Camels,Cakes, and the ever illusive lightning; Indisposed in Kenya

[michael-ibk]

Cool sightings, though a bit gruesome. Hey, and what happened with the lioness and the warthogs - did she try? She was very close indeed.

[dlo]

Cool sightings, though a bit gruesome. Hey, and what happened with the lioness and the warthogs - did she try? She was very close indeed.

 

The next 2 days were similarly gruesome. I have never had so many sightings such as these on safari. I find the reactions to them very interesting, the cheetah picture from the first page produced possibly the happiest man on the face of the earth while his wife and daughter were both crying in the vehicle. I think I mentioned to you on another thread when I watched a wildebeest being born that I preferred that to seeing a hunt and I still feel that way but these sightings are amazing to see.

 

Nope the lioness never tried, the warthog literally moved away not even running and I guess she new the jig was up!

[elefromoz]

@@dlo, post #50 is fantastic. The Eagle and Vulture are both stunning, the patterns and colours on their wings beautiful.

[Atravelynn]

Raw and brutal with the jackal and newborn. What a contrast to the adorable jackal pups. Diverse day. Way to go!

[dlo]

@@dlo, post #50 is fantastic. The Eagle and Vulture are both stunning, the patterns and colours on their wings beautiful.

 

Thanks @@elefromoz so many more vultures you like in my next post.

 

Raw and brutal with the jackal and newborn. What a contrast to the adorable jackal pups. Diverse day. Way to go!

 

Those pups are so adorable! That contrast is exactly what I was I thought about when I was going over the pictures and how we saw these sightings basically around the corner from each other. What are the odds I will ever see something like this again other than 2 days later in the Mara!

[dlo]

A very sleepless night with baboons to the left and lions to the right here I am stuck in the middle... okay sorry about that. So our extreme tiredness was matched by a very slow morning drive. The drive kicked off of course with a morning greeting from our vulture friends.

 

 

 

 

We received a nice lesson watching the vultures the last 2 days. These lappet faced vultures just dominate when they arrive on the scene. Andrew tells us that as soon as they are ready they will jump on the other vultures necks and get there fair share of the kill. Haha I respond and of course a minute later they are pounding the heads of everyone else and getting the meat they crave.

 

 

 

Today was a day that we were determined to find cheetah to the detriment of everything else. We went back to camp for lunch with no luck other than having found an abandoned kill that they believed was made by a cheetah but we would continue the search.

 

After lunch while Chris napped and hit the hammock Ben and I discussed her birthday tomorrow. Ben felt a cake was a good idea but after explaining her allergies he still thought she would like it and we could "enjoy" the cake for her. Now that's logic I can agree with so cake it is with some song and dance to go with it. The rest of my afternoon was spent chatting with Jacob who works in camp and is studying to be a guide.

 

In the afternoon we watch some giraffe necking for a while and then we stumble into another jackal on a tommy! We stopped as soon as got there but the jackal was very skittish and left the scene, which meant an entire tommy for the vultures.

 

 

 

 

 

Fortunately no babies this time but it really does get messy......

[dlo]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think the pictures do most of the talking here it was a spectacle to see and hear. The cheetah search was miserably failing but as the sun was setting we finally found Forrester a resident male cheetah who I believe was around 2 years old. A really big boy we followed him in the darkness for around 15 minutes while he rolled around and marked his territory. We didn't get any good pictures in the dark but here's a couple to prove we saw him.

 

 

 

Another good slow day with a full day drive to the Mara tomorrow. We had talked about skipping it because we had 3 days at Governor's coming up but with the slow day we decided to take the chance and head to the Mara. We were worried about crowds as it was nice nice having seen only a couple of vehicles the last few days but it turned into a spectacularly good decision with lots of cats babies and what's this a river crossing, maybe?

[Zim Girl]

@@dlo

 

Great pics of the bloodied vultures.

[Caracal]

Greatly enjoying following this TR @@dlo.

 

That leopard Tortoise in #48 may have been "a slow start" after lunch but never having seen one myself I have to say it was an excellent start.

 

Encouraging to see there was apparently no shortage or scarcety of vultures on your safari - I always think they speak of Africa - probably for me that thought goes back to the film "Where No Vultures Fly" - which I saw as a child in the UK in the 1950s!

 

Love the photo of the giraffes in #56 silhouetted against the late afternoon sky and thorn trees.

