Camels,Cakes, and the ever illusive lightning; Indisposed in Kenya

[dlo]

Our last drive in the Mara will be remembered for how ridiculously cold it suddenly got which meant that every animal in the Mara went into hiding. Our morning highlight probably consisted of a hyena chasing a warthog several hundred meters from us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glossy starling.

 

And that was it for Governor's and the Mara. Because the Porini camps close at the end of October we had to start in the Mara instead of ending there so we now had to stop over in Nairobi in the middle of the trip. The good news is we now would get our second visit to the Sheldrick Orphanage which always makes for a great day.

 

[michael-ibk]

Some really great sightings in the Mara, and how cool to have Dwarf Mongoose in camp.

[dlo]

By the time our plane landed at Governor's it was almost full so I got a solo seat at the back which was a good thing as I would end up holding on to my stomache for most of the short flight to Nairobi. Chris ended up seated to a very nice Kenyan who saw that she was quite nervous because of the very bumpy flight we were enduring. We had a bad experience flying through a horrendous thunderstorm in Tanzania years ago where Chris squeezed the life out of my leg and the pilots very white knuckles had me fearing the worst. The stranger on this flight chatted up Chris pointing out all the landmarks we were flying over and calming her nerves while doing so.

 

After landing we head to our hotel the Fairview where we have stayed twice before. Nairobi traffic isn't to terrible today and arriving at the Fairview we really see the increased security. The armed soldiers in the street have always been there but now after getting checked at the gate we also get metal detectors to go through. After getting through that we clean up and do lunch at one of the several fine restaurants at the Fairview. Then an early pickup and we are off to see some little elephants.With very little traffic we arrive super early and have to wait about an hour till we see them bring back the ele's to there paddocks for night.

 

We skipped the morning public viewing and the private visit that @@amybatt described very well in her trip report. The evening visit is for people who have adopted an ele or 3 in our case and watch them basically get ready for bed. You line up along a path as they stroll by with there keepers and then go visit them in there pens along with an orphaned rhino and an ostrich that was killed by lions shortly after our visit. By the time we got to some of the pens several of the youngest ones are already snoring while a few are getting milk or playing with there keeper. One of my adoptees was having a great time wrestling with his keeper who spend most of there time with these orphans.

 

I'm pretty biased as I'm very fond of elephants but this isn't anything but a really good time and if you're anything like my wife you will leave having adopted another one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[amybatt]

Lovely shots of the Sheldricks babies! And I neglected to mention the leopard earlier. Sigh!

[dlo]

Some really great sightings in the Mara, and how cool to have Dwarf Mongoose in camp.

 

We did see a lot of good stuff but I'm not sure exactly how you felt but it was quieter than it it normally is in the Serengeti or Mara. This was visit number 5 for me and it was strangely dead at times which I also heard a few other people comment on as well. It was still very good and I will be back but lacking in the usual volume I think I've been spoiled by.

 

Lovely shots of the Sheldricks babies! And I neglected to mention the leopard earlier. Sigh!

 

You must be off on you're trip soon! Are you going to Sheldricks again? Enjoy those gorillas it is as amazing as everyone says it is.

[amybatt]

Lovely shots of the Sheldricks babies! And I neglected to mention the leopard earlier. Sigh!

 

You must be off on you're trip soon! Are you going to Sheldricks again? Enjoy those gorillas it is as amazing as everyone says it is.

 

Thank you! We leave tomorrow! Rwanda first, then Mara North and back to Sheldricks as we head home. I felt it my duty to properly indoctrinate my friend Kim into what it means to be a foster parent! Any excuse for another private visit!!

[dlo]

I always enjoy staying at the Fairview especially for the breakfast buffet which never lets me down. Well today it does as I spend a long night dashing to the bathroom and my stomach is not feeling well this morning. I barely ate anything and was not looking forward to our flight to Meru at all. We had the same driver as the night before so I asked Alex if we could stop at a Pharmacy and get something for my stomach. 10 minutes later I manage to get Cipro without a prescription as I don't need any doctor to tell me what's wrong with me(haha so wrong!) a little immodium and we are ready to go to Wilson.

 

With no traffic and a delayed flight we sit at Wilson for 2 and a half hours! Thank god we finally leave and at least we are first to land with a couple of other people. Our guide from Rhino River is there to meet us and introduces himself as Peterson. Man he looks familiar and he thinks the same when I ask "hey didn't you work at Ngwesi?" Of course, he was training there in 2011 when we were there and he was assisting our guide David when we visited!

 

What a small world, this is the second time this has happened to us. Back in 2006 we were driving to Kili when our guides stopped to chat to a guy in a car driving by that they knew. I look out the window to say hello and yell "Wilfred", he was our guide for 3 nights in the Serengeti a few years previous, what are the odds of driving down a rural road in Northern Tanzania and seeing someone you met years previous.

