Majestic Moorlands, Peaks and Falls - a Return to the Aberdares

[Zim Girl]

@@michael-ibk

 

Loved reading about your day trekking to Ol Donyo Lesatima. Some of those landscape shots could definitely pass for Scotland (minus the Giant Lobelia)!!

Can we actually see the summit in any of the pictures? Shame you didn't make it to the top.

[michael-ibk]

Thanks, @@Zim Girl

 

Unfortunately not, it always hid in the clouds. Next time the top will be ours.

[Marks]

What a fantastic landscape - totally distinct from what we usually see on safari.

 

It's funny that you mention Bombadil, as I had already thought to myself that this photo was a bit Shire-like:

 

 

[jeremie]

Your pictures from the Aberdares Sailent sector are really fantastic!

[michael-ibk]

For our last day we had decided to go to the Aberdare´s Salient again, but only after an early lunch. So we spent a very relaxed morning on Sandai´s terrace, chatting with other guests from time to time and playing with the dogs. I also wanted to get a picture of the Cordon-Bleus I had already seen twice on the grounds. They didn´t wanny play, but plenty of other birds did:



White-Browed or Rüppel´s Robin-Chat (Not sure which one, these two look almost identical)



The Rock Martins got little rest, they always had to get food for their insatiable young ones:





Crested Francolin



Probably a female Golden-Winged Sunbird.



Lots of birds plunged into the left-over fruits from breakfast



Greater Blue-Eared Starling





Speckled Mousebird



A reptilian visitor - some kind of Agama?



Rufous Sparrow



Rufous Chatterer



Baglafecht Weaver



Red-Billed Firefinch, collecting nesting material



Not sure about these ones - female Vitelline Masked Weavers?

[xelas]

Looks like a birder's paradise! That bathing bird ... what a moment you've captured, @@michael-ibk !

[TonyQ]

@@michael-ibk

What a beautiful set of bird photos - relaxing around the lodge certainly paid off!

[Atravelynn]

Nice action shot of the ants. If anyone can handle the hike it would be you two, based on your experience hiking in the Alps. I'm glad you had a second car to the rescue so you could have coffee, cake, and the mountain to yourselves.

[michael-ibk]

After lunch we headed to the Aberdares again - our last outing for this trip.

 

Giant Forest Hog, Giant Forest Hog, Giant Forest Hog, that was our mantra for this afternoon, and Paul promised not to leave the park until we found one.

 

Treetops gate once again.

 

To our delight a herd of elephants was feeding in the very first clearing after entering the park. While they are quite numerous in the park, they are not always easy to find in the thick vegetation.

 

 

The better part of the herd was keeping to the hills a bit higher up.

 

 

African Pied Wagtail

 

I really, really don´t understand why people go "Aberdares? Yeah, kinda nice but practically impossible to see anything there. You´ll just see tails disappearing in bushes if you´re lucky" about this place. To prove them wrong:

 

 

Buffalo, Waterbuck, Baboon and Bushbuck were congregating here.

 

 

This one was delightfully relaxed about us. Normally they see you and dash off but this one didn´t mind us at all. A good thing since I really like Bushbucks - they are beautiful antelopes.

 

It was not only Giant Forest Hog we were after but also Colobus, the Eastern Black-and-White Colobus or Mantled Guereza. The name "mantled" refers to its mantle, the long silky white fringes of hair that run along its body and "guereza" is the native name of the monkey in Ethiopia. Because it can live in both dry and gallery forests and move on the ground, the mantled guereza is less threatened than many other colobine species.

 

We found them pretty soon, and would see four different troops over the course of the afternoon, but most of them kept their distance from the road.

 

 

A Long-Crested Eagle was also close to the monkeys. Very cool bird with a distinct look.

 

 

And then I had one of my "Top 10 bird list" wishes fulfilled. Paul stopped and pointed out - a Crowned Eagle!

 

An impressive predator, Africa´s equivalent to the Amazon´s Harpy Eagle. While not the largest of the African Eagles (ie. the Martial and Verreaux´s) they are generally considered the most powerful ones. They are the nemesis of the Colobus monkeys, go after smaller antelopes as well and even prey on Bushbuck! Wikipedia states there are even confirmed reports of attacks on human children.

 

 

Seeing this bird definitely was a trip highlight for me.

 

[michael-ibk]

We then spent a good 30 minutes with another troop of Colobus monkeys, watching them feed peacefully (they eat leaves mainly) and interact.



Paul then pointed out a tiny white something carefully guarded by mom - a baby Colobus!



They are snow-white (with a pinkish skin) as newborns and only get their pied look with a few months.





We checked clearing after clearing and saw lots of Warthogs, Buffalos, Waterbucks, Baboons and Bushbucks, but our main target was still acting coyly and so we drove on and on and on.







Paul stopped, went "Ssshhhhh", pointed to the left and whispered "Be quick!". And there, a real beauty of a bird was sitting - a Hartlaub´s Turaco.



