Dawn and Al's Epic African Safari - Part 1 - Kenya

[Dawnvip]

Thanks @Pamshelton3932 I agree with you about the chimps.

[Dawnvip]

We arrived back at camp around 12:30. Just enough time to wash up before lunch. The couple from New Zealand were gone to the airstrip for their flight down to the Mara and two new groups from California had just arrived. After introductions and a lovely lunch we had some free time to watch the birds around camp and animals around the watering hole. A troop of baboons went by before the skies opened up again, so we took the opportunity to go back to the tent for a nap. Afternoon Nature walk was once again cancelled due to rain and mud. 

 

 

[Dawnvip]

We were joined by a couple from San Diego for the evening game drive. No rain, which was a plus, but it was very slippy-slidy so slow going. We saw three different herds of elephants, all with babies.

 

 

 

Further along, we came across Hammerkop, Tawny Eagle, Secretary bird and Ostrich. 

 

 

[Dawnvip]

We came across the Porini pride - 12 cats in attendance this time - so spent some time with them before heading back to camp. 

 

It was obvious the lions were in good shape and had eaten recently, but there were no signs of what the meal could have been.

 

As the afternoon came to a close we were blessed with clearing skies enough to see Mt Kenya (sorry no photo). We headed back to camp for a beer around the campfire before a hot shower and delicious dinner.

 

Overall, this was an excellent stay and we would love to go back. David, the camp manager, made sure we had enjoyed ourselves and suggested September next time to avoid the cold and rain. This night would be our last at Ol Pejeta because the next morning we were scheduled to transfer to Lake Nakuru.

[shouldbewriting]

Enjoying very much and look forward to more. Some good info for the trip I’m starting to plan for next year. 

[Dawnvip]

June 6: Early start again with 6 AM coffee wake-up. We had breakfast before saying our good-bye's and heading to the gate to meet Thomas. During our drive out to the gate we saw zebra, buffalo, antelope, giraffe, elephants, and hyenas and jackals at a kill.

 

A quick change of vehicles over to our Aardwolf Land Cruiser and we were off. It was a long drive down to Lake Nakuru. Slow going dirt roads turned to mud with all the rain. Nice landscape though, and we passed across the great rift valley along the way. 

 

Nakuru town was crazy - exactly how one would expect small town Africa to be: full of people, cars, mud, tuk tuks, and boda boda. Once inside Lake Nakuru Park, it was still a half hour drive to get to Sopa Lodge. Apparently the water table has risen quite a lot over the last few years, completely changing the salt lake to brackish. No flamingoes, and even the lakeside road and ranger station were submerged by the rising water. 

 

Checked in to Sopa and found ourselves with a nice, clean room and huge bathroom. We then enjoyed a late lunch on the balcony overlooking the lake. 

[Dawnvip]

We met Thomas at 4 pm for an afternoon game drive. We saw zebra, gazelle, waterbuck, buffalo, Rothschild giraffe and stopped to check out a waterfall.

 

 

There were only a couple other vehicles that we saw, so really felt like we had the park to ourselves. We heard on the radio that someone was stuck in the mud so we went to go help them out. A family from Hawaii in a Land Cruiser were stuck up to the axles in mud. No traction at all, even with the wheel hubs locked. Oddly enough, none of the vehicles were equipped with winches, so we tried pushing with our truck and then pulling with a cable hooked up to the vehicle. Several other safari vehicles showed up to help but no luck. And, of course, it started raining again. 

 

 

After about 2 hours of trying, we just loaded the family into our vehicle and headed back to the lodge (they were staying at Sopa too). As it was getting dark, we saw two owls hunting during the ride back. The guides dropped us off and went back with a grader to pull the vehicle out. We had a nice hot shower and then went to the dining room for dinner.  We only had the one night at Sopa because it was a transition day (breaking up the drive) down to the Mara. 

[Dawnvip]

June 7: It was another 6 AM wake up and we were down to the dining room for 6:30 breakfast. We were all packed and ready to go but the restaurant was so slow that we didn't get on the road until 8 AM. Making our way out of the park we came across more Rothschild giraffe, dik dik and zebra.

