Ol Pejeta and Olare Orok October 2011

[pault]

In the afternoon our vehicle mates eventually arrived and so we had company and I didn't have a whole row to myself. I guess I missed one or two shots because of it, but fortunately she liked to shoot out of the top and I like to shoot low, out of the windows, so we rarely got in each other's way. "He" and my wife are both quite adept at dodging lenses and understanding about an ample bottom swinging in front of their face very occasionally. In case anyone is now afraid to go on safari wherever I might be, I promise I am and will be careful where I put my bottom (although maybe carry a hat pin just in case).

 

We spent most of the afternoon with buffalo and elephant, and there was a large herd of Eland hanging around. Saw some other stuff too. It had rained in the afternoon a bit and it looked like it was going to rain again, but in the end it just stayed cloudy.

 

I am not common, I am SUPERB!

 

 

This is about half of the Eland herd - if I'd thought I should have taken two pictures and stitched them together to show the whole herd (Note: "stitching" is a term for joining two photos seamlessly using software, in case you didn't know - it does not involve needles and thread).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One group of elephants we followed for a little while at dusk wasn't too friendly and the matriarch gave us a good trumpeting to let us know we were on thin ice as far as she was concerned. So we left them and that is how we found the three male lions, with the same female we had seen on day two. The male was not interested in my wife this time and things were quite calm, with them all seated in thick bush.

 

Eventually as the sun set and led by the female, they stirred themselves a bit....

 

 

 

 

Before setting off after the female the boys took turns vigorously marking a thicket of Whistling Thorn where she may have urninated, and "tasting" each others' smells

 

 

 

One appeared to get a bit more than he had bargained for... oooh, smelly!

 

 

We followed them until after dark, but they weren't hunting or mating yet - the female just wanted a drink and was heading for the cattle trough. We lost them in the dark, but found them there drinking by headlight, just before seven. We quickly had our now long overdue sundowner and then returned to camp in the dark, spotting a jackal, a hyena, an owl and a nightjar by headlight.

 

There are night drives available, but we didn't do one. Those who did had from fair to very good luck, but nothing that really made me wish I'd gone. After all, we were doing all right during the day. Why be greedy?

Edited October 30, 2011 by pault

[twaffle]

Excellent, really enjoying both the words and the photos.

[Alex The Lion]

Great trip report and images......keep them coming

[Kavey]

Lovely report and images, the one of the lion scowling/ growling through the bushes is fabulous!

[Leely]

Your boring safari sure looks good. Now I'm totally rethinking my thinking-about-thinking about Kenya. This is magnificent.

 

Sounds like you're staying dry. That's good. I'd misread your "We've moved our stuff to higher ground" as "We've moved our staff..." Sounded quite dramatic there for a moment.

 

Onward!

[pault]

This one is not boring Leely, it was "unimaginative". Please pay attention there at the back of the class!

 

Thanks everyone. The rest of Laikipia is just awaiting words....

[samburumags]

Thank goodness I have finished my report and I can now read yours. Superb photos and gosh I wish I had been there when the lion charged, that is something your wife will never forget! I did OP last year and loved it, apart from the cold!

[Sangeeta]

Oh my, he did get a faceful, didn't he? That was hilarious.

 

Thanks for the photo framing software info. as well, Paul. Much appreciated.

[pault]

Better skip through the last day or so, as I haven't processed most of the photos from day five yet, and do you really want to see or hear about more hyena pups or jackal pups? We again started the day at the hyena den, since our new vehicle mates hadn't been there, and we were very happy to go again. It was a little bit slower than the first time, but only a little, and it was a lot less misty this morning.

 

Some hyena pups seemed a little sceptical about our return so soon...

 

 

 

While others were still sleeping....

 

 

After the hyenas Francis took us on a leopard hunt (somebody at camp had seen two mating leopards the evening before) which of course meant driving through trees, staring hard into bushes and seeing very little. I generally would prefer not to spend so much time looking for elusive leopards, but I quite like the drives in the woods and we saw some hornbills and a few steenbock that we wouldn't have seen otherwise. There was nothing memorable this morning, but of course there were elephants, giraffe and others and it certainly wasn'y dull. To be honest I was feeling quite sated and gave the photography a bit of a rest to better enjoy the view.

