Ajabu sana Kenya and Porini

[mvecht]

The planning of this trip started way back. In late 2019 we planned a trip to the Seychelles in spring 2020. Due to Covid we had to cancel and then planned for Borneo February 2022. This was also cancelled due to Covid. We then aimed for Borneo for Christmas 2022. Turkist airlines managed to mess up the flights so we now planned for Kenya for February 2023 flying from Copenhagen via Istanbul to Mombasa.

We booked 6 nights in Naibosho with Basecamp Explorer who had given us a decent if not great price based on flights from/to Mombasa (ad least that is what we thought!). The Turkish Airlines decided to lay down the route to Mombasa but  we were then able to get flights to Nairobi instead. This gave us a few days extra in Kenya and we tried to change the bookings with Basecamp Explorer accordingly. Only then did we learn that their price was based on Nairobi rather than Mombasa although I had in writing that it should be Mombasa. There was no way that they would admit their mistake or adjust their pricing. They even tried to argue their flight prices showing them flight by flight using the most expensive flights available and then when they confirmed the itenary it showed that they would be using the cheapest airlines. This was totally unacceptable so the trip was cancelled. After a quick exchange of e-mails with Gamewatchers/Porini, Amanda in the UK and Mohanjeet in Nairobi made sure we had a nice itenary at a very good price. Their help and expertise was greatly appreciated including but not limited to suggesting a hotel in Malindi, eventhough I booked it myself.

So the trip ended up as follows:

12 - 15th of February        Porini Rhino Camp, Ol Pejeta

15 - 19th of February        Porini Cheetah Camp, Ol Kinyei Conservancy

19 . 25th of February         Ocean Beach Resort, Malindi

A few pictures to get the report started.:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PeterHG]

Trip planning was far from smooth, but your photo appetisers make me want to see more!

[Kitsafari]

argh sorry the trip planning had so many twists and turns, and a couple with a diabolical turn but you made it at last to Ol Pej and Mara. And the first thing I see - a Striped Hyena??!! must be in Ol Pej - what an awesome sighting that must have been, that is if indeed it is the stripey!

[mvecht]

@PeterHGmore to come

@KitsafariDefinitely a Stripey

 

Our flight on Turkish Airlines got us to Nairobi at 03.30 AM. We were some of the first people off the plane meant that the line at immigration was quite short. However It still took some time

We were met by Gamewatchers who took us to a hotel for breakfast and then on to Wilson Airport for our 8Am flight to Kamok Airstrip using Safarilink. The plane left the terminal 30 minutes early but most of the time was lost as the pilot was very slow and catious. I am sure she had earned her 4 stripes but she was extremely slow and it did not help that the system kept alarming about traffic!

We were later told that this is new software on the planes but it did not make us feel more comfortable. The flight was uneventful and we got a decent view of Mount Kenya on the way. At the airstrip we were met by guide Sylvester and spotter John. Sylvester is normally based at the Nairobi office and was at Ol Pejeta as a relief guide. He made a very strong team with John.

Porini Rhino Camp is a short drive away from the airstrip. Already after one minute we had our first sighting at an artificial waterhole.

 

I will be posting most of the bird sightings in the Big Year thread so only a few in this report.

Guineafowl were abundant but quite shy at Ol Pejeta.

 

 

Impalas were also abundant.

 

Ol Pejeta is a 90,000 acre Cattle farm that has been converted into a Conservancy.

Many structures are still in place including watering facilities that are still in use meaning that the conservancy can sustain a much greater animal population.

The area was bone dry so all watering resources attracted a lot of animals!

 

 

 

Warthogs were seen in great numbers.

 

 

Going to Porini Rhino Camp ofcourse meant that we had high expectations of seeing Rhino.We were not disappointed. After 45 minutes we had our first sighting of a Black Rhino.

At first hiding as they normally do.

 

But then it came out into the open.

 

Soon after we arrived at Camp where we were greeted by Camp Manager Edwin who was a very nice person and extremely helpful during our stay.

[mvecht]

We had asked for a tent with as much privacy as possible and far away from the communal areas. We were assigned to tent number 2 which was perfect for us.

It did not have much view of the water hole but it overlooked the area where most animals were coming/going to the waterhole and many of them coming very close to our tent.

I spent much of the first morning on the veranda just looking at the animals coming and going.

 

Actually this Elephant was not to happy with my presence so I had to retreat inside the tent 

 

At lunch time Elephants were drinking at the waterhole in front of camp.

 

[mvecht]

After lunch some more wildlifeviewing in camp.

The Giraffes liked the Acacias just next to our tent

 

 

 

 

and the Elephants enjoyed the Waterhole.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dasm]

I am really enjoying your trip report with wonderful photos! We'll be in Kenya in 3rd week of June. This will be our first visit to Africa. These are the places we'll visit: Amboseli, Lake Nakuru, Lake Bogoria, Ol Pejeta, and finally Masai Mara. I really appreciate if you could share some information about your camera gear because, right now, I am in the process of deciding what lenses I would be carrying. By the way, we will be traveling between parks in vehicle and have no plan to take local short flight. Thanks.

