From Meru To Mara

[michael-ibk]

Thank you very much!

Beautiful scenery, Michael ..... The silvery cheeked hornbill is beautiful - I've not seen one. Probably one of those species only seen in high elevation?

@@madaboutcheetah

My birdbook says"widespread and locally common in highland forests, woodlands and mature gardens from sea-levl to 2600m". I´ve seen them in Arusha and Lake Manyara as well.

The scenery and waterfalls of the Aberdares looks amazing. @@michael-ibk. It definitely looks like a Park I would like to visit.
Interestingly, when I was talking to Moli in Ruaha, I asked him what one Park in Kenya would he most recommend, and he said the Aberdares.

@@Zim Girl

The man certainly has good taste. Did he say why, and which area?

@@michael-ibk what amazing scenery high in the Aberdares, such a conrast to Samburu.

Great shots of the chameleon, turaco and hornbill.

@@Treepol

Yes, it really felt like a totally different country, it was somehow hard to believe that we were still in Kenya, especially up on the moorlands.

@@michael-ibk
The video of the chameleon is great - I love the way it moves!

@@TonyQ

Me too, Chameleons always seem to be unsure if they really should make that next move, always going back and forth with every little step they take.

Very handsome hyenas, I always like when they look especially fluffy like that. Must have been rather interesting to see them with the warthogs, too.

@@Marks

They were in very good shape and I think quite young. I thought they were very handsome, but then I do like Hyenas.

Oh my, the martial eagle series! Wouldn't you agree that over the last trips your bird photo skills have really taken off? Pun sort of intended.

Thanks, @@Atravelynn . The Martial Eagle was a mixture of luck and patience paying off, I think. We spent almost half an hour with it waiting to fly off - this is where having a private vehicle really is fantastic, I guess many other tourists in a shared car wouldn´t be happy to wait around for that.

So far in this report I have also noted the abundance of predation or dining in the bush. Everybody seems to have a mouthful! And there is such exceptional variety in both the diners and the dinners that you had the privilege to witness.

Yes, that made me hungry at times.

But wait for the Mara - dinner time isn´t enough to describe it, it was quite an eating orgy there for the predators.

My blood boils at "the amount of plastic waste" which you mentioned, whether in Kenya or anywhere else.

It really is a bloody shame, I often found it downright painful to see on our driving between parks.

I have so much to catch-up @@michael-ibk ... What a great experience at Aberdares. The bushbucks really are on steroids there I keep enjoying your photography and writing very much! Looking forward to Lake Nakuru, my very first African park back in... 2013

Thanks, @@FlyTraveler, it is a relief that I´m not the most junior safari member here among all these veterans on ST.

[michael-ibk]

For once, we allowed ourselves a relatively late rise, and so we left Sandai only about 08:30. We made a stop at Thomson Falls on the way. Named after the Scottish geologist James Thomson, the fall spans a height of 72 metres.



Not really a must-see. The falls are quite nice, but after the wild splendor of Karuru yesterday it was nothing to write home about. Many tourists make a stop here, and so, inevitably, hordes of vendors are waiting for their victims. When we entered it really was too much for me.

"Pose with my spear!" "Have my chameleons on your arm." "No, mine are greener and nicer!" "Pose with my shield!" "Pose with me!" "Come into my tent" "My tent is better!" "Ride my camel!"

About 10 of them were beleaguering me, and while I appreciate that this is their job, the way they make a living, it was unbearable. After just a few minutes - and a few quick snapshots - we fled.



Eastern Double-Collared Sunbird

The drive down to Nakuru led through highly cultivated land again, no wilderness remains here on these fertile grounds. We reached the city (more than 300.000 inhabitants, Kenya´s fourth largest) at about 11:45 and the entrance to the park about half an hour later.



Our accomodations here for the next two nights was the Flamingo Hill Camp, only five minutes from the Main Gate, situated right at the fence, and therefore right next to the city as well.



I liked it. Not too big, about 25 tents, and staff here were exceptionally friendly. Food was absolutely delicious, buffet for breakfast and lunch, dinner was served.




The tents were very comfy, good beds and a spacious bathroom.





