Close Encounters of the Dog Kind

[Zim Girl]

Still on the morning drive and still plenty to see.

 

I could sit and watch these guys for ages.

 

 

 

Mum was protecting this little one who looked very recently born

 

 

This one was not so lucky.

 

 

Baby hippos

 

And another big male lion resting in the heat

 

 

 

 

[Zim Girl]

We went back to camp for lunch and spent a very pleasant hour or so sitting on their deck which looks out over the river.

 

Out for the afternoon drive and it didn't take us long to find that female cheetah again.

 

 

We had asked Onesmus if he knew of any hyena dens in the area as we had never seen hyena cubs up close, so he took us to see these little cuties. We enjoyed watching them so much we stayed there until sunset.

 

 

 

 

[Zim Girl]

This morning we had gone out with the intention of trying to find a leopard, but just as the sun was rising we came across this pride of lions having great fun jumping around in the bushes and chasing each other. The first few pictures are pretty blurry as they were all moving so quick but I am putting them in to show them getting entangled in the branches. After that we watched the adults playing and teasing the cubs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[IamFisheye]

@@Zim Girl Reading with interest as your trip echoes our trip in Feb/March (6 nights LWC, 3 nights Rekero, 5 nights Naboisho - no fly camping tho').

 

Your video of the dog pups was amazing, but I imagine behaviour not to be encouraged. We had them sniffing our feet when I went in 2015 but not biting! Also got growled and barked at by one of the adults on our 1st encounter when we were sitting on the ground.

[wilddog]

@@Zim Girl Great trip report. Spending time on the ground with wilddogs is always awe inspiring. So good you had that opportunity at Laikipia. Did you get to do this in Mana too when you were there? My memory fails me...............

 

Some lovely images but I as particularly taken with the low level hippo shot;nostrils flaring etc. Was it on rising ground?

[Zim Girl]

@@Zim Girl Reading with interest as your trip echoes our trip in Feb/March (6 nights LWC, 3 nights Rekero, 5 nights Naboisho - no fly camping tho').

 

Your video of the dog pups was amazing, but I imagine behaviour not to be encouraged. We had them sniffing our feet when I went in 2015 but not biting! Also got growled and barked at by one of the adults on our 1st encounter when we were sitting on the ground.

 

@@IamFisheye

 

Yes, very similar itinerary, but we were trying to incorporate as much walking as possible.

Steve was nearby when we were sat with the dogs and I am sure he would have stopped it if it had gone on much longer, definitely do not want them to get too bold. This youngster was just particularly curious, but you can see also very wary.

 

 

 

@@Zim Girl Great trip report. Spending time on the ground with wilddogs is always awe inspiring. So good you had that opportunity at Laikipia. Did you gat to do this in Mana too when you were there? My memory fails me...............

 

Some lovely images but I as particularly taken with the low level hippo shot;nostrils flaring etc. Was it on rising ground?

 

@@wilddog

 

We have never actually sat that close to them in Mana, although we have had plenty of close encounters with the dog packs in terms of running and walking with them on the move.

 

We were in an open vehicle in the Mara and the windows were quite low so I was able to take the picture more or less level.

[Zim Girl]

So after spending quite a while enjoying the lions we carried on with our quest to find leopard.

Sadly though, this was the closest we were going to come.

 

Leopard kill - a gazelle hanging in a tree. This area is apparently very good for leopards and Onesmus suggested we wait around to see if it will come back.

 

So we waited and waited, then we drove around the immediate area and found plenty of other animals.

 

 

 

Zebra having a dust bath.

 

 

 

We went back to the tree and waited some more but eventually we gave up and drove back to camp for lunch.

We found out later that the leopard did indeed go back to the kill at around 1.30pm. Oh well.

 

This little flap necked chameleon could always be found in the same bush in the area where the vehicles were parked.

 

On the afternoon drive we found the same female cheetah again

 

 

 

 

And our last sighting of the day, a young hyena and it's mum relaxing under a bush.

[michael-ibk]

Sorry about the Leopard timing, but he probably thought Dogs biting your feet and Cheetahs everywhere is quite enough already, and more safari goodness is not allowed in one trip. :-)

 

Really like the Hyena cubs, and the Croc with the unfortunate Gazelle is very cool in an archaic way.