[madaboutcheetah]

Was that a Striped Hyena @mvecht?  Wow 

[mvecht]

@madaboutcheetah Hari, yes it is a Striped Hyena. Stay tuned for more pictures

@dasmMost pictures were taken with a Canon EOS R7 (apsc) and a Tamron 150-600mm G2. Some pictures using the Canon 18-150mm and finally some using the Iphone.

A zoom lens is great for safari but at times the 150 - 600mm was too long. I had to teach the guides to keep a bit of distance. It is very dusty on safari so I was not to keen on changing lenses in the field. You will not be as limited in terms of weight so I suggest to bring two camera bodies and have short as well as long reach.

I ended up with app 9,500 pictures as I was also shooting a lot of birds. Using C RAW this meant app 200 Gb.

[mvecht]

At 16.3o we started our first proper drive.

After just a few minutes we had our first Black Rhino. We thought he was dead as he was not moving at all but after a short while he got curious and stood up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

15 minutes later we had our first Lions. Not doing much but great to see Lions again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Getting rid of something!

 

 

 

Then a lonely Hyena

 

Our guide got a text message about Cheetah in the other end of the Conservancy. Did we want to see them? Absolutely, so we hurried to the get there with onlya short stop for some Sacred Ibis.

 

and some Elephants

 

 

To be continued.

[mvecht]

We finally made it to the Cheetahs. A female and two large cubs.Not doing much but still Cheetahs

 

 

 

 

 

Potential prey?

 

 

 

As with most guides we were asking about our wish list we started out with aardvark and Pangolin and just got a nice grin back.

One of the reasons for visiting Ol Pejeta was the possibility to see Grevy`s Zebra, Jackson Hartebeest, Beisa Oryx, Striped Hyena and Somali Ostrich so we mentioned those next.

Most of the Zebras have been captured and put into an enclosure partly to protect them from predation partly to grow the population. There are however still a few roaming the conservancy.

 

I find the very attractive with the narrow stripes.

 

 

 

 

The sun was setting so time to head back to camp.

 

Warthog having a sundowner

 

 

According to the guide there are only about 10 Oryx roaming free but he found a few of them!

Distant and high ISO but still happy to have seen them.

[dasm]

@mvecht: Thank you your gear information. I will definitely be carrying two bodies. One of them will be Nikon Z9 and I will have Nikon Z 100-400mm attached to it for the most part. I also have the 1.4X teleconverter for the lens and I will decide in Kenya whether I would keep it attached to the lens or not. For the second body, I have two choices and I am still not sure which way I will go. It will be either Nikon Z6ii or Fuji XT4. I am inclining toward Fuji because I have Fuji XF 18-135mm, 16mm f/1.4, and 70-300mm. On Nikon system, I have Z 24-70mm f/4, and AFS 700-300mm. My friend and I would like to try out some night photography. Fuji 16mm would come quite handy. I have used it to take photos of Milky Way and Northern Lights. The only reason I am thinking of taking Nikon Z6ii is in case the Z9 started giving some problem I can still make good use of 100-400. If I decide to take the Z6ii, then I'll probably buy the Z17-28mm f/2.8. 

 

We will have two days in Nairobi upon our arrival before head out to Amboseli. We'll have our car and driver. Will it be OK to go around with the Z9? Or should I leave that in the hotel and carry the smaller body?

 

Thank you.

Edited March 28, 2023 by dasm

[mvecht]

We were ofcourse tired after the long travel and an exciting gamedrive but we still managed to enjoy the sounds of the night. Lots of Lions and Hyenas close to the tent.

Morning frives started at 06.30 am. Still very cold at that time of the day. I believe that the temperature was 7C/45F.

Reticulated Giraffe was one of the species we wanted to see at Ol Pejeta and we were not disappointed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Considering how dry the conservancy is there were suprisingly many Buffalo.

 

 

Also quite a few Thomson Gazelles.

 

 

Jackals around every corner.

 

 

 

 

More Warthogs.

 

 

 

and ofcourse Rhino.

 

On the birding front quite a few Isabelline Wheatear

 

Crowned Lapwings and Superb Starlings everywhere

 

 

and Oxpeckers

[mvecht]

We saw several Grants Gazelle on the Safari but this was the only photo I took!

 

We had a total of 14 Rhino sightings in the 3 nights at Ol Pejeta. 11 Black and 3 White rhino sightings.

White Rhino.

 

 

 

 

 

and some mote genral wildlife

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An albinistic Zebra

 

 

We got a glimpse of Violet-backed Starling.

 

 

and had a nice Purple Roller.

 

Some Zebra

 

 

 

Somali Ostrich

 

 

Time to head back for a well earned lunch.

Edited March 28, 2023 by mvecht
typo

[mvecht]

After a succesful morning drive we had high hopes for the afternoon drive. We were not disappointed.

