My Safari #4 -- all things rainy and Lucky

[amybatt]

Mara Day Five -- Eat or Be Eaten (but it's not who or what you think!)

 

We headed out early this morning as usual. We're getting good at the up at 6, out in the truck by 6:30 routine. There's not much to it though, as we set clothes out the night before and all that's left to be done is sunscreen and tooth-brushing.

Today dawned better in terms of weather. It was cool and there was just a slight fog at ground level but we could see a gorgeous pink sunrise that resulted in a bright sun that quickly burned off the fog. We still had two missions: one was to make sure Amani the cheetah and her cubs get a meal and the other was to find Lucky the lion cub, who at this point hadn't been seen by anyone for three days. While neither is under our control in the least, it was nice to have a wishlist. (Notice, we'd all given up on Rana the leopard by this point...no guides had seen him at all and most figured he'd moved territories for the time being)

Our wishlist however, was entirely turned on its ear, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. It seemed slow for about an hour (which essentially means nothing but plains game) and then, coming up the hill with the sunrise behind them were Frank and Jesse. God, were they reliable in their ability to appear wherever we were! It was cold enough that when they exhaled, I could see their breath against the sunlight. And as usual, they were looking lush and well coiffed from a trip to the bush salon. They are incredibly handsome boys.

 

 

 

 

So off we went to look for Amani. David heard that as of late yesterday she still hadn't eaten, so she's reaching desperation levels with three mouths to feed (this was our 5th day there and they guessed it was 3-5 days before that that she hadn't eaten, is that even possible?). If the guides were concerned about her, and they were, so was I.

 

Kapen, looking for cheetah. Or lions. Or something. When he stood on the seat and went out the roof, we knew me meant business.

 

We drove for quite a ways before our guides spotted a lioness and two cubs on a very fresh topi kill.

 

 

David said that topis are rarely caught since they have such good eyesight and the fact that this female took it down alone is really quite notable. So here I was, never having seen lions on kills before, and now I get a second in two days, a single lioness who's taken down a topi? Wow. The cubs and mom were all tucking into the belly of the carcass and digging out the soft innards, which they love. I managed to get quite a few good shots of their bloody, well-fed faces and resulting bloated bellies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When all three had finished eating, the lioness dragged the kill into a shadow of a bush so that vultures wouldn't see it overhead and take the rest. She then covered over the stomach contents (digested grass) and blood left behind on the earth so that hyenas and jackals wouldn't smell it.

 

Hiding it away:

 

 

Food coma:

 

These lions may have returned to this carcass later if they were feeling peckish, but judging from the utter food coma they lapsed into and that their bellies looked quite full, I'd be surprised if they did. Although David said that the big cats are opportunistic feeders and will eat when the opportunity presents itself regardless of how hungry they are. Or at least they'll kill when they get the chance, as our next sighting proved.

 

We spent a lot of time driving through "cheetah country", expansive flat lands filled with lots of Thomsons gazelles, impala and Grant's gazelles which are the cheetahs' main prey. We came up empty for a while. Then there was quite a lot of chatter on the radio between our guides and another Offbeat guide. We ended up following them with a sense of urgency and pulled into another patch of "cheetah country" just as we saw a younger looking cheetah dragging a baby Grant's gazelle from the open field toward the shade of a tree. Quite literally, we had just missed the chase and the catch, but weren't too late to see the actual kill. The gazelle was struggling a bit, despite being dragged by a vice grip around the neck.

 

 

 

Turns out that this was Malkia, one of Malaika's 2 1/2 year old cubs (Malaika being one of the super cheetahs in the Mara, who a friend of mine at work saw with this very cub on her safari 2 years ago). This cub is newly independent from Malaika and still an inexperienced hunter. So while she has the chase and catch part down, she's not very good at the kill part. By the clock on my camera, from first shot to last was over 35 minutes. This gazelle did not suffer well. It seems as if the cheetah thought it was dead and would drop it, and the gazelle would attempt to stand, or move, or bleat, and the cub would become agitated and pounce on it again and again, and try once more the stranglehold across the neck. We kept thinking it was finally dead, but then it would start breathing or trying to stand again. It wasn't easy to watch but as time wore on it became obvious the cub wasn't even hungry as her belly was a bit round and she never made motions to actually eat the gazelle. She was just catching food for later. She laid down next to it and tried to recover from the exertion of the chase and catch, but she was nervous and jumpy. David thinks she was afraid hyena or other predators were going to come after her and the kill.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sadder still was when we drove away there was one lone female adult Grant's gazelle standing up the hill watching the cheetah and the baby gazelle. David said that was the baby's mother, who likely saw the whole thing play out and was helpless to do anything. It must have been awful to hear the baby bleating and not be able to do anything about it.

