Kenya and Tanzania - A Return Adventure - February 2023

[AfricIan]

On 4/12/2023 at 8:30 PM, MMMim said:

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.

 

Too many variables , our guide positioned us perfectly for this group heading towards the water and they crossed the road ~10m in front of us - Unfortunately Kili is 90 degrees off to the right  

[MMMim]

@AfricIanStill a fantastic shot without the mountain!!!  We have been particularly lucky with Kili seeing it our entire 3 days - clear as a bell - in 2019, and on 1 1/2 days this trip (sorry to rub it in - just really lucky).

[AfricIan]

1 hour ago, MMMim said:

(sorry to rub it in - just really lucky)

That's the way the cookie crumbles 

[MMMim]

February 11, 2023 – We were awakened at 4 am and taken from Mara Camp via the Narok Highway, entering the Masai Mara National Park (MMNP) via the Sekenani Gate, to the balloon launch area in the park.  We arrived at the site before 6 am, before everyone but the crew, but slowly, people arrived.  We watched our balloon, and two other balloons a short way off, being prepared and inflated.  The balloon was enormous!  The basket held 16 passengers in four compartments, and a large middle compartment for our pilot.  There were 15 passengers in the basket compartments and it was quite a tight squeeze - let's just say no one was going to accidentally tumble out; not much wiggle room.  We had to sit (assume crash positions) when we climbed in, ready for take-off, and once we had lifted off we were told to stand and we all popped up like gophers out of their holes.  I must admit I was a bit nervous, but when we were up and away and I could stand up, it was amazing.  The sunrise over the Mara was lovely.  We were at the whims of the air currents and unfortunately, in order to keep moving, we had to travel an upper current, so we spent a lot of our time aloft quite high up, so the animals were miniscule – that little group of dots over there are all the usual suspects (zebra, wildebeest, assorted antelope).  It was amazing to see, even at that early time of the morning, how busy the Masai Mara National Park (MMNP) roads were – jeeps everywhere.  We had to assume crash positions for landing, but the landing was pretty good, just a few little bumps, and we didn’t tip over.  Afterwards, we were taken over to a lovely site under a big acacia tree for breakfast and champagne.  If you have ever considered it, and have the opportunity, I would highly recommend this balloon flight (and I'm even terrified of heights).

 

After breakfast, the balloon company representative took us on a little game drive through the Mara before we headed to Lion Camp.  It was absolutely shocking the number of vehicles in the park and how the animals were surrounded by them when there was a good sighting.  Two cheetahs under a tree were ringed by the jeeps.  They weren’t even doing anything exciting, just sleeping, and one of the boys looked like he had seen better days.  We saw a cheetah walking across the savannah, and because we happened on it fairly early on there weren’t too many vehicles, but two big male lions sleeping in the shade had quite an audience.  Again, you could hardly see the two of them, and they weren’t doing anything particularly exciting, just sleeping (well, okay, they are gorgeous big male lions).  We also saw what was likely their kill a short way off, covered in vultures and jackals (no spectator jeeps).  I hated being a part of the vehicles ganging around the animals, but if you wanted to see something, typically the cats, in the national park, then you participated.  We tried to keep our impact to a minimum; not get too close, take a look, take a picture, and move on.

 

 DH looks thrilled by the prospect, but trust me, we both really enjoyed this adventure

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the acacia tree above the breakfast site

 

 

 

We were alone for this sighting - but not for long!

 

 

 

 

One of the boys was a little beat-up

 

The more handsome of the two

 

 

Spectators around the two sleepy cheetah-boys.  This was nothing compared to what we would later see in the Serengeti

Edited April 24, 2023 by MMMim

[MMMim]

We were taken from MMNR to the Olare Motorogi Conservancy (OMC), where Porini Lion Camp is located (approximately 30 minutes from Talek Gate of MMNR to conservancy).  On arriving in the conservancy we saw a big herd of elephants, and a lone bull, kind of hanging around behind them.  It looked like he had a wound on his side, or perhaps an abscess from a wound; we later found out he had likely been speared in a recent wildlife-human interaction.  A hyena in a mud puddle and some big buffalo boys greeted us at the entrance to Lion Camp, which is located in the beautiful river valley of the seasonal Ntiakatiak River within the OMC. Again, I felt we had the best tent in camp, staying in tent #1, with a hammock (which I did make use of), perched right on the banks of the river and yes we had visitors to the river valley both day and night, and a great, unobstructed view across the river to an open plain with lots of wildebeest and zebra in sight.  The wildlife viewing at this camp was exceptional: lions, lions and more lions, living up to the camp’s namesake, and elephants all the time too!  And a few leopards and cheetah were thrown in for good measure, but we’ll get back to that.

