Three Private Conservancies in Kenya

[BRACQUENE]

I.  Introduction : 

 

Usually I prefer to go on safari in more remote areas in Africa but for my wife Anne's 60th birthday we had planned to visit Kenya for the first time with my two sons ;  Willem , the youngest , as some of you might know has been with us in Ruaha NP Tanzania , the Kafue and that unforgettable private safari in Mana Pools during covid  ; it took some time though to persuade Hendrik , my oldest , to accompany us but he finally agreed and he certainly didn't regret it ! As he knew his dad to be a passionate birder he even bought him the latest edition of the Collins "Birds of the World " for his birthday the 4th of August ,  the day before we left .

 

The least I can say is that everything didn't go exactly as planned and that's putting it mildly : two weeks before departure the early flight from Brussels to Frankfurt with Lufthansa was cancelled and the next one didn't give us enough time for the connection to Nairobi so we decided to take the 6.23 train instead which would arrive in Frankfurt at 9.25 , two hours before departure to Nairobi .

On the 5th of August we went to the Gare du Midi in Brussels and immediately noticed the train wasn't announced on the main timetable but didn't panic because that sometimes happens with international trains ; a few minutes later after asking around the unthinkable became reality : our train was simply cancelled without any clear reason so our safari plans suddenly looked very uncertain ! The only thing we could do was find a taxi who would drive us all the way to Frankfurt some 400 km further ; outside the station a big black car was our only chance and the guy who was just ending his night job was willing to do so but for 900 euro or more than double the price of the train !

 

In three hours and twenty minutes we covered the distance (highway from start to finish)  and made it on time and arrived in Nairobi at 21.30 local time ; we had already our visa but the whole procedure to get out of the airport still took more than 1h30 minutes ( high season ) and it was after 11.30 when we arrived in Tamarind Tree Hotel , our first stop and if I remember well the same hotel as @pault, who also wasn't very lucky with his flights . The night was short but the prospect of the next day made it 

 

As usual before starting here are some teaser pictures to give you an idea of our trip ; for those who can't wait to see the birds I already posted them in my second Big Year : 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Athene]

Good to hear from you @BRACQUENE your pictures are getting better and better

[Tony Busanga]

Great photos there, Peter. The colour on the first White Rhino photo with Mt Kenya is Wow !

 

[Zubbie15]

You had quite the adventure just getting to your plane @BRACQUENE! I'm looking forward to reading more, hopefully the rest of the trip went smoothly. 

[michael-ibk]

Beautiful photos Peter, sorry to hear about your travel problems, always a nightmare when something like that happens. 

[BRACQUENE]

II. Ol Pejeta Conservancy Laikipia :

When going with @Tony Busangato Gonarezhou last year I asked him to organize this safari and as always it was done to perfection ; after leaving Tamarind Tree Hotel we went to Wilson Airport for the domestic flight to the Kamok airstrip right in the heart of the Ol Pejeta Conservancy close to our first camp Kicheche Laikipia instead of landing at the main Nanyuki Airport 3 km north of the equator and starting point for the Mount Kenya's expeditions .

There was some delay in the departure of our Air Kenya flight , which seems to be usual at this time of the year and Wilson was very busy , something I had never experienced in my previous safaris but the flight after a stop at Nanyuku for those heading to Samburu went smoothly and Peter our first guide for the next four days was waiting for us : 

 

 

 

Though lying on the equator it wasn't exactly a tropical arrival at 1947 meters altitude and te weather was rather cold and very windy indeed which would be the key factor for the following days in the Ol Pejeta Conservancy 

 

Driving to camp we had some nice first sightings : 

Grant's Gazelle 

Reticulated Giraffe 

Black Rhinoceros

Cape Buffalo 

African Pipit

Plain's or Burchell's Zebra 

 

One of the most fascinating things about the Kicheche camps is that they are so well hidden that you can't see them until the last moment and the welcome we had from former member , the South-African camp manager and her team was warm and we felt at home immediately when looking at the main area , the waterhole and our family tent Lenana.  

