From Meru To Mara

[michael-ibk]

Thanks, @@Treepol , @@Atravelynn , @@TonyQ , @SafariChick and @@Kitsafari .

It was definitely not a good day to be a Dikdik in Samburu. Only minutes after we started our gamedrive at 15:00 we found another victim of mighty talons - even mightier talons than that of a Tawny:



A Martial Eagle had made prey here. A powerful bird, only the Verraux´s and Crowned Eagle are similarly large. An apex predator, diddiks are no problem for it.

 

It soon flew up a tree where we watched it (undisturbed by other cars) for 20 minutes. After a while it went for a higher vantage point.

 

 

 

 

Then it had enough of our admiration and was off.

 

 

 

 

 

[Bush dog]

Excellent martial eagle pictures!!!

[michael-ibk]

We enjoyed the tranquility of the river area, watching birds, diddiks and other "small stuff". (Which can just be as interesting as the more iconic animals IMO).



Unstriped Ground Squirrel





Dwarf Mongoose, scurrying around with incredible speed.

Then James calmly said "Leopard", and I have to admit - the mongoose were no longer that interesting.

But I could see nothing, just leaves and bushes, and was beginning to think that James had pulled our leg, especially after his "Are you really not seeing it?". But then he repositioned the car as far right to the road as was allowed and patiently directed us where to look - and indeed, between some bushes there he was:



How James could have spotted him even from the other side of the scrubbery it still a total mystery to me.



What was that tasty meal he was enjoying? Our binocs confirmed what James suspected - a porcupine!



When I asked James how they kill them he just shrugged and pulled the old "How do hedgehogs mate"-joke: "Very carefully".





The sighting remained private for more than 20 minutes, only then other cars arrived in quick succession.

 

 

Can´t have been much fun for them, we were probably the only car who had a decent angle, and I suspect most did not see much leopard but just felt much frustration. We left to give the others a chance (and the magic of the moment was gone anyway), and the fighting for our spot began.

 

[michael-ibk]

Thanks, @@Bush dog

After we left the leopard crowd we spent some time at the river.

 

 

A fine specimen of a Nile Crocodile.

 

 

Yellow-Billed Stork

 

Black-Headed Heron

 

 

Kirk-Dikdik, alive for a change. (In theory, Guenther´s Dikdiks, should exist in Samburu as well. James, who has been here many, many times has never seen one, however.)

 

We left the river area later in the afternoon.

White-Bellied Go-Away-Bird.

 

White-Headed Buffalo Weaver, one of safari´s "Little Five". (The other ones are Elephant Shrew, Leopard Tortoise, Ant Lion and Rhino Beetle.)

 

A Cheetah alarm was radioed in, but it remained hidden in the bushes, nobody found it this evening. A shy cat. I didn´t mind much because the game drive ended with what I had most wanted to see in Samburu:

 

 

 

Many breeders of gerenuks and zoologists have described gerenuks as being extremely humble animals, always helping fellow gerenuks. In ancient African tribal tales, the gerenuk has often been crowned 'Queen of Humbleness.' (So says Wikipedia. A bit of info I just liked.)

 

This is the so-called "bikini shot":

 

 

[TonyQ]

@@michael-ibk

Great pictures of the leopard (and you were there before the crowd!) - but the pictures of the gerunuk (and the video) are wonderful.

It is amazing that such a special animal cam remain so humble! I can understand why you were so keen to see it.

[Zim Girl]

@@michael-ibk

 

Great picture of the leopard chasing the squirrel.

 

I love the standing Gerenuk pictures, great shots, especially the group of three.

[twaffle]

Just catching up with this again and I'm amazed by the sightings. Wonderfully captured, I really get the sense of Samburu indeed.

[FlyTraveler]

@michael-ibk: I missed two days and now looking at so many great sightings and shots! Two leopard encounters, two types of eagles eating dik-diks (fabulous photos), the standing-up gerenuks, the Gravy's zebra stallions, the reticulated giraffes, the Grey Crowned Cranes and all the others.. Really enjoying this TR of yours, as all the others you have posted so far.