 

On the evening game drive we saw a sleepy cheetah, and two big elephant families, one of which we had seen earlier that day while driving to camp.  Still hanging around with them was the male elephant that had the wound in his side, also seen earlier.  The two baby ellies in one of the families were so cute.  One in particular was hilarious.  Much like a human baby who has just discovered its own feet/toes, he had just discovered his trunk and he didn’t quite know what to do with it.  He just kept wiggling it, swinging it, flinging it about, and tying it in knots.  Great entertainment!  We also saw a southern ground hornbill (they have great eyelashes; I’m jealous!), and a few other assorted birds: black headed heron, malachite kingfisher, and a red-necked spurfowl. 

 

Not very far from the camp, just on the other side of the little river, we saw the Enkuyanai pride which had killed an adult hippo the evening before we arrived (it was very interesting to observe the behavior of the pride members over the next three days and watch the carcass disappear – amazing (and amazingly smelly!!)). Quite a feat, as lions typically kill their prey by suffocation, around the neck or over the muzzle, something that would have been impossible with a hippo.  Our guide had witnessed the kill, saying it was particularly brutal and took this big strong pride about 45 minutes to bring the hippo down.  A big tree near their kill was completely filled with vultures (three species: white backed, hooded, and Ruppell’s griffon), marabou storks, and baboons; surprisingly no jackals or hyenas were hanging about.  The pride (or partial pride) that we saw had two adult males (brothers, Olonyokie and Osupaat, the two big males that killed the famous leopardess, Fig, last year), three lioness’, four three-month old cubs, and four sub-adult cubs.  I couldn’t believe how the little cubs were getting right into the carcass and chewing away on it along with the adults; fierce wee beasts.  A good game drive and a nice sunset and sundowner to finish the evening. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From the front porch of tent #1

 

Black-headed heron

 

Malachite kingfisher

 

 

 

 

These elephants were 'grazing' seedling acacia trees.  They would wrap their trunks around the seedlings, and as the ground was hard, when they pulled on the seedling, they met some resistance, so they would give their trunk a little kick to pop the roots of the seedling.  Very intelligent animals - fascinating to watch.

 

 

 

 

Trunk troubles!

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry, a bit blurry, but those eyelashes!! Southern ground hornbill.

 

 

Red necked spur-fowl

 

A tree full of vultures, marabou storks and baboons (and a really hideously blown-out sky)

 

Most of this adult hippo had been consumed by the pride in one day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Olonyokie and Osupaat sleeping off a big meal

 

Edited April 24, 2023 by MMMim

[MMMim]

I did forget to add to my last post that my only ‘complaint’ about Lion camp was that it was a little too big for our tastes, 18-19 guests), and the manager advised that wasn’t full capacity, but we were still glad that we went, as again, the wildlife was phenomenal.  Oh, my other ‘complaint’; camp was noisy at night – haha – first night it was lions, second night it was elephants right outside our tent, and the third night it was hippos right outside our tent – what a cool way to be kept awake!  

 

February 12, 2023 – On our morning game drive, our first stop was the Enkuyanai pride with their hippo kill (now just about two days old and not smelling any better – holy crap, wow!).  All of the lions were up and active today, and there was lots of family drama.  One of the big males was squiring around one of the lionesses, and the other lioness with the adolescent cubs must of interfered - I'm not really sure what, but for an unknown reason, he ran the lioness and her cubs off.  There was much pride consternation, all the lions started running and scattered, and there was lots of roaring and grunting.  Even the four little cubs started ‘roaring’, trying to imitate the adults; very cute – trying to be big lions.  When they weren’t trying to make noises like big lions, the cubs were tumbling about and wrestling with each other and the remaining sub-adult lions, which were surprisingly tolerant and gentle with them.  We were surprised to see how little of the carcass remained since last night.  I had a very close encounter with the big male lion with designs on the lioness.  After the family drama had abated, he began walking back toward the carcass, but the jeep was parked was between him and the carcass, and I was thrilled as he walked towards me, directly at me, as the photographs were amazing.  But he kept coming, closer and closer, and he showed absolutely no inclination to change course.  I couldn’t adjust my focal length any shorter and could only frame his face – he stopped two or three feet from me, facing me, and looked directly in my eyes, he looked down at the jeep, and back at me – sizing me up – was I edible?  Then it was like he shrugged his shoulders and just walked around the back of the jeep and got on with his day, having determined that I was not breakfast.  I was terrified, so much so that I hadn’t moved, and I had even stopped taking pictures, which doesn’t happen often.  I could have reached out and scratched him behind his ears if I had taken the notion to.  It is a moment I will never forget.