 

Welcome party

Main area 

Dining tent 

Willem , Anne and your servant : Hendrik taking the picture 

 

The tent was in fact divided into three parts ; two separate bedrooms with each their ensuite bathroom and a central area were we could sit and meet and most importantly charge our electronic devices : It was absolutely fantastic and very comfortable !

Another Kicheche special I loved was the daily board with Lunch and Dinner announced especially with the delicious food we had : 

 

My sons enjoying their first lunch 

 

There is in principal no communal dining in the Kicheche Camps but of course you could ask to sit with other people ; it is not what I am used to in most of my past safaris remembering for instance our first safari in the Remote Camps in Zambia's South Luangwa where we met our good friends Judy and Ian from London around the table ; On our drives in Kenya as we were a party of four we had a car of our own , so no other guests either which has certain advantages of course especially as a birder !

 

It was a delight to see a nest of Wire-tailed Swallows in the dining tent with mum and dad feeding all the time !! 

 

A view of the waterhole from the tent with Hendrik socializing with Latifi and ... a few Great White Pelicans 

 

And after a rest and cake and tea we had our afternoon drive with this time perfect weather conditions and some more nice sightings : 

 

Defassa Waterbuck

Black Rhinoceros 

Hyena and Thompson's Gazelle 

 

Thompson's in the mood 

A splendid Kori Bustard 

And a member of the family , the White-bellied ..

Black-backed Jackal on the move 

 

And Coke's Hartebeest grazing 

A Senegal Lapwing mourning 

Weaver's nests

The top of Mount Kenya showing suddenly in late sunshine 

 

And a lonely Rhino as sundowner 

 

 

To be continued ... 

[TonyQ]

Lovely to see Kicheche Laikipia. Excellent photos.

We really enjoyed staying there. Interesting about the dining arrangements as when we went to their camps (all four but pre Covid) shared dining was normal.

 

I am looking forward to the rest of your report

[BRACQUENE]

When reading my text again I see that it says “ former member “ for the camp manager at Kicheche Laikipia  ; I have no idea how that arrived because I am sure I wrote former member which is what it should be 

[BRACQUENE]

Strange there we go again  is this a bug ? 

[BRACQUENE]

Thanks Tony ; I didn’t know that and they didn’t mention it either but for me it is something I missed 

[AfricIan]

3 hours ago, BRACQUENE said:

Strange there we go again  is this a bug ? 

And we still don't know what you were trying to tell us 

[BRACQUENE]

@AfricIan

I asked Matt what was happening and in fact this was implemented to prevent discussions about former members so the name of the lady must be a former member I suppose ; Matt will rectify it soon 

[Tdgraves]

5 hours ago, TonyQ said:

 

We really enjoyed staying there. Interesting about the dining arrangements as when we went to their camps (all four but pre Covid) shared dining was normal.

 

And for us last year at Bush and Mara....

[Miss Biscuit]

I love the rhino with the setting sun.

[BRACQUENE]

When leaving camp on the second day at 6 it was still dark and unlike Zambia and Zimbabwe for instance the sun only rises at 7 and in the evening you have an extra hour ; so we went with Peter to the same place we had our sundowner last night and admired Mount Kenya just before sunrise on a cold and crisp morning .

We then witnessed an incredible scene especially with that magnificent scenery in front of the mountain ,one of the highlights of this safari even more so than the "killings" 

and the spectacular fights between lions and hyena we would see in the Mara later

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next the video my son Willem made of the event : 

 

 

Nearby hyena's were eating the leftover's from a night kill 

 

 

 

 

After meeting a large herd of buffalo 

 

 

And an other Kicheche Land Cruiser 

There was our first Southern white rhino  : Ol Pejeta conservancy has 44 southern whites. The first animals were introduced into Ol Pejeta in 2005. It is in fact the only place 

on earth where you can see Black, Southern white and the last two remaining Northern white rhinos .