So finally, on safari #4, I see my first kill.

Still worried about our other cheetah Amani, we headed back off again in search of her.

 

Kapen's first clue to look behind us in the bush:

 

What we saw there:

 

Pure happenstance brought us in path of an Acacia pride lioness and her 5 week old cub. They were crossing the plains and headed into the shade of some shrubbery for the afternoon. The little cub was tired and didn't want to go too far. The lioness kept making noises to him to get him to keep up or move along. Finally she settled under a tree and we parked nearby to take some photos. It might have been a little too close for her because she moved shortly after that. The little guy didn't seem to want to go, or have the energy to go, but ultimately he did. His scampered off on his little legs and they moved deeper into the bush.

 

Mom tried to carry the tired little guy, but he was a little too big to grab by the scruff of the neck:

 

 

What a big world for this little guy:

 

Zebras keep watch on mom and cub:

 

 

I should note that all of the sightings thusfar, Amani stalking, lions on hippo, lions on topi, cheetah kill, all those have just been with our car and one other Offbeat vehicle for the most part. For a "more trafficked" conservancy as compared to other conservancies, we really weren't seeing it. The most cars we'd seen to this point were around Rana the leopard the first day after the big lion fight under the tree.

 

We returned to a delicious lunch today of homemade tagliatelle, roasted sweet potato and onion, a green bean and kidney bean salad, an incredible olive bread and fruit salad for dessert. I couldn't figure out how I was working up such and appetite here, just sitting outdoors watching animals all day, but I was.

The afternoon drive was pretty much a bust, which has never happened to me before. I mean, afternoons can be more difficult in terms of spotting animals. The cats are just coming off of day long naps and unless you know where they went to crash, it can be hard to find them. Today was a bit different, and unique, as this trip has become. It was meant to be short anyway because we were meant to have an early dinner and night game drive. We'd finally found some lions, the four nomads we hadn't seen yet and were waiting our turn to pull in and get closer.

 

 

There is a horse Safari company here (note: this would be Simon of Sosian) and they were next in line ahead of us, about a dozen of them. But the heavily pregnant rain clouds moved in and it was touch and go for a while, trying to determine if it would rain here or not. It did. At first it just got really windy and then some big ploppy drops started to fall. And then the heavens just opened up. It was as if someone right above us just unzipped the sky. We stopped the vehicle here just long enough to roll the window covers down and put the roof on.

 

 

We were launching ourselves at top speed toward the river crossing, because you never want to get stuck on the other side of what is usually a dry riverbed when the big one hits. We made it across but I thought to myself at the time that we wouldn't be going back that way tonight on our night drive, it was already a lot fuller than it was when we crossed it earlier, and the rain had just started. Our guides were incredible though, because when we got back to camp, they pulled the Land Cruiser right up in front of our tent rather than drop us at the common area and have us walk. We were only in the deluge for maybe 4 steps, which was more than enough to get totally soaked through to the bone! They rock! We waited in the comfort of our tent for the storm to pass. And we reminded ourselves how much it didn't suck to not be on the horses this afternoon.

What was funny though was seeing the plains game running around like crazy little kids in the torrents. We saw a herd of zebra racing a herd of wildebeest. They certainly look like they were having fun!

The winds were pretty violent for a while and maybe it was the fact we were just under canvas and not in a sturdier structure, but it really felt like those bad summer storms we often get back in Boston with microbursts. In fact, a tree came down in this storm that blocked the path to our tents for the better part of the next day until it could be cut into pieces and hauled away. When things finally quieted down, Chania came by to check on us and make sure we were ok before dinner. There were still pockets of thunderstorms and rain around after dinner, so our night game drive got cancelled. Dinner tonight was fun as all of us were meant to be out but were in. I had stuffed eggplant, mashed potatoes and carrots and a delicious fudge mousse.

[pault]

The close ups of the cheetah really show the difference in the camera (sorry, I know that isn't what I should have been thinking looking at those shots but I did! ).

 

What a great day out that was, even if it was terminated early.

[michael-ibk]

Awww, how nice you saw Malkia - I saw her when she was still very litte.

[amybatt]

Forgot to add this last night: Video of Malkia with her catch

A bit disturbing as the gazelle is still struggling.

