The Offbeat circuit safari in Kenya, January 2016

[mapumbo]

We started our first afternoon safari by meeting our guide, Dominic. He began by asking what we liked to see. We replied that "we like everything, big or small and like to spend time sitting and watching the interactions between the animals". Dominic complied with our request with obvious delight. It was not long that we became very comfortable with our new guide. He had a great smile and easy laugh. His English was really good. It was almost eerie to hear him talk with what sounded like an American midwest accent.

 

We hadn't gone far that we got more of a feel for what the scenery was like in Meru Park. The short rains had continued on longer than usual. The area was lush with vegetation. The flowers were blooming, the birds were in breeding plumage, and the grass was waist high.

 

 

There seemed to be game everywhere. We did notice that the elephants were a bit more testy than we had experienced before. Dominic said that they have been harassed somewhat because they venture out in to the nearby farm area and the farmers attempt to keep them from destroying their crops. Also, he thought some problem elephants from other parks are transferred to Meru since it is not as heavily visited.

 

Elephant family that got quite agitated when we got near them.

[mapumbo]

Very nice itinerary. Thanks for posting it. And it seems you got a private safari the majority of the time without the private safari premium! How did you end up with Expert Africa?

 

 

After reading numerous reports on Safaritalk, I took note of who different people were using for their trip organizer. I sent a rough itinerary to 4 different companies that were referenced (one in the US, one in Kenya, and two in Britain). Ellie at Expert Africa was the most prompt in reply and attempted to make what we were interested in and what we wanted our budget to be to fit an itinerary we could live with. Also, their website is quite detailed on description of locations and accommodations, as Africa Travel Resources is as well.

[mapumbo]

The next morning we started our first early morning safari at Meru. We approached a kopje called Leopard Rock but which Dominic called No Leopard Rock, since they had only seen a leopard there one time.

 

There was a nice tower of reticulated giraffe in good light. They are so graceful we never get tired of looking at them.

 

Shortly after we came on some Buffalo.

Just down the road we could see a huge herd of elephant. They were slowly traveling from right to left. Dominic stopped for us to take in the vast spread of elephant bodies across the horizon. Then we moved ahead to where they were to cross the road. We sat there for an hour watching them graze and socially interact as they ambled past our vehicle within a few yards.

 

We noticed many of the elephants meeting head to head and wondered what they were up to. We thought maybe that it was an aggressive behavior toward each other. Dominic explained that they were from different families and were greeting each other. They would touch one another with their trunks and sometimes reach into each others mouth with their trunks. It was very interesting to observe.

 

Attached is a video that may or may not work for you. If viewed in full screen it becomes very pixelated.

Elephants in Meru.wmv

Edited February 8, 2016 by mapumbo

[mapumbo]

As we were leaving the huge herd of elephants we tried to get a rough count on them. We counted around 180 and I'm sure we missed some, especially the babies in the tall grass.

 

We looked back at the herd when we were down the road a ways and saw one large elephant chasing another. The front one stopped and was mounted by the the bull. That was the first time that we had observed elephants mating.

 

Driving through an area where there did not seem to be much game, Dominic suddenly exclaimed "look at that tree". We looked over at what appeared to be a really neat looking acacia tree and nodded to him. Again, he said "NO, look at that tree!!!" Of course by then we thought there had to be something more than just a lovely tree. Dominic was able to finally get us to understand that there was a leopard laying on the limb of the picturesque acacia. How he spotted him we could not believe, but there he was in his spotted splendor.

 

The original long distance view of the leopard.

Dominic hurried to get a clearer view of the leopard. He said that normally leopards in Meru are very skittish and he might not stay in the tree for a good photo. As you can see this leopard was not at all alarmed and stayed on his limb resting and only occasionally looked over at us.

 

After spending a good deal of time enjoying the leopard sighting by ourselve, we decided to move on. Dominic had called the one other safari vehicle that we had seen that day to report the sighting, but they had already returned to Elsa's Kopje. This would be the theme of most of our game drives in Meru. Seldom did we come across any other vehicles. We saw a total of 12 other tourists in the four days we were there.

 

A little further down the road we came on a mixed group of animals. There are Oryx, impala, common waterbuck, an ostrich, zebra, Grants gazelle and gerenuk. This was another good place to stop and watch what all was transpiring.

 

A male and female Oryx were continually on the move. The female was evidently coming into estrus but was not standing for the male yet. They obviously had been at this activity for quite some time as they were both very gaunt. Whenever the male would put his head up on the female, she would move away from him.