Edited January 21, 2017 by Caracal

[dlo]

On 1/20/2017 at 1:37 PM, Zim Girl said:

@@dlo

 

Great pics of the bloodied vultures.

 

Thanks.

 

On 1/21/2017 at 7:18 AM, Caracal said:

Greatly enjoying following this TR @@dlo.

 

That leopard Tortoise in #48 may have been "a slow start" after lunch but never having seen one myself I have to say it was an excellent start.

 

Encouraging to see there was apparently no shortage or scarcety of vultures on your safari - I always think they speak of Africa - probably for me that thought goes back to the film "Where No Vultures Fly" - which I saw as a child in the UK in the 1950s!

 

Love the photo of the giraffes in #56 silhouetted against the late afternoon sky and thorn trees.

 

That's a terrible pun but much appreciated anyway! I'd have to ask Chris how many tortoises we saw this trip but I'd guess 5 or 6 though a couple were dead! I am glad you and some others are enjoying it. These take forever for me to put together between my absence of notes and 2 finger typing skills.

 

a couple more cool ones coming right up from probably our best all around day on this trip!

[dlo]

A big day today with Chris officially declaring herself as "old" at 40 but what better to celebrate than by being in Africa. I have zero control over nature but I'm feeling the pressure for an action packed day. The one thing about being on safari is you never need an alarm to get up, first its leopard and baboon and then tree hyrax letting me know its time to get up. The drive isn't that long and is filled with lots of game along the way. We saw a baby hartebeest shortly after leaving that was only hours old as well as loads of giraffe and wildebeest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of babies on the drive in but now we are ready for the main course, in the reserve itself we have our hopes up for some cheetah action. And we are not disappointed as it only a short drive in before our first guy appears. He isn't in any hurry to do much though but after we leave we notice he might be up to something. We go back as he is intently watching an Impala but he soon decides its time for another rest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leaving the cheetah behind we find the king of the jungle doing his favourite thing. With nothing but active lions to the point we don't mind the lack of energy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

40? Old? Nonsense! :-)

[dlo]

We spent some time watching some zebra and wildebeest trying to decide whether to cross a small stream. I figured this might be a pathetic crossing but it might be as close as I might ever get.

 

 

 

 

We left this creek and "found" our first leopard This was easily the worst sighting for crowding we saw. There were about 9 cars so we looked for about 5 seconds and asked to leave. We drove back a little while later and were the only car there with one more showing up later. It was a mother and cub but we couldn't get even remotely close and we only stayed for a few minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you couldn't tell I love hyenas and could watch them all day but it was decided breakfast was a better idea. After breakfast comes hungry cheetah and confused wildebeest!

 

[xelas]

40? Old?? Utter nonsense!!! I will reach 60 next week and I am officially declaring myself still young . @@dlo , please tell Chris to wait another 30 years for such declarations .

BTW, great report and great sightings&photos.

[Patty]

Love the relaxed leopard and mud covered buffalo.

[dlo]

40? Old? Nonsense! :-)

40? Old?? Utter nonsense!!! I will reach 60 next week and I am officially declaring myself still young . @@dlo , please tell Chris to wait another 30 years for such declarations .

BTW, great report and great sightings&photos.

 

She read this and denied saying it but since I needed to borrow her notes from the trip and read the I am so old comment so it stands. I declared myself old at 30 so I'd be thrilled with another 30 years @@xelas!

 

 

Love the relaxed leopard and mud covered buffalo.

 

That leopard never moved an inch and we had no luck spotting the cub which we were told was there.

Edited January 22, 2017 by dlo

[dlo]

Breakfast was spent watching the wildebeest and zebra creep up for a drink at the creek and then run away, as well as observing the cheetah from afar. We checked up on him again but moved on shortly. About an hour or two later we drove up to a vehicle watching some cheetahs. Well we just missed a successful hunt as a female and her 3 cubs had not even started eating the kill yet! Its all luck on safari but I was kicking myself over an extra minute here and there looking at something else. The good news is we get to watch them feed with only 2 other vehicles present, low season in the Mara has its benefits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course this tommy was also pregnant and when it was pulled out produced a few audible groans from around us. Having been desensitized by the jackal 2 days ago left us ho hum at this!

 

 

 

 

Pretty cool and so close to a perfect sighting if I can be a little greedy.

[pault]

Selankay looks really worthwhile- plenty of variety there. And yes Gerenuks are there in Tsavo and then all the way up to wherever the northern-most point of their range is (that's a technical term).