[amybatt]

Thank you, @@pault I'm glad you noticed! I'm extremely happy with this camera and now want another safari to keep using it!

 

@@michael-ibk, one of my coworkers saw Malkia two years ago now when she was still little too, and was thrilled that I could bring back photos of her now and show how good a hunter she is!

[amybatt]

Mara Day Six -- The Best Day Yet

 

Two things I forgot from last night. During dinner the rain picked up again and was pretty heavy for a while. There is the dining area and then a lounge area, two tents connected by a small roof between them and the whole area is lit by multiple lanterns. Someone around the table looked toward the lounge area and saw thousands (quite literally) of flying bugs hovering over the lanterns. Turns out that they were termites, which, when the termite mounds get wet enough like they did in the incessant rain before dinner last night, are released with wings and are attracted to light. It was fascinating and sort of gross all at once.

Also during dinner, someone shouted that there was a cat in the area between the two public tents. One guest yelled "lion" and a staff member quickly corrected it with "genet cat". I neither saw nor got a photo of it because enough people jumped up with cameras and scared it off. But this just goes to show that yes, the wildlife does tend to mingle with the guests here. And that people grossly exaggerate when things get exciting.

Back to today...since it rained so much last night I had next to no hope of a great morning drive. I figured we'd be contending with fog and mud and the cats would be wet and discontented. In reality it turned out to be an excellent morning for us.

Very early on, we came across two of the female Offbeat nomads led by Leia, the older Offbeat female who seems to be taking them under her paw and showing them the ropes. They all looked pretty thin though, so they likely didn't hunt at all last night (and who could blame them in that rain) but they also didn't look like they'd hunt today, as they were headed to their favorite spot up on a bushy hill to bed down for the daylight hours.

We had in our heads again that we should try to find Amani and see if she'd eaten. We had no luck yesterday and guides told David she still hadn't eaten as of late yesterday. So we were cruising cheetah country again with no luck. Then out of nowhere, Kappen spotted a lion quite a ways off, on the open savannah of all places. David checked with his binoculars and it was an Offbeat nomad male trying to dig a warthog out of a hole!

 

 

So we zipped over to that and saw a very muddy young male digging for his breakfast, literally! Males generally do not hunt; the females provide for the pride, so for him to have to do this himself since he has no pride to take care of him at the moment, was sort of a moment of desperation. He gave it a good shot (maybe 15 minutes or so while we were there) but eventually gave up and walked off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We pulled up next to the hole however, and could see the warthog just inside the opening, it wasn't that far off! Neither of our guides could explain why he gave up like that if the warthog was so close. The warthog was breathing heavily though, clearly understanding he'd just escaped becoming lunch.

You can actually see the fur of the warthog here in this next photo, from mid-upper right to lower left, running diagonally right through the middle of this photo. I could have reached in to pet it!

 

 

 

We moved on from that and Kapen stood on the seat as David drove along. I'd come to learn that when Kapen does that, he's only sharpening his already eagle eyes. This man has eyes like I've never seen, he can spot things with his naked eye that most people need a telescope for. David stopped the car and they were scanning the horizon. Far, far, far across the river and up a ways, Kapen saw a lioness "about 10 yards from zebras but they have spotted her." I clearly thought he'd made a mistake with his English. Ten yards? Really??? It turns out that it was the Acacia pride lioness we saw yesterday that had taken down the topi on her own. David said she is an accomplished hunter and likely the dominant female in the Acacia pride. Kapen also spotted about 100 yards away from her, a lone lion cub, made to wait quietly and patiently under cover of a bush. I looked with binoculars and he was sitting there patiently watching his mom.

 

Lone cub waiting for Mom (looooong distance shot):

 

We made our way over to them and found that the second cub was with the lioness. He'd likely gone against his mother's orders and followed her as she stalked the zebra. He was now napping up against her. We pulled up behind them, so I could get the documentary shot of how close the lion got to the zebra. It really was extraordinary. And seriously, Kapen was right on the money from the other side of the river...it was about 10 yards! David said that this same lioness once stalked a warthog on a totally open plain, keeping low and crawling, stopping every time the warthog stopped. That's some skill for a lion. It's pretty typical of cheetah, but not a lion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We left the lioness to sleep off the failed attempt at the zebra. Once she and the cub started to snooze the zebra relaxed but still kept one eye on her.

 

A bird photo along the way. I believe a saddle-billed stork? Kapen really did try to help us like birds the last couple days.

