Lewa conservancy and safari camp a place of the heart and soul

[offshorebirder]

Here are some more photos I converted for @COSMIC RHINO.

 

First some White Rhino mud bath photos, followed by one using a rubbing post while another waits.

 

 

 

 

 

[offshorebirder]

Here are some photos of a White Rhino mother and calf, with a Plains Zebra in one of the photos.   The last photo is of a While Rhino with a large rear horn.   I wonder how common that is?

 

 

 

[COSMIC RHINO]

in a larger rhino population , horn patterns can be varied , I prefer to say not too much about this on security grounds

[COSMIC RHINO]

Lewa is the place I keep on coming back too 

 

the animals are so relaxed  and well looked  after

 

the way the land has been looked  after fills me with admiration

 

the guides , the 4 I have had are great

 

I keep on going back to the same place with the great packed breakfast including that the morning activity is around 5 1/2  to 6 hours and the generous vehicle allocation

[COSMIC RHINO]

The vehicles are Land Cruiser  utility/pickup with a canvas roof added to keep out the rain and the wind from the back

 

there are wooden carpenter made steps in camp to assist people getting in and out of the vehicle 

 

the tents have a single UK plug for recharging things in the bathroom , if you need more  bring  a triangular  double adapter  

 

if you need to recharge a laptop do it in the lounge , there is not enough space around the hand basin to balance the computer

 

if you have a USB  charger take it to the bar

 

I keep on coming back to this delightful sacred reserve , going to areas familiar and sometimes new

 

there are different things to be seen every day

 

the place is not cheap , a small number of visitors make a big contribution to the reserve's substantial  budget

 

this year I get to see important processes , mud wallowing animals smother the insects in it, rub it of then let it dry for sun protection

 

everything is not according to book , I have never seen mention of a mother rhino rub dried mud of against a larger calf

 

well there is a PH D qualified research scientist here, he obviously has not told the rhinos that they should be mute ,or perhaps he does not speak rhino well enough or has the wrong dialect 

 

I witness a bossy territorial male white rhino  calling out to 2 females each with a calf not ready to leave yet , after a while I think of him as the crooner, his plantative  plea  are you in the mood for love

 

both say nothing and walk of as looking after a calf is a very important job

Edited August 16, 2017 by COSMIC RHINO

[COSMIC RHINO]

Lewa  is a reserve  which has had its carrying capacity scientifically estimated.

 

it is managed  with priority to rhinos, Grevy's zebras  and other endangered animals

 

from time to time surplus animals ate translocated out to other reserves including those which come under the Nthn Rangelands Trust.

 

Lewa  made a substantial  contribution to restocking Meru National Park after the 1980's high level poaching had been brought under better control.

[COSMIC RHINO]

well who cares for those expensive day spas volcanic rocks ,essential oils and mud

 

the original users of thereputic  mud are rhinos ,elephants, buffalos, wharthogs  and other wild animals

 

they not only look after themselves ,they become landscape engineers in the process

 

wherever I was taken in the reserve it was a wonderful experience 

 

the place is never crowded

 

since  my main interest was rhinos I seldom saw any other vehicles

 

the morning drives are wonderful unhurried affairs  , when I am on a good siting I stay and watch wonderful things happen

 

Norman my guide deliberately took me twice to areas less visited

[Atravelynn]

On 7/27/2017 at 7:04 AM, Antee said:

Once again... 

Why is this posted in Trip reports? 

The CR trip reports are a bit free form and unconventional so it is understandable they may not be recognizable as a trip report initially.  Part report, part philosophy, part musings.  A trip report of a different "stripe" for sure!  But lately Lewa has loomed large.

[Atravelynn]

On 8/4/2017 at 10:41 PM, Marks said:

Tremendous capture of the zebras grappling with each other!

And Grevy's no less!  Wow.

 

All the confusion over 1A or 1B or 1E terminal is something the rhinos will never have to contend with.