[Zim Girl]

Today we were transferring to Naboisho Camp (sister camp to Rekero) in the Naboisho Conservancy.

We were met first thing by Tim Leperes who was also going to be our guide in Naboisho. When we first booked this trip last year I had asked Roelof Schutte who runs Naboisho if he could recommend a guide and he said Tim would be a good fit for us. He was absolutely right.

 

So yet more lions on our drive out. A female had just killed a zebra foal and was soon joined by another female pride member. She also stood and called for the rest of the pride to come in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had told Tim about the leopard from yesterday. He recognised the area from our somewhat rubbish description and we drove over to have another look around. But nothing, we couldn't see the kill in the tree any more either.

 

 

We stopped for breakfast in a really pretty spot in an area that was wooded and very peaceful.

 

Then we drove out of the reserve and towards Naboisho.

 

I have to say we were pleasantly surprised at how few vehicles we saw in the reserve. All the times we were with the cheetah we were the only car, also the hyenas. Both lion pride sightings there were only a couple of other vehicles. We could see other cars out in the far distance when driving around but generally the time spent there felt much less busy than we were expecting.

 

Soon we were in the conservancy and we found this small group of elephants browsing on some bushes.

 

 

We arrived at camp in time for lunch. It was just us, two South African brothers, Roelof, and Clea the camp manager.

One of the South Africans, Steve, was actually a qualified walking guide who has spent a lot of time in Zimbabwe, so we had plenty to talk about and lunch went on for a while.

 

We had booked two nights of fly-camping and walking with Roelof and for the rest of the time a private vehicle with Tim. This combination worked really well especially as in practice it meant three days of walking.

 

Our tent

 

 

We went out with Tim for the afternoon drive .

 

 

This male lion started roaring while we were stopped next to him.

 

 

[Zim Girl]

Today was going to be spent in the conservancy with Tim.

Below is a selection of some of the things we saw. The area with the pools and grazing zebra was particularly pretty. There was also lots of Wildebeest and Topi around.

 

 

 

 

 

Juvenile Yellow-billed stork

 

 

 

 

 

 

The central dining area in camp

 

The view from the dining area

 

Kori Bustard

 

 

2 cubs that we saw on the afternoon drive

 

 

[Zim Girl]

Today we were going on our first walk with Roelof. The three of us set off just as it was starting to get light.

We liked Roelof's guiding style immediately. He had that very reassuring and confident way about him that we are used to with all our Zimbabwean guides but he also likes to keep the walk very quiet, only talking in whispers at all times. What this does is constantly keep up a feeling of tension and anticipation which we really enjoyed.

 

Our first encounter was down by a tree lined gully. On the other side was a small group of elephants. We carefully picked our way down to a dried up stream bed at the bottom and worked our way around until we were quite close and could see the elephants eating amongst the trees up above us. We stayed for a short while then re-traced our steps. The elephants never knew we were there.

 

One of the first things that we noticed on foot in Naboisho was how relaxed the general game was. Zebra, Topi, Eland, Impala, Giraffe etc were not at all as skittish as we expected them to be. We were able to get relatively close before they moved away, and even then they were only walking away not running. Roelof said that on some occasions he has been able to sit down and giraffe have walked right up to him.

 

What did make us laugh was that Roelof had asked if were particularly interested in birds. We said not really, unless they were very big, ie. predators/owls etc. He went on to completely ignore this and had us looking for every bird he could find, including a pygmy kingfisher he had seen flying and was then determined to get us to see it when it landed, which we eventually did. I have to say we actually quite enjoyed ourselves not least because Roelof was just so enthused with every bird he saw that you got caught up in his excitement.

 

One of the highlights of the walk for me was finding a bushbaby in a tree. This was the first time I had ever seen one properly in the daylight.

 

We got back to camp at 11.30 and had a very nice lunch. Then we were back out with Roelof for a long walk to the fly-camp.

This was much more of a ground-covering, striding-out type of walk to make sure we reached camp before dark.