Another Rhino

 

More Buffalo. The bulls tended to be enormous.

 

Another Rhino!

 

Elephant

 

We saw quite a few Steenbok but this was the only one hanging around long enough for a photo

 

The Guide/Spotter found us a different Lion pride with smaller cubs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then back to camp for a delicious dinner and some needed sleep.

[Atravelynn]

Your trips was worth the hassles up front.  Problems like that seem to be more common all the time.  Rhino, rhino everywhere!  Love the running and romping zebra.  It was birthing season for the wildes by the looks of your photo.  Great stuff!!

[BRACQUENE]

I had some catching up to do but absolutely love your TR , the pictures and of course the birds : can't wait to go to Kenya in August ! 

[mvecht]

The night was quite noisy (in the good way) with lots of Lions and Hyena close by.

When we got to the main area of camp in the morning there were several Lions at the waterhole.

To get to the waterhole by vehicle requires a small detour where we found the rest of the pride eying up some Dagga Boys. The Dagga Boys were not impressed and quickly chased of the lionesses so we continued to the waterhole.

Still quite dark so high ISO and slow shutter speed needed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Porini Rhino Camp has a nice hide that allows you to take pictures from a very low angle. At night the close the blinds.

The young Lions decided that this would be a nice playground.

 

No guests in the hide yet 

 

The pride moved a few hundred meters and went to rest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Dagga Boys were still in the area unpertubed by the presence of Lions.

 

 

and the Starling was just getting breakfast.

[mvecht]

We left the Lions to see what else was going on.

Some general game.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sylvester and John showed us an active Hyena Den. I think Hyena cubs are cute!

 

 

 

Little Bee-Eater

 

One of the target species for Ol Pejeta was Jackson`s Hartebeest.

 

The whole area was very dry so the animals were relying on any help they could get.

It was heartbreaking to see these Ele`s arrive at a dry spot! They had to move on in search of water somewhere else.

 

 

 

More Buffalo and Yellow-billed Oxpecker

 

[mvecht]

Back to Camp for some nice lunch. Meals were quite varied and always of very good quality.

Very good activity at the waterhole.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and back at the tent we were entertained by the Black-headed Oriole.

 

 

Edited March 31, 2023 by mvecht
typo

[mvecht]

We had high expectations for the afternoon drive that would also be the last full drive.

Would the Lions hunt?

Shortly before we got to the place where we had left the Lions our guide stopped and we got a quick glimpse of something disappearing into the ground.

We waited patiently and after some minutes it came up again. A Striped Hyena cub as @Kitsafari, @madaboutcheetahhad already noticed from the intro.

The adults were nowhere to be seen.

 

 

 

It went back down into the den so we decided to check on the Lions.

This was the only time we really had any traffic at Ol Pejeta. 3 vehicles from camp and two other vehicles from another camp split between the Hyena and two different locations for the Lions.

Almost all other sighting we were alone. The Lions were just chilling out.

 

 

We saw some Dagga Boys

 

A few birds

 

 

and aZebra rolling in the dust.

 

 

 

and finally the largest bull White Rhino I have ever seen.

 

 

 

We went back to check on the Hyena but had no luck.

[mvecht]

The next morning we were going to transfer to Cheetah Porini so we slept in and had a nice breakfast in camp.

Sunrise.

 

Baboons in camp

 

 

Our Tent

 

Vervet Monkey Seen from the tent

 

 

 

Zebras and Giraffes at the waterhole.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the drive to the airstrip we passed a Jackal Den but very little action.

 

The Hyenas were also sleeping in.

 

 

 

 

We truly enjoyed our time at Porini Rhino Camp. The staff was great and so was the food.

The wildlife was much better than I had hoped for. Wildlife everywhere. We never spend time just driving and seeing nothing.

A special thank you to Sylvester and John for the superb guiding and their great sense of humour.

Edited April 2, 2023 by mvecht
typo

[Atravelynn]

What a find that striped hyena cub.  And the nearly albino zebra.  Nice action shots of the ones with stripes.  We have proof the big bull white rhino gets plenty to eat to keep up that bulk in an action shot of a different sorts.

Edited April 4, 2023 by Atravelynn

[mvecht]

After an ueneventful flight we had a brief stop inside MNC and then a short flight to Ol Seki airstrip.

We were picked up by a Porini vehicle and taken to camp.

One of the reasons for travelling in February was that we want to see babies and we had come to the right place.

 

 

Elands were plentiful and quite relaxed compared to many other places we have been.

 

We were installed in our tent and relaaxed for the afternoon.

Vervet in camp.

 

 

We would see Bushbuck just outside camp on almost every drive.

 

The drive started with Ostrich.

 

 

 

Vultures were everywhere (we had not seen any at Ol Pejeta!).

 

A Cheetah was relaxing with a full belly.

 

 

More Eland

 

 

Hoopoe

 

Giraffe.

 

 

She was a bit shy and did not like spectators.

[PT123]

Beautiful shot of the yellow bark acacia.