In search of the Northern Species; A Conservation success story - the last strong holds of one of Africa's Iconic species - Northern Kenya (March/April 2022 - part 1 of safari)

[madaboutcheetah]

Dear All,

Thanks to @Sangeetaand her amazing team at Chalo Africa I was finally able to tick off some of the wildlife that was on my bucket list.  Malvika was super efficient in stringing this all together .........  This portion was 3 nights in Saruni Samburu and 3 nights in Lewa Wilderness.  My only prior visit to Northern Kenya was at Laikipia Wilderness in 2014.  However, i was so obsessed with wild dogs on that trip (they were denning with puppies) i don't think i was able to get all the shots of Northern species back then.

 

Let me start with the first segment of photos from Saruni Samburu ........ Saruni was on my bucket list for years and it took me all these years to eventually get there.  Camp is stunning straight out of AD magazine and the views from the top of the hill lived upto the billing.  Thanks to my guide Lepeyon who is from the area and knows the area inside out.  Many Thanks to Jackson our waiter/butler who took care of all our in camp needs (including altering some of the menu ........ it was brutally hot and i really couldn't eat the heavy set menus on offer).  I don't remember the names of the managers now nearly two months after the trip (they just made token appearances for a couple of minutes a day in any case) ....... anyways, here we go!! 

Edited May 20, 2022 by madaboutcheetah

[Tom Kellie]

~ @madaboutcheetah:

 

Thank you for posting such excellent Samburu wildlife images.

 

Your photography is inspiring, taking my thoughts back to lovely Samburu.

 

      Tom K.

[Kitsafari]

beautiful vulterine guineafowls - still a lifer species for me. and great shots of the gerenuk!

 

do you have photos of the camp? it sounds delightful

[madaboutcheetah]

Thanks @Tom Kellieand @Kitsafari- just iPhone pictures of camp etc …. Will post later 

[mtanenbaum]

Thanks so much for posting and looking forward to seeing more! Samburu is on my (long) list of places to visit. That is the dangerous part of Safaritalk--my list of places to visit gets longer and longer.... (but my bank account doesn't grow proportionately!)

[Atravelynn]

The Vulturine Guinea Fowl are regal looking.

 

[madaboutcheetah]

Thanks @mtanenbaumand @Atravelynn

 

More of the Samburu magic..

[madaboutcheetah]

If you've had an overdose of cheetah photos in my namiri Trip report ...... Guess what??  There's more - a cheetah mum with 3 cubs!!! 

[madaboutcheetah]

Reticulated giraffe could arguably be the most majestic of all the sub-species of giraffe??

[michael-ibk]

Great photos of all the Northern specials Hari - would love to return to Samburu myself. The Cheetah shots are gorgeous too. Reticulated is my favourite as well - I think it’s widely believed to be a full species these days.

[Atravelynn]

You do attract the cheetah!  I bet you couldn't believe it when the family showed up.  Lovely Northern Species.

[madaboutcheetah]

Thanks Michael and Lynn .......

 

With the pressure of the Northern species done ......... It's definitely back to the cheetah cubs!!!

[madaboutcheetah]

Continued ........ 

[madaboutcheetah]

More samburu magic ......... Are the elephants in samburu the most calm ones in all Africa????  Gerenuk feeding shots were on my bucket list ...... 

 

I'd heard a lot of the leopards of samburu ....... we did manage a shy male leopard and that's the best i could do.

 

 

 

Edited May 22, 2022 by madaboutcheetah

[madaboutcheetah]

That's it for the Samburu segment.  We skipped the last morning drive ...... Mostly because all the game was concentrated by the river and it was quite a long ways off from the Saruni camp.  

 

We had the transfer drive to Lewa after breakfast.  Quite a nice easy drive (mostly highway) once you leave the Kalama conservancy......... 

Lewa Wilderness camp -NEXT!!! Stay tuned ........ we were dropped off at the entrance gate at Lewa. John our guide from Lewa wilderness was there to fetch us …. Slow drive through lewa to camp!! Would you believe it ?? A male cheetah sleeping under a tree next to the road …. Alas, we didn’t find him later that afternoon …. What a start !! 

Edited May 22, 2022 by madaboutcheetah

[madaboutcheetah]

iPhone scenics from samburu 

[madaboutcheetah]

Here's the first set from Lewa .........  I'm convinced that a conservation project like Lewa is the only way to save this iconic species that is literally poached to near extinction ......... 

 

 

 

Edited May 22, 2022 by madaboutcheetah

[madaboutcheetah]

black rhino 

[madaboutcheetah]

Thanks to John who knows the area inside /out .......... More Lewa goodness including a Black rhino that came for a drink.

[madaboutcheetah]

Classic Lewa ........  That's what you call a "Crash" of rhino???  I suppose in the old days Rhino roamed free all over the wild spaces of Africa ....... 

[madaboutcheetah]

Last bunch of photos from Lewa .......... 

I wasn't going to leave kenya without a Lion, was I ? 

 

Final morning was the ultimate - Sonja the black rhino (close up portraits) 

 

Thank you for following this report - give me a shout if you have any questions.

[Biko]

Thanks for this, @madaboutcheetah. I read more often that the wildlife is quite far from Saruni. Too bad.

The northern wildlife is so beautiful. And I am glad that you saw cheetah again. Great pictures of the playing cubs.

[janzin]

Excellent report and images as always. I'm regretting that we didn't add Samburu to our Kenya trip coming up in a few weeks. I'd really like to see those northern species and there are some specialty birds up there as well. Oh well, next time!

 

[Zubbie15]

Thanks for sharing @madaboutcheetah, lovely photos as always. We're booked for three nights at LWC in November, with the hope of wild dogs... Although they currently have six puppies so not sure that's going to work. At least we'll be able to enjoy some of these species as a consolation. In any case, it'll be our first time in Africa since 2019 so I'll just be happy to be in the bush! 

[JayRon]

Wow, what a great trip report so far.. And an amazing bunch of photos, I really like the cheetahs cubs playing, the landscape photos and so many photos of rhinos. Looking forward to the rest !