Kenya and Tanzania - A Return Adventure - February 2023

April 4, 2023

After our first trip to Kenya in 2019, my darling husband (DH) and I resolved to return to Kenya in February 2022. Well, we all know what happened next, and as a result, it was not until February 2023 that we were able to make our return to Kenya, with four nights in Tanzania thrown in for good measure. What followed was an amazing 17-day safari (we were actually out of country for about 19 days total), where we saw many animals and birds that we had not seen on our last safari, and which included an unforgettable visit to a friend’s village; a balloon trip above Masai Mara National Park; experiencing the Serengeti first-hand; a visit to Olduvai Gorge, the Cradle of Mankind; and a game drive in the Ngorongoro Crater. We flew KLM (and partner) from Edmonton (Canada) on January 28, 2023, flying to Calgary to Amsterdam, and finally arrived in Nairobi January 29, 2023 at 2230 hrs local time; a long haul. All arrangements were made by Gamewatchers, and all camps were Porini camps in Kenya, and partner camps/hotels in Tanzania. I can not thank them enough, a fantastic company to work with and their camps are top-notch! Our itinerary:

January 30 - rest day at the Tamarind Tree Hotel (highly recommended - a rest day and this particular hotel);

January 31 - tourist day in Nairobi (Sheldrick's Elephant Orphanage, Kobe Tough bead factory, Giraffe Centre, driving tour of Nairobi);

February 1 - Nairobi National Park, Porini Nairobi Tented Camp - 1 night;

February 2-4 - Selenkay Conservancy/Amboseli National Park, Porini Amboseli Camp - 3 nights;

February 5-7 - Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Porini Rhino Camp - 3 nights;

February 8-10 - Selenkay and Naboisho Conservancies, Porini Mara Camp - 3 nights;

February 11-13- Olare Motorogi Conservancy and Masai Mara National Park, Porini Lion Camp - 3 nights;

February 14-15 - Serengeti National Park, Nimali Central Serengeti Camp - 2 nights;

February 16-17 - Ngorongoro Crater, Serena Ngorongoro Safari Lodge - 2 nights; and

February 18 - travel day back to Nairobi and flew home to Edmonton.

As well as the aforementioned reasons for returning to Kenya, on our last trip in 2019, we had not seen rhino, to complete our Big 5 sightings, and we really wanted to get a good look at a leopard, as the leopard we saw in Masai Mara National Park on our last trip was rather shrubbery-obscured. So, we targeted a couple of camps which we hadn’t been to before, and that are well known for producing both good rhino and leopard sightings, Porini Rhino Camp and Porini Lion Camp, respectively. Spoiler alert! We were to see our two target animals in surprisingly large numbers, and not necessarily where we expected. Our first rhino sightings, and there were many, was in Nairobi National Park, where we saw both black and white rhino. As expected, we also saw many black and white rhino in Ol Pejeta Conservancy (Rhino Camp), but we were also able to get up very close to them; well, as close as you would dare. Our best leopard sighting was, to our surprise, in Naboisho Conservancy while we were at Mara Camp, where we were able to spend time with ‘Spot’ and her son. But Lion Camp was not to be outdone, and we saw ‘Tito’ on more than one occasion. And the leopards kept coming (well, parts of them). I was really surprised at how many leopards live in the Seronera-Central Serengeti region of the park. As well as these two must-see species, DH and I had a list of other things, both plant and animal, that I hoped to see. We are quite happy with what we did see, as this type of adventure is a bit of a crap-shoot as to what will show up. We saw many new-to-us species, including: black and white rhino, lion cubs (okay, lions not new, but cubs were on my list), reticulated giraffe, striped hyena, bat eared fox, genet, lappet faced vulture, bateleur, leopard tortoise, African rock python, dung beetle, baobab tree, and many, many more bird species (both on the list and not on the list). Unfortunately, no oryx, Grevy’s zebra (we did see what the guides believed to be a hybrid plains x Grevy's), African wild dogs, aardvarks, or pangolin, but hey, everything else was wonderful! Overall, an excellent trip, but a bit of a marathon. However, when you are in travel mode for over 24 hours each way, I am there to see and do as much as I can, for as long as I can before heading home. The first two days in Nairobi were restful and it was nice to see the baby ellies and giraffes again. I will start on February 1, 2023, in Nairobi National Park.

