KENYA FIRST TIME - AMBOSELI AND MARA

[chui71]

The title is not very artistic, but since I was in  KENYA 3 times, I thought this to be a practical one  , also considering that in future I could report the other two trips too.

It was the beginning of May 2014 and I was there with a friend. We spent 1 night in Amboseli and 5 nights in Masai Mara.

I knew it was rainy season, but to be honest we only got a short (but strong) rain shower during the all trip.

In the Mara there was no migrations but on the other side there were also very few tourists.

It was the norm to drive medium till long distances without seeing anybody.

At the sightings we were usually alone or with just another vehicle. Only 2 times we were 4 vehicles at a sighting. 

We arrived in Nairobi in the morning, we found our guide at the airport and we headed straight to Amboseli.

Let's start with some pics I took on the way to Amboseli.

 

 

We arrived at camp before lunch, we checked in, ate something and went out for our afternoon game drive.

 

Different Tuskers in reverse size order

 

a crowned crane

 

and a far cheetah

 

Of course the main attraction of Amboseli are the Ellies

 

 

 

 

 

Like everybody I wished to have a classical shot of the Ellies with the Kilimanjaro in the background.

Unluckily the clouds didn't permit me to see the snow capped summit....

 

We directed our attention where there was a little bit more action......

 

On the way to the lodge we saw a black backed jackal

 

We reached the lodge, we ate and then went to bed. We weren't sleeping properly since more than 30 hours and the day after  the plan was  to wake up early,   have an early morning drive and than reach Masai Mara for an afternoon game drive. A long day for a long journey.

See you tomorrow morning....

 

 

 

 

Edited May 11, 2020 by chui71

[chui71]

DAY 2 Amboseli Morning Game Drive

 

We woke up early, packed our stuff and went for a short morning drive before heading to Mara.

The first thing we saw was a lonely secretary bird.

 

 

After few seconds 2 birds appeared from above and started to dive bomb against the secretary bird....Their eggs or small ones must have been close and they feared the worst for them....

I actually forgot to say that I'm a predator lover and a very bad birder, so if somebody wants to add the name of the two assaulting birds, I will appreciate it 

 

As fast as they appeared they disappeared. From the point of the first assault the secretary bird moved  just a few meters, but perhaps it was enough. 

 

 

we got the chance to see a bigger bird....

 

Far away we saw some orixes. The pic is very bad but they are the only orixes of my life   

 

 

we said goodbye to a grant gazelle and then went for the Mara.

 

Now maybe you want to hear that our transfer to the Mara was uneventful and you want to see the first pics of our afternoon game drive....but we got a little bit different story.

To drive from Amboseli to Mara you have to go trough Nairobi. In Nairobi ring there was a a traffic jam. while driving very slowly we came upon a police road block. One policeman started talking to our driver in swahili. Suddenly our driver sprinted the car to run away. The policeman tried to stop us slamming the headlight of the vehicle with his cosh, but when he realized we were running away  he ran after us and slammed the window of my friend's seat. Our driver kept going and soon we were out of his reach. 

 

 

So we had to go to the Tour Operator's office to change the vehicle.

We lost a couple of hours because of the detour and the vehicle's change. 

And now, only from this point,  you can hear from me that the drive to Mara was uneventful .

We never knew what caused our guide's reaction. We asked him but the answer was vague so we didn't insist. 

In my opinion the policeman tried to bribe and the guide ran away.

The boss at the office wasn't angry with our guide, so maybe he acted properly  or maybe we are still wanted in Kenya .

We arrived at Mara at around 4 pm and we went straight to have our first drive.

Till soon....

 

 

 

 

Edited May 8, 2020 by chui71

[Kitsafari]

wow what an escapade in Nairobi! that sounds like the most heart-stopping thing of the trip!

 

May I ask how long the drive was from amboseli to the Mara (minus the detour back to the TO office to change the mini-van)?   

[chui71]

5 hours ago, Kitsafari said:

wow what an escapade in Nairobi! that sounds like the most heart-stopping thing of the trip!

 

May I ask how long the drive was from amboseli to the Mara (minus the detour back to the TO office to change the mini-van)?   