 

Other animals of note on the morning drive included: a Kory bustard in flight.  Unfortunately, no picture, but it is amazing that these huge birds (the heaviest bird able to fly) can get off the ground; a huge buffalo herd; a large group of wildebeest that all looked like they had calved last night en masse; a giraffe lying down calmly chewing his cud; a wooly-necked stork; and hippos on land just behind their dead buddy.  I should note that the Enkuyanai pride are becoming known for killing hippos – hippos take note!  Then there was a call on the radio – a leopard had been spotted (pardon the pun).  We raced clear across the conservancy to see ‘Natito’, but we missed her, as she had climbed up a big rocky hill, where not even the Maasai drivers could follow.  Following our disappointment at having just missed the leopard, our driver drove us down a steep embankment into a creek, then we climbed a very rocky escarpment (I have never seen such a rocky landscape), not in the same direction as Natito, and had our bush breakfast overlooking a beautiful gorge and the vista beyond.  There were three lionesses across the gorge from us, and at the head of the gorge was a luxury property, complete with swimming pool, owned by Sir Richard Branson.  In case you are wondering, a tent there is $990 USD per person per night in the low season, and $1700 USD per person per night in the high season; crazy, because in the end point, they use the same conservancy as we were and were seeing exactly the same animals as we were.  Mind you, if I wanted a swim between game drives it would be in the hippo pool!  Our final sighting of the morning was that of ‘Tito’, Natito’s daughter, lying in the branches of an acacia tree.  We did manage to see her face, but she really gave no inclination of coming down or posing for us as Spot had done.

 

It was another hot afternoon on the deck.  We were very tired, as the lions had kept us awake.  We discovered little yellow wing bats between the fly sheet and the tent – so cute – swinging in the breeze.  What amazed me was the tiny scrap of fabric or a tent seam that their little claws can hold on to and support their weight.  We also saw a slender tail mongoose running past our tent, and a female bushbuck down in the river valley in front of the tent.  The afternoon drive brought sightings of a little marsh terrapin, walking between puddles, baboons, banded mongoose, elephants, a hamerkop, and thousands of white storks, flocking together before migrating back to Europe.  We saw Tito up the same tree as we had that morning, she was still sleeping, but being very uncooperative for pictures, facing in the opposite direction of where our driver could position the jeep easily.  Finally, Tito did give us a little look, which was nice.  We visited the hippo kill again, and a couple of hippo pools to see some live hippos, and see if we could spot any activity (fighting, yawning), but they were very quiet, apart from sliding from an upper pool to a lower pool.  We saw another pride (part of a very large pride) tonight called the Isiketa pride, just doing what lions do best, lounging around (bet you thought I was going to say lion-around?).  One young male was having a terrible time with the flies (and there were many), all he wanted to do was sleep, but the vicious little pests wouldn’t leave him alone.  His little buddy, a younger cub, looked like he had seen better days – his ears were tattered already and he had scars all over his face.  Not sure if he was fighting with siblings/pride-mates or whether there had been a fight with another group of lions.  Sundowners were lovely, on a ridge overlooking the camp, and far enough away from the hippo kill that we could enjoy the evening.  Lovely sunset, fantastic tree!

 

Good morning - time to start the day

 

Still handsome, even with a big smear of hippo carcass on his face

 

 

Sub-adult male

 

 

 

 

The scavenger's have come out of the tree - may be a hooded vulture but it is a different color than the one pictured below (help if anyone knows?)

 

Hooded vulture

 

Marabou stork

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A close encounter!

 

 

 

A very rocky landscape

 

 

Tito having a snooze

 

 

Woolly-necked stork

 

 

 

 

 

Big bull eland

 

 

 

 

Bushbuck doe in the ravine in front of the tent

 

Little yellow-winged bats chilling for the day

 

 

 

Marsh terapin

 

 

Tito is now awake and watchful

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were thousands of European white storks

 

 

Banded mongoose

 

Iseketa pride

 

 

 

Hamerkop

 

[Atravelynn]

To Sweetwaters--Glad the cheetah survived that ordeal.  I know it's nature, but I still pick sides in that battle.  I can hear that cheetah chirping when looking at the photo.  More rhino and more rhino!  Nice bloodhound and hope he is a successful deterrent to poaching, along with the army of protective staff.