 

In the afternoon our vehicle mates were going lion tracking with another guide (we weren't interested this time) so we were back alone again with Francis. At last Mount Kenya was relatively clear, creating some nice photo ops.

 

 

We watched two bull elephants dusting with Mount Kenya in the background for a while, and since Francis was familiar with this pair he moved in quite close.

 

 

Of course I got some shote of the two elephants with Mount Kenya but they are among the ones waiting to be processed. After the elephants we headed back up towards the jackal den (at our request). We found only one pup at the den site, with the parents some way away and heading down into a valley. We hung with the left-at-home pup but no playmetes so after a while we headed for where the parents were to see what was up. There we found the other three pups playing in the long grass - the parents had either decided to move den and the fourth pup had misunderstood and got left behind (don't worry, the two den sites were close) or these three had decided to come out hunting with the parents but had decided instead to play at this other site (perhaps the den where they were born?). Whatever the reason we still had the pleasure of watching the three pups hunting butterflies, hunting moving grass stalks and (mostly) hunting each other, until the sun was low in the sky. We then left them on their own as we were going to do some photos that evening and I wanted a bit of light.

 

I haven't processed the photos from this evening as I have much better ones from Olare Orok, so you'll have to use your imagination. Here's a visual to help.... imagine what a jackal pup would look like without a tail?

 

 

With the photos, sundowners and some chat, it was already dark before we set off back to camp. On the way we passed a water trough and there were the cheetah cub and its mother taking an evening drink. I had the flash but I just didn't feel like bothering them after they had taken the trouble to come and say goodbye (we would be leaving early for the airstrip the next day).

 

Back at camp, we arrived at our tent to find that the chairs outside were missing. Who took our chairs? Why? I planned to walk back and report this immediately to the staff, but I didn't need to do that because one of them was already inside our tent, together with our chairs and a nicely set dinner table for two. "Welcome home Paul. When would you like dinner served? Would you like to shower first? And in the meantime can I get you a glass of red wine?"

 

He did leave the tent while we showered by the way.

 

 

I unkindly suggested to my wife that there must be a party on, and since there were only three couples in camp and one of them had ordered an early dinner, the quickest way to get rid of the other two couples would be to give them dinner intheir tents. That is very unkind and totally unfair, but my wife started laughing when we were told next morning that Andrew would be driving us to the airstrip because Francis was not awake yet! I almost repocketed some of Francis' tip but relented and handed it over to the manager - he had really been very good and very 'compatible' for us.

 

Although we were supposed to have a lie in, I still got up early that morning to take some pictures of the waterhole/lake in the mist, before breakfast at camp. The sound of the weavers nest-building was really loud in the morning and it is all very pretty. I'll try to add a photo before I finish (another set not yet processed). The drive to Nanyuki airstrip was uneventful and then we had to wait over an hour for our plane (blah, blah... due to.... you know how it goes in Africa; you never really know.) I took advantage of the wait to study the comings and goings and contemplate that while the white vans are obviously becoming less common, it was companies like Micato (who are rather on the costly side) who were still using them. Contemplation did not lead to revelation.

 

Anyway, in the end we almost had a fairly large plane to ourselves, and were landing next to Intrepids 45 minutes later. It was midday, hot and slightly humid, and I was looking forward to it.

 

 

 

By the way, there are four more or less permanent guides at Kicheche Laikipia. Three were there while we were and all were highly recommended by the people who went out with them. I think Francis seems to be considered the "fourth man" or the floater, although he has been there permanently for a year I think, but he is really good. Guiding is of a good standard here for sure, and I guess it was thought to be needed as while the area is wildlife-rich it is not as "predator-on-demand" as the Mara, and so guides need to be able to entertain and engage guests with discussion of amaller things and bigger questions........ but that's just an unsupported theory! Ignore me.