 

Luckily it wasn't the most heart-stopping thing  since we got some nice sightings at Mara. . 

During the all action  I saw that no one of the policemen had a gun, so I wasn't too worried. 

Unfortunately i don't know exactly how much time we lost, but I would say it will take around 7 hours.

 

Edited May 9, 2020 by chui71

[chui71]

MASAI MARA AFTERNOON GAME DRIVE DAY 2  (BUT DAY 1 IN MARA).

 

We entered Masai Mara at around 4 pm and we were welcomed from a herd o buffalos.

 

 

We drove a little furher till we were sorrounded by the herd

 

In the meanwhile a mother Elly and a calf passed by...

 

we stayed a little bit more with the buffalos (we were the only vehicle and after spending  many hours driving we wanted to enjoy the silence and the sounds of nature)

 

We left the buffalos and we met a black rhinos family 

The mother was very protective and as it has to be by black rhinos, the baby always stays behind the mother (unlike white rhinos where the baby always stays in the front)

 

 

A rhino with 3 ears 

 

 

That was time to leave. Given that at the time there were around 30 rhinos in the Mara, we got to see the 10%, not bad. I actually don't care too much about statistics so what really made me happy It was the fact that was the first time I got the chance to see how protective black rhinos are compared to the white ones.

Before reaching the lodge we met a Hammerkop and a Bateleur eagle

 

Our first Mara sunset

 

 

See you tomorrow for  our first Masai Mara's morning drive......

 

 

Edited May 9, 2020 by chui71

[Biko]

@chui71 Thanks for taking us to the Mara, see you tomorrow!

[mtanenbaum]

Enjoying your trip report--although a bit freaked out by the police incident! 

[chui71]

MASAI MARA GAME MORNING DRIVE DAY 3

 

We decided to split the day with a morning drive and an afternoon drive.

We left the lodge quite early . 

The landscape was nice and we found immediatly some  plain game (very rare at Mara ).

 

 

Of course we were not in the Mara to see only plain game...I mean, I don't watch The Lion King with my daughters only to see gazelles, gnu and giraffes . We also wanted to see the famous Mara lions....so here we are...

 

We stayed a while with this lioness. She was intensively looking in the same directions for some time, so we moved to see what was going on there...

 

Ah she was looking at her pride. A quite big one. A dozen of lions of different sex and age

 

They were moving slowly

 

Okay, now I can tell my daughters that Nala and Simba really exist, but I now I need the prooves that also Mufasa and Scar exist before Walt Disney has to defend himself in a law court . We tried to locate them, but they were not with the pride....We searched them for a while and luckily for Walt Disney we found them sleeping in the long grass....

 

 

We left the pride since we felt the urge to see some more plain game .....

 

 

.........and above all some peaceful zebras

 

 

We could now go back to the lodge. We saved Walt Disney and our mission was accomplished.

We will be back in the afternoon...

 

 

 

Edited May 10, 2020 by chui71

[chui71]

MASAI MARA AFTERNOON GAME DRIVE DAY 3

 

We drove some time in the reserve and we enjoyed the nice landscapes and their inhabitants....

 

 

 

And since we are in lions land. some lions....

 

 

We saw a warthog quite far, the lions looked at him a little bit but they weren't interested in it. Maybe too far or too clear to start a hunt or just too lazy and not hungry at all.and then we got the only one rain shower of the rainy season ....

 

we left the place to go the lodge and we drove out of the storm, just to see some more mammals before the end of our drive

 

 

The drive was over.

We got now enough prooves that Mara is really a lions land.

Tomorrow we will have a full day at Mara, so let's see if we can see some other predators or with a lot of luck some predators  in action....

 

Edited May 12, 2020 by chui71

[chui71]

MASAI MARA FULL DAY 4

 

Today we will have a full day at Mara. We want to reach the Mara river and have a safari close to it.

I love felid predators and I love them above all when they do what predators do best; prey.

Seeing the cats hunting is what brings me the strongest emotions. It doesn't matter if it succeeds or not,  i love to watch the strategy and the movements used by the predators. 

The big problem is that to witness a hunt is not easy at all. You really need a lot of luck.

To try to help the luck we want to focus our day on the search for predators. 