 

 

Along the way we came across a very skittish gazelle-like animal, I believe it's a reedbuck. Notable for the horns that point forward rather than back. Very tough to photograph as it liked to hide and get away from the vehicle:

 

 

 

 

Kapen looking for cheetah:

 

 

Bush breakfast this morning was on an overlook under an umbrella acacia. The spread was pretty much the same as every other morning including my favorite eggy bread. We got settled down and were about halfway through the meal when David heard a jackal barking behind us and said "Leopard". We quickly hopped in the Land Rover, leaving Kapen to watch over our food, and drove higher up so he could look down in the direction of the jackal bark. A few minutes passed and no leopard materialized. I think the plan was to go back and finish breakfast and then go drive slowly through the low brush to find the leopard. But that wasn't meant to be either.

Just as we returned, David got a call on the radio that Amani and her cubs had been spotted and were looking to hunt. We quickly packed our breakfast stuff, chairs, tables, coolers, and took off. She wasn't that far from where we were, less than a 5 minute drive. By the time we got there though, the deed was done. She'd caught, killed and had already tucked into a Thomsons gazelle. Hallelujah! The Offbeat guide who saw the kill happen said the gazelle had been old and slow and practically turned itself over to her rather than put up a chase. All three cats were really tearing into the carcass and I was so relieved she finally got a meal. She'd not eaten since we'd been here, which was evident from the three cats' painfully thin physique. This meal would go far towards remedying that situation. Within a very short timespan, maybe 20 minutes, there was next to nothing left of that Thomsons gazelle and the three cats sauntered their way to a large acacia tree to lie down in the shade. Satisfaction, for cat and aficionado.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But the show wasn't over yet. We went back to the carcass, where about 10 vultures had landed. They had been circling while the cats ate and waited their turn to move on to the gazelle. They made quick work of some of the meat, but then the third act started.

 

 

 

 

The hyenas watch for the vultures overhead and make their way to where they land. We heard much yipping and howling and saw lots of mad running aimlessly as the hyenas tried to figure out where the vultures had landed. About 6 hyenas quickly displaced the vultures, and the alpha female hyena took the head with horns and most of the spine and ribs and ran with it. This was her prize.

 

 

Seeing the dead gazelle's head with those lifeless eyes running around the plain was sort of surreal as if its previous life was over but here it was still running around the savannah. The other hyenas gave chase, one hyena was running with a leg as his reward. There was much hooting and hollering and scrambling but most of them ended up with bits of it. And there ended the life of that gazelle, a drama in three parts.

 

After an exciting and unexpectedly rewarding game drive, we headed back to camp. Lunch today was wonderful, as usual. Couscous, a carrot and cashew salad, green beans with olives and feta and an awesome caramel banana pudding with whipped cream. Very, very good.

We spent most of the siesta packing since the plan was to try and do a night drive tonight after an early dinner.

After a quick drink in the lounge, we headed out at 4:30 with the soul purpose of finding Lucky. David is on the same page as us, so it became a very focused drive. Unfortunately it did not turn up any cub by the name of Lucky. We saw the four sub-adult nomads of the Offbeat pride that we hadn't seen (so now we've seen all 13).

 

 

 

 

 

Then we found Polypoly and White and two older males cubs and two younger cubs (apparently female but it may be too young to tell). Not that I'll ever say no to lions, but after some of the activity we've seen, these sleeping/lying lions were a bit unexciting. But this would not be the last we'd see of this lot of lions.

 

 

 

 

We zipped back to the camp for an early shower and dinner. Dinner tonight was quite good. I had either stuffed pumpkin or butternut squash, it was hard to tell which, but it was delicious, stuffed with a spicy bean and rice mixture, au gratin potatoes, the red cabbage salad I liked the other night and peapods. Dessert was a really refreshing lemon cake.

It rained a bit around dinner time and there were some thunderstorms lingering about, but we still went out in the light rain. If I'm to be honest, I had pretty low expectations for this night drive, thinking maybe we'd see some bush babies, maybe aardvark or aardwolf if we were really lucky. Never in my wildest dreams did I think we'd see what we did.

[mapumbo]

Nice tease, you got me hooked now. Happy for your Amani experience.

[Zubbie15]

Really @@amybatt you're going to leave a cliffhanger like that? What an eventful Safari you've had, some really nice sightings. Was there a small part of you that was sad to have missed the actual hunt by Amani?

[offshorebirder]

Great report @@amybatt - you have lots of suspense built over Lucky's fate, Amani's getting a meal and the night drive surprise.