[michael-ibk]

Thank you very much, @@FlyTraveler , @@twaffle , @@Zim Girl and @@TonyQ , really appreciate the nice feedback.

We drove to the west early next morning for a change, and a full moon was still watching over Samburu in the sky.



We passed the bridge to Buffalo Springs, still not traversable after the big flood of 2010. Lots of lodges were destroyed or washed away by the giant flash flood then. Not only rain, but also the opening of a dam apparently caused this by what I was told at the lodge. Luckily there was no loss of human life, it happened in the daytime, but the property damage was huge. Samburu Serena Lodge, for example, was hit so badly that it´s permanently out of action, there seem to be no plans for it to open up again. And of course countless animals, especially the smaller ones, fell victim to the water masses.

 

Ironically, just one year earlier, the river had dried out almost completely, and lodge staff and guides were diggin holes in the river bed to establish water holes for the animals and save them from dying of thirst.

 

We saw people doing repair works at the bridge, and so it can be hoped that the two reserves will be better linked again in the not too far future. We didn´t visit Buffalo Springs because we would have had to drive all back to Archer´s Post Gate to enter the reserve at Buffalo Springs Chokaa Gate.

 

The lovely morning mood soon helped us stopping thinking about this catastrophe, and after watching the ubiquitious Dikdiks,Hornbills and the odd Impala and Waterbuck we spent a long time with this troop of Olive Baboons.

 

 

I know a lot of people are not particularly fond of them but their interactions are a lot of fun to watch IMO.

 

And when they look at you they often appear to be very human-like, very much "related" to our species for sure.

 

 

Someone really should teach them to put trousers on, though.

[michael-ibk]

We soon left the river and drove up North, with a nive view over the most-western plains of the reserve. A scan with the binocs didn´t show much down there though.

 

 

We saw a good number of Gerenuks and Waterbucks along the way, and of course Dikdiks and Hornbills.

 

 

This is the Eastern Yellow-Billed Hornbill, not the same species as its Southern African counterpart. The main difference: It has blackish (not pinkish) skin around its eyes.

 

We were here for a purpose, I had told James about one of my most desired target animals, and as usual he shrugged, said "No Problem" - and delivered:

 

 

 

Vulturine Guinea-Fowl, every bit as beautiful and special I had imagined them, and I was more than happy to find them.

 

 

Like their cousins, the so much easier to find Helmeted Guinea-Fowl they never stand still, so they are not the easiest subjects.

 

 

We found them maybe one or two kilometres North-East of Samburu Sopa Lodge, an area James assured us he had always found them.

 

 

After they had scurried off we proceeded farther North. Though we often scanned the hills for Klippspringers and Lesser Kudus we couldn´t find any. (James told us there was only an off chance of seeing them.)

 

We encountered two more Grevy stallions on the way, longingly waiting for the mares to return from Kamala.

 

 

 

Surprisingly we even found some surface water from the rains up here, which also explained why the animals were more dispersed than usual for this time of the year. (According to James, we wouldn´t have noticed of course.) It was the only one we saw, but there were probably more, and so the animals didn´t have to migrate to the river from up here.

 

 

We found a second flock of Vulturines but they were off soon.

 

 

 

Blue-Naped Mousebird

 

 

Fork-Tailed Drongo

 

Have to finish this post with a last Vulturine.

 

[michael-ibk]

I had a second mission for James - find the last of the Samburu Five! Reticulated Giraffe, Beisa Oryx, Grevy and Gerenuk had not been too difficult, but the Somali Ostrich proved to be more of a challenge. We saw more and more animals again as we drove South again, and we searched long and hard for Ostrich, but no luck.