Edited April 21, 2023 by MMMim

April 4, 2023

February 1, 2023 - Nairobi National Park (NNP) and Porini Nairobi Tented Camp (NTC). We entered the park just after 0830 hrs, and were taken for a morning game drive. We saw a lot of animals that morning: a hippo with a tiny wee baby; crocodiles; marabou stork; grey crowned cranes; mating lions; ostrich; white rhino; buffalo; giraffe; zebra; and lots of the usual antelope, Grant’s and Thompson’s gazelle, eland, and impala. The hippo baby was very young and so very cute, although DH thought it looked like a potato with legs. While we were watching it wander the little beach under the very watchful eye of its mom, one of the small crocodiles must have gotten too close, or the baby stepped on one of them. I’m not sure exactly what happened but there was a lot of jumping, scurrying, and angry hippo noises. Surprisingly, this was the only place on our entire safari that we saw crocs. We also saw the Chinese rail bridge that crosses through the park. It’s a bit of an eyesore, but it doesn’t prevent the animals’ movement within the park, and some actually seek out the shade it creates. We arrived at Nairobi Tented Camp for lunch. The camp was very nice, the lounge area in particular, and Morris (manager) and Jackson (mess) made us feel very much at home. We had the camp to ourselves, which was very strange.

We enjoyed a long afternoon game drive; rhino-palooza! We saw a big male white rhino just three minutes out of camp; two different white rhino moms with their tiny calves; two black rhinos (two separate sightings); and two white rhinos with the Nairobi skyline as a backdrop (the iconic photo I wanted). We also saw the same male lion as this morning, that had been mating with the lioness, but now he was exhausted (he was identifiable because he had an injured left eye - I've recently read somewhere that he was killed by a younger male just shortly after our visit). He looked like an old warrior who had seen better days, but yet, he still seemed to be king of the heap, as it was him with the lioness. He actually looked dead, refusing to move or pose, until he got up and starting making some amazing calls. As the sun began to set behind the Ngong Hills, and we had to leave the park, we saw a lone lioness walking down the road. As she passed within six feet of the jeep, she started calling for back-up because she wanted to hunt. A sunset lit giraffe bid us goodnight. After dinner, by the fire, we saw a suni, and a bush baby (galago) came down to drink some juice that had been put in a feeder for it. Honestly, we didn’t have high expectations for NNP and NTC, but had gone because I had read on Safaritalk that they were a worthwhile stop, and who knew when we would be in Nairobi again. This small park and the camp, within the city limits, more than exceeded our expectations!

Edited April 4, 2023 by MMMim

April 4, 2023

Great start, I'm looking forward to more as I can't get enough Kenya trip reports. I think that the baby hippo is quite lucky!

April 4, 2023

Great photos! The zebra reflections on the water are giving me goosebumps!!! LOVE it!

April 5, 2023

That baby hippo looks like a toy. You had great variety and abundance in Nairobi National Park! Itinerary looks very exciting. Awaiting your next post!

April 5, 2023

On February 2, 2023, we were transferred from Wilson Airport to Amboseli National Park (ANP), and we would stay in the Selenkay Conservancy at Amboseli Camp for 3 nights. We spent that first day touring ANP, which was very different from our visit there in 2019, and even from what I saw in my parent's pictures when they had visited in February 2022. I was shocked at how dry it was, and at the shrinkage of the wetlands. Equally shocking were the number of carcasses littering the landscape, mainly wildebeest and zebra, some giraffe, but there were some elephants too. You couldn’t drive more than a 100-yards without seeing a carcass; so many that the scavengers couldn’t keep up. While this was very sad, it was still very interesting to see this area again, and it really drove home why there are so many baby ellies in the Nairobi orphanage and just how bad the drought really is (it is my understanding that thankfully, the Amboseli area is now receiving some good rains). Apart from in the wetlands, there was nothing for the animals to eat, there really didn't appear to be much grass. While there were still plenty of birds because in the wetlands (and one big python that looks like a shiny log in the photograph - sorry it is so distant, but it was my only snake on this safari), we found that the elephants had to wade much further out to eat, so for the most part, we enjoyed distant viewing of these wonderful animals.