It´s fenced off from the park, and it really feels more like a resort than a camp, there´s a big pool and a spa centre as well, and the lawn is almost British. Still, for what it is they are doing it very well, and Nakuru as a park has nothing wild to it neither, so it is quite fitting. The only downside is its vicinity to the city. It wasn´t very noticeable on our first night, but on the second (a Sunday) there was apparently some soccer game not too far away, and this was pretty audible. (Some lion roaring later in the night made up for that, though.)

We had included Nakuru not so much for itself but because of the need to break up driving time down to the Mara. I doubt the park will make anyone´s "favourite safari destination" lists, it´s too small, too close to the city to give one the feeling of really being "out there."







The fence is often visible.



The sewage plant is right next to the park. Oddly, the animals apparently quite like the place. The city´s effluents still reach the lake, though, disgusting pink foam was carried by some creeks coming from the hills.

That said, I liked Nakuru a lot more than I expected to. Lots of animals around, Impala, Waterbuck, Baboon, Buffalo, Thompson´s Gazelle, Zebra were plentiful, there were few times with no mammal in sight. The birdlife is fantastic as well.





And Nakuru is a terrific place for Rhinos. We would see more than ten White Rhinos, and were very happy to even find a Black one:



Our first gamedrive proved Nakuru can still deliver on another front - Flamingos!



In recent years, the water levels of the lake have risen dramatically, and therefore the pink beauties have all but left the place. That´s what I thought at least. So I was delighted when we would drive to the lake and find several hundred of Greater (the whitish ones in the foreground) and Lesser Flamingos, maybe even more than thousand.



Great White Pelicans as well, a first for me in Africa.



As visible on the pics above, it had become very grey and gloomy by now, clouds were congregating - only to suddenly open up in full force:



This was a pretty impressive thunderstorm (I do enjoy them, at least from the safety of a car) which lasted almost one hour. We had hoped the flamingos would come a bit closer, but unfortunately they were doing the opposite and so were pretty far away when it finally cleared up again.



Even though the weather had not done us any favours, we were happy when we returned to camp. I hadn´t really expected to find Flamingos, let alone in numbers, so this had been a pleasant surprise.

[FlyTraveler]

Glad to see that flamingos are back to Lake Nakuru, @@michael-ibk. Last year the water level was high and there were just a few there, but on the next day we went to Lake Bogoria (which is not far from Lake Nakuru) and saw hundreds of thousands of flamingos.

[Zim Girl]

@@michael-ibk

 

.

 

The scenery and waterfalls of the Aberdares looks amazing. @@michael-ibk. It definitely looks like a Park I would like to visit.
Interestingly, when I was talking to Moli in Ruaha, I asked him what one Park in Kenya would he most recommend, and he said the Aberdares.

The man certainly has good taste. Did he say why, and which area?

 

 

I asked him to name somewhere in Kenya that was beautiful with no crowds. He said the Aberdares were a 'must see'. The scenery and 'feel' of the Park is so different to many other parts of Kenya, he said it was great to just drive off and lose yourself there and soak up the atmosphere.

Judging by your pictures, I think he is right.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 10, 2014 by Zim Girl

[Marks]

I wonder if Nakuru gets any more local traffic since it's close to the city.

 

It looks quite nice in your photos. The flamingos in the fog, with the lone tree, look very mysterious.

[michael-ibk]

@@Marks

 

 

I wonder if Nakuru gets any more local traffic since it's close to the city.

 

 

It does, on Sunday we saw some (regular) cars in the park with locals, on Saturday a bus with school children was doing a 3-hour trip around the lake. No 4x4 needed here, the roads are in perfect condition. Still, very few people were there. Which surprised me, according to Wikipedia Lake Nakuru is the park with the most visitors after the Mara.

 

 

Next morning we wanted to do a circle around the lake, and thereby covering pretty much all of the park. Easily done, many tourists (like the school bus) complete the whole park in less than three hours, as James told us. We didn´t rush it that badly, though - we were out from 06:30 till 13:15.

It was a beautiful morning with blue skies, crisp air, and dewy, green grass. This Thomson´s Gazelle seemed to enjoy the day as well.

It was fun watching a baboon family, especially the young ones.

 

 

We returned to the Flamingos, but they were still pretty far away.