They are hard to get pics of since they normally keep to the trees´ crowns and are sitting in the shadows, but miraculously, this one was sitting on a branch on eyelevel just long enough to get a few shots in before it flew off.

Edited July 12, 2015 by michael-ibk

[xelas]

@@michael-ibk

 

I would be happy to see those "tails disappearing in the bushes". And if they are topped with some eagles even better!

 

Harpy Eagle is living also in Costa Rica but in such a few exemplars that seeing one is as good as winning a lottery!

 

So seeing both Crowned eagle and Hartlaub's Turaco means you should not invest any more money into EuroJackPot ... your luck is exhausted for next months (or at least till your next trip ).

Edited July 12, 2015 by xelas

[michael-ibk]

No lotto for me, Alex - try to save up all my luck for safaris!

 

Paul was getting a bit desperate, he went to all the places but no luck. He told us his luck in finding Giant Forest Hog mainly depended on the type of guest he was having. When guiding the "Oh, an animal, what are they called, oh Buffalo, really, interesting" type he finds everything. Whole sunders of Hogs are parading around then but then all he gets then is a "Warthogs, yes? Let´s move on". And when guiding our kind he often finds - nothing.

 

But luckily not this day. Just around a bend we got our first sighting:

A short one.

 

But enough to make us happy, mission accomplished. Giant Forest Hogs are not really rare, they are categorized as "Least Concern" as the species is "relatively widespread, sometimes locally abundant with a high reproductive potential, and, although it is subject to hunting in many parts of its range, it is not believed to be declining at a rate that would merit it being listed in Near Threatened or a threatened category."

 

But they are a rare sight on typical safari circuits and an Aberdares specialty. Here they were having problems, lions really favoured them and exerted brutal pressure on the population. As mentioned, since the cats were also drastically bringing down Bongo numbers the decision was made to remove them from the park for good.

 

And at least for the Forest Hogs it worked out, they have rebounded remarkably. There are no studies on their numbers (at least none I could find) but Petra and Paul both stated that it´s far easier to find them now than a few years ago when they were all but gone.

 

It was past five now, and since we had found our target animal we were slowly driving out, passing the only other car we would see this day.

 

We passed the Ark, one of the park´s two well-known waterhole lodges (Treetops being the other). Next time we will probably give it a try for one night.

 

For the last time the sun came out again:

The only Hamerkop of the trip.

 

At the edge of the clearing a Mongoose was silently skulking away - not sure which one this could be?

 

And a Suni, one of the smallest antelopes, was also there. Far away, but my first sighting of this species.

 

[michael-ibk]

We then found a clan of Hyenas again, very close to the Ark gate already. Here they are very used to human presence, and so totally ignored us.

 

 

 

 

 

And just 100 m before leaving the park we were lucky again - another Giant Forest Hog, and this one was far more relaxed than the first one (and the other two we saw a bit earlier but were off within a split-second).

 

 

 

"Yes, I know I am very pretty, thank you."

 

 

 

But it was 18:30 by now, and we had to leave the park.

 

 

Our last mammal was - of course - a buffalo, and I think he seemed to say "Hey, guys, leaving already? But you will be back, right? Promise?"

 

 

Promise!

[Marks]

Superb eagle photos. There is so much latent power in its posture.

The hyena photos are also especially good.

Your thread certainly sings the praises of Aberdares and, looking at these photos, I would never think that scarcity of game would be an issue!

[Treepol]

@@michael-ibk what a memorable last day!

 

Fabulous photos of the Hartlaub's Turaco and you were lucky with the Crowned eagle, giant forest hog and to see so many black and white colobus monkeys. Aberdares and Sandai are on my next Africa itinerary.

[michael-ibk]

And so our all too short return to Sandai and the Aberdares came to an end already. We had decided to leave quite early since we wanted to meet with a friend who´s living in Nairobi for lunch. And given the traffic jam "fun" we had experienced on the way up we didn´t want to take chances. But of course, being on African time, we left much later than planned. After all, a lot of good byes were in order.



Petra Allmendinger, hostess extraordinare, manager, entrepeneur, conversationist, conservationist, artist, farmer, mother, employer, social worker, birder, animal lover, guide, tree planter - and a friend.



Charly, Roxy and Lukas were behaving in a slightly less dignified manner for our farewell tour.



And Hedgie, of course, couldn´t care less about all this "Bye and see you soon" smoochie poochie stuff and, true to her cat personality, stayed all aloof - under the roof.



Paul Kung´u Mura, our guide. A great guy whose love for animals and nature always shone through. Really enjoyed his style and hope to drive with him next year again.



Good bye, Sandai!

The drive to Nairobi was much smoother than expected, in exactly three hours we arrived at our friend´s house in the Westlands.



Cultivated Central Kenya



Fruit and veggie markets everywhere



Mighty Tana river



... and a sky full of Saw-Wings



Ananas plantage



Sometimes I get the feeling that the laws of physics - statics especially - work just a bit differently in Africa.