On this trip through the park, we saw many new (to us) bird species, and some great behaviours exhibited by the birds. The black heron (or black egret), new to us in 2023, has an unusual, umbrella feeding action, whereby the birds throw their wings forward, creating a canopy over the water, which creates shade and the fish come to that area; easy prey after that. Although we had previously seen African Fish Eagles, magnificent birds, we saw at least seven of them grouped together far out in the marsh – too far for photos, but interesting through the binoculars, swooping in, and landing, interacting, and flying off again.

The sun was blistering hot, and as we descended the look-out hill where we had lunch, we were engulfed in a dust storm; all the dust devils converged and formed a wall of dust. There was even a couple of drops of rain in the storm, but so little moisture did nothing to cool or replenish the landscape. We passed a hyena den, just as mom arrived home and two very young cubs came out to suckle; the cubs are actually very cute. We drove back to Selenkay Conservancy, finding it quiet, and somewhat devoid of animals, particularly birds, from our last visit. There was still gerenuk, lesser kudu, giraffe, and lots of dik-dik in the conservancy, but all of the zebra and wildebeest in the conservancy have gone to ANP. Having said that, we still had many excellent sightings in both the park and the conservancy. The lions were particularly active in Selenkay and we were able to see them on a couple of kills, and we also saw cubs and a mating pair of lions.

An African rock python going for a swim as a goliath heron keeps a close eye on it

African jacana

Whistling duck and friend

Long-toed lapwing

I'm going with a Marsh Sandpiper here, my bird identification skills are very poor (that's DH job), especially the wading birds

Squacco heron

Goliath Heron

Reedbuck

Pair of little bee eaters

One of the many dust devils 'migrating' across the landscape

Superb starling

Taveta golden weaver

Ring-necked dove

Black-backed jackal

Spotted hyena and cub

Eastern chanting goshawk with francolin (dead)

Gerenuk

Feeding gerenuk

Young Masai giraffe

Edited April 5, 2023 by MMMim

April 5, 2023

A few others from our first day at ANP.

Sacred ibis, ubiquitous Egyptian goose, grey crowned cranes

Nothing to eat

Two-banded courser

Blue-billed teals

May be the same marsh sandpiper presented earlier!?

Red-billed teals

Edited April 5, 2023 by MMMim

April 5, 2023

The following day was spent in the conservancy, morning game drive, bush walk, and some time spent on the viewing platform in front of the waterhole, before the evening game drive. The morning drive was spent tracking a lion pride that had killed and eaten a giraffe overnight. Very exciting. At the waterhole, we saw Powlo (this is not how it is spelled, but how it sounds; for the correct spelling the website wants to replace it with "former member"), the resident super-tusker. former member is 40 years old and has quite a spectacular set of tusks already. What an honour it was to see him. Just after Powlo wandered off, along came a family of 10 elephants: a matriarch, two tiny babies, and six juveniles and cows, followed by one poor adolescent male, who hung back, didn’t drink at the trough with the others (he drank from the waterhole), and clearly, desperately wanted to rejoin his herd, but the cows were having none of it; he was being forced out to begin his life as part of a bachelor group or a solitary bull. Poor little fellow, I felt so bad for him. The evening drive produced lesser kudu, Grant’s and Thompson’s gazelle, impalas, giraffe, dik-dik, bat eared foxes and a genet(sorry, pictures crap - not included). Sorry, pictures not in order from morning to evening drives as I am having some problems uploading.

Super-tusker Powlo

Poor little guy doesn't want to be on his own

Think I'll take a load off

Lesser kudu

Dik-dik

Tawny eagle

Von der Decken's Hornbill

One of the morning's lion cubs, deep in the brush

Mom strolls by, tummy full of giraffe

A very handsome fellow

Also a handsome fellow

Lilac breasted roller

lilac breasted roller in flight

Busy water hole

Edited April 5, 2023 by MMMim

April 6, 2023

So glad to see your trip report, and will be following with great interest!