 

I forgot the ostriches....

 

Edited November 2, 2011 by pault

[samburumags]

More please

[twaffle]

Your writing always makes me chuckle. So entertaining.

[pault]

We landed in the Mara at some time after 11.30, an hour behind schedule, and so were taken straight to the camp, although via the longer "nice, boring route" rather than the shortcut that passes some of the better areas for gameviewing and involves a very steep ascent and descent to ford the Talek (at least I assume it is the Talek - I just realised that I have never asked!). The fact that one of our new arrivals was wearing an expesive-looking sports jacket and wielding a Blackberry may have had something to do with this decision. By this time I don't think anyone looking at my wife and me could have imagined that we would mind taking the interesting route. We looked like a very odd foursome at that moment (I could see the concern in our guide's eyes when we met him that afternoon) but we ended up getting along very well as a foursome. Kicheche Bush Camp is very popular and so the chances of getting your own vehicle for more than a drive or two unless you book a private one are quite slim outside the very slow periods. Even in October the camp was full 4 of the 5 nights that we were there, and there were probably only vacancies on the 5th day because the way the other bookings were meant someone would have to stay only one night.

 

On the way to the camp, our vehicle mates were asking about zebra and impala and the like, and not quite sure what to make of us (and we them - and as I said, it all ended very happily). We stopped by a baboon troop, and without thinking I interrupted to excitedly point out that one of the mothers was carrying a dead baby (as they do - although this is the first time that I'd seen it). I hurriedly added "what a shame" in the silence that followed and the guide who had come to pick us up helpfully added "Oh yes, well spotted" or something like that, but from the faces around me it was clear that an impression had been made. Maybe it was a positive one, but I suspect not. Maybe I should have kept that "spot" to myself.

 

 

We were met by the now-managers, Darren and Emma who are a friendly young(ish) British couple who previously ran a restaurant and bar on the coast (quite a change, and even after a number of months it occasionally shows, although they are very keen and friendly and we had no issues). The tents at Bush Camp are quite different to those at Laikipia Camp, but equally much more than enough. They are a little older of course, but everything still works (except one of the solar lights which would frustratingly not work only when there was nobody to show). Each tent has a solar panel to power lights and a bucket shower. They have just installed two solar water heaters so hot water is more easily available and they don't have to burn as much wood. They are eyesores but the area is so big and open that it would be a little "precious" to make a fuss over that - this is the Mara area and beautiful and wonderful as it is, and although it remains as God, the elephants, the zebras and the wildebeest made it, it is not a wilderness. I still like Bush Camp very much but hope they don't introduce too many more innovations.

 

The tents are very open, which allows the wind to blow through, and with the rest of the design compensates for the general lack of shade in this area, where the whistling thorns are again the primary tree - most are kept cropped by the browsers or torn up by the elephants if they do get too a good size.

 

 

After lunch and a short rest back in our familiar tent (Mbuni) we went to meet our assigned guide, Nelson. Of course he asked what we'd like to see and this time we said "anything", but Mr Blackberry said "leopards" (damn his eyes!). More fruitless searching for sure. But at least after the shortage in Ol Pejetathere would be plenty of dik-diks in leopard country here!

 

We got pretty quickly to the nearby home of the large Moniko Pride, where there were a large number of cubs of various ages. This is a bit of a Hollywood pride, having apparently been under "star" lions Chiesa and Sala for a while and now being under the control of the famous Notch and his grown sons. Strange things in lion society in the Mara - or perhaps it was always strange but with such frequent monitoring now, it is noted that things do not run as smoothly as in the wildlife documentaries. Anyway, the Mara lions (originally all from the Marsh Pride apparently) had moved into Olare Orok and the lion prides that were resident last time we were here had moved on.

 

It was cloudy and rather dark that evening, but again this was a false sign as we would have clear weather for most of the rest of our stay.

 

The youngest cub and its mother

 

 

 

And with its brother

 

 

 

They were pretty active but their favoured rest spot of Moniko Hill (hence their name) is very bushy (a lot of the fly repelling crotons, hence its popularity) so we missed much more than we saw, but with so many young lions we were very entertained for an hour.

