only three other vehicles in Naboisho. What a crowd, but the lions were spread out and all of the guides considerate, so we never had more than one vehicle near us. Anyway, Andrew went a step further and found the pride "nest" where most of the rest of the pride were, where the pride would generally base itself over the next few days. This is where the cubs were, and one of the three pride males (with a beautiful blonde mane). The other two males were still heard but not seen. With the cool weather and plenty of food around, the juveniles we had followed on the night drive were full of energy and had quite a variety of games to play.

With some of here action taking place in fairly thick bush it wasn't always possible to capture what was going on (certainly not in a way that made a pleasing photograph) but here are some shots of the activities that are okay. You can see how challenging the bush was for photography, but we were in the lions' secret grotto and it was a privilege just to be there. I certainly wasn't complaining.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many of the juveniles moved up to the "nest" area around the same time as us, but by a route much shorter than ours. Here the games were steal the inner tube and ambush in the bushes. They had found a tyre inner tube that some truck driver had carelessly left behind after fixing his tyre, and they seemed to love this now ragged object. I wondered if they had taken it with them wherever they had been during their absence. Even though they only pulled on it and didn't consider it a consumable, I told Daniel that it was definitely his duty to go and confiscate this from them before it did some damage. Surely somebody had to do it! They should be playing with skulls and tails and bits of old wildebeest skin. He agreed, but didn't want to be the one to do it - or at least not right then. When we later saw even one of the older pride males playing with the damn thing, I despaired.

 

Waiting for a sibling

 

 

Returning to basecamp

 

 

The tyre

 

 

 

A short rest

 

 

The cubs were clearly already worn out, and were sleeping in the middle of a stand of bushes, hidden away safely

 

Even worse than the inner tube was the plastic water bottle. I saw a lion with a blue mouth and it took me ages to work out what it could be because it just fits nicely into a juvenile lion's mouth. All I could see was a blue square (well no longer quite square) and I wondered if the lion had been near fresh paint.

 

If you dropped your water bottle in Naboisho, please go and get it back.

 

 

 

The first rain came on the afternoon of the fifth day. It was raining heavily elsewhere, but we only had some showers, despite it becoming quite dark.

 

 

Wet Impalas

 

 

Wet elephant in wet bushes

 

 

 

Just before sunset the cubs decided being under a bush in the cold wasn't fun anymore, and came out onto the plain

 

Drying off in the rain

 

 

 

Their mother joined them to keep an eye on them, and also to join in the play at times.

 

 

 

A proper lion toy

 

 

As the rain stopped, she called the pride, and one of the males responded and came out to sit in the open with them.

 

 

The blondest and probably youngest of the three pride males

 

 

 

The last sighting before the light faded completely and we had to return to camp was one of the cubs inviting the lioness to play more. She refused and they settled down to wait for the rest of the pride to make an appearance. I wish we could have stayed, but it wasn't possible.

 

[pault]

On the morning after spending time with the cubs, there there was an actually visible sunrise (yeh!) and we met some elephants that were noticeably more nervous about our vehicle than others had been. In fact It wasn't just us, as they just seemed pretty worked up in general, and a couple of the young males got into a bit of a shoving match. Then, for no reason belonging to anything happening at that moment in time (we were just sitting there and they had actually seemed more relaxed, and the shoving match was over) one of the elephants went sprinting away into the whistling thorn cover, trumpeting and waving its trunk wildly, it was such a ridiculous reaction to nothing that not even the guineafowl scattered.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But we didn't stick around to see if the fuss had a cause, since we were off to see our hyperactive night drive group, who we found out on the plains near their "nest" and looking alert and on the move.

 

 

A couple tried stalking a gazelle but one of the younger ones had little patience and spooked it - little chance anyway I think.

 

 

The older ones and an adult then started moving in a very definite direction, and although they were still stopping to play a little, they were all more attentive. It looked like a repeat of the night drive, in the daylight now. We followed, soon leaving any roads or tracks or flat ground far behind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The lions spread out in a hunting formation and things began to look very interesting, since clearly they were after food and not fun. I began to feel more than usually excited as we followed and followed and followed.

 

They were after bigger things than dik-dik

 

 

And then I saw one of the juveniles still had the damn water bottle! The mood was deflated slightly.

 

 

After what was probably an hour or so of following the lions over rocks, through thick bush and thin bush, and up hill and down (sometimes we'd have to go around something while they went through it, but generally we were with them the whole time) there was a feeling that things were getting a little less serious. They stopped to scratch on a favorite tree, and began playing again. Was it over, like the night drive?

 

 

No, the older ones were still moving in one direction, and the others soon followed. Surely they hadn't come all this way to sleep.

 

Then they reached a real thicket. It was dense and it was clearly very large; probably more than a couple of square kilometers, and on very rocky ground. We would never be able to keep up with them in there, and in fact the wisdom of going in there at all had to be questionable. I asked Daniel if that was the end of the hunt for us, and he said probably, but we would try the other side anyway to see if they came out - if I wanted. After coming this far, I did.