On the afternoon safari we were stopped to look at a Rosy-patched Bush Shrike right next to the road and it suddenly flew into the vehicle and brushed against Mama Ndege's leg. She figured there must have been a bug on her leg and the bird took the opportunity to grab a meal. She was just in the process of taking a photo of the bird so caught it in flight just before the contact. Needless to say we were all astounded and amused.

 

This Superb Starling seems to be totally aghast at the Shrike's behavior.

Scenic road that we drove through in the mostly devoid of humans park.

Marshall Eagle and Butterflies at stream crossing.

Edited February 8, 2016 by mapumbo

[PT123]

Great report @@mapumbo

 

I agree with your philosophy of sitting for a while and enjoying the animal interaction. That was a lucky leopard sighting and it's great that you had the sighting bto yourselves for as long as you wanted it. Meru is a terrific park - I was astounded by the number of elephants.

[michael-ibk]

Really impressed with that Elephant sighting - 180, just wow! And how lucky to find a Leopard, too.

[TonyQ]

It is wonderful to see so many elephants - and to have the time to sit and watch. The video does give a feel for the numbers which is very difficult in a still photo.

It is amazing that there were so few visitors in Meru (a shame as well - it does need more)

When looking at your photos I realised that I didn't take any pictures of Leopard Rock - and we didn't see a leopard (so clearly some link )

Luck and a good guide with young eyes probably helped as well!

I am very much enjoying seeing the park through your eyes

[Kitsafari]

I too am surprised at the number of elephants you saw, and so amazing to be in their presence when they are calm and so accepting of us humans. You are making a good case for Meru as well. great shot of the leopard on the tree.

[mapumbo]

@@michael-ibk Yes, we knew the safari gods were looking over us. Dominic thought that several herds had just happened to unite because there were so many of them greeting each other with their touching ritual.

 

@@TonyQ It is interesting to compare notes and photos when we have been in the same park at nearly the same period. We were also at Mara overlapping @@offshorebirder as well. We were fortunate to have some nice light on Leopard Rock one morning with the giraffes in front. So many days were cloudy while we were in Kenya that it was difficult to get the sharp photos.

 

@@Kitsafari There was quite a contrast with some of the elephants we came across and the huge herd that we encountered. There did not seem to be any of the anxiety with the large group even though there were lots of little ones and bulls in musth. Something to be said, I guess, for safety in numbers. We all three crawled on top of the vehicle and just soaked it all in as they were slowly drifting past. What a privilege. Hopefully, the poaching issue can be solved so future generations can experience the same thing!

[mapumbo]

This morning we were heading over to the rhino sanctuary part of Meru Park. They have a rather large section fenced off that is full of cover and has most of the other species of animals along with about 30 black rhino and 40 white.

 

We had not been traveling long in the reserve and we came on a group of 4 rhino near the road. There were 3 females and a young male in this group.

 

We moved on and came across a group of common zebra in the tall grass.

Next we came on a solitary old bull rhino resting near the road.

We drove around the reserve a while longer but did not see any more rhino. There is a lot of shrubbery and trees in the reserve that provide ample cover for the rhinos. We did see other species, a group of three Grevys zebra in the distance and waterbuck and elephant.

 

After leaving the reserve we were driving down the road and Dominic stopped suddenly and backed up. We had been seeing these small cones of dirt in the road that resembled small volcanoes. Well, we were able to observe the creature that was responsible for these mounds. It is a naked mole rat. They are not the most handsome of creatures but are interesting in their own right. They use their teeth to dig their tunnels

 

Naked mole rat returning to his burrow.

This is the miniature volcano that often you see with dirt flying out the top hole.

We came upon a large bull elephant standing under a shade tree. He was resting his tusk on a limb of the tree and then resting his trunk on the tusk. I guess his head felt just too heavy today.

 

Heading back towards camp we viewed a Somali Ostrich.

Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu

We returned back to camp for lunch. Here is a photo of a trail from the lounge area down towards the river where they set up an evening campfire for drinks and bites.

