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

[armchair bushman]

Wow, great to see Meru so green and lovely. I miss that park. Haven't been there for ages.

 

Also, I confirm the bird with prey is a Black Shouldered Kite, and not a falcon.

[PCNW]

That series of rhino photos.....I wish they were mine. Really good. Glad the lens and camera mishap got sorted.

 

I just discovered Thaland and I think we're going to visit January or February next year. Really looking forward to that trip.

[Geoff]

 

 

Looks like a black-shouldered kite to me. Great thread, loving the stories and pictures.

Is it? I had it down as a kite, but then became convinced it was a Pygmy Falcon. I am sure you are right as after three weeks of two, different hacking coughs I have the concentration span of a toddler at the moment; and my raptor ID skills suck at the best of times. Thanks!

 

Please everyone, correct any errors. There are bound to be some.

 

 

It's a bit of an odd angle, but with a pygmy falcon I would expect to see the spots in the wing on this picture. A pygmy falcon is a really small bird, way smaller than a European kestrel, while a bs kite is a bit bigger than a European kestrel.

 

 

That's definitely a Black-shouldered Kite (Elanus caeruleus). Sometimes called Black-winged Kite. I see a related species almost daily in Australia (Elanus axillaris). The African & Aussie birds look identical to me.

[pault]

Just to put the Black-shouldered Kite "debate" (although it was never really in doubt for me, except at the moment when the stupid caption was posted - a Pygmy Falcon does not look like this) to bed, I dug out another picture of the same bird, with shoulder, legs and all clearly visible.

 

[pault]

It had always been a question of when, not if it was going to rain. In fact, almost every day of the trip contained a discussion about how it looked like rain was coming. In Naibosho we'd dodged it for most of the week, but in Meru it started on the fourth day and after that it was quite wet, although it never really got much worse than showers. The down side of that was that the threat of rain never really went away, and it got darker and darker. Instead of heavy rain with long, sunny intervals we had showers interspersed by long, dull spells that were neither hot nor cold, neither dark nor bright. But, strangely, the rain didn't seem to affect the game viewing much at all. It might even have improved slightly, but I think that was more to do with us now tending to head for the usually busier part of the park. This meant we once met three non-Elsa's vehicles in one game drive, which was two or three more than any other game drive.

 

Elsa's Kopje was actually fairly busy some days (well half full is busy this time of year) partially due to their stellar reputation for sure, but also due to the special offer on all C&P camps last year, and due to people being switched from Loisaba, which had burnt down a few weeks previously. The other guests were nearly all retirees and once the young couple from Nairobi left on day two, we were very much the youngsters - other than management of course. I even got asked when I had retired (these folks, nearly all on C&P multiple camp itineraries, had just got so used to everyone around the bar being retired I suppose). Nobody asked my wife if she had retired.

 

Anyway, I was talking about the rain....

 

 

 

 

 

But even with the rain the popularity of the mud pools didn't diminish - in fact they seemed to be more appreciated than ever!

 

Spa Girl

 

 

 

The two-tone look was big

 

 

 

 

 

Hyraxes had to spend a lot of time drying off

 

 

 

The Impalas huddled together, as they do.

 

 

 

Ostriches became more visible, and very active. I wonder why? (That's a rhetorical question that I'll answer

 

 

 

And the elephant viewing became rather good....

 

Scratching

 

 

 

Dusting

 

 

 

Charging

 

 

 

And rearing up - as if he wasn't big enough to make the point already!

 

 

We saw three breeding herds, but they were quite mobile - not moving fast, but steadily, eating on the way. They were a lot more wary than the bulls too. It took some patience to get anywhere close to youngsters.