 

So nice you saw nursing rhino calves.  They need to grow up strong and sustain their species.  Same for the Grevy's foals!

 

Seems to be a little inconsistency in the breakfasts, from one of the best ever to the questionable tamarillo.  It appears you overcame the odd tasting vegetable with no lasting effects.

 

"this year I get to see important processes , mud wallowing"  What a gem of an observation!  You got some nice muddy rhino shots too!

 

Rhinos were out in force for your visit.

Edited August 22, 2017 by Atravelynn

[COSMIC RHINO]

Great breakfast  for wildlife although one food item had a problem but it did not make me miss the afternoon drive with a delightful mother /calf rhino pair

[COSMIC RHINO]

a breakfast with rhinos and zebras at a waterhole , and rhinos close to reticulated giraffe can be nothing but great

 

well the tamarillo , I asked a friend who is a dietician , perhaps I got a odd one , well they are something I will avoid in future 

 

Just before I saw a  rhino baby nurse from mum for the first time in 2015, I heard mewing sounds of the sort you would except from a diary calf  

 

now if I hear that I get excited as to what might happen

 

the rhinos were very active , going to a place  like this , I concentrate on them , if I had wanted cats there are much better places to go

 

perhaps  the rhinos were more active as it was a bit warmer, no need to huddle into thickets as guides in Sth  Africa  have explained the absence of obvious viewable  when it gets cold

 

many, many great rhino sitings  ,not that we went that close to them all , at times there was a rhino siting nearby and another one  in the far background

 

my guide knows who I am here for , so I see no need to remind him , if he drives more quickly I know it is for something special , so I just wait without asking what is happening

 

well not many come back to Lewa , they may well want a typical big 5 place  

 

guides tell me most visitors are booked in by foreign travel agents and know nothing about the place before arriving

 

I had a good knowledge of the place and adored it before my first visit  

[inyathi]

@COSMIC RHINO 

 

@offshorebirder

 

Interesting I’ve never been to Lewa so I only know about its reputation and what I have read here on ST. Great to see rhinos with proper horns on them when so often you see rhinos that have been dehorned and just have a smoothed off or part re-grown stump.

 

I have to say though the rhino cow with the large rear horn next to its calf at the bottom of post 29 is a black rhino, its back is a different shape to that of the other rhinos; white rhinos as is well illustrated by the photos in post 28 have a quite prominent “hump” mid-back. Having decided this I thought I’d better have a look at the differences between the two the just to confirm that I wasn’t mistaken. If you look at a white rhino skeleton (you can find a couple of photos online) at the shoulders the spinous processes on their vertebrae are significantly elongated so they have a very pronounced hump at this point, and then just over halfway down the back they are again elongated, though not nearly so much this creates the smaller hump on the back. On a black rhino’s skeleton they are only elongated at the shoulder but not on the back, so the back of a black rhino looks much more concave. The other give away that they are black rhinos is that her muzzle is an entirely different shape from that of the rhinos in the other photos. 

 

It must be very rare these days for a rhino to have a rear horn that long but then it’s pretty rare for rhinos to have intact horns like these animals have, with so many rhinos being dehorned. In the past when there were hundreds of thousands of black rhinos I imagine it might not have been that unusual. Great to see photos of rhinos and Grevy's zebras together.

 

Keep up the good work, Lewa is a very important place both for the rhinos and the zebras as your photos show.  

 

Edited August 23, 2017 by inyathi

[ice]

40 minutes ago, inyathi said:

@COSMIC RHINO 

 

@offshorebirder

 

I have to say though the rhino cow with the large rear horn next to its calf at the bottom of post 29 is a black rhino

 

 

no doubt about it, look at the v-shaped mouth 

[offshorebirder]

You're quite right @inyathi - that Rhino has the smaller-headed and less "block-headed" look of a Black Rhino - not a White Rhino.

 

Thanks for the ID correction.