 

[michael-ibk]

Forget the Rhinos - the Naked Mole Rats are a much more special sighting. Seriously, don´t think any report here has featured one. They are actually big stars of our Zoo in Vienna - people are fascinated with their ... uglyness. :-)

[mapumbo]

We had been watching in amazement the tremendous numbers of Red-billed Queleas that were grouped up in the area just shortly after leaving camp. There was no way to estimate how many there were, but at least 100's of thousands. The noise was like the deafening sound of the 17 year cicadas that we had in Kansas this year. The queleas were flying around in clouds of birds, landing in the grass collecting plant material for nests and roosting in the trees. The raptors were perched in the trees all around feasting their eyes on the all you can eat buffet in front of them.

 

As the days wore on the progress of the nest building and eventual mating was a routine stop for us to sit and observe. The males build the nests as quickly as they can to attract a female to inspect. If she approves, then after mating, his work is done. The male is then off to do his thing and the female stays with the nest.

 

I can understand how the grain farmers in the area would be in terror when seeing a flock of these birds descend on their crops. They would wipe out a field of grain in short order.

 

Flocks of queleas flying by.

The start of the nesting process.

Nest building nearing completion.

Trees full of nests. Wall to wall habitations.

Attached is a video of the flying flocks. This may make you dizzy watching it. The quality is terrible, but it gives an idea of the volume of birds in the area.

 

queleas in flight.wmv

 

Tawny Eagle trying to decide what to have for lunch.

Long-crested Eagle

Helmeted guineafowl.

 

 

[mapumbo]

Forget the Rhinos - the Naked Mole Rats are a much more special sighting. Seriously, don´t think any report here has featured one. They are actually big stars of our Zoo in Vienna - people are fascinated with their ... uglyness. :-)

Well, I had a feeling a Naked Mole Rat was not something you see everyday, (or if you really want to see every day). It was quite interesting to watch him struggle to get back in his burrow and then moon us on the way down.

[mapumbo]

Our last full day in Meru Park we loaded up early in the morning as usual before daylight. We stopped to check out the queleas to see how they had progressed with the nest making. As we left them Dominic sped off in a faster than usual pace. In about a half mile he slowed to a stop and we realized what his hurry was all about. He knew the perfect spot to catch the sunrise through the palm trees.

 

A little further on we came on a group of buffalo with cattle egrets.

Male Somali Ostrich

Nice group of Common Waterbuck

Again we seemed to be headed on a mission. Dominic must have gotten a text message as he turned around and was heading in haste in the opposite direction. This was the first time that we had obviously gotten a heads up on a good sighting. As per our safari etiquette, Mama Ndege and I just looked at each other and didn't ask any questions.

 

We pulled up to a crossroads and there was one other vehicle with two tourists in it. They were observing a male and female lion laying in the road very much asleep. This completed the big five in Meru National Park for us. We could have had it in Nairobi National Park but there are no elephants there.

 

The lions got up and moved through some grass to another crossing road. We re-positioned our vehicle just as the two were mating.

It seems that every day we had a major highlight along with the other super sightings that came pretty much continuously. Other than not being able to count on having multiple big cat sightings, I can't see how one would wish for much better game viewing than what we experienced in Meru.

 

We were driving back near the rhino reserve on the outside of the enclosure and saw a several large elephants. One was dusting himself, a couple more were in musth. One of the big bulls was very active. He was rubbing himself on a tree. Then he started shaking the palm tree hoping for some nuts to fall down. After that he was off for a mud bath.

 

Large elephant in musth.

 

Elephant dusting himself.

Baboons in palm tree.

Elephant shaking tree shortly after baboons scampered off.

 

Attached is a video of the elephant shaking the tree to try and get some nuts to fall. There were none up there. He looked around the base of the tree in hopes of finding some.

 

elephant shaking tree.wmv

[Thursday's Child]

Love the Naked Mole Rat!

[TonyQ]

@@mapumbo

It is really enjoyable seeing the similarity and the differences between our wildlife sightings given that we were in Meru at almost the same time.

The mole rat is a real treat- and beauty is subjective . The flocks of birds you saw (and videoed very effectively) were much bigger than we saw - and we thought our flocks were big!

You saw different lions to us as well (I think) - lovely photos of a great sighting. I enjoyed the video of the elephant pushing the tree.

And Gerenuk are amazing creatures!

[mapumbo]

@@TonyQ. Thank you for the nice reply.

We were totally awed by the volume of queleas. It was interesting to see the numerous raptors perched in trees surrounding the nesting area. I think they may have been overwhelmed as well. It would be difficult to pick out a target with the swirling flocks.

[mapumbo]

In @@TonyQ's trip report he showed a picture of a Hartebeest in Meru. @@Safaridude remarked that it was a subspecies called Meru Hartebeest.