Two little vids from the afternoon before I forgot to include in my last post:

 

 

Long-Crested Eagle

We drove up to Baboon Cliff, the famous lookout point.



Close the car and keep all belongings close - this place has its name for a reason, and the local troop is incredibly feisty, jumping on any car and trying to get in.



As mentioned before, the water levels of the lake have risen very much. Whereas the lake used to cover about 40 km² (and therefore less than a quarter of the park´s 188 km²) it´s now more than 80 km². If you look at most maps found online the lake seems to end at Baboon´s Cliff.

http://www.african-horizons.com/SAFARI_WEB_WEB/UK/pictures/Map_LakeNakuruNationalPark.jpg

Well, not anymore, this is the view to the South from the cliff:



And here the view to the North. You can see the old road, almost all of it submerged now.



Just compare with these pics, and it is very apparent how much more water there is now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Nakuru#mediaviewer/File:Lake-Nakuru-Baboon-Hill-View.JPG

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Nakuru#mediaviewer/File:Lake-Nakuru.jpg

The highlight of our game drive was a beautiful sighting of a small family of White Rhinos. An almost private sighting, only one other car was there, and they left after ten minutes, giving us almost half an hour alone with them. (As mentioned before, Nakuru was remarkably uncrowded, almost no other cars mostly. Good for us, but terrible for the park - clearly a victim of the security/Ebola-crisis.)



The Buffalos were a bit miffed that we were ignoring them so they decided to do a little photobombing.



But after a while the Rhinos came closer and we enjoyed watching these peaceful giants grazing.

 

As beautiful as this sighting was, it had a sad connotation for me as well. Seeing this magnificent horn one can´t help but thinking of the poaching war against rhinos, and for how long sightings like this will still be possible. Especially with the reduced earning with tourists staying away I wonder how long they will still have the funds to effectively protect them. The water levels aren´t helping, forcing the animals more to the outskirts. Just this year six Rhinos were poached in the park.

[michael-ibk]

In the South of the park we passed the Olive forest, much of it submerged now, dying trees in the water.

 

And here in its healthy state:

 

This is where Nakuru has a few open plains as well, and this area is where one important key species of the park is found - the Rothschild´s Giraffe:

 

This is the rarest subspecies, with only a few hundred left in the wild. I have to admit they looked pretty much like Masai Giraffes to me, but take a closer look:

 

"Rothschild's subspecies is paler, the orange-brown patches are less jagged and sharp in shape, and the connective channel is of a creamier hue compared to that seen on the reticulated giraffe. In addition, Rothschild's giraffe displays no markings on the lower leg, giving it the impression of wearing white stocking." (Wikipedia) They also have five ossicones (and I admit, I had to google that word. )

 

 

It was pretty hot by now:

 

 

"Look at my butt I´m a Defassa!"

 

We were a thankful audience to this Rufous-Naped Lark (or so I think, Larks are really hard to identify):

 

 

 

At the Southermost tip of the park we made a stop at Makalia Falls - a very beautiful tranquil place, and we had it to ourselves:

 

I saw a Narina Trogon here, but unfortunately couldn´t get a picture.

 

[michael-ibk]

Back at the lake we were delighted to find more Flamingos at its Eastern side, close to Lake Nakuru Lodge. At first the bus with the school children was there. It was heartwarming to see how enthusiastic the kids were about this excursion, it is a great thing that this is done in Kenya. I think it´s very important for the next generation to have an opportunity to get to know - and appreciate - their wildlife.

 

After the kids left we spent about 45 minutes alone with all the waterbirds. Great experience, here we could get out of the car and practically went into the lake to get a bit closer.







Yellow-Billed Stork

 

 

Never sure with these - Common Sandpiper?

 

White-Faced Whistling Ducks

 

Grey Crowned Crane

 

 

Yellow-Billed Duck

 

 

An old roadsign, several 100 m away from shore now - a good vantage point for the Cormorants and Gulls now.

 

[michael-ibk]

The way back to camp was pretty uneventful, but at least it concluded with my feathered favourite - a Hoopoe:



In the afternoon we tried to find the lions - but to no avail. We had heard them roaring last night, so they couldn´t be far, but nobody saw them all day long - they hid well. James told us there are now two new small prides in the park, brought in from the Mara and Nairobi National Park. The old pride was put down after they had killed three rangers.