 

 

Watching and sizing us up

 

 

 

In close formation

 

 

 

Sniffing the breeze on which we traveled

 

 

 

 

"In Close Formation" is actually better in colour

 

 

 

And so is this one.... although I'd processed it for B&W ..... A new hat

 

Edited February 16, 2014 by pault

[pault]

I'd tell you there wasn't much more to say, but I'd be lying in order to get out of having to write something descriptive. There was always lots going on and the more of the park we covered the more diversity there was. Never let the short rains put you off Meru - just makes sure you have the time and patience. The long rains would be another thing, although even then there are all weather roads and there would be something to see.

 

Reticulated Giraffe

 

 

 

Baobab with "full afro"

 

 

 

Some type of monitor lizard

 

 

 

This Pale Chanting Goshawk was getting buzzed by all the European swallows on their migration. I think they were just hunting insects, but the goshawk only had eyes for the swallows and seemed to make a couple of lunges at them, although I think it was more annoyed by them than wanting to catch and eat them.

 

 

 

 

 

And a rare sight indeed - a curious Lesser Kudu (the curiosity being rare, the Lesser Kudu relatively common in Meru but rather shy)

 

 

 

And take a peek through that thick bush and wait and you might see something else among the zebras and the Grant's Gazelles..... Beisa Oryx this time, another time it is Eland.

 

 

 

 

And of course the rocks at Elsa's Kopje (and every other) are alive with lizards

 

 

Camouflage

 

 

 

On the edge

 

 

 

Digger?

 

Edited February 16, 2014 by pault

[africawild]

Enjoying very much your Kenya report .Those photos of Meru bring back very good memories .

 

I especially like the buffalo covered in mud , great shot Pault !!!!

 

Paco

[twaffle]

Lovely photography … lovely Meru!

[TonyQ]

@@pault

This continues to be be very enjoyable

Love the Goshawk being buzzed by swallows (just the righ shutter speed to create the feeling of the swallows racing around the static Goshawk)

Like the lizards as well.

[Game Warden]

Ah Meru: somewhere that I can now talk about with a modicum of knowledge...

[pault]

Ah Meru: somewhere that I can now talk about with a modicum of knowledge...

 

Well, talk! We're all waiting you know?

 

I'm going to write up the final installments tonight or tomorrow, but there is still time to get a few juicy facts in before I do. @@Game Warden

[Game Warden]

I'll be writing the report up in conjunction with @@Safaridude who took the photos. However in advance of that, in certain areas of the park it felt primeval with the palm trees. Amazing scenery which you have captured expertly

[pault]

"primeval" is good..... really can't wait to hear it all from you - especially with Safaridude doing the illustrations.

[twaffle]

Paul, get on with it. Waiting, waiting ..........

[Kitsafari]

Love the B&W pix with sole ele (2nd pix) - it looked like it was running off to somewhere important.

 

and the baobab afro.

[pault]

So why were the ostriches running around like... well like ostriches? And why were the buffaloes and elephants rolling in the mud despite the relatively cool weather and rain? The reason was the day of the great fly invasion.

It was the day after the first big rain shower of our stay, when everyone in the park got soaked but us, who rode the front of one storm like surfers on a wave and saw another sweep in front of us and engulf Elsa's Kopje but then move off literally a minute before we arrived. Early morning was the same as any other day but by mid-morning I was starting to notice the tsetses. This was only notable because John knows every inch of the game drive circuits and it was no coincidence that we hadn't seen a single tsetse until now. But here they were, in numbers, and the animals were starting to get a bit agitated - stamping, jumping, shaking their heads. By the afternoon, it became clear that it was not the tsetses that were the real problem for the animals, but other flies. Every animal seemed to have a little cloud around it, and if you looked closely, their coats were alive. No wonder they were all getting dusted up and taking mud baths.

 

Arrrrgh..... Damn Flies!

 

There was another storm coming in and the sky had turned that blue-grey it does sometimes before a storm, contrasting with the red earth and creating a strange light that I love, but which only seems to make photo magic for a few minutes - after that it becomes too strange and somehow looks unrealistic after the event.I can never find a way to adjust it to what my memory says it was. Plus it is much, much darker than it seems to be. Still, I love just to look and see and smell and feel those electric minutes pre-storm in these arid lands (it's a bit like the Kalahari or a different coloured Etosha for those who have been there but not Meru. In fact I realised this trip just how much - ignoring the rivers obviously -the more open parts of Meru have in common with the Kalahari; something I hadn't realised in 2006 because I hadn't been to the Kalahari yet .