 

We saw Hartebeest both in Nairobi National Park and in Meru National Park. Attached is a picture of each. The photo of the one in Meru is not very good. How does one tell the difference?

 

Hartebeest in Nairobi National Park

Hartebeest in Meru National Park

 

 

[mapumbo]

We are finishing up at Meru National Park. We could not have been more satisfied with the accommodations, food, great guiding by Dominic and the beautiful lush park and wildlife sightings. We experienced animal and bird sightings as good as could be expected considering the amount of green foliage and tall grass. We were able to see some of the northern species that we hadn't experienced since our last safari in Kenya in 2001. The interesting and unusual gerenuk, and Grevys Zebra. Also, species that we have not seen a great number of in our other safaris; Hartebeest, Rhino, Lesser Kudu, Defassa waterbuck, and Oryx.

 

Photos around camp.

 

Vervet monkeys near the lounge tent

On the way to the airstrip we had time for a leisurely drive and stops along the way. Dominic spotted this baby Leopard Tortoise along the edge of the road.

 

We had a small charter plane to take us to Laikipia and land at the Sosian Ranch airstrip.

 

 

[sek07]

Really enjoying your trip report @@mapumbo. we have been thru nairobi twice and never had the time to take drives through nairobi national park and had no idea how wonderful the game is. I guess we just assumed that since it was so close to the city that the game wouldn't be that great.

 

Also Meru is added to the list, the last i had read it had been badly poached out years ago but it looks like it has rebounded nicely

[mapumbo]

@@sek07 Thank you for the reply. We would definitely recommend Nairobi National Park. All the game but elephant and cheetah are available. Except for the city skyline you could be in any game park in Africa.

 

The location is quite handy to the airports.

 

The only thing missing from Meru are tourists.

[Game Warden]

@@mapumbo Spectacular sighting of the naked mole rat: and other sightings at Meru were great. Brings back memories. The landscapes were fantastic.

[mapumbo]

Mama Ndege and I landed at Sosian Ranch in the late morning. Misheck was waiting for us and it was a short drive from the private airstrip to the ranch headquarters and lodge.

 

Along the way we had our first animal sighting. It was a herd of the ranch cattle watched over by their herdsman. This was a group of bulls and steers. We would often come across different herds of the ranch cattle along with several herdsmen who stayed with them all day. At night the herds were enclosed in steel bomas to keep them safe from the lions.

 

River that you cross over to get to the lodge.

Leopard Tortoise crossing the road near the lodge buildings.

View of the yard in front of the lodge.

The original ranch house had been built in the 1940's by Italian artisans and has been restored very tastefully to a comfortable sitting room, dining room and billiard room.

 

Front Veranda looking out over the property.

We were shown to our cottage. Fortunately, we were given the Italian Cottage. It sets off to the side of the main house opposite the other cabins. It would be considered the honeymoon cottage. They must have not been expecting any honeymooners since they put a couple approaching their 40th year of marriage in this lovely cottage. We certainly did not complain.

 

Bedroom

What a unique bathroom.

Here is the pool area where we often had lunch. This is the place where @@Game Warden modeled his mankini with @@Safaridude.

We prefer staying in mobile tented camps and permanent tented camps, but it is a nice break to stay at a nice lodge occasionally. The location of this lodge and the tasteful decor and artwork in the lodge made for a fun and relaxing stay for 4 nights. The managers Simon and Rosie and their very good and attentive staff added to the positive experience.

Edited February 14, 2016 by mapumbo

[mapumbo]

@@mapumbo Spectacular sighting of the naked mole rat: and other sightings at Meru were great. Brings back memories. The landscapes were fantastic.

Game Warden you might check out the next post where we arrived at Sosian. The pool area has made you a legend in your own time.

[twaffle]

@@mapumbo thanks for the lovely report, and I am enjoying the photos very much as well. It is amazing that more people don't visit Meru NP, when you read all the trip reports that include Meru it always gives a great experience and I get a sense that it is becoming more and more rewarding. To see a naked mole is something indeed, and I remember when I was watching Genesis II, about the restocking of Meru under Mark Jenkins, how the moles were one of the specialities of the park. I'd love to see one, let along get photos! Well done. The nice thing about Meru is that there are very cheap options for accommodation with the KWS bandas that Atravelynn and I have both used. So it is quite accessible for those of us with smaller budgets and you get a beautiful park with few tourists.