 

After that we headed off for another spot, where two lionesses without a pride were raising four cubs. They'd amazingly made it to four months this time (apparently a number of precious litters had died young; killed by the Monikos). They were playing next to a dry lugga and some rocks - what would be a small waterfall in the rains. They were much more active but the area for viewing was very tight, without getting right on top of them, and there were three vehicles there. This wouldn't actually be the only time there were three or more vehicles at a sighting, but there were few of them.

 

 

 

 

 

When it got too dark and the cubs had settled down, we returned to Moniko Hill for our token sundowner (many sundowners ended up being token both here and at Laikipia Camp, as we almost invariably found something interesting happening in the evening) and watched a rather meagre sunset with one of the older cubs, and with the old pride male for company.

 

[samburumags]

I just love your Mr Blackberry I can see him now!

[Local2542]

So great to hear about Ol Pejeta. We are looking at 3 maybe 4 days there this January and your report solidified the decision. Your photos are so enticing and beautiful. Sorry if this question has been asked and answered before, but what are you shooting with? And what do you bring with for backing up your photos?

 

Thank you for taking the time to write your trip report. Enjoying it for the second time this morning

[Sangeeta]

That sceptical hyena pup had me in splits! Oh boy, this gets better and better...

[pault]

So great to hear about Ol Pejeta. We are looking at 3 maybe 4 days there this January and your report solidified the decision. Your photos are so enticing and beautiful. Sorry if this question has been asked and answered before, but what are you shooting with? And what do you bring with for backing up your photos?Thank you for taking the time to write your trip report. Enjoying it for the second time this morning

 

I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Grass might be a bit long if there is a lot of rain this month, but as I mentioned in the report, weather is apparently more and more unpredictable.

 

I use a full frame DSLR with a 70-400 lens (swapped for a 16-35 lens for the tent shots and breakfast/sundowner shots) and a 1.5x crop DSLR with a 400mm lens and often a 1.4x teleconverter on that. I download my photos to a netbook. I assume that's what the question was - I don't want to give you the "full-spec, what's-in-the-bag" version as I hate to sound like a gear-geek.

 

 

@ Sangeeta... I will be pleased to keep on posting slightly anthropomorphic "funny animal pictures" for you. I am glad someone else finds the idea of a sceptical hyena pup amusing.

[pault]

Despite such comfortable tents and free laundry, I was starting to look a little the worse for wear by Day 7...

 

Edited November 9, 2011 by pault

[ZaminOz]

Despite such comfortable tents and free laundry, I was starting to look a little the worse for wear by Day 7...

[pault]

In the morning we went straight out to see the Monico pride, who had been clearly gathering for a hunt as we had left them in the near darkness the evening before. However, they had now clealry killed and finished whatever eating there was to do as they were all back, laid out flat and with bulging bellies. Most were obscured under the fly-free croton bushes, with just a leg here, a tail there, protruding. Three cubs were playing "king of the castle" on a big termite mound, but apart from that there was little action, even though plenty of lions.

 

 

Next stop was to watch a herd of impalsa getting very excited as a bachelor herd came in close. Lots of bounding about and a couple of skirmishes ensued.

 

 

 

Then it was time for the leopard song (only previously ever performed in my head). Go on... you know the tune!

 

Follow the river that's dry

Follow the river that's dry

Follow, follow, follow, follow

Follow the rainbow over the stream,

Follow the fellow who follows a dream

Follow, follow, follow, follow

Follow the river that's dry

We're off to see the leopard, the wonderful leopard - or not?

You'll find he is a wiz of a cat, if ever a leopard there was.

If ever, or never a leopard there was, its worth all your day because

Because, because, because , because, because

Because of the wonderful things that he does.

We're off to see the leopard, the wonderful leopard - or not?