 

 

The drive from Lake Nakuru to the Mara's Musiara gate was a long and bumpy ride. Thomas took a "short cut" which cut about 100 km off the distance, but the road was under construction and made for some seriously slow going. We stopped at the half-way town of Narok to gas up and go to the loo, and then carried on. It was nice to see all the kids along the way in their school uniforms, waving at us as we passed by. In all, it took almost 7 hours to get from Lake Nakuru to the Mara gate. Once again, we found the countryside very picturesque, especially as it opened up to grasslands and rolling hillside.

 

 

Once inside the Mara gate it was another 45 minutes to get to our camp, Hammerkop Migration Camp. This camp is directly on the Mara River, at an oxbow of the river, and is very secluded. Its a beautiful spot, with lots of trees and shrubs for birds, views of the river from all directions, and well laid out paths to the common areas. With only 7 tents we were expecting an intimate experience and we were not disappointed. Turns out we were the only guests for the 3 nights we had booked there!! We had our pick of tents, so of course we picked the one with the best view (#5) of the river.

 

 

The camp manager Carmen met with us over a late lunch to give us a run-down of camp. We had 2 servers, 2 Masai guards, a chef and our driver all looking after us! Since Thomas had been driving all day (and us bumping along as well) we decided to go for a nature walk with the Masai instead of a game drive. The walk was a great treat after sitting all day, and we were definitely missing the exercise.

 

Just a short walk down the river from camp we came across hippos and a huge Nile crocodile.

 

 

We watched the hippos for a while but the croc went into the water as soon as he heard us. There were also lots of birds and we could hear zebra but didn't any down at the water. As the sun started going down we walked back to camp to enjoy a couple of sundowners and some great conversations around the campfire.

 

Edited July 23, 2018 by Dawnvip
adding text

[Dawnvip]

June 8: 6 AM wake up after a great sleep. We did hear hippos grunting and other animals skittering around through the night, but it wasn't noisy enough to keep us awake. (We were in the jungles of Thailand several years ago and that was NOISY!) The skies were clear and it looked like a glorious day to be out in the Mara.

 

Coffee was brought at 6, and we were ready to hit the game trail with Thomas and our Masai spotter Pasha at 6:30. What a beautiful area the Mara is. Such huge and open savannah, dotted with trees and a few streams here and there. The grass was quite tall and still green at this time of year so you really had to look hard to see the game. Pasha was an excellent spotter and saw animals that we would have totally missed. Very few (if any) other vehicles around so we felt like we had the whole place to ourselves. The closest camp to Hammerkop is Little Governor's, up river about 15 km. 

 

We found a herd of cape buffalo having a bit of a stand off with two male lions. The buffalo were chasing the lions but if they got too close, the lions would turn and chase the buffalo. It was really interesting behavior and something I had never even heard of before. This back and forth between buffalo and lions went on for over a half hour, and we figured the lions had probably tried hunting one of the buffalo. Then we saw some hyena close by and decided the lions had maybe made a kill. 

 

 

We carried on our way and spotted ostrich, gazelle, eland, topi, elephants and Masai giraffe. There were also mongoose darting out from the grass in front of us but were way too quick for me to capture with my camera. We also had to cross several streams, and were very glad we had chosen a land cruiser for this trip. There was no way a mini-bus would have survived.

 

[Dawnvip]

We found an absolutely beautiful cheetah and spent some time with her before starting on our way back to camp.

 

On our way back we found the two male lions again, this time having a stand off with 6 lioness and cubs. They were watching each other very closely. As we drove away we found 6 more lions in and under a tree so of course we stopped and stayed to watch them for awhile. I can't believe how close we got to some of these animals. Truly amazing and special encounters, all to ourselves with no one else around.

 

 

We finally made it back to camp at noon, missing breakfast completely due to all the excellent game-watching, so we had "brunch" overlooking the river and watched the hippos float by.