April 7, 2023

Love to read your trip report so far. Will wait for more of your wonderful experience. Thank you for sharing.

April 8, 2023

That looks so dry! Is that the Porini waterhole with pumped water (assuming it is pumped and not delivered by truck)?

Great start to the trip in Nairobi National Park.

LOL re ‘former member’ elephant.

April 8, 2023

@paulthaha - yes, it was quite frustrating trying to edit out our former member's name. When in doubt, phonetics works! Yes, that is the Porini waterhole. In the photograph with the big female and little calf flaring their ears, they are actually standing right in front of and blocking the view of the pumphouse. There were so many visitors to the water hole. The small game don't seem to mind drinking from the pond, but it is a bit murky and is sometimes also used as a latrine, so the elephants prefer to drink from the trough. The water from the pumphouse is delivered directly into the trough, and while the large group of elephants were visiting they drained the trough dry and the pump couldn't keep up with demand. Many of the elephants have now figured out that if they 'attach' their trunks to the pipe running to the pumphouse, they can suck water down the pipe, like using a drinking straw. We could actually hear a few of them doing this.

April 8, 2023

ha re: "Former Member" I had that problem all the time when posting about our trip to Brazil! and our flights through "San Pawlo" I couldn't figure out at first what was going on with that, then I remembered

April 8, 2023

February 4, 2023 – We went back to Amboseli National Park; such a long drive from camp, but there was little to see in the conservancy, and there was not much to see on the way to the park either (so different from 2019). Before we left the conservancy, we found a cheetah mom with her four 7 or 8 month old cubs. They were walking along the dry river bed and the guinea fowl were sounding the alarm. Just as we found them, one of the cubs found an old red rag – the game was on, tugging, shaking and chasing. We followed them up the opposite bank where one found a plastic bottle and started 'kronking' away on that – just big kittens. Excitement over, we began our long, dusty drive to ANP. At the park, our guide worked hard to get us a good picture of an elephant herd in front of Kili, which had graced us with its presence, and stayed visible for most of the day. We noticed that there was more snow on the mountain on this visit compared to 2019 (but I should note it was February vs October, respectively for these trips), and yet the marshes were smaller/drier. Perhaps the snow is still to melt (although it was pretty darn hot already so I would expect there is some significant melting already happening), and the marshes will fill up again later in the year. We saw some very big buffalo boys in the swamp, and lots of elephants and birds. Good sighting of a big hippo, out on the grass at waters’ edge, chomping up the grass, and then he would throw back his head to ensure everything went down. It was not a yawn, but we did get a good look at his huge teeth; you can sure understand how that mouth and those teeth do damage!

February 5, 2023 – We left for the conservancy airstrip at 7 am for our flight back to Nairobi, but sidetracked to the waterhole because a male lion was at a giraffe kill. The giraffe had likely been brought down as it was drinking (it still had green algae from the water on its muzzle) by the lion and his brother, and perhaps the lioness we saw mating with that brother a bit later. Apparently, the giraffe was only killed at 6 am, but we were busy packing and heard nothing, even though the waterhole was essentially right behind our tent. When we arrived at the kill, we watched one of the male lions gutting the giraffe, which had only just been opened when we got there, eating the small intestine like spaghetti. His tactics changed a bit when he got to the large intestine, carefully eating it in sections from the end so that all the poop was pushed out as he took the next section into his mouth. In the photographs of the lion eating the giraffe, you can see the scratches all down the rump and legs of the giraffe from where the lions brought him down from behind, when he was in that very vulnerable drinking position. When the lion wandered off for a rest, we went over to see his brother honeymooning with the lioness, watching two mating sessions.

