Kenya after the Rains (mostly): Meru, Ol Pejeta, Olare Motorogi

[TonyQ]

And lying in the grass we saw

 

 

There were three cheetah, a mother and two cubs. The cubs were quite large but still had the mantle visible on their back (I didn’t know that is what it is called). I said to MrsQ that I could see why @@madaboutcheetah was indeed mad about cheetah. They are so beautiful. (We hadn’t seen cheetah for about 20 years and it was an animal we particularly wanted to see)

 

Keeping clean + showing semi-retractable claws

A good yawn

 

[TonyQ]

(I usually try to avoid too many pictures from one sighting in a report. However, in the next section restraint has failed. If you do not like cheetah then go and make a cup of coffee and return in a few minutes.)

 

Zebra keep an eye as cub walks past

And the play starts

So elegant

 

 

[TonyQ]

And then practice those essential hunting skills

(Apologies for only using 1/640^th second here – not fast enough – but I like it anyway!)

They then they wander off and we follow.

Sniff to see if any other cheetah have left messages

Some interesting smell here

 

Finally they decide to go off into the bush, and we leave them to it.

 

 

We were with them for about 40 minutes. Another vehicle joined us for the last 5 minutes. The rest of the time it was just us. We were thrilled. Why would you not be mad-about-them?

[TonyQ]

Shall we head to a spot to have breakfast?

On the way we check out

Relaxing together

Their morning plans are clear

Hartebeest

So we stop

And lay out the table for a superb breakfast.

 

A typical time for breakfast is apparently about 9.00, but flexibility is the key. So today it was 10.00. It seemed like a whole day of experiences but here we were just having breakfast. Not a bad start to the day.......

[michael-ibk]

No need for coffee here - fantastic Cheetah sighting! They put on a show for you, probably they knew they had to make up for 20 sad and miserable Cheetah-less years. ;-)

[bettel]

There is no such thing as too many cheetah photos . Keep posting

[dlo]

I've always maintained you can't have to many leopard shots so the same rules must apply to cheetahs. I love the rough looking lion in post 124, reminds me of my 20's!

[Marks]

20 years is a long time without cheetahs - glad you were rewarded with them!

[Terry]

@@TonyQ I agree with you 100 percent. It was a wonderful day - and all before breakfast too! Love the pictures of the black rhino, the jackals, and every single one of the cheetahs, especially the closeup of the cheetah and her claws. What fun it must have been to watch the cheetah cub play!

 

Terry

[Livetowander]

Your report casts another vote for how wonderful safaris in the green season can be.

 

Wonderful shots of all creatures great and small.

[elefromoz]

@@TonyQ, lovely Hyena portrait, seems you were laying beside it gazing into each other's eyes. The Rhino are indeed magnificent. At the risk of sounding shallow, your tent at Kicheche looks lovely in red! And the breakfast set-up with such a view, I bet everyone wishes they were sitting right there with you in the sunshine,I sure do.

[pault]

It knew that mulleted lion reminded me of someone, but with the number of mullets around while I was growing up I couldn't remember who. However, I think it is either Bon Scott of AC/DC or my sometimes-sane friend Keith from university.

 

With that cleared up...........this is going extremely well. Super-active cheetahs and then late breakfast - perfect! You must have something against cheetahs (or very for Zambia) avoiding them for 20 years!

[Kitsafari]

20 years without seeing cheetahs? you've been going to the wrong places for that stunning cat, maybe? but so glad they showed up just for you and @@Thursday's Child and for 40 long perfect minutes too. never too many pictures of cheetahs or any cat, or dog or jackal, for that matter.

 

kicheche laikipia looks enchanting! definitely on my list when i get myself back into Kenya.

 

what a good looking eland - they were all very amenable in Kenya when I was there. and what a laid-back cute hyena.

[TonyQ]

@@michael-ibk

Thank you

@@bettel

Thank you - no more cheetah pictures for a while though (OMC)

@@dlo

You will have to post a picture of you in your 20s

@@Marks

Thank you

@@Terry

Thank you - it was great watching the cheetah play

@@Livetowander

Thank you- it was our first safari at this time of year and we loved it

@@elefromoz

I was gazing into the hyena's eyes! The tents were very nice

@@pault

I am pleased the lion's hairdo was familiar. I think it must have been popular in our youth! The reason we have missed cheetah for so long is the places we chose were just not good for them.

Not deliberately avoiding them but not seeking them out. This time we chose places where we thought we had a chance of seeing them (Ol Pejeta and OMC)

@@Kitsafari

Thank you. We were delighted to see them. Kicheche Laikipia is a very good camp with very friendly staff. We really liked it.