We enjoyed a nice lunch with our friend and even had one last Safari wish fulfilled: All week at Sandai we had hoped to find a Chameleon, but no luck. And here it was, just sitting there in the hedgerow:



Jackson´s Chameleon? (I´m lousy with reptiles)







And that was it then. Since traffic in Nairobi can be murder, and we had to cross the whole town to get to the airport we left quite early again, about 15:15. But no problem today, less than an hour to the airport - and then home again. With a few hiccups, see the start of this report, but ultimately everything was fine and we arrived next morning. Happy, but longing to get back to Africa as soon as possible.

The question I´ve been getting a lot from friends for this trip was "One week? Really? Is that worth it?"

Absolutely! We had six full days, and one day on arrival and departure each. And days in Africa, mind you, and every day in Africa is worth a trip! And it was a very rewarding one, with lots of different activities and good diversity. Travelling from Europe flight times are not so bad, especially when able to doze off on night flights. (A technique I still have to learn, though).

So, more one-week trips in the future coming up, I´m sure of that. And more trips to Sandai and Kenya coming up, I´m sure of that too.

Thanks everybody for commenting, liking and reading along, really appreciate all the feedback. @@AndMic deserves a lot of the limelight, too, many pics are taken by him.

[michael-ibk]

It has become a thing I do at the end of reports, so to conclude the Majestic Moorlands, Peaks & Falls here´s the mammal list for the trip:

Eastern Black-and-White Colobus aka Mantled Guereza (Colobus guereza)



Olive Baboon (Papio anubis)



Syke´s Monkey (Cercopithecus albogularis)



Vervet Monkey (Cercopithecus aethiops pygerythrus)



Cape Hare (Lepus capensis)



Black-Backed Jackal (Canis mesomelas)



Unidentified Mongoose



Spotted Hyena (Crocuta crocuta)



Lion (Panthera leo)



African Elephant (Loxodonta africana)



Common Zebra (Equus quagga)



Hybrid of Common and Grevy (Equus grevyi) Zebra



Black Rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis)



White Rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum)



Dromedary (Camelus dromedarius)



Giant Forest Hog (Hylochoerus meinertzhageni)



Common Warthog (Phacochoerus africanus)



Reticulated Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis reticulata)



African Buffalo (Syncerus caffer)



Bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus)



Eland (Taurotragus oryx)



Bush Duiker (Sylvicapra grimmia)



Suni (Neotragus moschatus)



Mountain Reedbuck (Redunca fulvorufula)



Defassa Waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus defassa)



Grant´s Gazelle (Gazella granti)



Thomson´s Gazelle (Eudorcas thomsonii)



Impala (Aepyceros melampus)



Hartebeest (Alcelaphsu buselaphus)



Beisa Oryx (Oryx beisa)



THE END

[jeremie]

Great TR. I highly appreciated the pictures of the Aberdares, these magnificent landscapes that remind me in one way Wales Highlands or Paramo on the South American paramo. These lobelia trees are just fantastic!

 

Ol Pejeta is a little paradise for wildlife.

[Zubbie15]

 

It started raining again, and only for one last time the sun caressed the woodlands with its warm light.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Catching up on this report, I really love this picture. I'm always underwhelmed with my photos of forests, I think this one is really special.

[xelas]

Sadly. each trip report has to come to the end. But the end is also the beginning. Thanks, @@michael-ibk for taking me on the journey to Scotland, oops, Aberdares, and thank you @@AndMic for taking all those great photos (as all of photos in this trip report are great)! Looking forward to enjoy your next destination!

[Zim Girl]

Fantastic report @@michael-ibk

Love the mammal listing at the end.

[Marks]

Enjoyed this a lot; one of the more unique TRs I've read lately.

[Atravelynn]

The suspense has been broken. Giant Forest Hogs appeared!

 

Wonderful series of bird shots.

 

The baby colobus was very visible.

 

You must have all been thrilled with the crowned eagle!

 

You even got your mongoose!

 

If you are unfamiliar with the Flintstones, this won't make sense. You've shown this location to be Yabber-Dabber-Dare!

Edited July 15, 2015 by Atravelynn

[pault]

Well that was a great last day. Suni and Giant Forest Hog and Crowned Eagle and a nice shot of a Harlaub's Turacao. Exciting stuff! Teh Aberdares is a great place. you show a little persistence pays off. Not sure you would like the Ark. You probably wouldn't see anything you didn't already see in the day.... Go and prove me wrong though! :-) I haven't been, although I went to Serena Mountain Lodge a couple of times in the getting distant past.

 

Is your mongoose a Slender Mongoose? Very bushy looking tail but I can't think what else it would be. There is a Bushy-tailed Mongoose in those parts (still looking!) but I think it has a shorter tail and more black on the tail and legs (not that you can really see the legs in the picture).

 

A well-spent week and a game-changing trip report. Aberdares will be on a lot of lists now.

[TonyQ]

Thank you for a great report - it is amazing how much you saw in a week - and it looks like a great place to stay. (And it looks like you will both be going back soon?)