And some birds 

T

Tawny Eagle 

 

Grey crowned Crane 

Red-cheeked cordon bleu

 

We then visited the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary The chimpanzees’ natural home range spans from Senegal on the West African coast, through the central forested belt of Africa, to Uganda. They are not native to Kenya, but when a rescue centre in Burundi had to be closed due to the civil war outbreak in 1993 – Ol Pejeta opened its doors.

The Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary was established with an agreement between the Ol Pejeta Conservancy, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and the Jane Goodall Institute. The aim is to provide lifelong refuge to orphaned and abused chimpanzees from West and Central Africa. Over the last decade, Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary has been compelled to keep accepting chimpanzees rescued from traumatic situations - bringing the total number of chimpanzees in the Sanctuary to 35. Many are confiscated from cramped and unnatural living conditions, and many arrive with horrific injuries sustained from abuse at the hands of humans.

At Sweetwaters, they get a chance to start over.

 

 

 

 

 

After a nice lunch we found our first kill of the safari 

 

 

 

 

And this is the video Willem made of the scene  : 

 

 

 

The first eland also and we would see them regularly and ending the second day with hyena cups at the den : 

 

 

 

[BRACQUENE]

The Ol Pejeta Conservancy has one of the highest predator densities in Kenya with lions being the dominant species in this category. Some of the lions have been fitted with radio collars and we decided to do the lion tracking activity on the third day but were very unlucky not to find one lion which according to the local rangers was very rare but anyway we were happy to return to Peter our very experienced guide , who wasn't with us that morning ; Peter who lived in Nanyuki was a really nice guy and passionate about his job : he sadly lost his wife a few months ago and on the sundowner that evening talked a long time about that tragic event in his personal life 

We  had a walk in the afternoon and came pretty close to a large herd of buffalo

 

 

 

 

The next day started very early with some Bat-eared Foxes

And a confrontation between two giraffes ! 

 

 

 

 

And at sunrise a Southern white rhino ... posing before Mount Kenya 

 

 

  

And there was perfect light for some excellent birding conditions 

 

Superb Starling 

Yellow-necked Spurfowl 

Northern White-crowned Shrike

 

Martial Eagle 

White-bellied go-away-bird 

 

 

 

A herd of Impala

 

 

 

And Thomson's Gazelle with a new born 

 

In the afternoon we went to Endangered Species Boma and visited the world's last remaining Northern white rhinos 

 

 

 

 

 

The northern white rhino (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) is a subspecies of white rhino, which used to range over parts of Uganda, Chad, Sudan, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Years of widespread poaching and civil war in their home range have devastated northern white rhino populations, and they are now considered to be extinct in the wild. Only two remain, both on Ol Pejeta Conservancy.

 

On December 20th, 2009, four of the world’s last remaining seven northern white rhinos arrived at Ol Pejeta. Najin, Fatu, Sudan and Suni had been living in Dvur Kralove Zoo in the Czech Republic. All previous breeding attempts in the Zoo had been futile, and the hope was that the climate and rich grasslands of Ol Pejeta, a native habitat for the animals, would provide them with more favourable breeding conditions.

To keep the northern white rhinos safe and in good health, Ol Pejeta dedicated 24hr armed security, a 700-acre enclosure, and a nutritious diet supplemented with fresh vegetables. Expectations were raised when Suni was seen mating with Najin in 2012, but as the gestation period of 16 months wore on, it was clear that Najin was not pregnant. With so few northern whites remaining, it was decided that a southern white male would be introduced to Fatu and Najin in the hope of producing offspring that would at least preserve some of the northern white genes. Again, this proved unsuccessful.