Edited February 26, 2016 by TonyQ

[TonyQ]

So continuing after breakfast

Eland and Zebra

Buffalo amongst the trees

Reticulated giraffe looks down on us

 

There are a number of water holes and a few troughs that were originally provided for cattle. Wild animals are very happy to take advantage of these

 

Heading off into the bush

 

We followed the elephants for a while, got in front of them to see them coming our way until the bush became too dense (for us!)

[TonyQ]

Common Ostrich

Gazelle suckling

 

We also saw another group of Jackals, Warthogs, Zebra and Hartebeest. As we headed back to lunch

White stork

Hundreds circling overhead

 

So we got to camp just before 1pm (7 hours). We had a very nice lunch and a good conversation with Sonja, a brief rest, Kenya coffee and meet Andrew again at 4pm.

[TonyQ]

So always nice to start with Elephant

 

We saw Black Storks, Egyptian Geese, Jackal, and then

Two handsome lions

A bit of a rest

This section is for those Safaritalkers who reminisce about such hairstyles in their youth

Is this my best side?

A good stretch

And off they go

 

We go with them for a while. Andrew anticipates where they will go and positions the vehicle so they head towards us. And then we let them go on their way.

[Tom Kellie]

~ @@TonyQ

 

From a technical standpoint the circling White Stork image is impressive!

Earlier this month I tried and failed to achieve such a clear, well-resolved White Stork overhead image.

Thank you for posting it here for all to enjoy.

Tom K.

[TonyQ]

Zebra with foal

 

On the first day, when we had discussed with Andrew what sort of things we like to do and see, we mentioned hyena. Now he said there was a den we might visit when the light was going. We headed in that direction, seeing on the way…

Kori Bustard

Male display

We were very excited to see this. At the start the only neck feathers were fluffed up (I am sure there is a technical term for that) but then the tail came up as well. Very impressive.

 

A young Jackal was very curious about our vehicle and came very close, seemingly sniffing around

 

Then we saw a spotted hyena

[TonyQ]

And we saw that there were a number of them above ground around a series of holes in the ground

 

Two youngster (with fluffy lighter coloured fur) look towards us.

Checking out a slightly scruffy companion

Female with two tiny black cubs.

 

These tiny cubs were so cute – but we found the whole group fascinating. We had come this late in the evening (and the light was getting low) because that is when the adults come back to the den and the babies come out to see them. The group had adults, adolescents with their often beautiful fluffy coats and of course the babies. The interactions were a joy to watch.

Suckling babies

I haven’t forgotten about you

[TonyQ]

Andrew told us that litter sizes tended to be small (often one or two) as the babies feed on milk for quite a while. They can eat meat from the age of about 5 months but continue to suckle for up to a year (or more). After about a year they go hunting with the adults; the babies are left with a “baby sitter” adult. Some texts say that mothers only suckle their own young, but others say they sometimes suckle other youngsters. Andrew said they do suckle others – and we think we saw some at least try to suckle from different females.

 

As it got darker I tried a few bits of video (Sorry Tom)

Hyenas (1min 30s)

 

As it was getting quite dark, the next one is at ISO 12800 I have converted to Black and White to get rid of the colour problems. I have put it in because I love the sounds you can hear as they run around

 

 

I know hyenas are not always popular animals, but we loved seeing them - and said to Andrew that we would love to visit again. He said we could try at a different time of day. So will I get to show Hyena in a better light?

[TonyQ]

We headed home, a quick meal because we were going on a night drive! We met up with Andrew and a tracker at about 8.15 pm.

 

We saw a white –tailed mongoose, saw the hyena again, some Jackals and finished the evening off with

 

Time for sleep

 

 

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

Absolutely delightful sighting at the Hyena den, love the little ones. Thanks for the videos, great stuff. What are the animals running in the background of the second video?

[TonyQ]

@@michael-ibk

Thank you - I confess to not noticing the animals in the background! I think they may be Zebra (there were a lot of Zebra there and although there were Hartebeest as well I think they run differently)

[Terry]

Love the Kori Bustard in full display! Great picture!

 

And the close-up of the young jackel! Such a beautiful face.

 

Enjoying all the pictures of the male lions and their lovely hairdos and the young hyenas with the adults.

 

I especially liked the video with the hyena voices on it. We have heard the hyena moans off in the distance, but never the laughter.

 

Thanks for sharing your safari with us.

 

Terry