 

Down by the lugga the bush is thick and spotting anything is clearly going to be difficult, but Nelson is determined and on we go. We see our first dik-diks of the trip, and once Nelson accepts that we were not joking when we said we wanted to see dik diks, we magically started to see more - naturally what we see and what Nelson sees are two entirely different things and the thicker the bush or the further the distance the bigger the difference grows. Mr B (actually, very nice Mr B may I remind you) noticed what he was told to notice but Mrs B actually turned out to be a very good spotter by any standards, and racked up a few finds for us.

 

 

The "riverside" here was very different from that in Ol Pejeta, where big Fever Trees grow along the riverbanks, providing lots of shade and convenient spots for leopards to hang. Here the whistling thorn remains the common tree, and small, twisted, dense acacias are the leopard's only relaible choice of perch (there are some other trees, but not common).

 

We moved along the lugga for nearly two hours but no luck. Just the dik-diks and a few birds to show for it. So just before 9 we turned off and heading uphill for breakfast. Without any real trees in much of Olare Orok (I make it sound very depresssing and barren, but think about the Mara as Olare Orok without the Whistling Thorn and you'll get the picture). Our first choice breakfast bush was found to be occupied by three hyenas during our pre-disembarkation check.

 

Sorry mate... taken.

 

 

But we found an alternative bush with a beautiful view all the way over the reserve and into the Serengeti. There were giraffes wandering along the Mara River (near Rekero unless my sense of direction was off) and wildebeest on the open plains. From here though we could clearly see that the migration was over, so no expectation of a crossing. Nelson confirmed that a crossing was unlikely, although he said there were still some wildebeest that would be returning to Tanzania, so it was not impossible. No way I'm spending all today looking for leopards and all day tomorrow waiting for a crossing , I thought.

 

After breakfast we find a cheetah and cub relaxing. We'd revisit them if the afternoon on our way back out to a leopard hunt (us doing the hunting, not the elusive leopard I am afraid). They were awake, clearly hungry and relatively alert, but happy to scout for prey from a prone position under the tree.

 

 

 

And in the afternoon the cub spied some potential prey!

 

 

But how to kill it?

 

 

 

Confusion!

 

 

We also stopped off to watch a male giraffe trying to mate. THe female appeared ready and accepting but he couldn't get it up (get his body up on top of hers, I mean). We waited for a while but the foreplay got less rather than more intense and as it was lunchtime we decided to leave them to it.

 

 

Since the afternoon is going to be more leopard hunting I declare it Mongoose Afternoon. It was intended humorously but while looking intensely and unsuccessfully for the leopard we "happened" to see dwarf, slender, banded and white-tailed mongooses. We also saw some baboons, including one with a white leg, but it is dull weather, the bush is thick and nothing stays in view for long. I haven't processed any photos from this afternoon yet - it was that dull. Saw a bushbuck and other than the mongooses, excitement level was low. I can't even remember the sundowner and if we had one (maybe we had three and that's why I don't remember?).

 

No problem though - every drive is enjoyable even if not every drive can be memorable. But this is the trouble with these leopard hunts .... putting all of your eggs in one basket. Could have stayed near the cheetahs!

 

 

(Edit: Hang on... cheetah cub trying to hunt a tortoise, four different kinds of mongoose, a baboon with a white leg... how is that not memorable? Spoiled brats with their "Oh we barely saw any leopards this time..." trip reports. )

Edited November 9, 2011 by pault

[samburumags]

Just love this report Pault. The Dik Dik is gorgeous, such a difficult animal to photograph, especially with a "Brownie" !!!!

[Jochen]

Despite such comfortable tents and free laundry, I was starting to look a little the worse for wear by Day 7...

 

 

Well, ONE part still looks rather clean...

 

[madaboutcheetah]

Love that cheetah cub/tortoise pic, Paul!!!!

[pault]

Despite such comfortable tents and free laundry, I was starting to look a little the worse for wear by Day 7...

Well, ONE part still looks rather clean...

 

I keep the armpits clean too!

[pault]

Photos are getting a bit scarcer now, as I haven't really gone through those of the last three days in detail yet.