Edited August 23, 2017 by offshorebirder

[Atravelynn]

On 8/22/2017 at 4:53 AM, COSMIC RHINO said:

well not many come back to Lewa , they may well want a typical big 5 place  

 

guides tell me most visitors are booked in by foreign travel agents and know nothing about the place before arriving

 

Hopefully you can continue to enjoy this special place.

[COSMIC RHINO]

the photo being discussed is of black rhinos 

 

Lewa  has many of them but they are harder to find

 

Lewa  is the only place where Grevy's zebras are actually increasing  

 

like others  here I am keen to see rhinos and Grevy's  zebras near each other 

 

all but  2 of them  came on the final drive , well it a camp breakfast  and a 1030  departure was suggested .

 

my reaction to this was the same as the first time I visited Lewa ,  I politely said "I did not come here to eat ", it is leave at 0630 with the picnic breakfast please

 

well most people perhaps being enchanted by the great comfort of the tent go away with this  and don't think of asking about other options 

 

an American family an ex zoo keeper from Little  Rock , the head zoo maintenance  guy and their son definitely went out for the drive 

 

I think of it this way , I know how much I pay per day to go  to Lewa, I am here for the bush and wildlife ,not the high level  creature comforts .  If I divided  the daily rate in two and paid that much for breakfast people would think me mad.  Nearly no one would be prepared to pay that much for breakfast at restraunt at any place in the world .

 

the final drives in Lewa are consistently interesting and often very good.

 

I get to see  who is around  and say a long goodbye to the place

 

when I have seen  others going through to the airstrip it is late breakfast , then a quick drive to the airstrip with not much stopping 

 

The white rhino with the Grevy's zebras at what looks like a waterhole was taken at breakfast , so much better than being in camp 

Edited August 28, 2017 by COSMIC RHINO

[offshorebirder]

Here are some more photos that @COSMIC RHINO sent me to convert & post.

 

Black Rhino mother and calf

 

 

 

[offshorebirder]

Here are some Reticulated Giraffe (and company) photos

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[offshorebirder]

And here are some Elephant mudbath photos.   

 

* Note the tiny trunk sticking up out of the mud hole in the last photo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[offshorebirder]

This Cape Buffalo has an unusual tip to one of its horns - @COSMIC RHINO called it a "Devil's pitchfork".

 

 

[offshorebirder]

Beisa Oryx herd

 

 

 

Grants Gazelles

 

 

 

Plains Zebras

 

 

 

 

Great White Pelican and Hippo

 

[COSMIC RHINO]

Thanks offshore birder  for posting my photos 

 

#44 shows the benefits  of going on with the game driver despite having  been a little sick  

[COSMIC RHINO]

the tiny baby zebra was a massive  distance  away, another good picture thanks to high range zoom and a bit of cropping

 

Lewa  has a bit of internal fencing to keep the elephants out of areas of bushes important to black rhinos, this works well 

[COSMIC RHINO]

Orynx are  unusual elsewhere ,relatively common at Lewa

 

many years  ago I read about a ranch in the Tsavo  area which unsuccessfully tried to raise them for their milk

 

perhaps  Nairobi is  not the place for niche food items, London, New York, San Francisco  ---- trendy deli café towns would be better

 

I enjoyed joking with Norman my guide about this

 

then there is the issue of getting milk from someone with sharp horns 

[COSMIC RHINO]

the elephants bathing in mud was a  absolute delight

 

we went to an area  with better acacia bushes  to see giraffe , had breakfast , then continued on

 

we just happen to come across this small elephant family  who were very keen on things

 

they went into a muddy hole  and fully covered themselves in it , moved side to side , put their heads under it , came out  and dived into it

 

this continued for about 20 minutes   and just before  they  left they dipped their trunks in mud , pulled it out , then sprayed their backs and sides with the  mud

 

it was reasonably warm , the mud was already starting to dry as they began walking away 

 

all done in the cause of insect control  and  protecting the skin against sun damage