In October 2014 Suni died of natural causes in his enclosure. His death left Sudan as the only northern white male in the world capable of breeding. In early 2015, checks by vets from the Czech Republic dealt us another blow – neither of the females is capable of natural reproduction, and Sudan’s sperm count was disappointingly low (but not surprising given his age). In July 2015, Dvur Kralove Zoo in the Czech Republic lost Nabire, and in November 2015, San Diego Zoo lost Nola - leaving just three northern white rhino left on the planet.

On the 19th of March, 2018, Sudan died. He had been suffering from age-related health issues and from a series of infections. Once his condition worsened significantly and he was unable to stand up and evidently, suffered a great deal, the decision to euthanise him was made by his veterinary team.

The vet checks did conclude one last ray of hope – that artificially assisted reproduction was a possibility. The future of this subspecies now lies in the development of in vitro fertilisation techniques and stem cell technology, costly and complicated procedures that have never before been attempted in rhinos.

 

 

Tomorrow we would leave Laikipia and go to the Mara !

 

To be continued ... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Toxic]

@BRACQUENEas always loving your report and photos! Did you enjoy the endangered species boma, and did you also visit Baraka while there?  The boma really exceeded my expectations (Najin was very naughty and kept pushing our land rover to retrieve a fallen carrot ) 

[BRACQUENE]

Thanks @Toxicfor your appreciation and comments!  We went to see Baraka ( the blind Black Rhino ) whilst we were there : August is a very busy month in Kenya and to be honest there were too many groups present at the time (late afternoon) in the boma to enjoy it properly (which was also the case in the chimpanzee sanctuary) but we were lucky to have some time on our own with the two last white rhino's , very relaxed indeed when we saw them 

[TonyQ]

Beautiful light in those photos @BRACQUENEand you made great use of it 

[Toxic]

13 hours ago, BRACQUENE said:

we were lucky to have some time on our own with the two last white rhino's , very relaxed indeed when we saw them 

 

I found it very humbling with Najin and Fatu, though sadness as well that we as humans brought yet another species to extinction. I would highly recommend a visit to anyone, being that close to any rhinos - let alone the last two northern white rhinos - was just so special and something I will remember for as long as my brain will let me.

 

By contrast I didn't like the chimpanzee sanctuary, whilst acknowledging the hard and important work they do there, I found it quite jarring going from the conservancy to cages, too much like a zoo for me.

 

Looking forward to your next update 😊

[BRACQUENE]

8 hours ago, Toxic said:

By contrast I didn't like the chimpanzee sanctuary, whilst acknowledging the hard and important work they do there, I found it quite jarring going from the conservancy to cages, too much like a zoo for me.

 I agree : even if the area were they were living was much larger than a zoo usually offers ,  it remained a bit sad to watch in my opinion 

[BRACQUENE]

Our stay at Kicheche Laikipia ended with another morning drive as the plain leaving for the Mara was delayed with an hour not unusual as I said before ; in the early morning hours I did some birding on the grounds and it was even more rewarding than on drives where most of the time you don't have ideal conditions or simply not enough time to get everything wright 

 

African Black-headed Oriole

Fork-tailed Drongo

Baglafecht Weaver

Nubian Woodpecker 

 

And Black Rhino and Elephants going to drink on our final drive 

 

 

 

The departure was emotional ; looking back now this was probably the camp I preferred in terms of guiding , management and location : though windy and chilly it moreover still had that feeling of remoteness the Mara can't offer especially at the time we went. But the Mara would deliver in terms of landscape , action and sightings !

Saying goodbye : Peter on the right side 

 

III . Mara Naboisho Conservancy : 

Created in 2010, the Mara Naboisho Conservancy is a private 50,000 acre community pastoralist and wildlife conservation area located in the Great Rift Valley, Kenya. The Conservancy falls within the Greater Mara Region and was carved out of the Koiyaki-Lemek Group Ranch. It borders the  Maasai Mara National Reserve to the southwest, the Olare Motorogi Conservancy to the west, and the Ol Kinyei Conservancy to the east.The Conservancy has one of the highest densities of lions in Africa.

