KARIBU TENA (Welcome back) Final part

[PHALANX]

Our remaining days were spent covering as much of Ol Pejeta’s 90,000 acres as was possible, but we soon came to realise it would not be possible to see it all, the remainder would have to wait until next time. The area east of the river is normally the most productive and with the most amount of game, but on this trip the west side of the river was proving to be much more productive.

We constantly found small herds of Elephant, many with young and in all sorts of terrain.

On one occasion as we worked our way through the bush near to the Chimp sanctuary we were surprised by a magnificent bull Elephant which suddenly materialised from out of nowhere. He was in musth with the glands on the sides of his head distinctly marked by the oily secretion produced when his testosterone levels rise. We could also detect the scent of urine as the light breeze wafted the aroma in our direction, and we could see the stains on the inside of his back legs.

Sam our driver became hyper alert when this big guy appeared ahead of us. Watching & waiting to see where he was going so as not to obstruct him. He momentarily gave us “that look” that big bulls give as a distinct warning, and after a shake of his head he turned 180 degrees and moved off  having first to cross a small stream.

It was amazing to watch this enormous animal tackle this small but tricky obstacle. The stream was about a meter or so deep so he had to be careful, first placing his front legs in the stream, his back legs were now bent so as to be on his knees, he slowly pulled one back leg forward, then the other and in one movement pushed up on his front legs was soon on the other bank.

A little further along the stream we found several Buffalo standing up to their stomach’s in the stream feeding on the rich vegetation.The Buffalo are doing very well and on one morning drive we were seeing large herds everywhere. Approaching the Ol Pejeta dam it was like watching an exodus. Buffalo were coming from all directions and there were so many calves among the herds which was a good sign for the future. The herds were all converging on the dam and in the early morning light it was a magical scene which lay before us.

 

With the rains coming much of the game had young and there is nothing more endearing than a young Giraffe. We came across one such endearing creature with its mother, whom we had seen from a distance earlier, and we were amazed at the distance they had covered to where we had now found them. The youngster was about 10ft tall so we took it to be about a year old. This area was also where we had seen the two lionesses’s so mum was very alert and wary as they moved through the low whistling thorn bush.

 

We were seeing black/silver back Jackal on most game drives; constantly on the move they always seemed to be going somewhere. Occasionally they would rest, but something in their psyche seemed to prompt them in to action and they were off again. The large amount of Jackal is probably the result of the immense amount of young we saw in March.

 

The Eland is without doubt my favourite antelope and I will photograph them at every opportunity if possible. This is fine when I travel alone but on this trip my family & friends were not impressed when I asked Sam to stop for a photo opportunity while we were heading to where we were told there were two male lions. But they were very generous knowing my love of Eland, and we did find the lions, and they were the two comatose lions we had seen before.

 

Overall, I think you will agree, it had been a successful safari, and an amazing one for my first time visitors, I mean “wild dog” on their first visit. They were very happy, especially with the Elephant sightings, and assure me they will return. Apart from Leopard they had seen just about everything Ol Pejeta has to offer. Roll on next year.

[offshorebirder]

Wonderful birthday safari you had @PHALANX.    Thanks for sharing the text and photos.

[Atravelynn]

You had a lot to enjoy with all the eland, along with everything else Ol Pejeta had to office.  I detected that "next time comment."