We passed the old Main Gate, out of action because of the high water:



Most of the old rangers´s houses are submerged:



Baboons are owning the place now, and I had a distinct "Planet of the Apes" feeling there.

The weather had become pretty bad again, it was drizzling from time to time, and so we didn´t take many pics in the afternoon. Some Black-Backed Jackals and their pups were the most interesting sighting.

 

 

 

Well, at least some predators. Leopards are apparently sighted pretty regularly, though. (Hyenas are almost never seen. And no cheetahs in the park. And no elephants btw - too small for them.)

 

 

A journey of Rothschild´s Giraffes feeding was our last sighting before we drove back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And that´s it for Nakuru. A nice park, nothing to take your breath away, but we were very happy with the Flamingos and Rhinos especially.

 

 

[madaboutcheetah]

Indeed .... Lovely flamingo and rhino. I was last at lake Nakuru in 2001 on a day trip from Nairobi and this report takes me back in time. Thanks, Michael ...

 

There is a new lodge in the works for lake Nakuru set to open for next year from what I hear.

[Treepol]

@@michael-ibk thanks so much for the last instalment from highland waterfalls to flamingo lakes, such wonderful variety in your days. Good to see a recent report on Flamingo Hill Camp too.

 

I am amazed at the change in water level since my 2005 visit to Lake Nakuru - we entered through the now flooded gate and I think this photo that I took from the Baboon Cliffs matches yours. Gosh, the road has almost gone and the cliffs are fenced - I don't remember the fence.

 

I enjoyed Nakuru where sightings of flamingo, rhino and buffalo were very good.

[TonyQ]

@@michael-ibk

I am really enjoying this - seeing different parks - great photos, great writing.

The change in water level is remarkable - looking at the photo by @Treepolit is a dramatic change - and seeing the water just behind the main gate.

It is good to see the Rhino - but sad to hear of the poaching.

 

How encouraging that groups of school children are getting a chance to see their wildlife.

[graceland]

Well you may not think it takes your breath away, but the flamingos and storks did for me! I have learned over the years to appreciate the feathered flocks in Africa so much more than when we stared our visits.

 

And seeing the rhino; lovely yet sad thinking six this year were already poached. Enjoyed the scenery of a park I had not thought of visiting. You showed it in a new light - normally I just see the lake and wonder what else is there?

 

Now I have a reference...and I could see spending a day or two there as you say to break up the travel and enjoy a different type park.

 

Great job on the pics!

[MR1980]

This report perfectly shows why I love this forum @@michael-ibk!! Reading stories and looking at images of parks/locations I have never heard before, I really feel like an explorer by reading this well written report!! I had never ever heard about the Aberdares for example but thanks to you I now know about its existence and I thank you for that.

 

Keep up the good work!

 

Cheers,

 

Michel

[michael-ibk]

Thank you all, really appreciate the feedback.

 

@@michael-ibk

 

I am amazed at the change in water level since my 2005 visit to Lake Nakuru - we entered through the now flooded gate and I think this photo that I took from the Baboon Cliffs matches yours. Gosh, the road has almost gone and the cliffs are fenced - I don't remember the fence.

 

I didn´t much care for it either, but not all of the cliff is fenced, you can easily go around it. The pic to the South was taken totally unprotected and fenceless, practically death-defying.

 

@@michael-ibk

The change in water level is remarkable - looking at the photo by @Treepolit is a dramatic change - and seeing the water just behind the main gate.

 

The difference is striking indeed. And to think, in 2009 the lake apparently was almost completely dry. Unfortunately I forgot what James had told us why the water has risen that much - apparently not just because of the rains. This article is quite interesting, (de)forestation, a rise of the ground level because of sediments and an unknown underwater inlet are all debated as possiblilites.

 

http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/Alarm-at-mysterious-rise-in-Lake-Nakuru-water-level-/-/2558/2061320/-/gc5a94z/-/index.html

 

Curiously, the water levels have also attracted four hippos to Nakuru. (Didn´t see them.)