Eastern Chanting Goshawk



Tawny Eagle

James was stubborn and kept on searching, adamant that we were deep in Ostrich area. And yes, he really did find a few. When he pointed in their direction I saw only Grant´s and Oryx, and even with the binocs had no clue what he was talking about. But after several minutes I saw them, little specks in the distance. How James could see them without binocs was really incredible. We tried to get closer, not that easy with the limited road network in Samburu and its strict no-offroading-rules.

As we slowly made progress we had another wonderful, unexpected sighting: The Grevy mares and offspring were returning to Samburu!

We counted more than 150 of them, the long stream of zebras (orderly walking in single line) did not seem to end.



(Because of the bushes and scrubbery and the fact that they came in a very long, stretched-out line we unfortunately got no pictures really showing their numbers.)

The ostriches kept their distance, so just for proof (to complete the Samburu Five):



Again, it was almost 11:00 now, all other cars had long left, and we had the Grevys all to ourselves (as all other sightings this morning, fewer cars up North, we only passed a few on the way.)

We returned to the river, with the usual suspects around.



A view I could never tire of:



When we returned to the lodge two Beisa Oryx put on a lovely show for us.













Their fight didn´t appear to be very serious, more like friendly sparring.

[Marks]

@@michael-ibk Enjoying this very much, humble gerenuks and trouserless baboons alike. I was actually thinking to myself that you've had some stellar birding on this trip, and then I saw the two kills. Simply stunning.

[Treepol]

Ahhh, vulturine guinea fowl - another of my favourites.

 

You had wonderful overall sightings in Samburu.

[TonyQ]

@@michael-ibk

The Vulturine Guinea-Fowl certainly are beautiful!

[FlyTraveler]

Another set of great sightings @@michael-ibk! I really enjoy observing baboons, sometimes more than lions (if the lions just sleep), nice detailed and sharp photos of the baboons, also of the Vulturine Guinea-Fowl... Your report and the one of @@JulieM, make me feel badly like going to Kenya again...

[Soukous]

thanks for taking me along on your Samburu safari @@michael-ibk such great sightings - 2 leopards as well. but no lions ????

[TonyQ]

@@michael-ibk

Perect timing with the return of the zebra. I love the bit of the video where the foal is kicking its heels!

And well done on seeing the ostrich.

[michael-ibk]

Thanks, @@Marks , @@Treepol , @@FlyTraveler and @@TonyQ.

 

And to @@Soukous , of course. No, no lions in Samburu for us. Nobody saw them while we were there. IIRC only one pride apparently lives in and around Samburu, and they had obviously ventured outside. With the rain the week prior to our visit and water now available away from the river their prey (like the Grevys who had just returned) had dispersed as well, so I guess they just followed.

 

So, to conclude the Samburu part:

 

 

Our last afternoon was quiet, though we did see good numbers of the usual suspects (Impala, Waterbuck, Dikdik, Baboons, Giraffes).

 

Chestnut-Headed Sparrow-Weavers are of course an all but uncommon sighting but I really liked waiting for - and then seeing - the male to slip out of its nest like this:

 

 

Building a nest is a tough job for these guys, the females are very picky: If they inspect their offered home and find it not to their liking - they completely rip it apart and their poor suitor has to start all over again.

 

 

The rest of the afternoon was a bit of "Bad Kenya". A cheetah sighting was radioed in near the river, and everyone raced there to see it. It hid inside the bushes and no one could see even a whisker - but almost 20 cars were then driving around the area where the cheetah was suspected. The poor guy was completely boxed in, the jeeps and busses created an impenetrable circle around it. We asked James to leave. Yes, we were really, really longing to see a cheetah but not like this.

 

Samburu fans might have noticed there´s one species conspicously absent from this report so far - elephants! The reserve is famous for them, and normally they are there in good numbers. Not this time, as James found out most of them had migrated to Lewa. In the evening a few of them were passing through, but not to stay, they were on their way to Kamala. With the early rains they had many places to feed now, and were not restricted to the river.