So let's start and hope....

Our first sighting wasn't really a big predator 

 

 

In our second sighting we finally found  the big predators and they were doing what cats can do best: laze .

 

 

There was no sign of movement and there were no prey to see, so we moved to see if we could find some more active cats.

After a while we found a cheetah who was very inspective

 

 

He had targeted something

 

 

we all thought the topi was the target, but he started to move in a different direction

 

and then stopped

 

 

He looked some time at the ostriches.....then he must have thought that they were a too big target, he sat down and started to look the topi again

 

....and suddenly he did what cats can do best: laze 

 

That gave me the chance to shoot some portraits

 

 

The cheetah had showed us only the first part of his hunting strategy and then he preferred to rest. It was very nice to have the impression we could witness a hunt, and even if it didn't really happen, we were very happy to have seen just a small part of it.

We choosed now to go ahead  and reach the Mara river.

 

 

a quick stop for a shot at a young lazy lion

 

 

we really enjoyed the pleasant drive

 

 

a leopard has been for sure here , but we could only see the carcass of his kill

 

 

We reached the Mara river

 

 

we left the Mara River to find a nice shadow where to consume our lunch box. From there we watched a lonely buffalo walking. 

 

 

From our picnic place saw 3 vehicles parked on the same spot.

Being in May that could only mean an interesting sighting, so we ended our lunch and headed to the vehicles to see what was going on.

 

A pride of lions was enjoying a midday siesta. It was hot and their laziness was more than justifiable.

A lioness stood up and walked around a van....

When she turned into the open we could see how thin she was.

No migration means less tourists and vehicles but also less food for the carnivores.

 

 

She started moving in the high grass and we moved the vehicle to find a better position.

. 

 

From our position we could better see what was she aiming at......Can you see her?

 

She kept walking never loosing contact with her target.

 

When she was at about 70 meters from the impalas she sat and then laid down

 

We waited a little bit and nothing happened. All the other vehicles left but we decided to stay.

After a while another lioness stood up from her resting place

 

 

When she reached the other lioness, she also laid down

 

Also another lioness decided to join the hunting party

 

Was amazing to watch her walking slowly and very well hidden from the high grass

 

Only one of the impalas was looking to the direction where the lioness where coming from

 

 

She sat for a while......

 

And when the right moment came, she started walking again to her target

 

Now only 50-60 meters were dividing the hunting lioness from the impalas

 

 

She kept walking slowly, than a little bit faster and then froze....

 

 

Now 2 of the impalas were looking into the right direction.....a little bird scattered and the impalas moved into the bush

 

The lioness stood still for a while....

 

...and then crouched.

 

 

We waited a little bit but nothing happened. We moved our van to our left (the same direction token by the impalas) to see if we could locate them.... and we found them in a clearing about 100 meters from the crouched lioness.

 

We waited a little bit but nothing happened. We came back to the lioness, but she was was nowhere to see.

We waited a little bit more and then we decided to go back. we were very far from our lodge and was now time to leave. The all action lasted almost an hour and was really amazing to watch. We were mostly alone and we enjoyed the silence of the hunt. No vehicles moving during the hunt. Everything was perfect. There was no sprint and kill from the lioness but  we really got a demonstration of what is a hunt like. Maybe the first lionesses waited for the more experienced one let her do the job...... Anyway was time to go slowly to the lodge...

 

 

We arrived at the lodge at 4.45 pm. Very satisfied we went to the pool to bath, relax and have a drink before dinner. It was a great day. Tomorrow we will have a full day again, not giving up the search for even more action....

Till soon I hope

 

 

 

 

Edited July 18, 2020 by chui71

[gatoratlarge]

Thanks for sharing --- love the black rhino sightings---never seen them in the Mara.  Seeing them in the tall grass just doesn't seem the proper habitat for them.  I know they browse on bushes, etc... maybe they have to cross the grasses to get to the riverine vegetation?  Were they feeding on the grasses?

[chui71]

On 5/12/2020 at 8:39 PM, gatoratlarge said:

Thanks for sharing --- love the black rhino sightings---never seen them in the Mara.  Seeing them in the tall grass just doesn't seem the proper habitat for them.  I know they browse on bushes, etc... maybe they have to cross the grasses to get to the riverine vegetation?  Were they feeding on the grasses?