 

I have learned over the years to appreciate the feathered flocks in Africa so much more than when we stared our visits.

 

It seems to happen to most of us, doesn´t it? On my first safari I did barely notice our feathered friends, a birdbook I had bought on a whim in a souvenir shop in Delhi raised my interest in them in India, in Brazil it was impossible not to appreciate them and this year, I´m afraid, I have irrevocably taken the road to slowly turning into a birder for good.

 

This report perfectly shows why I love this forum @@michael-ibk!! Reading stories and looking at images of parks/locations I have never heard before, I really feel like an explorer by reading this well written report!! I had never ever heard about the Aberdares for example but thanks to you I now know about its existence and I thank you for that.

 

Keep up the good work!

 

Cheers,

 

Michel

 

Thank you, Michel, that´s very kind of you to say, your comment really brought a huge smile on my face! Hope you will soon proceed with you report, we need to know what happened to that Amarula bottle!

[Patty]

I have a photo from 2005 similar to Treepol's and can't believe the difference in water levels either. Is the area around Naishi House and the airstrip submerged? I was also looking at pics of flooding around Baringo recently. The Samatian Island pool is now part of the lake!

Edited November 11, 2014 by Patty

[michael-ibk]

@@Patty

 

I´m sorry I´m not sure. We passed some buildings in the South and that could have been Naishi House (just googled it) but it looked more like a base of the rangers to me. Could misremember, though. Not sure about the airstrip either, I certainly didn´t notice it if it was there.

[michael-ibk]

The Mara

... would be the highlight of our trip we were told by everone. (It was!) And so we were looking forward to it immensely. But my anticipation turned into something else on our last evening in Nakuru when slight stomach cramps gradually developed into pretty unbearable ones. I had a fun night with zero sleep, and spent more time in the bathroom than on the bed.

So in the morning, still feeling totally knackered, I was not looking forward at all to a 6-hour-drive. I established with James that "Stop" on this drive didn´t mean "If there´s a good place sometime in the next hour could you maybe stop?" but rather "Stop AT ONCE no matter where we are I gotta RUN." That´s the way it is when you have the runs.

 

Well, I´ll spare you the details of this drive, some parts of Kenya and me connected more intimately than both of us had ever intended for sure. But the fourfold-overdose of Tannacomp luckily started to do its job after a while, and somewhere after Naivasha I started noticing our surroungings again. Here in the Rift Valley I was glad to see some Zebras, Impala and even Giraffes outside of the parks and reserves. When we turned to the West in the direction of Narok it became very arid - but we saw some Kori Bustards here (our only sighting of them during this trip.)

I had heard about the hellish road leading to the Mara but didn´t quite understand - the highway was in perfect condition. I did get it a bit later on after we had passed Narok and were now using an incredibly dusty gravel road. Its condition deteriorated every kilometre in, lots of potholes and one had to be an artist to evade them. James was, however, and gave an impressive slalom performance with the car. Different from his usual driving style he was also speeding, we were overtaking lots of others, he was going with almost 100 km/h. He told us that the slower he´d drive the bumpier it would feel, and that he also wanted to spare us the queuing at the gate.

Well, he made true on that promise, we reached Sekenani Gate at the East of the reserve and were through in about 10 minutes.




I still was anything but well but we were in the Mara! Immediately we saw hundreds, no thousands of Wildebeest, Zebras and Tommies, animals seemed to be everywhere. (No photos - James assured us we would see more than enough later on the game drive, and we were inclined to believe him. ) We drove out of the reserve at Talek Gate again and then entered a little later again, no gate here for the entrance. Here we saw quite some goats and sheep, even inside the reserve. Apparently, many rangers are living here, and they occassionally - or not so occassionally - lead their livestock inside.

At about 13:40 we finally reached Mara Bush Camp, our accomodations for the next six nights. Heaven! A fantastic camp in every regard (which I´ll describe in more detail later)! After having a fabulous lunch and settling in we were looking forward to our game drive and were on our way at about 16:00.

As we would do on many after drives afterwards we immediately crossed the Olare Orok river.

And enjoyed the view over the plains and gentle hills of the Mara.