[amybatt]

@@Zubbie15, yes, I'd really wished we'd been able to see Amani hunt and take down the meal, but by that point too, I think I'd have been happy to see her with a big fat belly no matter how it happened. That she went a week without food was really surprising and concerning, but it's the way that it is. I'd still love to see a cheetah hunt for sure. I realize how much of it is in the timing and luck. We came so close this time on two occasions. Next time, next time...

Edited March 11, 2017 by amybatt

[amybatt]

Mara Day Six Part Two -- The Night Drive

 

And off we went, all four vehicles from Offbeat, heading out in different directions. The drives are done in the same safari vehicles as we use during the day, but the spotter uses a spotlight with a red filter on it, so that the light doesn't blind the animals and make them vulnerable to attack when they can't see. The drivers are also supposed to turn the headlights down when they're driving toward an animal.

Almost as soon as we left camp, Kapen spotted a single lioness who was walking with a mission, very focused and intent. We followed her as her walk turned into a run and we suddenly we found we couldn't keep up on the muddy earth. By the time we got close enough to see what was going on, she'd just caught a Thomsons gazelle, which is really just a snack for a lion but better than nothing. The problem was her sister came barreling in, followed by the four cubs. This was the same set of lions we'd seen right before dinner just lounging about and co-existing, and now the sisters were fighting over the gazelle! There was a bit of a chase and a lot of growling and howling. The lioness who made the kill sat on it. Literally. She covered as much of that gazelle as she could with her body.

 

The start of the scrum:

 

 

She leaned against her greedy sister like I used to against my sister in the back seat of the family car, keeping as much of that back seat for myself as I could. She seemed to be letting the other lioness eat what was sticking out from under her, all the while she was making this very loud purring/growling sound I still can't explain (Was she mad? Happy just to have food? Adoring the attention of her sister?). The greedy lioness ate with abandon, pulling out as much as she could from under her sister's body, with the cubs sitting nearby watching. Any approach they made though, was chased off by growls from the lionesses, so they sat at a respectful distance and watched.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leaning hard, the lioness/hunter protecting her quarry on the left, while the greedy slacker on the right really seemed to get more than she was entitled to!

 

 

 

 

After about 10 minutes, one of the lionesses made a move and the gazelle was split in two, with the one who made the kill finally getting to sit away from the fray and eat what she caught.

 

 

 

 

 

The cubs made an approach and the littlest ones ran to the greedy lioness who gladly shared her part of the gazelle since the cubs were her own.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The two older cubs, the males, belonged to a mother who was out on a date with Frank and Jesse and were just being looked after by these two lionesses, so they had to fight for what they got. One of those males got scraps and didn't seem interested in fighting for himself.

 

 

 

 

It was all incredibly fascinating to see, as I've never seen lions in such a situation. And if the game ride ended there, I'd have been thrilled. But there was more.

We saw some cute little springhares which look like mini kangaroos jumping around. We saw a white tailed mongoose, which is like a large skunk. But the coolest thing was seeing two African wild cats, which look like a domestic cat, sort of like my last cat Morley (here in my profile photo). It was very cool and I really would have been fooled thinking those cats were really wild! I knew African wild cats were around here, but didn't even have them on my wishlist because I thought the chances were so slim of seeing them. The first we saw was just slinking through some grass, so I took a quick photo just to prove it happened. Then further on we happened upon one just resting in the grass, very chill, very calm. I was beyond psyched at this point.

 

My first shot of the African wild cat, just to prove I saw one:

 

But this is far better:

 

 

 

The last sighting was a pair of eyes high in an acacia tree and it was my sighting! I called out the lit eyes at the top of the tree. At first David thought it an eagle, but on closer inspection he thought it might be a leopard, but getting even closer he determined it was a genet cat, which is what came through the dining tent last night. I got a look through my camera and hopefully at least a documentary photograph of it.

 

 

A couple of times we stopped the car, shut off the lights and just listened. The inky black night settled in and the frogs and the insects put on a concert of their own for us. Appreciating the millions more stars we see here and the incredible magic that takes place when the sun goes down, we considered ourselves lucky to have been in the right place at the right time for so many unique sightings this safari. It was starting to rain once again, and actually had been raining off an on for most of the ride, but we kept the windows open and hardly even noticed. What was even more amazing is that we were back at camp in less than 10 minutes, so all this took place right outside Offbeat Mara Camp. So if that isn't a testimonial for Trip Advisor, I don't know what is....