 

 

 

 

 

A pride of lions were in the newly enclosed part of the rhino sanctuary, resting up near the fence before making a "jailbreak" that night. John told us they usually dug underneath the fence. I am sure they could have jumped it if they really wanted, but that didn't seem to be a learned behavior yet. This would cause a problem for one young male, who was left behind when the pride moved on - presumably a shock or a beef with the pride male had dissuaded him from following, and for whatever reason the pride had moved on, leaving him alone. At first he was frisky, brave and full, but two days later he had become rather thin and was called desperately for his mummy until his voice went, never leaving the last place he had seen his now lost pride. He was clearly too young to be on his own and it was pitiful to see and I have to admit it made me rather angry about the fence.

 

Okay with the loner thing at first

 

 

But every day, getting thinner and more desperate

 

 

Anyway, the same thing had happened to Meru's lone lioness a couple of years before. Meru lions seem to wander quite far and there is no guarantee you will see them. Wanting to know where they wander, and whether they were coming into conflict with local cattle farmers, or even going near town, researchers collared one of the young but mature lionesses. Shortly afterwards, she got stuck in the rhino sanctuary and separated from her pride, so we still do not know where those lions roam. The separation was permanent and she had to learn to fend for herself, getting very hungry at times and becoming a specialist in baboon kills. I noticed the lions here are quite small compared to the Mara. But she survives still, with her now useless collar still on, and is the most sighted lion in Meru. She even has a name, which I doubt any other lion or cheetah or leopard in Meru has.

 

Alone

 

 

No escape from those damn flies

 

 

The day of the flies, she was getting particular attention, and despite doing her best to give herself a red dusting, she was clearly not getting much rest. On our way back from our sundowner, in the dark, we caught a glimpse of her walking in the road by headlight, but we didn't stop immediately since we didn't have a spotlight. She stopped at a tree and started looking up into it (looking for baboons perhaps I though). But then we did halt, because our headlights caught her running straight up the tree trunk. It must have been at least 4 meters, completely vertical, to the first branch, but she just hauled herself right up there in a couple of seconds like a leopard, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. We braked and tried to reverse, since we had run level with the tree and therefore could be barely see her any more, with the headlights our only light. And when we reversed just a little, we did see her, a dim silhouette on a large branch against the night sky, standing there about 3 meters above our heads. John asked if we wanted to try to get her in the headlights, but we preferred to let it be like this, and watched her settle to sleep, slumped like a leopard over a branch. I've seen lions (and even cheetahs) climbing trees before, and although this was a long way up and so vertical, what was remarkable was the ease with which she scored up there and her methodical scoping of the tree beforehand (presumably she had done this before and found there was already an occupant unhappy to see her) which I had mistaken for looking for baboons to hunt. We had to wonder if this was linked to her baboon speciality. John hadn't seen this before and so it is unlikely a behavior learned from her pride (but a lot still to learn about lions out here I would guess). Certainly a very useful trick for a lone lioness when bothered by hyenas, buffaloes or other lions, not to mention the flies she was currently fleeing.

After a few minutes we left her and about a kilometer down the road caught a genet in the headlights.

 

Finally, as we arrived at the foot of the kopje, we spooked a hare, which ran down the road until it ran into a dik dik, which of course jumped in shock and went racing around its territory, with (for the dik dik) god knows what on its tail, as the hare seemed to latch on to the dik dik's tail as something to follow. After a couple of rounds of a large bush, the dik dik turned a sharp left and lost the hare, which stopped, saw us again and then ran off into the night.