Dry riverbed between the conservancy land and the Maasai land (note: conservancy land also owned by the Maasai)

There is a reason the park sign appears to have seen better days

Saddle-billed stork

Grey heron

Grey crowned crane

Black Egret (black heron)

Edited April 9, 2023 by MMMim

April 12, 2023

After a final visit with the Selenkay lions, we flew to Nairobi Wilson Airport, and onwards to Ol Pejeta Conservancy, where we stayed at Porini Rhino Camp. Great camp, and if you are able, ask for tent #5, the best tent in camp - right across from the water hole. While this camp has a photography hide at the top of the waterhole, which does provide a ground level perspective of the animals, watching all the animals come and go from the water hole from the comfort of your front porch, sipping a Tusker while watching a tusker, can't be beat! Our first half hour at the tent went something like this:

I was just taking pictures of the tent and of the view from the porch, when a group of zebras and a big male impala and his harem arrived for a drink. I just went to put the camera down, and then the real show began. Next, eight or nine elephants, including two teeny-tiny ellies marched up to the waterhole. There were still a lot of zebra and impala hanging around, then there was an explosion of impalas, blowing and snorting and barking (much like white tailed deer in my backyard do when they are upset). What upset them? A lioness strolling across the plain behind the elephants, who didn't seem to mind or care about the lioness. All the ungulates scattered, but the lioness didn’t bother with them and exited stage right. Five minutes later, two lionesses (the first one and a friend) and their seven, five-month old cubs wandered back across the open area behind the elephants, who were now taking a bath (mud and dust), exit stage left. Wow! This all happened within half an hour at camp, right in front of our tent – don’t think I need to go on a game drive!? Then a big bull elephant came along for a drink, then a giraffe…It was just a constant stream of animals, all the usual suspects (zebra and antelope), and elephants (cows, calves, bulls), and lions. Just amazing.

Between lunch and the afternoon drive went like this:

Four bull elephants came marching down the hill, two younger ones and two bigger boys, for a drink, but mainly for a bath, then they headed toward the females, who were still hanging around, stage left. Zebra, monkeys, more impala, and warthogs all made an appearance – then a panic. The lions were back, and we could see the cubs peeking out from under a bush not far from the end of the waterhole. At the time, it seemed silly to me that the ungulates would all panic at the appearance of a group of little cubs, but later, in my photographs, I noticed that you can just see one of the lionesses peering out from the bush. She didn’t make an appearance, but she certainly made an impression! Just before the afternoon game drive, four big buffalo emerged stage left to round out the afternoons’ entertainment.

The evening game drive produced a couple of elephant families, reticulated giraffe, black rhino, and we got close to the lionesses and their seven cubs, just finishing off the warthog they had killed a short while ago. Sundowners were spent watching a zebra herd pass by in the setting sun.

On the drive to camp from the airstrip, at one of the local water troughs - reticulated giraffe

An afternoon at the waterhole

sorry, really pushing the limits of my camera

Panic #2

The evening game drive:

Edited April 12, 2023 by MMMim

April 12, 2023

Day 2 at Ol Pejeta (February 6, 2023) saw a completely different day for DH and I. We had booked an 'experience' with Ol Pejeta Conservancy, "Wildlife-Livestock Interactions" (formerly "Ranching with Lions"). DH is from a ranching background and thought this would be interesting. It was, we both enjoyed it. We missed the morning game drive, but still went on an evening game drive. Even out in the conservancy on the experience we had some wildlife sightings (Jackson's hartebeest, white rhino, tawny eagles zebra, elephants, buffalo), so we didn't feel short-changed. The afternoon was spent at the waterhole again, but after a visit by a family of elephants, it was a quieter afternoon. On the evening drive we saw a striped hyena cub, who is about six or seven months old; still quite young. They are usually a nocturnal animal, so it was a real treat to see it out in the late afternoon sun. When we arrived, it dove back into the den, but little by little, it re-emerged. They are quite beautiful compared to their spotted cousins (who I still think are quite lovely). We had ample opportunity to admire the cub, but when two other vehicles arrived, it disappeared down into the den for good. After the striped hyena, we followed an enormous, 100 or more, troupe of baboons up the hill behind the waterhole. We carried on, finding the two lionesses without their cubs, kicked back and sound asleep. Then we found their cubs quite a distance from them, but our guide said that this was quite normal for cubs this age, being taught how to be more independent and stay safe. Very cute, all seven of them peeking out from under a bush and snoozing. Late in the drive we visited a very large spotted hyena den, and there were cubs of all different ages, being communally raised. Ol Pejeta Conservancy must be home to a billion-guinea fowl. Our sundowner tonight was in the presence of a huge flock of guinea fowl, sunset lit and kicking up quite a dust storm as they scratched and pecked.