[pomkiwi]

@@amybatt I think we may have been in Kenya for some of the same days and experiencing the weather from a few miles apart. Really enjoying the report and your new camera. I think that post #31 includes some of the least flattering lion shots ever (the digging for warthog) and one of the loveliest - the cub leaning against the adult.

Edited March 11, 2017 by pomkiwi

[dlo]

Some very good photos @@amybatt and you sure have packed in a lot of good sightings in a short safari!

[amybatt]

@@pomkiwi, we were there 17th-23rd Feb. It's a shame I didn't coordinate better, because I'd have liked to meet you and see Jackson again too!

 

@@dlo, thank you! I think that's why I'm so over the moon with this safari, we really hit it well with unique (to me anyway) sightings. Not that there's anything wrong with just watching lions sleep, I'd do that for days, but that we got so much activity I'd not seen before really made it a 5-star experience in my book.

[amybatt]

Mara Day 7 -- Is the Mara closed today?

 

As I write this, I'm sitting in a hotel bathrobe at the Eka Hotel in Nairobi, having just scoffed down a veggie burger and onion rings and drinking my last Stoney Tangawizi on Kenyan soil. Yes, we are back to reality, back in Nairobi. We partook in our first shower in two weeks that doesn't involve a bucket being lifted to give us water pressure or dodging the mushrooms growing in the tile. But elegant waterfall shower aside, this trip has been outstanding. I felt like I left nothing on the table, no regrets, no wishing for a second chance. This is how I wanted to do the Mara. And it feels amazing. If only it wasn't over.

Last night I couldn't get to sleep. The excitement of that night game drive wound me up so tight I wished I could go back out. One simple thing that made it so obvious how incredible the cats are, all the wildlife out there is, for that matter, is that the guides in all the vehicles turned off both their headlights and the filtered spotlights a few times, so we could just sit in the black of night and listen. We were completely unable to see, yet the cats can and do hunt regularly. This is their preferred hour, this time after dark. It's eye-opening.

I dozed off and on until about 4 a.m. and then the lions started. They were close. It felt as if they were right on our deck. I found out later they were on the other side of the trees, maybe 100 yards from our tent. They roared for the better part of 40 minutes. Another set of lions was off in the distance doing the reply. What an absolutely incredible way to wake up on our last morning. Well, that and our Askari bringing our french press and coffee at 6 a.m. I will miss his melodic "goooood mornnnning" every day to get us up.

We packed everything up because we wanted one more early game ride before we flew out to Nairobi. Early morning game rides are my passion. I've never missed one, and never plan to. So off we went at 6:30 with David and Kapen one more time. Unfortunately it seemed as though the Mara was closed today and no one told us. Practically no game was out, either predator or prey, everywhere we looked was just empty vastness. Regardless, we got to see another beautiful sunrise. Every day we were there had a completely different sunrise and sunset. To sit and watch is one of nature's gifts. If you've never spent the time doing it, sit and watch the sunrise. It happens so fast but every one is different and each is beautiful in its own way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

African fish eagle, very similar to the American bald eagle:

 

We all had as a goal finding Lucky. All four Offbeat vehicles were out scouring Offbeat pride territory for the little guy with no luck at all. At one point Kapen spotted three light beige dots on the opposite side of the valley, almost to the crest of the hill. Completely unreachable by vehicle, that was Frank and Jesse, the pride males, and the mother of the two young male cubs we saw in the lion fight last night. They were on a date last night (quite literally, she left the male cubs with her sisters to go cavort with the pride males!) and were sleeping it off up there out of reach. Just below them though, we found the entire set of Offbeat nomad lions, all 13, heading into the hills to sleep the day away. So we had officially seen all of the Offbeat lions. All the nomads had big round bellies, so they'd made a kill somewhere in the night.

 

 

We returned to camp and said goodbye to David and Kapen. They were incredible and we both got a long with them so well. I'd definitely go out on safari with them again.

We ate breakfast in camp for once, and they made a nice omelet with toast, fresh fruit and homemade jam made of passion fruit and something called a tree tomato. I loved that jam.

A driver named Stanley drove us to the airstrip and Kapen came along for the ride. And wouldn't you know it, he found five lions of the Acacia pride with a wildebeest kill deep in some bushes along the way. This brings our total unique cat count up to 56 for the 6 days in the Mara. That's damn impressive.

 

Our last lions in the Mara:

 

So off we went on Safarilink back to Nairobi. I sobbed as we lifted off from the Mara, as I usually do, and I'm not sappy like that. I love it there and am already wondering what it will take to return.