Naboisho, which means “coming together” in the Maasai’s Maa language, is a community response to the challenges of the privatization of group ranches in the Greater Mara Region. 

Inspired by their neighbours in the Olare Orok Conservancy, the approximately 500 landowners asked the Basecamp Foundation Kenya to facilitate the formation of the conservancy as a community wildlife area. In 2008, a forum – which brought together community leaders, upcoming community champions, dedicated resource managers, seasoned conservationists, experienced socio-ecologists and tourism investors – was convened to chart out a broader framework for the development of Naboisho.

It was agreed that the conservancy model should combine conservation of nature and cultural heritage, tourism, and the enhancement of livelihoods for the local communities. On the 28th of March 2010, the landowners formerly signed a 15-year lease to create the Mara Naboisho Conservancy.

The Mara Naboisho Conservancy is now the second largest conservancy in the region. Once the conservancy was established, a plan was put in place to ensure that the environment was given a chance to recover, that wildlife was protected, and that the landowners benefitted, both financially and from a social development perspective.

 

We arrived late for lunch in Kicheche Valley Camp , which you can see on the map above and it was very busy due to the departure at the same time of fourteen guests all of the same group and the replacement of all of them but we had a warm welcome from Minnie the manager and the Masai staff 

The Camp opened in 2011 and is set in a secluded, wooded valley in the eastern part of the Mara Naboisho Conservancy. A spring close to the central dining and lounge area attracts plentiful wildlife. Kicheche Valley is a  permanent structure, with a crazy-paving central area. Solid platforms of timber decking, built atop foundations of rock on the hillside, support the six identical, very spacious guest tents comfortably furnished in a mixture of styles. We had two tents which were the furthest away from the central area but we loved them from the start especially with that great view of the Valley 

The central area 

Bernard our Masai guide for the next three days, took us on our first afternoon drive admiring that beautiful Mara landscape

 

 

Topi 

Cooke's Hartebeest 

 

Baby Elephant 

Coqui Francolin 

Kirk's dik-dik  

We spotted a few hyena's before witnessing this scene 

 

 

 

And suddenly a male lion ...

 

 

Run away with most of what was left of the zebra 

And hided in the bush to eat

 

 

Again Willem made a video which has gone viral ... lion coming after 9 minutes

 

The day ended  with hyena at the den and baboon in a more peaceful setting : 

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued ...

[Toxic]

A beautiful update @BRACQUENEand what a great video shot by Willem! That sunset is just gorgeous 😍

[BRACQUENE]

In terms of pure excitement and sightings including some gorgeous birds the three nights in Naboisho conservancy were probably the best , even if the weather was cloudy most of the time and on the second day there was a heavy shower with thunder and lightning in the afternoon 

Our morning drive was a birders delight ... 

 

 

 

 

 

An unusual calm and nicely posing Warthog !

 

Lappet-faced Vulture 

 

Black-chested snake Eagle 

Grey-headed Kingfisher 

 

Striped Kingfisher

Marabou Stork 

 

Hildebrandt's Starling 

Black-faced Sandgrouse 

 

But we soon saw some bigger game even if the lioness was on her own ... 

 

 

And a bit later the Naboisho conservancy reputation of being Cheetah country was quickly confirmed ; the first one we saw was wounded 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

And even when prey was around the four of them didn't make a move 

 

 

 

 

In the afternoon just before the shower we had some close views of female Ostriches !

 

 

 

 

And then after the rain and in bad light we witnessed an unforgettable scene with lions and hyena as main actors : 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The lions went up the hill with wildebeest around but went only for a drink in a pool 

 

And then suddenly a female lioness was chasing a baby hyena that came out of nowhere and the baby run in the water , screamed and could escape with a lot of hyena arriving

and having a fight with the lions 

 

 

Again my son's video tells you the whole story better than my pictures can ; we suppose the baby was ok but darkness came early on the 11th of August ... 

 To be continued ... 

[Towlersonsafari]

exciting stuff @BRACQUENE