Ankole cattle breed - the conservancy has a small herd of these magnificent animals

Some of the Boran herd

Jackson's hartebeest

A 'crash' of Southern White Rhino

Tawny Eagle

Throwing a bit of a temper tantrum when mom 'said' time to leave the waterhole

stomping off

Striped hyena cub

large baboon troupe

Olive baboon

The two lionesses enjoying a much needed rest - I love the one totally kicked back with her feet crossed

Edited April 12, 2023 by MMMim

April 12, 2023

Through Amboseli/Selenkay--I just noticed you had missed rhino on your previous trip, which had to make those NBO Nat Park rhinos even more special. Nice that you saw the lesser kudu and gerenuk in Selenkay. You mentioned it was a long drive between camp and Amboseli. Can you share how much time you spent in Amboseli and in Selenkay? A baby hyena is always special. Somebody did some good spotting to find the python. That's great you saw one of the big tuskers as they are becoming fewer with time. It took me awhile to figure out the former member comment, thinking an elephant had died, but I finally caught on and thankfully no elephants were harmed as a result. And then the ele in front of Kili. Perfect! You mentioned the guide worked hard for that. How rare or unusual do you think that was? That was back in Amboseli, right? I think the time of year you went is optimal for a chance at seeing the mountain.

Looking forward to the next section.

April 12, 2023

February 7, 2023, last day at Ol Pejeta - we visited Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary, Baraka the blind black rhino, and the last two remaining Northern White Rhinos (NWR) on the planet, instead of a morning game drive. Again, we saw a lot of game on the way over to the centralized area of Ol Pejeta (black rhino, white rhino, hyena, buffalo, elephants, many birds, giraffe). It was a very happy – sad morning. Humans are such jerks sometimes. Happy the chimps have been rescued and are now leading good lives; glad that no rhinos have been poached at the conservancy since 2016 (although it takes an army to keep them safe); and glad that they are developing techniques to try and bring the NWR back from the brink of complete extinction.

Our last afternoon game drive at Rhino Camp started out as a quiet drive, but quickly got exciting. We had seen all the usual suspects (antelope, zebra, etc. - gosh I hate to sound so jaded; I'm not really), and had spent some time looking for cats, we saw a big Kory bustard, a group of bull elephants that did not want their picture taken, and a huge male Southern White Rhino (SWR). Then we went looking for cheetah again. For sure we thought we were skunked, and then we found a cheetah mom and her two almost grown cubs. We had just started taking photos, they entered the bush, we followed and continued to photograph them. Then out of nowhere lunged two of the biggest male baboons that I had ever seen. They burst onto the scene, scattering the cheetah, and chased them deeper into the bush. The cheetahs were running for their lives, as baboons hate cheetah and would try to kill the cubs, who wouldn’t have the experience to defend themselves. We gave chase at high speed through some of the densest bush I’ve seen; our driver was great, putting us right “in the middle of the action”. I never managed to get a picture of the chase as we bumped and careened about, but was very surprised at how far the baboons did give chase before giving up. Luckily, all the cheetah survived the attack but had become separated during their wild flight from the baboons. Mom walked through the bush chirping (cheetah sound like birds), trying to locate her cubs. One cub was nearby and was located quickly; it was so happy to see its mom. Then mom sat down and chirped for some time. She must have heard a reply, and the two of them set off, locating the second cub a short way off. I was happy to see that none of them had received an injury, and that all three were reunited. On our way back to camp, we drove along the OPC perimeter fence and saw the ‘barriers’ they use to allow passageway between conservancies for all the animals except the rhino. We passed the same male SWR we had seen earlier, now marking territory by spraying – that is quite a stream! We also passed close to a big male elephant who was not happy to see us. He flared his ears and trumpeted at us – so loud! He ‘squeaked’, I squeaked! Scared the heck out of me.

A very grumpy, early morning mom

Black rhino

early morning hyena - out all night?