Around the other side, via a circuitous route, there was no sign of the lions. If they had turned off their original direction we had lost them for the morning and there was no way in this terrain (the thicket was at the top of a rocky slope) to get a wider view or to circle the thicket without taking long detours. We were almost ready to go but since we were visiting the school after this, we couldn't have gone far anyway, so I decided we'd wait and see.

And we got lucky - although our position helped make the luck. Daniel spotted three warthogs (mother and two juveniles) on the edge of the thicket, which was only pointed out by him because getting decent shots of warthogs is generally rather tough in Naboisho - they are nervous of vehicles.... so it was kind of a casual challenge and "in-joke". I had the camera on them when suddenly they turned and started running - fast. At the same time, Daniel said "the lions" and I took my eye away from the camera to see. Sure enough, there were lions running through the bushes at full speed, after the warthogs. I never had a chance of getting a shot of the lions in pursuit as the sighting was two seconds at most and there was still a little distance between the warthogs and lions; so all I have is two warthogs a bit out of focus! Still, looking on the bright side, it is nicely focused on the bush, to show how thick it is.

 

 

Daniel drove around to another side of the thicket as fast as wheels could carry us over this ground, to see if the hunt had come out into the open. Nothing. Complete silence. After 30 seconds I thought for sure the lions had missed the warthogs, but Daniel saw it as 50-50 and we returned to where we had last seen the lions (very close by so we are still within two minutes of the chase sighting) and where the bush was just a little less thick. We entered the thicket and managed to maneuver our way through the bushes and over the rocks, although it didn't seem possible when we started in, and somehow we found them (well, I did nothing) on the still fresh kill. By the time we had maneuvered into a position where we could see anything between all the thousands of branches and leaves,we were only about ten feet from them. It was too close, but in the circumstances unavoidable. We'd got into a position where we literally couldn't move without either driving over a large bush or moving even closer to the lions, unless we did a 10 plus point turn.

A warthog (even an adult - they'd captured the mother) isn't much of a feast for eight lions, and while things had been quiet when we couldn't locate them, they were now getting very loud, with six lions having a hold of the warthog in their mouths and pulling on it as if their lives depended on it. They all tried to hold onto their bit of the carcass, but there was less and less of it left and, with a startling amount of snarling and roaring, the two oldest ones attacked the four younger ones still hanging on. Two ran off, but two determinedly continued to hang on, despite taking a beating. However, they had peripheral parts and the two older ones enjoyed the best of what was left, now well hidden from my camera as they dragged the spoils to another spot. That was very loud and very intense and I was sorry my wife wasn't there to comment on the smell. The blue water bottle was nowhere to be seen.

 

 

Not many pictures since the lines of sight were very, very limited. I have pictures of the fighting, but all the interesting bits are completely hidden - just photos of in-focus lion legs, and out of focus leaves and branches.

 

One of the younger ones who never yielded managed to make off with a trotter and was smart enough to take it far away from big brother.

 

 

The small meal was nearly finished and so we withdrew to the open. Since we couldn't top that, I decided it was time for the visit to Koiyaki Guiding School, which I covered separately.

 

 

On the way to school......

 

 

 

 

And in the afternoon we met the new guests at the camp and told them all about the lions just to get their guide stressed. I can be bad sometimes. The incentive worked and he found a cheetah for us all, and it was hungry and hunting. It had a sore foot, but it just seemed to be a thorn or something. After being spotted by a mixed group of gazers it turned its attention to some Thomson's Gazelles, out on a plain, and found a great spot to wait.

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, while the spot it had chosen for its hunt was perfect, the gazelles it was eyeing just wouldn't come within range.

Frustration

 

They got so close to range the cheetah was poised to go, but then they just drifted in the wrong direction, without ever spotting her. After a while, with her prey now clearly too far away, the cheetah settled down, either for the night (most probable) or to wait for the cover of darkness to get closer. We thought the chance of a hunt was very small now and so we reluctantly left her at dusk to drive back to camp. However, on the way we saw something quite strange. Somebody had left a couple of lanterns out on a plateau. Careless! More lion toys?

But no, there were chairs, a small table and a windbreak made from branches too (it was very windy and chilly) and the guilty parties were Encounter staff - although they had disappeared now. So we enjoyed a nice sundowner with Daniel. There wasn't any sun to go down and it was really cold up there, but it was such a nice idea we just got off on how fantastic it would be if there had been a sunset to see, and commented on how alarmingly the Chinese lodge stood out, with its white, big top tent style design. Fortunately it is not close enough that you can see what it is, so although it is an eyesore, it isn't much of one from most of Naboisho. It is probably even in a couple of my pictures and you didn't notice.

 

 

Just one last morning to go in Naboisho, but it's not too dull.