Our driver picked us up in Nairobi and drove us to Karen Blixen Restaurant in Karen for lunch. We split Kachos (Kenyan nachos, no stretch there) and I had sweet chili peppers over rice and a Daiwa (vodka, honey, lime and ginger over ice). Then it was off to Sheldricks Wildlife Trust for the private elephant visit. Yes, again.

[amybatt]

Nairobi and David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, then homeward bound

 

We met with Edwin the head keeper first and signed the waivers and then he gave us his safety speech, how to act and interact with the elephants. We were in the mudbath area again. And in they came. Like before, Edwin called out their names as they came running in and the keepers had the bottles ready for them. Each baby got their milk from their respective keeper before it played in the mud. When all the baby had finished their bottles, we were allowed to interact, play with, pat and enjoy the elephants. I had a mission to seek out as many of mine as I could.

 

Elephants enter for the private visit:

 

They seem to know right who to go to for their bottles:

 

My boy Ndotto!

 

Tamiyoi (another of my fosters) checks out Kim. Kim's still a little uncertain at this point..

 

 

Joto (I think!):

 

Tamiyoi seemed to take an interest in both Kim and me first. That same inquisitive trunk was all over us. I found Ndotto, who really wanted nothing to do with me at all after our love affair last year! Then I found Mbegu who has gotten so big in a year! She's so pretty and very stoic. I expect she'll have moved on to the next step of integration the next time I come to Kenya. She's 3 1/2 now, the oldest in the herd and the mini-matriarch. She's started to train another female elephant to fill her shoes, which is really an interesting social skill if you ask me.

 

Me and Mbegu:

 

 

 

Never turn your back on a mud bath...

 

 

Doing it on their own:

 

 

I found Luggard, one of my more recent fosters, who was shot in the knee by poachers. He's slower than the rest and he limps and will likely never be able to keep up with a herd. That's just so wrong.

 

My boy Luggard:

There's a new arrival at the orphanage that is still too unstable to give a name and foster out. He was stuck in a snare and has an almost complete amputation of his trunk. They've strived to stitch it back up but they're unsure how that will work. I saw him sleeping and he was snoring so loudly, mainly because most of the air goes out of the open wound at the middle of his trunk. So incredibly sad.

I got a ton of photos as Patrick our driver and Edwin the keeper took a bunch of photos. I stood in the middle of them and got dusted by one elephant (Ndotto I believe!) and slapped in the back with mud by another. Coupled with the bunch of knee-level trunk hugs I got, I was filthy. I forgot how muddy and dirty they get! It was just so cool to be there alone with 25 babies. It was awesome. And I mean that in the "full of awe" way. Even the second time around, they are still amazing creatures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edwin laughed at me and declared "you have a herd" when I listed off all that I've fostered for myself (ten!) and the three that I have fostered as gifts. He helped me make sure that I saw them all personally. A few (Mwashoti, Tusuja, Alamya) have graduated from the nursery since last year and are now one step closer to living wild.

 

I got to see Maxwell the rhino this time. Last year he was hiding and was hard to see. He's genetically blind and cannot live on his own, so he'll be taken care of here for the rest of his life. They tried surgeries to help him but they just didn't work. The good news is that rhinos from the Nairobi National Park come and visit him, which is really cool if you think about it.

 

 

 

We then killed an hour looking at all of our photos while waiting for the foster parent visit. This is not as hands on as the private visit but still fun. The funniest part is when they all come running in in little packs from the park, heading to their bedrooms and their last bottle of the day. It's so funny to watch how excited they are, trunks swinging.

I nearly lost complete control of my emotions though when Luggard came in. He is so slow, he's on his own because he can't keep up and his knee looks so hurt. That's just so unfair that he has to live like that. I know he's in the best place now and they'll take excellent care of him, but it makes me cry. And not much does. Edwin says though that he is doing really well and seems not to be in any pain. He has a good time with his fellow orphans and manages to frolic and play just as much as they do.

Once all the elephants are in their bedrooms, visitors can walk and see them one on one. Almost all of them were eating, either hay or Lucerne or kibble. None seemed terribly interested in seeing us. I took some photos and talked to some keepers. I try to thank all the keepers for what they do for the elephants, it's not an easy job and they sacrifice a lot. I talked to Luggard's keeper and I asked what his personality is like. He told me he loves to be scratched. And he went to scratch his hip and his legs and Luggard gets all excited and starts to flutter his ears. It's so cute. He's in good hands there. They love him.