Martial eagle

Ruppell's starling

small group of SWR - Mom, young calf, youngster

One of the bloodhounds being trained for anti-poaching duties

Najin and Fatu - the last two remaining NWR on earth

Baraka the blind black rhino

Baraka

Myer's or Brown Parrot

Olive baboon

Marabou stork

Back at camp - a bull enjoying a mud bath at the waterhole

Black-backed jackal

SWR male

Kory bustard

Warthog

Cheetah mom

So glad to be back with his mom

Chirping for the other cub

One of the gateways in the perimeter fence, allowing game to move freely between conservancies (except the rhino)

The same SWR male we had seen earlier, marking his territory

DH and I enjoying our last sundowner at Rhino Camp

Edited April 12, 2023 by MMMim

April 12, 2023

23 minutes ago, Atravelynn said:

Through Amboseli/Selenkay--I just noticed you had missed rhino on your previous trip, which had to make those NBO Nat Park rhinos even more special. Nice that you saw the lesser kudu and gerenuk in Selenkay. You mentioned it was a long drive between camp and Amboseli. Can you share how much time you spent in Amboseli and in Selenkay? A baby hyena is always special. Somebody did some good spotting to find the python. That's great you saw one of the big tuskers as they are becoming fewer with time. It took me awhile to figure out the former member comment, thinking an elephant had died, but I finally caught on and thankfully no elephants were harmed as a result. And then the ele in front of Kili. Perfect! You mentioned the guide worked hard for that. How rare or unusual do you think that was? That was back in Amboseli, right? I think the time of year you went is optimal for a chance at seeing the mountain.

Hi @AtravelynnYes, all the rhino we saw, and we did see a lot of them, were special. It was about 1 1/2 hour drive between camp and Amboseli (depending on frequency of stops for game it was longer, but as I mentioned there wasn't much on those drives this time). The first day we spent in the park, we had flown in to the ANP airstrip from Nairobi and were taken on a game drive in the park from about 9 am to 3 pm, with a stop for lunch. That was DH that spotted the python with his binoculars, it was quite a distance out. He wasn't sure, just thought it was a big shiny log, but kept going back to it. When I looked at it I said that it was sunlight glinting on wet scales, and then we saw the head. Would love to have seen it up close!

Our second day was spent in and around Selenkay Conservancy - couple hours morning game drive, couple hours walking/hanging out at the waterhole, and evening/night game drive. Although it initially looked like there wasn't a lot to see, as it seemed more quiet than 2019, we did see lions, elephants, giraffe, gerenuk, lesser kudu, bat eared foxes, genet, impala, warthogs, and a few birds in the conservancy (the bulk of our bird sightings were at Amboseli).

Our third day was spent in Amboseli - so about 3 hours travel there and back. We also didn't spend as long there that day - just too hot and we were all pretty tired. Probably left about 2-ish. The ele in front of Kili, if you have a good guide, should be able to get that, if the mountain cooperates and shows itself. We lucked out that day and it cleared early and stayed with us. The other 2 days in camp, the mountain had been obscured. Patience and the right spot at the back end of the swamp resulted in an entire elephant herd in front of Kili.

Cheers

Heather

April 12, 2023

Really enjoying reading through your report!

April 22, 2023

February 8, 2023 – We chose not to go on an early morning game drive with a bush breakfast before catching our plane to the Mara, instead taking a bit of time to organize ourselves, and spending aa bit of time in the hide at the waterhole. I spent about 20 minutes in the hide taking pictures of impala, zebra, guinea fowl, and warthogs. Nothing amazing, but just from a different perspective – ground level.

We left OPC, flying from the Kamok Airstrip to the Mara-Ol Seki Airstrip in Naboisho Conservancy in the Mara region, and were picked up and taken to Porini Mara Camp in Ol Kinyei Conservancy in time for lunch. Mara Camp is probably my favourite Porini camp - small, quiet, and the game viewing in Naboisho and Ol Kinyei Conservancies, which are used by the camp, is fantastic, with varied habitats providing the opportunity to see everything but rhino (no wild dogs or striped hyenas there either ).