 

Lots of gore between the cakes.

 

My theory is that they didn't let you play with the spear because news of your cowering from the lion cub had traveled. But I just made that up, so it may not be true.

[dlo]

Selankay looks really worthwhile- plenty of variety there. And yes Gerenuks are there in Tsavo and then all the way up to wherever the northern-most point of their range is (that's a technical term).

 

Lots of gore between the cakes.

 

My theory is that they didn't let you play with the spear because news of your cowering from the lion cub had traveled. But I just made that up, so it may not be true.

 

I promise the gore is pretty much done.

 

Not quite cowering but that comes later!

[deano]

more amazing sightings @dlo; I am a self confessed cake nut so that on its own would be a winner but hard to miss the bloody vultures and bloody cheetahs. Nice sighting of the spotted hyena as well.

 

kind regards

 

deano.

[dlo]

So While we were watching the cheetah devour there dinner I totally forgot about the zebra in the background watching the scene unfold in front of them while actually creeping closer the whole time, obviously unimpressed with what they were seeing. I'd have to call zebra one of my favourite "general game" species as I've had a few nice close experiences with them like our South Luangwa safari in 2015 when they walked with us with no fear for 5 or 10 minutes.

 

 

After the cheetah show it was closing in on lunch but first we decided to to head to a lookout over the Mara river? We sat a fair distance away from quite a few gathering wildebeest who were debating crossing the river. We did see a couple of crocs that were obviously of great concern so while they stood there waiting 2 more long lines of wildebeest were marching up to join them. We are now looking at a lot of wildebeest, I don't know how many but certainly far more than a thousand and more than enough to give us an amazing show.

 

We have one vehicle by us and a couple more watching from a different viewpoint when the loudest group I have ever had to listen to pulls up beside us. After a shushing from David works very momentarily we move to another area and chat with the guide and family in the other car. The wildebeest meanwhile are now turning around! Are you kidding me, this is something I have always wanted to see but being the end of October we never even thought of a crossing so while this would be as massive bonus now that it's in front of me I want this!

 

It's already well past lunch and the crossing doesn't look like happening. The guys find a bathroom spot and we check the bushes and give Chris the coast is clear. Of course it's moon over the Mara as someone drives up and gets a very rare sighting We set up for lunch but quickly we decide to leave as the flies are horrendous. We move to a new spot along the river with hippos and some francolins for company. The francolin keep chirping at us and circling begging for scraps, this seems to be a popular lunch spot.

 

The guys are a ways in front of us chatting and while I'm heading to grab something from the table Chris and I see a monkey strutting toward my plate! I yell towards Andrew "are the monkeys a problem here" he responds that there are no monkeys here. Well that's obviously not true and I have to move quickly towards him and clap my hands to scare him away. Andrew and David come running over and the monkey is gone before a picture could even be taken.

 

Back to the river everybody is just hanging out with no sign they might cross. We actually start leaving when a flurry of dust from the other side of the river stops us. Of course our pile of wildebeest won't cross but maybe a hundred from the other side decide to come over! Well it's not much but better than nothing so we get to enjoy a very very small taste.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[elefromoz]

@@dlo, a crossing is a crossing, size doesn't matter. You have the photos to prove it, well done! Oh dear, poor Chris, getting sprung behind the bushes, funny after the event.

[optig]

@dio I'll be celebrating my 56th birthday in a few days in Ol Donyo Lodge in Chyulu Hills and scarcely feel old. So how can anyone at 40 even begin to feel old? I love your cheetah photos.

[Atravelynn]

A big day today with Chris officially declaring herself as "old" at 40 but what better to celebrate than by being in Africa.

Were the cheetah and wildes all on that big day? Sometimes it is hard to keep track of what is happening when. That would be quite the birthday. It appears celebrating your 40th in Africa is becoming the thing to do for safaritalkers. Right @@michael-ibk?

I celebrated my last birthday in Africa also, though not #40. Love the muddied buffalo.

 

You were well situated for viewing the crossing--an October surprise you could call it!

[Caracal]

Good on ya @@xelas - I can confidently confirm from where I stand that 60 is still young so Happy Birthday on the day and @@dlo please tell Chris she remains safely within the youth category!

 

What a wonderful variety of superb sightings making for a very special and memorable birthday - with maybe even more sightings to come before dinner?