 

We do a short drive to camp with Meru being mostly dry until we get to the rhino sanctuary when the roads get pretty muddy. Immediately we start our drive with a couple of male lions chilling under a tree as well as a big male elephant way off in the bush that was injured but KWS was apparently on the way. The drive to camp consisted of lots of waterbuck, buffalo,and plenty of general game. The bush is very thick and with no off roading it's tough to get close to anything.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eurasian roller.

 

Somali bee eater

 

Arriving at camp we are met by one of the owners Barbara and meet the staff who would prove exceptional. Lunch would be my favourite meal of the whole trip and the food would be the best as well as the owner Mauriccio would arrive back tomorrow and provide delicious Italian food for the next 3 days.

[michael-ibk]

Nice Lesser Kudu. I feel we are inching closer and closer to the part where your safari would not be fun at all for you, but apparently you still did enjoy lunch.

[Hads]

@@dlo great report , sorry to hear about your stomach... I am waiting to hear of a mini disaster coming up..........

[pomkiwi]

@@dlo Just coming back to this report and enjoying it greatly. I had a great stay in the OMC earlier this month and saw a small crossing at the same point as you did (but crossing in the opposite diection). We were lucky with vehicles and behaviour that day but had a similar unpleasant experience to you with a leopard sighting in the reserve the previous day - lots of crowding and difficult to avoid the feeling the animal was pressured.

[dlo]

Nice Lesser Kudu. I feel we are inching closer and closer to the part where your safari would not be fun at all for you, but apparently you still did enjoy lunch.

 

It was so not fun I told Chris we were done with Africa for quite a while, things have since changed! Cipro just masked the problem but I'm glad it did as I still think about the food at Rhino River.

 

@@dlo great report , sorry to hear about your stomach... I am waiting to hear of a mini disaster coming up..........

 

Thanks, enjoying your report as well.

 

@@dlo Just coming back to this report and enjoying it greatly. I had a great stay in the OMC earlier this month and saw a small crossing at the same point as you did (but crossing in the opposite diection). We were lucky with vehicles and behaviour that day but had a similar unpleasant experience to you with a leopard sighting in the reserve the previous day - lots of crowding and difficult to avoid the feeling the animal was pressured.

 

We always move away or even leave the scene when it starts getting crowded. the nice part of going during low season is you rarely see this happen. I can't judge anyone though because for many people its there only safari and many guides will feel a lot of pressure to provide an amazing safari. Looking forward to seeing your crossing photos.

[CDL111]

Sorry to be late on this, but I think the bird on 35 is a Taveta Golden Weaver.

[pomkiwi]

@@CDL111 - I'm also from Banbury - we must have an ST do sometime

[CDL111]

Your report makes interesting reading, as we have just come back from our trip to Kenya, and have been putting names to the birds we photographed. Will start the report shortly. You can contact me through the private message system and we can arrange to meet up.

[dlo]

We loved Rhino River Camp but the one downside I guess would be the location is just outside the park and you need to drive through the rhino sanctuary each time to get into the rest of the park itself.Not a big deal for me as we had several fun chats with a couple of the rangers including one who wanted to see a picture of snow and became obsessed with my dog that was the biggest thing he had ever seen, but some might not the same first 15 minutes each drive. It started raining just before we left so that meant the roof got closed for the start of the drive but lasted only a short while.

 

Looking through the dense bush we drove along when Chris excitedly squeals rhinos and we stop the car and back up a bit. Mother and calf crash through the bush give us a quick look and are quickly gone. We drive to a spot that overlooks a large area with a field full of rhino and buffalo but we are a long ways away.

 

 

 

 

The camp itself is a riot of greenery and that stream running through is very noisy and does cause some people to switch tents because they can't sleep.

 

 

 

 

 

African grey hornbill

 

Eurasian roller

 

Striped kingfisher

 

Crested guinea fowl

 

 

Back at camp we had Some sykes monkeys pass through the camp and for a pre dinner treat some bananas were laid out and were quickly gobbled up by several bushbabies!

 

 

[dlo]

Rain rain and more rain we were up most of the night and we had a late start not leaving until 9. The drive through the rhino reserve was very wet but then it started drying out from that point. By the park fence there was a large bull elephant with 1 broken tusk and the other almost touching the ground. we were told that the tusk had been cut as he was a fence breaker, they also had to deal with baboons that we saw sliding under the fence like they were stealing second base after raiding the nearby farms. We saw a few scarecrows but they were not having the desired effect.