Not long after we set out for the afternoon game drive, it started to rain, so we were all given ponchos. But then the rain turned into a deluge. I haven’t seen rain that hard since Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. So hard that our driver couldn’t see to drive, and we were getting soaked through our ponchos. Our guide and driver jumped out and rolled down the canvas sides of the jeep, and still the rain came in, but to a much lesser degree, just drips and drabs (except at the back where I was sitting where there was a real gap in the canvas). Thunder and lightning and driving rain, we were cooped up in the jeep for about 15 minutes. When the rain passed (not stopped) we moved on to watch a young cheetah-boy trying to hunt. We saw him zoom off after a small antelope, although I thought it was a warthog because everyone was running, and it was mass confusion, and the light was poor. Anyway, he missed. We followed him for some time, he was muddy and wet, and the light was failing. The time for him to hunt was passing. He showed interest in a few other creatures, but chose not to expend any further energy. Poor young guy would go hungry tonight.

Tope - the antelope wearing blue jeans and yellow socks

The camp has quite a troupe of vervet monkeys - beware! They are quite adept at getting into tents, even when all safety precautions are taken. We lost all over-the-counter medications we had brought with us. This is the ring leader!

Couldn't see for the driving rain, even the Tommies looked unhappy

A very wet, muddy cheetah

White-browed coucal trying to dry out

Edited April 22, 2023 by MMMim

April 22, 2023

That Cheetah looks almost comically annoyed with the weather.😃

Very enjoyable report!

April 22, 2023

:lol: Thank-you @michael-ibk

April 22, 2023

Through Ol Pejeta--Thanks for the tent hint. Remarkable activity! And February is not even the dry season. The striped hyena cub is a highlight, to go along with the spotted hyena cub. Lion cubs and elephant in one scene is very exciting. Ol Pejeta made sure you got your rhino this time!

April 23, 2023

February 9, 2023 – The morning’s game drive was astounding. We started out with a sighting of a couple of bat-eared foxes out and about in the early morning light, unfortunately not great for pictures. But we had our best sighting of the trip in Naboisho, as we were able to see Spot, the leopard, and her son (currently unnamed), with a newly killed female bushbuck. We couldn’t have asked for a better leopard sighting. Spot spent a long time with us, in the open, and ‘kindly’ posed beautifully in the fork of a tree for several minutes to ensure some good photographs could be taken! When we arrived at the sighting there were already four vehicles, and the conservancies have set a limit of five vehicles at a cat sighting. The "cub" and the kill were secreted in the bush on the far slope of a small ravine, and Spot was lying on a little terrace on the same slope, only slightly more visible. Eventually, she came down the slope, crossed the ravine to our side, and climbed an enormous acacia tree, where she already had part of the kill up on a branch (looking at the pictures, I think it is the leg of a small bushbuck, which makes me think either the female had a tiny newborn, or that she was very pregnant and that was the fetus). I couldn’t believe how high up in the tree she went. She chewed away on the small leg until she accidentally dropped it. She was quite comical as she looked down at the treat, and you could tell she was weighing up whether it was worth it or not to go and retrieve it. I’m sure glad she decided to retrieve her treasure as it provided us with our amazing photo opportunities. Spot rejoined her cub (who is already bigger than her, and I think he will be a very big boy when he is finished growing). They walked the ravine, presumably they went down for a drink, although we couldn’t see them. Then they both came up on our side of the bank, behind us, providing more good photos as they crossed a log, back down into the ravine, and then they dragged the carcass further into the brush and up the top of the other side of the ravine, likely to drag it up a nearby tree. An absolutely amazing 20 minutes. Through the conservancies, it was also very interesting to witness some of the Liota Plains migration (or what is left of it) and the birth of some of the wildebeest calves.

Between game drives at Mara Camp, we saw a tree hyrax, lots of vervet monkeys, a bushbuck and a waterbuck, both across the little stream that runs around the perimeter of the camp, and a leopard tortoise wandering along the stream bank; all in front of our tent. On the evening game drive, we found Spot’s son and what was left of the bushbuck carcass up an acacia tree on the side of the creek where we had seen them dragging the carcass earlier that morning. He was only interested in sleeping, and Spot was nowhere to be found.