 

We saw hyena and also a couple of bat-eared foxes in the distance. We watched a lovely sunset and then walked into camp.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Zim Girl]

A delicious dinner of beef stew and ugali with a tomato and onion sauce was cooked in front of us over the fire, and we spent a very enjoyable evening chatting to Roelof. He knew we were happy to walk long distances so tomorrow he wanted to take a short drive out to the top of a gorge and walk down through it and out into an area he had never walked in before. It would take an early start and most of the day to reach the next fly-camp site.

 

So we were up and out in the dark the next morning. Tim had brought the vehicle and was joining us for the walk. We were dropped off at the top of the gorge and started down the quite rocky terrain. We spotted three klipspringers sitting on some rocks in the distance and then we saw an African Hawk Eagle on it's nest with it's mate circling above. Again bird-spotting was a big theme, now with the two of them at it!

 

At the bottom of the gorge we climbed up some rocks to see the views. Throughout the walk we saw a wide range of animals. Zebra, Topi, Impala, Grants Gazelle, Thompsons Gazelle, Giraffe, Elephant, banded and dwarf mongoose and Dik-Dik

 

Lunch was eaten under the shade of a tree and gave Roelof and Tim a chance to rest and have a nap

We eventually walked into camp around 3.45pm. We just had a chance for a cold drink and then the heavens opened. We sat it out in our tents for an hour but then we had to admit defeat and call a vehicle to take us back to the main camp. We weren't too disappointed as we had already had such a long day we didn't feel we missed out too much.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ld1]

@@Zim Girl Oh wow, what a fabulous trip report, that dog video is amazing. What a wonderful experience!

[michael-ibk]

Super Bushbaby sighting, and glad you had satisfying walks.

[optig]

@zimgirl Your'e bring me back such fond memories of LWC,and of course the Mara. I'd love to take my niece,and nephew both places when they're a little older. As for myself I'll defiantly be returning to Laikipia Wilderness Camp/

[xelas]

Walk in the wilderness ... what a memorable experience it has to be!

[Towlersonsafari]

Just caught up with your wonderful trip report @@Zim Girl, what a great time you have had! bushbaby in daylight! and really enjoying your photography. And then creeping up to and observing elephants without them knowing-what a special moment.this has really brightened up my lunchtime

[Zim Girl]

Thank you @Towlersonsafari @xelas @@ld1 @@michael-ibk @@optig

 

Yes, I did enjoy seeing the bush baby, so excited to finally see one in the daylight. We actually saw another on a different day up a tree but it was hiding it's face in it's fur so I couldn't get a very good picture.

[Zim Girl]

Day three of walking with Roelof.

 

Another beautiful sunrise to start.

 

 

 

Our first little adventure was finding a group of sleeping hyena. Roelof got us to crouch down and wanted to see how close we could get before they woke up. So we crawled our way towards them trying to be as quiet as we could, not easy when you have lots of twigs and dry leaves under you but we managed to get just a few metres away before the closest one raised his head. He jumped up straight away, which then woke the others, but they didn't run off. They stood and stared at us for several minutes then obviously decided we weren't anything to get too concerned about and walked away.

 

In between seeing Cokes Hartebeest, Topi, Zebra, Giraffe, Elephant and Wildebeest, Roelof was still trying very hard to convert us to birders

Amongst others we saw Black Shouldered Kite, Brown Parrot, Grey Woodpecker, Nubian Woodpecker, Bataleur Eagle and at a distance we saw a Gymnogene chasing a lizard/small mammal down the side of a tree.

 

When it was getting near lunch time, Roelof radioed Tim to come and pick us up. We arranged to meet down by the pools. When we got there we found two big crocs sunning themselves on the rocks. So in typical Roelof style he said 'lets see how close we can get'. So we were creeping along the bank and tried to pop up by the rocks at the last minute. We didn't get quite as close as to the hyenas but it was a lot of fun trying.

 

Tim was waiting on the other side watching with amusement and shaking his head. We all got in the vehicle and started back towards camp. On the way we came across a mating pair of lions, who had decided the best place to get romantic was right in the middle of a thorny bush!!

 

This made photos a bit tricky. After a couple of goes the female wandered off but the male wasn't finished yet and tried it on for act no 3. At this point they were starting to draw the attention of one or two more vehicles so we left them to it.

 

Coke's Hartebeest

 

 

 

 

 

Round One

 

 

 

Quick rest

 

Round Two

 

 

I think I've had enough.