 

One hippo, probably a young male, spent a lot of his time in a back eddy just in front of our tent. We named him "Bob" (because he literally just bobbed up and down in the same spot all day). We spent a relaxing few hours after brunch sitting outside our tent watching Bob and all the birds in the area before getting ready for the afternoon game drive.

[Atdahl]

Great report @Dawnvip with some great pictures.  Looking forward to more reading .

 

Alan

[Dawnvip]

Thanks for reading along! @Atdahl  I was worried that my lens choice would be too limiting, but we were so close to the animals that there were only 2 instances where I wished I had more zoom (more about this as we get to the Serengeti).

Dawn

[Dawnvip]

We left camp for our afternoon game drive at 4 PM. This turned into a bit of a birding drive as we saw ground hornbills, lilac breasted roller, crowned crane and pied kingfisher.

 

 

A little later on, we ended up at a large hippo pool. There were many hippos, grunting and splashing around so we stayed for a bit to watch. I like to think of it as hippo soup.

 

 

As the sun started setting, we headed for camp. Along the way there was a large herd of elephant, a herd of gazelles settling in for the night, and so much more. Back at camp around 7:30 it started drizzling rain. We sat around the campfire anyways, enjoyed a few drinks and chatted with the camp staff before dinner. Really good dinner again, including butternut soup that was excellent!  We had an evening shower and then it was off to sleep.

 

I will include the pics I have here of Hammerkop's dining area, campfire area and the interesting wood-fired boiler that allowed us to have hot water from 6 AM to midnight.

 

[pault]

"Bob" - well named!

[Dawnvip]

June 9: It rained again during the night but we were warm and dry in our awesome tent. As usual, we were up at 6 AM and ready hit the game trail by 6:30. Thomas and Pasha were ready and waiting, and had thoughtfully brought a picnic breakfast this time as it was clear to all that we were more interested in seeing animals than eating.

 

We were happy with all our sighting to date, but had not seen any leopards so we decided to go look for this elusive cat. Pasha had a good idea where one should be found so we headed that way. First sighting of the morning was a secretary bird.

 

 

Instead of a leopard, we found 6 lions near the Karibu crossing. These poor cats weren't looking very well, really skinny and a few injuries to boot. We spent some time with them while Thomas called into the ranger station to give directions. We were happy to hear that the rangers would come check the situation out and, if needed, shoot a buffalo for the pride and provide vet services. I wanted to stick around for THAT but with no ETA we decided that our time would be better spent carrying on.

 

 

 

We carried on for awhile before stopping out on the plains for breakfast. I caught this photo of Thomas and Pasha in a hushed conversation. Little did we know they were plotting something special for us. 

 

 

 

As the morning progressed, we saw all the usual suspects of elephants, giraffe, gazelle and zebra.

 

Pasha's excellent eye caught this monitor lizard:

 

And he saw these two big guys snoozing away the morning.  How Pasha saw them I will never know, they were completely hidden by the tall grass.

 

 

Remember all that rain from last night? Well the safari track low spots were really muddy and we got stuck in a muddy spot for a good 15 min before finally breaking free. Once again we were thankful that we had a great driver and chosen the land cruiser over mini bus.

 

Other sighting on this drive included crowned crane, topi, giraffe and hyena. Really, the only thing we were missing was the leopard. By noon we were close to camp and were shown the surprise: pizza and beer lunch beside the river! 

 

 

Beautiful setting, cold beer and tasty food; what else could you ask for? We were in heaven.

After lunch we did a bit of a nature walk along the water to see the hippos and crocodiles again.

 

This guy was about 18 feet long:

 

 

 

We also caught sight of our tent from the other side of the river:

 

 

 

And some great views once you get out from under the canopy of trees lining the river:

 

 

 

Our evening game drive was spent visiting elephants in the marsh (there is a baby in there too if you can spot him):

 

 

 

And then we were given another surprise: the camp staff had set up sundowners for the evening out on the plain. This was to be our last night at Hammerkop Camp and in the Mara, so we were being seen off in style. This was a touching and a wonderful end to an amazing stay!!