I had one major wish for this trip - Cheetah! As fantastic as Botswana had been, we hadn´t seen one there, and so I was longing for a sighting, hoping we would find at least one during our time here.

Well, no need to fret about it - it took us 20 minutes to find one.

A young male, just having snacked on a warthog piglet. He was quite far from the road, and we were admiring him from the distance.



I would like to tell you Mr. Cheetah´s name but James is just like some members here on ST - adamant that naming them is a stupid idea, that only "the BBC would do that" and so he claimed that he didn´t even know their names. Only when I would ask him about Malaika and Amani later on he would grudgingly admit that maybe he may have heard that name before sometime.

 

James was confident that we would get closer to the cheetah in time and asked us for a little patience. But suddenly he drove off, because one of his pals from Sunworld Safari´s had told him about another interesting cat:

 

It was great seeing a Serval!



We just had a few minutes with this feline beauty before it was gone again.

Back to Mr. Cheetah then!



"It´s a Boy!"

 

Eventually he had enough of us (and four to five other cars) and retreated.

James then drove to the area near Rekero, since he knew who would be waiting there for us - this is the current base of the Ol Kiombo pride and their young ones. Not hard to find, they never move too much and stay near a small creek, and of course there are always some cars there. Not too bad, though, about four others shared this sighting with us.



Flat lions most of them, only the cubs had a bit of energy in them:

 

On the way back to camp we saw a Topi with a weird skin condition:



After an exquisite dinner, good chats at the boma and finally lying in my wonderfully comfy bed, with the sound of the wild around me I had all forgotten about stomach cramps - the Mara had cured me!

 

[Thursday's Child]

Photos of the serval are brilliant!

[graceland]

Great introduction to the Mara; Hordes of Wildies, cars, people and then CATS. Cheetah,Liions and Serval in one afternoon would make anyone feel better.

Glad you made it the 6hrs for such a great afternoon.

 

 

Great Serval snap as well as the vid of the little cats. Never tire of seeing them paw one another, bite necks and crawl all over!

[Treepol]

@@michael-ibk sorry to read that you were unwell, but thankfully the drugs kicked in and you were able to enjoy the Mara. Fabulous intro to cats of the Mara - lion, cheetah and serval and nice photos of the serval too.

[madaboutcheetah]

Oh no ..... sorry about the stomach bug, but, glad you recovered in time to see Mr.Cheetah ......

[Kitsafari]

it's terrible to get sick while you are on the move, but Mara provided the best cure!

 

great pix of the serval! and the baby lions. and those pix of aberdares showed how beautiful that place is. is it me, or are the coats of the animals (bushbuck for eg) thicker?

[FlyTraveler]

@@michael-ibk : Oh, boy, I have missed so much from this report that I don't know where to start from... The photos from Lake Nakuru are beautiful, I really like the Rothschild´s Giraffes and find them a lot more similar to Southern Giraffes, than to Masai ones. Great Rhino experience. I remember enjoying the greenery of the park very much, as well as the views from Baboon Cliff (didn't know that this was the name of it).

 

Mara certainly delivers... Six days there, what a treat. The Servel is such a great sighting. I remember taking frequent sightings of cheetahs in Mara and in Ol Kinyei for granted. Later on when I visited another 14 African parks / reserves without seeing a single cheetah, I realized how blessed we have been in the Mara ecosystem in regards to this animal.

It seems to me that overall Kenya perhaps offers the greatest variety of safari experiences from all African countries, would really love to be able to revisit in foreseeable future...

 

Keep the good work and the nice stuff coming!

Edited November 14, 2014 by FlyTraveler

[Atravelynn]

"White-Headed Buffalo Weaver, one of safari´s "Little Five". (The other ones are Elephant Shrew, Leopard Tortoise, Ant Lion and Rhino Beetle.)" I am always forgetting the Little Five. Thanks for the reminder listing. No more gerenuk suspense. The "Queen of Humbleness" and the kings too showed up and posed nicely for photos and video.

 

The baboons can learn to wear trousers when the humans learn to stop littering water bottles!

 

Brilliant hues in the Vulturine Guinea-Fowl. That Blue Naped Mousebird is rather uncommon, isn't it? And you got the blue nape. Good light was needed for both birds. It looks like sunny skies most days.