 

Well I haven't - Round three

 

Now I had these down as baby Topis, but I am wondering now if they are baby Coke's Hartebeest. I don't have a pic of the adult to prove.

 

 

Took a picture of this bird back at camp, I couldn't get a really sharp shot but I have included it just because it is so colourful. I think it is a Grenadier but please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Now out on the afternoon drive. Olive baboon and baby

 

Hammerkop

 

Lone female lion

 

And to finish, another beautiful sunset.

 

 

 

 

[Zim Girl]

For our last full day we decided to have a day out back in the Mara Reserve.

We left early with Tim around 5.00am but that meant we were in the Mara before sunrise. It only takes just over an hour to get there on a straight run.

 

We were still hoping for a leopard, but it wasn't to be. However, it was pretty much wall to wall animals from the off, starting with these lovely elephants.

 

 

 

Hyenas having a bit of an early morning tiff.

 

Then these two female lions playing with each other.

 

 

 

 

 

Sunlit wildebeest

 

Another group of elephants

 

And a Lone Eland

 

[AKR1]

@Zimgirl

 

Thanks for a wonderful report and for bringing back wonderful memories of Naboisho conservancy, the camp with Roelof and of Rekero and the Mara. Its been too long.

 

P.S: Did Roelof tell you about his terrible injury and the year it took him to recover- long ago? Great to see him doing well.

[Zim Girl]

@@AKR1

 

Thank you, yes we really enjoyed ourselves. Roelof is a very good guide. He didn't mention an injury, but whatever it was he appears to be fighting fit now. He walked us long and hard

[Zim Girl]

Then we got word that two male lions were chasing another male. This was happening not far from where we had just come from so Tim quickly reversed and whizzed back to see what was going on. Indeed, in the distance and coming towards us was a big male being chased by two others.

They were all frothing at the mouth and it was quite a sight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The two chasing males eventually slowed down, we assumed they were happy they had seen the other one off far enough, and settled down to recover from the chase.

 

On the other side of our vehicle was this poor hyena who looked a little bit worried.

 

[Zim Girl]

We stayed with the two lions but it was obvious they were not going anywhere anytime soon so we carried on with the drive.

 

Thise hyena was a bit more chilled than the last one.

 

 

 

Now this is definitely a Topi baby!

 

 

 

 

 

Next up a cheetah and her three grown up cubs trying to find some shade.

 

 

 

 

About time we stopped for breakfast

 

 

After much needed food, we trundled off down towards the river. Before we reached the main river we found this group of hippo sharing their sunbathing spot with a few elephants.

 

 

 

[Zim Girl]

Now we hadn't been too bothered about trying to see any river crossings in the Mara, mainly because we didn't fancy being in close proximity to lots of other vehicles. However, Tim persuaded us to go down and just see.

So he drove down into an area of lower bank right next to the river that had lining up space for maybe a dozen cars. Straight away there was small crossing of wildebeest, but it was just a bit too far away for me to get a good picture. I have to be honest, I didn't think we were in a very good spot but Tim just smiled and told me to be patient and he was sure there would be a crossing right in front of us. He got me to climb over into the front seat for a better view. So we waited for maybe 40 mins and then we watched a mixed group of zebra and wildebeest cross over a bit closer to us. There were some big crocs about but they didn't try to attack.

Then just a short while after that a group of zebra walked out along the shoreline in front of us and stopped there obviously trying to decide whether to cross or not. There was a very big croc close by but some of the zebra went anyway. The other half of them got spooked by the croc and ran away.

The ones that got to the other side stayed close to the bank as if encouraging them to try again. It didn't take long before they walked back down and this time they lined up and over they went. This was going well until we noticed another croc out in the middle of the river heading towards one of the zebra. There was a lot of splashing and kicking but the zebra managed to keep out of it's way, then the croc changed direction and swam over to another zebra that was closer to the other side. The croc was almost on top of this zebra but somehow it managed to climb up the bank unharmed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a big croc by the bank towards the left of the picture

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See the croc next to the zebra on the far left of the picture

 

 

 

 

 

We didn't think this zebra was going to make it

 

 

But it did and climbed out safely