[Atravelynn]

Glad you enjoyed the balloon ride.   Porini Lion seems to be a winner.  Love those ground hornbill eyelashes.

[MMMim]

February 13, 2023 – last day at Lion Camp.  What a racket last night!  At 0245 am, we were awakened by the very loud crash of splintering wood just outside the tent.  At least one elephant had come out of the river valley, right next to the little green fence in front of our tent; I was pretty sure the fence had not survived.  Another elephant was trumpeting from across the river, wondering where its friend had gone.  We finally fell asleep when the elephant moved off, but we listened to it pull and kick clumps of plants, and then eat them, for quite some time.  Definitely not getting much sleep here, the first night it was the lions, hippos, hyenas, and baboons (still pretty cool though).

 

The morning game drive with bush breakfast brought sightings of: the lions, who had completely finished the hippo, only the skin was left, no bones, and yet it was still very smelly, and there was a big stain on the ground showing where the whole carcass had been.  The pride was fairly active and the cubs were playful – absolutely no grown lion was safe from their sharp little kitten teeth; we visited two different hippo pools, but they only contained rafts of sleeping hippos; and we saw a few land hippos, but before the light was good enough for pictures (even the early lion pictures with playing cubs are questionable).  We drove around an area we hadn’t been to before looking for cheetah, but saw no cheetah and very little else.  Our final sighting of the morning was of a lioness and her four older cubs; they may have been the ones that had been chased off by the ‘hippo-pride’ the day before.  Mom had killed a baby zebra (it was sad to see the zebra family still hanging around the spot where the baby had been killed) and the cubs had dragged it into a little gully where they were finishing it off.  This was right outside of camp!

 

During the afternoon drive, we spent time looking for cheetah in the same area we had searched in the morning – still no cheetah.  We did see a lot of lions though.  The first lioness was a bit thin, and she had a nasty wound on top of her head – she was likely kicked during a hunt.  She was on her own, but luckily it looked like the wound was healing, so perhaps she would rejoin her pride soon.  The second group of lions were part of the Isiketa pride (22 members), and they were found at the top of a rough, rocky hill – I can’t believe that our driver got us up there to see them at close range!  There were two lionesses, a young male (I think) cub, and five younger cubs.  The third sighting was of a lone lioness; she was very skittish, so we didn’t stay with her long.  There are four large prides in the conservancy that account for approximately 100 lions!  We also saw a European roller, a very pretty turquoise bird, some elephants (naturally), and a sizeable hyena den, with cubs of all ages.  We did have a good sundowner – the perfect African sunset, the perfect African tree, complete with a giraffe.  Leaving for the Serengeti tomorrow!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 9, 2023 by MMMim

[michael-ibk]

Great Lion action!

[marg]

@MMMimVery nice trip report!  Thanks for sharing!!

[MMMim]

Thank you @marg

[MMMim]

Thanks @michael-ibk.  Unfortunately struggled with my iso and I'm still not shooting raw - very little post processing - what you see is what you get and it serves me right 

Actually, watching this lion pride with their kill and all the family drama and cub antics over the 3 days in lion camp was one of the trip highlights.

[MMMim]

February 14, 2023 – Not much sleep again last night either - it was 0245 am and there was very loud hippo honking right behind our tent.  We lay there for a long time listening to our hungry, hungry hippos munching the grass right behind our headboard, with only the thin layer of canvas between us – they are very noisy eaters.  We were taken to the Mara-Olare Orok airstrip, stopping along the way to see a couple of very full cheetah boys and a big herd of elephants (yes, our little guy with the trunk issues was there).  Getting to the Serengeti was complicated.  We boarded a small plane at the airstrip, flew five minutes to the Kechwa Tembo (Elephant Head) airstrip, changed planes, and flew 15 minutes to the Migori airstrip (still in Kenya).  Then we boarded a great big bus, where the driver checked all of our documents and vaccination certificates, and had us fill out a Tanzanian health declaration form.  He then drove us 25 minutes (pictures of the area are between Migori and Tarime airstrip), at breakneck speed, to the Isibania immigration building (still Kenya), where another fellow joined us (can’t remember his name, or why he had to be there with us) so that we could officially leave the country.  Back into the bus, drove two minutes over the border to the Serari Tanzania border crossing (immigration building) to provide them with all of our health documentation and the e-visa documents – good to go, officially in Tanzania now.  Then back on the bus and onward to the Tarime airstrip (the countryside around here was very reminiscent of Uganda, as we were very near Lake Victoria).  A short wait in the business class lounge at the airstrip, and finally, our flight to the Seronera airstrip.  