 

I saw black rhinos only once in the Mara (this one) and 2 times in Ngorongoro.  They were in the open plains and never fed. In East Africa if they want to move  they have,  soon or later;  to walk through the   plains, but  it isn't their proper habitat. it is also the reason why in the Mara isn't easy to see rhinos.  In my (limited) experience  I can say that  rhinos' sighntings in the Mara are  rarer than leopards' sightings.

Edited May 14, 2020 by chui71

[chui71]

MASAI MARA FULL DAY 5

 

Today we want to stay by the predators, maybe spotting our first leopard in the Mara.

We wanted to reach the Governor's Camp area so it would have been a long drive.

We spotted very soon a herd of Eland

 

 

And right after them we encountered a spotted cat.....but not the one we were looking for...

She was pregnant and was walking in the high grass close to a Grant gazelle

 

 

The Grant gazelle saw her, and even if she wasn't in hunting attitude, the gazelle gave her wide berth

 

 

She then disappeared into the long grass

 

 

Mongoose

 

 

and some plain game

 

 

We passed Mara Intrepids and I had to take a pic of the impalas in the football field of the camp.....

 

Here I had the only hyena sighting of the trip

 

 

a Marabu 

 

 

we had to cross a river (I think it was the Talek) inhabited by hippos and crocs 

 

The picture is referring to the vehicle that was right behind us

 

The drive to Governor's camp was very nice and we saw a lot of plains game

 

A baby Tommy

 

At the time I read somewhere that in this area there's a kind of internal migration. The article explained very well the reason why in this area in the green season (April-May) there's a lot of plain game. Too many years are now gone now and I can't find it anymore. If someboby knows something about it, I will appreciate any comment.

We were fascinated by the landscape and above all by the  complete lonelyness of our drive. 

We stopped sometimes to enjoy the silence and scan the landscape with our binos. It was then that I spotted a furtive animal very far. After spending some time trying to understand what it was, we all agreed it was a leopard with a small kill in the mouth.

It was our first Mara leopard. Not a sighting to be proud of, but better than nothing.

 

We kept going in the plains

 

 

we encountered a zebra calf with mum and spent some time with them

 

 

it was now time to start the long drive back to the lodge

 

 

We arrived at the lodge quite tired from the long day. 

Tomorrow await us our last full day in the Mara and we will try to have a nice sighting of a leopard.in the Mara triangle.....

 

 

 

 

Edited May 14, 2020 by chui71

[chui71]

MASAI MARA FULL DAY 6

 

Today we want to explore the Mara triangle. We will cross the Mara bridge, reach Mara Serena lodge and go back.

The hope is to have a better leopard sighting as yesterday.

The first interesting sighting was a small elly trying to follow her mum with some difficulties.

 

We reached the Mara River and had a walk by the river shore with an armed ranger.

 

We got the chance to watch some active hippos.

 

After that we crossed the Mara River trough the Mara Bridge

 

From this point started our drive in the Mara triangle.

 

If you haven't seen the lizard on the Buffalo's boss I will help you to spot it with the next picture...

 

 

There was also a bigger (Agama)  lizard not far from it

 

We had left Mara bridge since 10 minutes. We were on the road to Mara Serena lodge on the River road. Along River road there were some very small dry tributaries of the Mara with some riverine vegetation. That was perfect for leopards. I was standing in the van scanning as good as I could the trees and the low vegetation.

Suddenly I saw a  shadow in the vegetation with a long tail walking. I was sure it was a leopard. I shouted the driver to stop but in the meanwhile the leopard had lied down and I couldn't show him to the guide. I took the binos and after a couple of minutes I spotted him.

 

 

We moved the van to find a better perspective and finally we got him

 

 

We decide to spend some time with him. We were completely alone and we wanted to enjoy our sighting. We spent almost half an hour with him. A pick up with a couple inside stopped and asked us what we were looking at. We showed them the leopard. They told us they had to go back to their lodge to work, but they wanted to stay some more minutes with us. We said they were more than welcome and there we started to observe the leopard again. Suddenly he turned the head to his left (our right).