 

Ndotto:

 

 

Kalelai, who is missing her tail:

 

Joto:

 

Luggard:

 

 

We visited with Kiko the giraffe too, who is MASSIVE now. He used to still fit in the door of his enclosure but now he has to duck. He came over and said hi to us and I gave him a good neck scratch. What a beautiful creature.

 

Kiko:

 

Warthogs who wander freely:

 

When we'd had our fill of elephants (is that even possible?), we went back to Patrick and decided we'd get a day room at the Eka Hotel, where I usually spend my first night here. We both were filthy (how did I get mud in my ear?) and didn't want to fly home like that. They ended up charging us the overnight price, which we split, because it was that worth it to have a shower. We ordered room service and would leave for the airport at 9 p.m. for the midnight flight home.

I can't believe this is over. I've been planning and dreaming of this since May of last year. It far exceeded my expectations and I felt I scratched the itch I've had for the last year. I think the only way to get over this feeling of sadness as I leave is to plan another....

[AKR1]

Amy,

 

Excellent report and lovely pictures. You really have upped your picture IQ with the RX-100 III. It's truly an amazing all-in one bridge camera. Did you use any filters and also were these pictures shot in RAW and processed later or are they JPEGs right out of the camera? After advicing you on this purchase i went out and bought one myself. I find most of my pictures are now taken with this 1" sensor camera along with its little brother, the RX-100 V. While full frame DSLR and fast lenses will definitely out perform a 1" sensor especially in challenging lighting or fast moving animals, the trade off in terms of weight and $ makes this camera very tempting. And compared to APS-C sensor DSLRs used with kit lenses it more than hold its own. Sony rules the 1" sensor market. Shooting in RAW and post processing definitely helps.

 

Thanks for sharing your both your trip reports.

[Towlersonsafari]

what a privelege to be amongst those ellies @@amybatt

[Double Dare]

Thanks for the report! Any update on Lucky?

[amybatt]

@@AKR1, those are untouched JPGs right out of the camera. I didn't shoot RAW this time, although I kicked it around, I'm just not skilled in Lightshop yet to do anything I'd be comfortable with. I'm really pleased with the camera, so thank you for recommending it!! Now I need another trip to use it on!

 

@@Towlersonsafari, privilege indeed. I love those babies and all that DSWT does for them.

 

@@Double Dare, I have two inquiries out to folks I know on Facebook who are headed to Offbeat, waiting for them to return with hopefully an update on Lucky and on Rana the leopard. Lucky had disappeared once before for several days and then resurfaced, so hopefully that will happen again!

[amybatt]

At last, the Lucky update I'd been waiting for. From a photographer friend of mine, who just returned from Offbeat Mara with David and Kapen:

 

 

No leopard sightings in the Conservancy unfortunately but Lucky is fit and well and starting to throw his weight around with his cousins especially the 2 very young ones.

 

[pault]

Really interesting lion behaviour on the night drive, especially that the lioness with the kill let her sister with the cubs feed, but wouldn't let her have it. Two conflicting impulses I guess.

 

Well that was a quality few days in the Mara. Seems like Mara North is swinging this year.

[Kitsafari]

that was such fun reading your TR, bringing back wonderful memories of Mara! you had great cat sightings, and glad to know Lucky is well and bullying others!

[Botswanadreams]

I think the only way to get over this feeling of sadness as I leave is to plan another....

 

Oh Amy I know this feeling very well. You have to plan your next exciting safari now. You can believe me if you are getting older this feeling is getting stronger and you start the planning of your next trip during the time waiting of the start of your already booked trip.

Thanks so much for your trip reports and your excellent pics. You had very big luck with both Rwanda and Kenya. Congratulation.

[amybatt]

@@pault yes, it was very interesting watch that lion interaction play out, even more so because we'd just seen them all peacefully coexisting as lazy cats with nothing to do just before dinner. Also interesting how the greedy sister would let her own cubs feed but not the cubs they were babysitting for the night. But yes, Mara North was very very generous with its sightings!

 

@@Kitsafari thanks for reading along! We were both glad to hear Lucky returned. Given his pattern of throwing his weight around maybe he stands a good chance of survival. He seems to have beaten some odds so far.

 

@@Botswanadreams I'm already in planning phases, I think, as every other destination I had in mind for travel this autumn is coming up with complications. I might just go back to Africa instead! Thank you for the compliments and for reading along!