 

We were picked up at the Seronera airstrip by our driver, from Takims Holidays, in a pop-top jeep (these appear to be the most popular in Tanzania), followed by a short game drive on our way to the Nimali Central Camp.  We had left Lion Camp at 7 am, arrived at the Seronera airstrip at 1130 am, and were at the camp by 1 pm.  On our little game drive, we saw all the usual animals, as well as a very large hippo pool, its less than clean water running across the road, and its enormous, gassy inhabitants floating in all their glory within the muck.  One of the things on my list of to-sees, that was not on the animal list, was a sausage tree.  They appear to be quite numerous in this area of the Serengeti and one was quickly located, the branches heaving with the sausage-like fruit.  Not much further down the road, another sausage tree, but surrounded by vehicles.  We would quickly come to realize that a traffic jam such as this meant a ‘sighting’.  Well indeed!  A sausage tree with a much different manner of ‘fruit’ – five young lions sound asleep up on the branches of the tree.  To me, having just come from the Kenyan conservancies, the game appeared very far off the road, and of course there is no off-roading here (and yet some people pay their guides enough to break this rule apparently, as we were to see this happen the next day), but the Serengeti looked just like I imagined it would, tall grass plains and interesting trees for as far as you can see, and interesting rock ‘islands’ called kopjes – just beautiful! 

 

Before reaching the camp, we had to run a gauntlet of tsetse flies that inhabit the forest around the camp.  One of the larger lodges sprays in the area, so the camp was not too badly bothered by them, but along the forested roadway, they were bad.  Also note that the roads were very bad all over the park; very bad when taken at speed, which seemed to be how Tanzanian guides (the many we observed) prefer to drive. I guess it is important to get your clients to the next big sighting as soon as possible in order to get the biggest tip.  We got the definite impression that the people visiting the Serengeti were only interested in seeing the big five, and that many of the guides only relied on one good guide to find the animals (or a chance encounter) and then followed the pile up of jeeps that inevitably follows to alert them to the next big sighting.  Sorry I'm a bit negative about our experience in SNP, but our guide/driver also felt similarly about an awful lot of my observations when we talked with him about what we were seeing. 

 

The evening game drive was more of an afternoon drive, as SNP doesn't allow night drives.  The game drive was okay, but I think DH and I were a bit jaded.  I think it is important to see the national parks, but seeing them first may downsize the disappointment that both DH and I felt in the Serengeti after having seen the conservancies and experiencing game drives there.  We overheard other guests at the camp talking about how amazing their safaris/sightings were, so we were happy for them, but we had just come from Lion Camp, and I felt that our Serengeti sightings paled in comparison (I know that others on the forum may disagree - sorry).  If the Serengeti had been our first stop, then yes, I’m sure we would have found it amazing, but we are glad we still went to experience it.  We did have two (partial) sightings of leopards – we had a brief glimpse of one jumping from a tree onto a rock, and then it was gone into the bush, and the other leopard was in a tree, and all we could see was a big spotted bum, its tail, and two very big hind legs draped over a branch, and we were so far from the tree in the long line of jeeps that I didn’t even bother with pictures.  Both ‘sightings’ were attended by a ridiculous number of vehicles; worse than the Mara.  We also saw: a big male lion; fighting secretary birds; a juvenile African crowned eagle; and a herd of about 40 to 50 elephants.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

These were taken through the bus window - views between Migori and Tarime

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Waiting in the business class lounge at the Tarime airstrip

 

 

 

 

A sausage tree full of fruit

 

Also a sausage tree with a very different fruit

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A kopje

 

 

 

 

Apparently a larger tree could not be located

 

 

Edited May 23, 2023 by MMMim

[pault]

Really great sightings in Ol Pejeta, especially the striped hyena cub out in the open (probably your “I’ll never see that again” moment right there. Good in Amboseli/Selankay too! Quite a successful trip even before you get to the Mara. Looking forward to catching up.