 

We looked to see what was going on and we saw a couple of jackals walking not too far from him.

We hoped for some action but the leopard didn't move.

After a couple of minutes another couple of jackals passed by and this time the leopard decided to change position.

The leopard crouched and disappeared.

We knew he wanted to hunt the jackals, but we didn't know if he would have done it.

In South Luangwa in 2006 I saw a leopard close to a puku that didn't hunt because he must have thought that the puku was indeed too far.

I decided to focus my camera to the last jackal.

I wanted to put a better speed setting for my camera, but I feared I could lose the action.

 

After 10 seconds it happened. A spotted bolt came into sight (sorry for the bad pictures, they are not sharp, but if you look carefully you can see leopard and jackal....)

 

 

The jackal ran into our direction and disappeared into the grass, so I stayed on the leopard...

 

 

and he got him

 

 

The jackal struggled a little, but soon it was over

 

He left the jackal and scanned the surroundings

 

And than he was over him again to be sure he was definitively dead

 

and scanned the surroundings again

 

During this time we heard the other jackals calling the dead one. I suppose that when the  the leopard was checking the surroundings he was just looking at the other jackals. Maybe showing them that the jackal he attacked was definitively dead. I know that jackals mate for life so I don't know if they were 2 couples or just a group. 

After a while the jackals became braver and went closer to the leopard barking and calling.

The leopard took is booty in mouth and went his way

 

Looked back with menacing eyes to make clear who was the boss

 

 

And then took his way again

 

 

The jackals get closer calling loudly

He disappeared for a moment and the jackals reduced the distance....

 

For a couple of second there was a little standoff. Right now the jackals understood there was no hope....

 

 

He went his way again, and the jackals went away.....

 

he disappeared into the bush to consume his lunch....

 

That was.....we got  40  incredible minutes and we were  very happy to have witnessed a leopard kill.

The driver was very happy and was screaming that it was his first leopard kill. 

We were only 2 vehicles and no noise around us at all. .

I loved it.

 The only downside was to hear the jackals calling their friend. It was sad.

But so is nature.

We continued our drive and spotted some bat eared foxes

 

 

we loved the landscape to Mara Lodge

After that we stopped at mara Serena Lodge to have a drink  and celebrate our sighting with some friends

 

 

The view from the lodge bar is stunning. They told us you can be able to watch the Mara crossing from the bar if you're lucky (not in this time of the year of course)

 

This is one famous crossing point

 

it was time to leave and drive back to the lodge

 

 

Our last sighting of the day was a daggaboy

 

After the leopard kill the day was quiet, but  even that what a day!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 18, 2020 by chui71

[mtanenbaum]

Very exciting story! I didn't know leopards would go after jackals, but I guess anything goes if you're hungry!

[COSMIC RHINO]

A good trip report

 

which camp did you stay at in each place. ?

 

the event on the road with  the police was unfortunate 

 

Depending  on relative strength predators can be hostile to each other with a view to eliminate the competition for the game 

 

smaller predators like jackals are most at risk

Edited May 16, 2020 by COSMIC RHINO

[COSMIC RHINO]

Rhinos have been severely affected  by poaching in the. Mara

 

the classic positions of  mother and calf only always applies in a situation of possible threat

 

a  variation could be a threat or something else

 

to have another similar sized adult in the area could indicate a male who wanted to get familiar  or it could be an event of chance

 

the third rhino could have also been an older daughter 

Edited May 16, 2020 by COSMIC RHINO

[Caracal]

Amazing leopard sequence. I've never thought of leopards taking jackal as prey but then I've read how leopards were well known for taking settler's dogs so I suppose it happens more than is realised but is very rarely seen.

Enjoying this report @chui71 - great narrative and photos and I really like the way you are incorporating landscapes into many of them giving that sense of perspective and that feeling of AFRICA.

Loved that opening photo of Kilimanjaro - took me way back to my first safari - many many years ago!

[chui71]

11 hours ago, mtanenbaum said:

Very exciting story! I didn't know leopards would go after jackals, but I guess anything goes if you're hungry!