What an fantastic end to the day of the flies. I was very tempted to order up a spotlight for the next night (at Elsa's you can take out a spotlight and spot on the way back from the sundowner if you like). However, the next evening was our last and it was a pretty wet and miserable evening, so in the end we decided not to bother the dik diks again.

 

One of the not-bothered dik diks

 

 

 

Wait Your Turn

 

 

 

Some more of that storm's-a-coming light

 

 

 

The storm leaving Elsa's Kopje as we arrive

 

[pault]

A few parting shots from Meru to finish, mostly from the last full day in the park and our final morning, because those were the last photos I came to.

First of all an actual Pygmy Falcon, which as you can see looks almost nothing like a Black-shouldered Kite, although they look a bit neater than this when the wind isn't quite as strong! I have other pictures somewhere I think - I kind if rushed through making selections so later this year I can have the pleasure of going back and finding some worthy of saving from permanent exile. If I find them, I'll post them.

 

 

The answer to why these damn birds run for so long in front of your vehicle..... they are simply obeying the park rules! And you thought Yellow-necked Francolins were stupid?

 

 

A lone male lion was moving into the territory of the pride we'd seen over the last couple of days - maybe it was part of the reason they left, but I think it more likely that all the lion movement was due to the terrible flies. He was heading towards the young male trapped behind the fence, and I like to think they might have formed a coalition, although I admit it unlikely. More likely would be that he made another litter of cubs for the collared lioness to lose - Meru isn't that big on cuddly lion stories since George Adamson was murdered.

 

 

Talking of George, the camp site where he set about preparing the tame lions used in the movie Born Free for release into the wild (before he annoyed the authorities and had to move to Kora) is near Elsa's Kopje and some bits and pieces from his Landrover are still there.

 

 

 

A kind of monument to another time, that started happy and full of hope and ended with the near destruction and total neglect of Meru until it's revival under the Genesis project (seeing the dubbed French film series about that back in 2005 was what brought Meru into my dreams in the first place, rather than Born Free or the Adamsons, who I revisited with a new eye after seeing the series). Somehow, Meru and now even Shaba have been brought back from hopelessness to places that are so very worth visiting, and you have to credit Cheli & Peacock for helping to make that happen by constructing amazing accommodations some time before most of us would have dared recommend the places as anything more than beautiful and of historical significance with some very skittish game. Here we are now with a glut of Meru reports, and from what the folks coming to Elsa's from Shaba were saying, it is definitely looking up there too. There are all kinds of problems with the way the protected areas have been allowed to separate and become islands, so I imagine these are fragile recoveries, but get it while you can. Easy to add on to a trip elsewhere in East Africa if you are entering via Nairobi, and really rather different and worthwhile.

 

One final bit of news is that Elsa's have rebuilt the house with it's own pool, and the two rooms making it are now equal - before it was parent and children style, but now two couples can share it and have nearly equal space and amenities and slightly more privacy. The white hyrax is gone though, along with hundreds of his buddies; victims of a great hyrax cull. They were apparently all moved to another Kopje a couple of years ago, after numbers became too great to bear (or rather the smell made by those numbers did). There are still a lot there, but not quite as many as in 2006, and a lot seem to be young. I'm glad we didn't go there just after the cull or my wife would be asking for her money back, despite the three bushbaies that have taken up residence in a tree next to the road down to the plains. Never managed a clear shot of them as they huddle in the middle of the tree for most of the day, but certainly we had clear sightings every game drive.

And finally from Meru...

 

 

Grevy's Zebra .... the only one we saw

 

 

 

Gerenuk .... relatively easy to see, although not at ease if you go too close

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Common (or Elipsen) Waterbuck

 

 

 

Saddle-billed Stork

 

 

 

Vervet Monkeys

 

 

 

 

 

Baboons

 

 

 

Jackson's Hartebeest

 

 

 

Lesser Kudu family group

 

 

 

 

Bull elephant

 

 

I wanted to take some shots of Baobabs but the weather was never cooperative. It was really dark and you don't take texture shots at ISO 3200 - well not when you know you will have an opportunity to do it again. I ended up with a few token attempts, but really the conditions just weren't right with white skies and low light. Next time! At least I got some ideas.