 

We got back to camp for lunch and decided to do a birding and village walk that afternoon but the rain started pounding down at 4 so we ended up chilling at camp. Mauriccio arrived in camp late in the afternoon and we ended up visiting with him for quite a while. Full of stories of his long life in Africa he is a huge character and someone I could listen to talk all day. And as an added bonus for some he has an encyclopedic knowledge of birds that I have never heard before. Also forgot to add that yes this was another camp that we had to ourselves and in fact we only 2 vehicles the whole time we were in Meru!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dlo]

And some birds.

 

Grey headed kingfisher

 

Somali ostrich

 

Spur winged lapwing

 

Grey heron

 

 

 

 

Sacred ibis

 

Secretary bird

 

African goshawk

 

Steppe eagle

 

 

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

Beautiful photos of Meru, and love the Bushbabies. Your African Goshawk is actually an Eastern Pale Chanting Goshawk I think. What is the Ibis snacking on there?

[dlo]

Beautiful photos of Meru, and love the Bushbabies. Your African Goshawk is actually an Eastern Pale Chanting Goshawk I think. What is the Ibis snacking on there?

 

Thanks Michael we really enjoyed watching those bushbabies each evening. The Ibis had caught a frog that was apparently poisonous so it took several minutes to actually eat it tossing it around and I guess cleaning it up for consumption.

[AmyT]

I'm all caught up! Looks like October is the time to go for minimal vehicle intrusions! Looking forward to more!

[pault]

I don't like those leopard worriers. It's so disrespectful. Good shot of them.

 

The weather's turned. You must have been worrying a bit about the walking safari by now? Would have been ideal to do this the other way around wouldn't it, but let's see, It's going fine so far. Rhino Camp sounds good and Meru is looking verdant. Talking about the downside of having to drive in through the rhino sanctuary every day, do you know if they expanded it? I heard they planned to do so and if they did it'd hardly be a disadvantage as it would cover a very large chink of Meru (not that this would be a good thing in my eyes).

 

Who cut the tusk? Or the elephant broke it on a fence (some fence)? That bit is very strange.

[dlo]

I don't like those leopard worriers. It's so disrespectful. Good shot of them.

 

The weather's turned. You must have been worrying a bit about the walking safari by now? Would have been ideal to do this the other way around wouldn't it, but let's see, It's going fine so far. Rhino Camp sounds good and Meru is looking verdant. Talking about the downside of having to drive in through the rhino sanctuary every day, do you know if they expanded it? I heard they planned to do so and if they did it'd hardly be a disadvantage as it would cover a very large chink of Meru (not that this would be a good thing in my eyes).

 

Who cut the tusk? Or the elephant broke it on a fence (some fence)? That bit is very strange.

 

I would much rather have done the trip in reverse but it couldn't be done unless we had left a week earlier. I didn't see the drive through the sanctuary as a disadvantage as there is still lots of game but I have no idea if it was expanded.

 

The great tusk mystery you say! Well we know the elephant likes to break the park fence and raid the village crops. The strange bit is still strange though, I swear someone said they cut his tusk Mrs. dlo says she heard no such thing and it was just broken! I have to say Mrs dlo is probably right as she would tell you that's usually the case.

[dlo]

For our last day in Meru we would start early and do a bush breakfast and stay out a little longer followed by a walk through the bush and local villages for a spot of birding with both Mauriccio and Peterson. The drive was highlighted by a huge herd of elephants and a logjam with 3 vehicles crowded around them! The rest of the drive provided lots of the usual suspects but was pretty quiet overall.

 

Arriving back at camp for lunch we discovered we missed the excitement of the day as a spitting cobra had moved through camp. I find snakes fascinating but Chris despises them so of course I took the opportunity to scare her on the way back from lunch by tossing a stick in the leaves next to her on the footpath. A good smack, a telling off and forcing me to walk in front of her and we were off to lunch before our walk.

 

The one real downside of all the rain near camp meant that the mountain bikes they have could not be reasonably ridden as the roads were a muddy bog near camp. The upside being we went for a walk with Mauiccio who as Chris wrote in her notes"man sure knows his birds". Besides the birding what I really remember were what seemed to be a million termites flying around and wings everywhere on the ground, and lots and lots of khat being grown everywhere we looked. Mauriccio and 2 particularly mellow villagers ended up in quite an animated discussion about the side effects of chewing it with all the pesticides being used and we took it as our cue to head off with Peterson for a bit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dlo]

And a few post breakfast shots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Giant kingfisher

 

 

Buffalo weaver

 

 

Fish eagle

 

Red billed quilea

[pault]

@@dlo Maybe the cut tusk bit was Kenyan humour? Yes, it's best not to argue these things unless you have photographic or audio evidence - actually, even then i'd probably be better off if I let it be.

 

Love the elephants in a line and a nice, close view of a Giant Kingfisher (damn that branch though!)

 

Khat is a controversial topic I think.