 

Thank you very much @mtanenbaum. 

Leopards are known for being the predators with the most large diet. They eat from the small mouse  till the zebra or wildebeest. Biologists have accounted more than 30 species of different preys.

It is also true that they kill other predators to eliminate competition, but in this case the jackal was simply food I think.  2 years ago in the Mara I spoke to a safarigoer who also had witnessed a jackal kill from a leopard and could observate how he was consumed it afterwards.

It is also correct what caracal said about settler's dog. If you look on the web there is some footage about it. 

 

10 hours ago, COSMIC RHINO said:

A good trip report

 

which camp did you stay at in each place. ?

 

 

 

@COSMIC RHINOMany thanks for claryfing us the composition of the rhino family.

I stayed at Sentrim Amboseli and Sentrim Mara. If you want me to post some pictures of the lodges just tell me.

What do you think about the 4 jackals? Do you think they were 2 couples or just a group?

Actually only 2 of the 3 remaining jackals were confronting the leopard, so maybe they  were a group.....I will really  appreciate any theory about it...

 

9 hours ago, Caracal said:

Amazing leopard sequence. I've never thought of leopards taking jackal as prey but then I've read how leopards were well known for taking settler's dogs so I suppose it happens more than is realised but is very rarely seen.

Enjoying this report @chui71 - great narrative and photos and I really like the way you are incorporating landscapes into many of them giving that sense of perspective and that feeling of AFRICA.

Loved that opening photo of Kilimanjaro - took me way back to my first safari - many many years ago!

 

Thank you very much. The leopard sequence is unluckily not very sharp, but give an idea of what happened and it's a good memory for me. I didn't know if landscape pictures could annoying. Good to hear you liked them.  

Edited May 17, 2020 by chui71

[Kitsafari]

you have beautiful panaramic photos of beautiful Mara landscape. 

 

What a hunt and kill. probably a rare sighitng of a leopard killing another predator since more sightings  are of the spotted cat hunting antelopes. very sad to see the other jackals calling for it - I would presume it was their juvenile since the pair wanted to confront the leopard over it. but what a cool sighting for you! 

[chui71]

1 hour ago, Kitsafari said:

you have beautiful panaramic photos of beautiful Mara landscape. 

 

What a hunt and kill. probably a rare sighitng of a leopard killing another predator since more sightings  are of the spotted cat hunting antelopes. very sad to see the other jackals calling for it - I would presume it was their juvenile since the pair wanted to confront the leopard over it. but what a cool sighting for you! 

 

Thank you veru much @Kitsafari. I never thougt they could be a family because I thougt they were 4 adults. Yours is a good point.  I don't know how long the jackals juvenile stay with their parents. I will try to find it out.....

Edited May 17, 2020 by chui71

[BRACQUENE]

@chui71

 

Your TR is like a movie : "Fast and Furious" but it was not exactly " The day of the Jackal " ! 

[chui71]

Just now, BRACQUENE said:

@chui71

 

Your TR is like a movie : "Fast and Furious" but it was not exactly " The day of the Jackal " ! 

 

[chui71]

Today we will have an early morning drive since we have to be back in time to catch our home flight.

We won't be able to drive for long so we will stay  on the eastern side of the park.

The first sighting was a martial eagle.

 

 a lonely jackal

 

An hartebeest

 

We couldn't leave The Mara without saying goodbye to the Mara lions

 

 

A daggaboy

 

Finally we came back to the lodge to collect our baggage, got a shower and right above our tent came a white colobus to extend sincere greeting in the name of the Masai Mara GR.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 3, 2020 by chui71

[chui71]

On 5/17/2020 at 11:46 AM, chui71 said:

 

Thank you veru much @Kitsafari. I never thougt they could be a family because I thougt they were 4 adults. Yours is a good point.  I don't know how long the jackals juvenile stay with their parents. I will try to find it out.....

 

I checked in the safari companion. Jackals youngsters stay with the family till 6-8 months and then usually leave.  So probably they were a family (2 adults and 2 youngsters). I also read that when an adult dies, the all family can be killed from others jackals. Anyway they have to leave the territory.  Estes also says that leopards are regular predator since they are dog like meat lovers.