 

 

 

 

 

Quiz time!!!! This crocodile was lying in the rapids with its mouth open. Was it attempting to drown itself? Fishing? Cooling? Just lying with its mouth open and completely unconcerned about the water?

 

 

 

We nearly didn't leave Meru again because of the weather. The cloud was really thick on the morning of our departure and the plane was late. When it did come, we heard it come, descend through the clouds and then depart again. When it did the same a second time, we were getting a bit concerned that they wouldn't land. It must have looked terrible up in the air, but on he the ground it was clear, and we were shouting this at them as they disappeared a second time. But third time round the plane came out of the cloud and landed, and a few minutes later our time in Meru was over.

 

 

Waiting

 

 

Breakfast with John on the last day - part of this riverside picnic spot was washed away by floods and it hasn't been repaired, but it still functions as long as you don't mind not having a flat surface. We saw a leopard just after breakfast here in 2006, but no such luck this time.

 

 

Note our special Elsa's Kopje Kenya 50th Anniversary caps.

 

 

 

We had booked a day room at the Purdy Arms in Nairobi, a popular local watering hole and restaurant, rather than a hotel or C&P's recommendation of Hemingway's. The rooms are massive and "full of character" you could say, and it was nice to watch the local Sunday wildlife from the terrace. Even had a couple of curious primates come to investigate our room, and a loud invitation to come for a drink. We would have taken the latter, and had originally planned to join the Sunday drinkers even without an invitation, but in the end we were pretty worn out - something that hadn't been helped by drinks on the the patio after a massive lunch.

 

The whole of the ground floor is our room.

 

Our ground floor Simba Suite was pretty run down - like a room in a grand old house gone to seed (which is what it was) but the place certainly isn't sterile, and if you like slightly decrepit luxury, don't mind a cold and slightly cramped bathroom, enjoy a few drinks, pub food and a lot of new friends, it's worth a look. We had a cracking photo of a wildebeest crossing on the wall, but a member if staff came in and took it an hour after we checked in because someone had bought it! So after that we only had a blank space.... didn't matter at all but it is worth mentioning for the TIA element.....and to put off people who wouldn't enjoy such.

 

 

So that was it.... as promised nothing new, but not so uninteresting after all.

 

Only six months to go until the next time... tick tock!

[ZaminOz]

@@pault

Thanks for a fascinating read. I love that buffalo and flies shot by the way!

[Game Warden]

Thanks @@pault - no lions for us alas. Now, who will restore that old Landy?

[TonyQ]

@@pault

Thank you

I have really enjoyed this - the Meru section has been great

Excellent writing and superb photos (I really like gerenuk!)

[michael-ibk]

Thank you for sharing, I always enjoy your witty writing and beautiful pictures. "Not so uninteresting after all" indeed, a definite winner of a trip report!

[graceland]

Exceptional ~ both writing and photos. Truly enjoyable (and with great envy) reading.

 

[twaffle]

I loved your final selection of photos to illustrate Meru and I think you've done it proud. The buffalo with flies and oxpecker was a standout, but there are plenty of others. In fact I'd be happy with all of them.

 

Sad for the poor old lion caught behind the rhino fence, perhaps he can connect with the lioness and become a monkey specialist. Best not to think too much about it really.

 

Meru is one place I'm sure I'll make time to return to one day.

[Zim Girl]

I have really enjoyed reading this trip report.

 

Love that Genet picture!

[armchair bushman]

great photos and trip report. i don't think there's a single shot there that I don't really like. I really really like all of them.

 

And nice that you got to stay at Purdy Arms. I do enjoy a sunday afternoon pint there with some feta, prawn, and corriander samosas! They've got some pretty good scampi and chips too.

And in they've got a free jukebox! Pretty much the best thing about that place. Some great trees down in the garden too.