 

 

 

This little one (2 to 3 months old) struggled to keep up:

 

 

He was well protected by his family:

 

 

And he must have been very thankful for the protection. Again there were just too many cars here, all wanted to see the eles with them having been absent for the last days from Samburu. (Normally there wouldn´t have been any fuss at all about this herd.) As fast as the elephants were moving, the cars were of course faster, and would position themselves in the herd´s way to get a good view - and thereby blocked their route again and again. I was amazed that the eles weren´t becoming more aggressive about this situation but I´m sure they were stressed by it.

 

Just to visualize the scene:

 

 

So, all in all, we didn´t enjoy our last hours of the afternoon drive very much. Too many cars, behaving badly, jostling for positions, boxing the animals in, stressing them, nothing "wild" at all about the feeling of it all - this was "Bad Kenya". Our own fault of course, no one forced us to go there (and we left soon enough).

 

And it really is easily avoided in Samburu. We had most of our sightings to ourselves, everyone is gone after 10:30 and before 16:00, and get away a bit from the river (or even behind the hills) and you are all alone. Even our first leopard sighting was absolutely fine because the other cars were all behaving well. (And the second one was private with the leopard for 20 minutes, so - just perfect.)

 

Luckily, when we left the lodge next morning to proceed our journey we instantly forgot about the prior afternoon´s mayhem. It was a beautiful morning on our way out.

 

 

 

Taita Fiscal

 

Best of all, all of the Samburu Five came out to see us off on our way out:

 

 

 

 

 

 

They had been the main reason for us to come here, so this felt like the perfect good bye!

 

Our last not so perfect afternoon notwithstanding I loved Samburu. Seeing Gerenuks, Grevy or Vulturine Guineafowl was simply wonderful, they are such special animals. I loved the contrast of the lush, scenic area around the Uaso Nyiro river with a Dikdik in every bush and the dry, arid thorny zone around the hills with Hornbills and Squirrels all over the place. I loved the birdlife which was just sensational (especially predator birds), and our two leopards had compensated us richly for the lack of lions. (Which we did not care about that much anyway here since we expected to see loads of them in the Mara - which we did.)

 

So - on to the Aberdares.

 

Aaaaaaand - can I wear half a pith now?

Edited October 23, 2014 by michael-ibk

[Safaridude]

@@michael-ibk

 

That's a great martial eagle sequence. You got your vulturine guinea fowl in good light.

 

I have found that many of these mini-buses in Samburu go back to their respective lodges around 9 am for breakfast, so late mornings can be quiet and pleasant in the reserve too.

[RichB]

I have to say that is absolutely horrific seeing all those vehicles blocking the elephants way...Why oh why do they allow this total stupidity and utter selfishness to go on..You would think humans would leave all that behind at home when they go to these destinations and enjoy just being at one with the wildlife as opposed to harassing it just so they can get their photo..Horrible.

[Marks]

Shame about the crowds, but you definitely have the right mindset about it in my opinion.

Awesome job on the weaver, too.

[Sangeeta]

Lovely light on that first ele photo too, Michael. Regardless of that last afternoon, Samburu was rich and rewarding!

[Zim Girl]

Love the weaver bird looking out from the nest.

 

Very much looking forward to seeing the Aberdares.

[TonyQ]

@@michael-ibk

Congratulations on half a pith!

Great picture of the sparrow weaver poking its head out of the nest.

It is a shame about the crowding of animals - but you could and did get away. The overall picture of Samburu is very positive - and very good of the 5 to see you off.

The gerunuk are wonderful - we really must see them.

I look forward to the Aberdares...

[madaboutcheetah]

Hi Michael,

 

Just catching up with all the superb updates on your trip report!!! Fabulous!!!! Love all the images - but, especially like the Martial Eagle; desert species; birds; scenery and lots more. That genernuk I must try and find next time!!!

 

Cheers

Hari