 

 

Edited July 25, 2018 by Dawnvip

[Dawnvip]

June 10: We were up at 6 AM to finish packing, have breakfast and say our goodbyes to Hammerkop. We were on the trail by 7:15, heading for the Issibania border crossing and then on to the Serengeti. We knew this was going to be a long day, but had no idea how long it would turn out to be.

 

15 min after leaving Hammerkop, we were stuck in the mud. And we were stuck good. There was no way to get out as we were high-centered and there was no traction with all the mud. Thomas got on the radio and the crew from Hammerkop came with their truck to try and pull us out with no luck. Calls to other camps were made to find a tractor which could pull us out or the off chance there was someone else heading to the border we could hitch a ride with. No elephants nearby were willing to help. 

 

At 11:40 the big truck from Little Governor's Camp that hauls the hot air balloons around showed up to pull us out. 

 

 

 

Two attempts pulling from the front were unsuccessful, so the truck circled around to the back of our vehicle and promptly got stuck itself.

 

 

 

Now with both vehicles stuck in the middle of the Mara, we were getting a bit worried. Not for our safety, but worried how we were supposed to carry on with the safari. Hammerkop offered to bring us back to their camp for the night, and we could try for the border again tomorrow. Of course this would only be possible if our vehicle could get free. Discussions back and forth, ideas floated and discarded, more calls were made and eventually the tractor from Governor's Camp showed up and pulled us out in about 2 minutes. (1:55 PM)

 

Now the race was on. The decision was made to head to the border and meet our new guide Steven in Tanzania. Once outside the Mara gate, we made pretty good time until the clutch started smoking going up a long, steep hill. We had to stop and make sure there was no fire. 

 

Once the clutch cooled down we carried on. The roads were bumpy, reeeeeealy bumpy:  dirt roads all the way with washboards and washouts everywhere along the route. Speaking of washouts, we made it to a bridge which took special care in crossing:

 

 

Yes, apparently there is a bridge under all that water. Probably crocodiles under that water too, waiting for some hapless Canadian safari-goers to tempt fate. 

 

We crossed the river, and kept going to the border. Four hours after getting unstuck, we finally made it to Issebania and the border crossing. Luckily the border was not busy at all so we had no problem getting our passports stamped and finding our new guide Steven. We were told that the roads in Tanzania weren't as bad as in Kenya and that we'd be at the Serengeti by 9:30 PM. 

 

Allan and I figured that if a 6.5 hour delay was the worst thing that happened to us, we were getting off pretty easy. No injuries, no broken cameras, no getting eaten by crocodiles, so its all good right? 

 

We're now in Tanzania and so this narrative must shift to part 2! 

[Zubbie15]

After reading your Tanzania post I realized I hadn’t gotten to the end of this section.  Some really interesting wildlife sightings, and some fun with the mud!  I’m surprised the rangers would shoot a buffalo to help out the lions, it seems not to fit with my idea of a wildnerness area letting nature take its course.  Was there any indication of how common that practice is?  

[Dawnvip]

@Zubbie15 I don't think its very common at all for the rangers to shoot a buffalo.  Its my understanding that they would only do that in dire circumstances, and I also got the impression that the big cats got more attention than some of the other animals. Those lions were in pretty bad shape though, and a starving animal is a dangerous animal.

[serendipityntravel]

What an adventure!

 

In my 15 or so years of visiting the Mara, I have never heard of an animal being killed to feed another animal.  I asked several people associated with the Mara about this and they were surprised to hear it.  looks like your driver was pulling a good one on you! Lol.

 

Vet services are provided only when needed, but killing any animal for food in a National Park, is against the law.  It is a national park and not a zoo!

 

Looking forward to Tanzania! 

[Dawnvip]

You may be right @serendipityntravel. Our driver may have been trying to alleviate our worry for those starving lions. 

[Marks]

It looks like you've pulled off an ambitious itinerary without a hitch! The little eles are probably my favorite so far, but I can see that I've got plenty of catching-up left to do.