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@ElenaH    In Deteema Springs we had to share the safari car just during an afternoon game drive. One day there was another couple in the camp but we did not share the car.

That is the guide I like!

One more question @TonyQdid you think the Dhikala zone was superior in anyway ? In terms of terrain , landscape and sightings ? 

After this we crossed a small bridge over the river into a very quiet part of the park where we concentrated on birds the bridge White-capped Redstart Red headed Vulture Siberian Stonechat Stork-billed Kingfisher View of the river Crested Kingfisher Grey Bushchat Rufous-bellied Eagle overhead Another point on the river And for us a really exciting sighting a male Black Francolin - tricky in the grass, but really beautiful   We then returned to the Forest Resthouse after a very enjoyable and varied first drive in Dhikala.    

JayP said the Tiger had 3 youngsters, and he thought we might see them a bit further on.   Yet again, he knew what he was talking about! Young Tiger relaxing (5 to 6 month old) and washing   As used in the intro   It gets up and wanders off - looking very fluffy as youngsters do     A really beautiful young cat. So the start of the sightings was a worry, but it actually turned out really well. I must say that the other jeeps and drivers were very well behaved.    

We started with some birding Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo       And a stunning Black Stork - the colours in the sunlight were amazing! So we moved steadily on   Well  we knew what they had stopped for! The first part of the road from the Rest House has no side branches, so everyone leaving had stopped here. We laughed, but also thought we would be waiting a long time to get through (just the situation we hoped to avoid)   However we learned something new about JayP. All of the other guides and drivers knew him well. He seemed to be very well respected. He asked (or told) the other vehicles to move out of the way to let us through, and they did!. We were amazed.   We stopped briefly at the main cause of this Tiger hiding in long grass          

The Forest Rest House is quite a large collection of buildings with a variety of types of accomodation for tourist, staff and guides. Our room was simple but comfortable enough. There was a shower with hot water, but probably too hot. We used the bucket shower system (there is a large plastic bucket to put the water in and a jug to pour water over oneself) as the temperature was more reliable.   The Rest House overlooks a river, and from this viewpoint was a good view of Elephants below       After a brief look around the grounds we met JayP for lunch. We enjoyed the food here. Simple vegetarian food.   After lunch we set out for the afternoon safari at 14.00

So JayP and our new driver, Irfan, picked us up and headed towards Dhikala. The drive to the gate was about 1 1/2 hours through small towns and villages. We checked in at the gate Map of Dhikala Zone - we would drive from Dhangari Gate to Dhikala FRH (Forest Rest House) Someone else waiting in a jeep 19 Statue of Jim Corbett I was surprised how highly regarded Jim Corbett is in this area, despite being a colonial figure. He was valued for killing man-eating Tigers, but also for setting up the large protected area and then donating it. The park was named after him in 1955/56.   With formalities completed, it was a fairly log drive (about two hours) to reach the Forest Rest House. Parts of this were through dense forest. We were delighted to see a Tawny Fish Owl Some parts were more open with views over a river     As we got closer to the Forest Rest House, we passed through a beautiful bit of forest with trees forming arches over us before finally reaching the Rest House This is the section we stayed in  

@Galana@michael-ibk@Atravelynn@xelas@KaliCA@John M. thank you @offshorebirderthank you for your kind comments. I suspect some other Big Year entrants will get much higher scores, but we enjoy the game! @madaboutcheetahthank you. We really enjoyed Corbett. I don't really know how difficult it is to get into Dhikala. We booked our trip early, so I presume our company booked it as soon as possible. We only wanted 2  nights and that is what we got. We met a group that had booked a trip with our company who had booked fairly late and they couldn't get in.   Onwards to Dhikala As I mentioned, we were very pleased with the Golden Tusk Hotel. A really good location for Jhirna Zone, excellent food, lovely grounds and really helpful staff.   On the day we were due to travel to Dhikala we were to picked up at 9.30, so we had time for some birding in the grounds and for a very good breakfast. A few of the many birds seen in the grounds: Greater Coucal Black Kite Verditer Flycatcher White-throated Fantail and an Oriental White-eye feeding on a spectacular flower

Never too late Marc & thanks for the nice comments. 20 nights, wow 😯 that’s a fantastic time to really get to know the camps and all the folk there. 

Very nice TR Ian.  And yes, I'm 18 months late in replying.   Sooooo looking forward to my 20 night trip @ both Kutali for 10, then Mukese for 10 next OCT/NOV, and will be keen to see what's changed in Kafue since my last visit 30 years ago!   Cheers Marc  

Namunyak Wildlife Conservancy in Samburu County of Northern Kenya is home to the first community owned elephant sanctuary in Africa. The Reteti Elephant Sanctuary was officially opened in August 2016.  It was my second visit to Reteti and like Sheldricks does such a wonderful work with elephants.  It's community owned and operated and several of the keepers are women which is unusual in African culture.     https://www.reteti.org/who-we-are   The musician Dave Mathews is a big supporter of the sanctuary:   It's a beautiful drive to Reteti from Sarara and, in fact, they have a Reteti House in their portfolio where you can stay in walking distance of the sanctuary.     Elephants are the primary mission though they've raised a baby rhino that was released in a neighboring community conservancy -- but other orphans are there: eland, gerenuk, zebras, reticulated giraffe, ostrich:           But eles are clearly their focus and I love the songs of the keepers which directs the elephants to their surrogate, similar to the Singing Wells and the Samburu people's song unique to their herds... Sweet little fighter Long-uro who lost much of his trunk after falling into a well and attacked by hyenas---he's quite the spoiled boy at Reteti      https://www.reteti.org/blog/longuro-story  

Good sightings and photos! I feel the atmosphere of the trip through your pictures :-) and that you enjoyed it a lot! Have you been also alone in Deteema camp?

Thanks @Africalover, plenty of photo's to come, I am back at work for next 2 weeks so there will be a delay in finishing off the report. Nothing better @xelasthan going on Safari with the people you love and are important in your life, still plenty to come.

@TonyQ- Excellent report !! I'm just catching up with all the amazing birding , Tigers and more ...... Corbett is very high on my list - but, I'm told Dhikala is hard to get into and they take only a 3 night booking because of the very high demand ......