 

Today is the big day; an all day trip into the reserve. We were actually supposed to go the day before but Mr B wanted time to acclimatize and we didn’t mind what day we went as we only wanted one visit this time – preferring to explore Olare Orok. At Bush Camp you are usually taken on an all day trip into the reserve at least once for every three nights you spend at the camp, for which there is no additional charge. But in exciting times (or dull times in Olare Orok) you may be taken there more often (especially if things are happening in the reserve very close to Olare Orok). If you want to request to go more often you need to pay the reserve fee. You won’t generally see Kicheche promising any of the above as “programs” are of course determined by the situation on the ground. There are apparently real people who will have the most wonderful sightings and then complain because they didn’t get their “promised” full day in the reserve.

 

Today’s “program started with the jackal den which is almost in sight of the camp. As on previous stays, visits to view young predators seem rationed, which I am sure everybody will agree is a good thing. We didn’t even know the den was there, so we weren’t clamouring to go until Nelson and the rest of the guiding team decided it was our “turn”.

 

Light is still very low when we arrive but four healthy jackal pups in full on “play” mode is a great way to start the day.

 

 

 

 

 

My eye is generally glued to the viewfinder of my camera, trying to follow the flying balls of fur, but I can hear some knees melting around me when one comes right up to the vehicle to check us out and then cocks her little head to one side.

 

 

 

 

 

Soon after 7 we leave them and head for our destination. The drive into the reserve is interesting enough, but apart from some lions, for which we don’t stop long today, it is just the herbivores. One long stretch is very quiet indeed. At close to 8 we come across another Bush Camp vehicle, parked with a couple of other vehicles next to a seasonal looking river (I assume a tributary of the Talek, but again I didn’t ask – for some reason I am not in a mapping mood this trip, which I regret now). There are also three vehicles parked on the other side of the river. This can only mean one thing – Mr B’s leopard at last! We’re just in time to catch him (the leopard, not Mr B.) emerging from long grass/reeds in an “I might be serious, I might just like walking this way” stalking pose. He stalks, disappears, stalks, disappears, appears briefly one last time, and then is gone. Poof!

 

 

 

We drive around for a short while but not a sign. After ten minutes unsighted he could be anywhere in those reeds and bushes, and may not emerge again until the evening, if ever. So after watching a couple of beeeaters, we move on.

 

 

By now some of you will have worked out roughly what is going to happen, from the various teasers in the description of the rpevious day.

 

Nelson is on the radio to one of the other Bush Camp guides. They’ve been talking briefly but regularly since the jackals this morning, and I know from the tone, from past experience that they are discussing something very interesting. “Another leopard” Nelson tells us at last as we approach a familiar place. This is where we parked near the Big Cat Diary vehicle as Jackson beamed out the story of Olive and her cubs “live” in 2008. We’re back in Hollywood and the stars are out - with their attendant paparazzi.

 

 

We drive in to the “press area” and see Olive’s latest cub, a sub-adult female, and get a very drief glimpse of Olive herself. There is a kill lodged halfway up a tree and there are a lot of vehicles and photographers surrounding it (at a respectable distance I guess, but it’s crowded. One of the best spots is occupied by a couple we know from the camp, and they are obviously there for the duration – waiting for shots of the leopard feeding or dragging the kill higher into the tree. There’s no really bad behavior going on, but there are too many vehicles in a tight space. I know we can wait and Nelson will get us a decent spot – he’ll park strategically so he can slip in to a vacant area as soon as the action starts – we have an ally in a prime position who will help. But it is not long to breakfast time and of course I am not alone, so we agree we’ll go for an early breakfast and maybe come back for a look later (we know this is essentially a decision not to spend more time with the leopards, as if something does happen a plague of vehicles will descend within 15 minutes).

 

 

We park for breakfast on a slope, just below two topi males blustering over a bit of bald ground on the ridge of a hill (not even a termite mound – this is topi central and every termite mound seems to be occupied by 9am). We are really quite close to them but although they initially look uneasy when we get out of the vehicle, they soon lose interest in us.

 

 

 

An impala that comes across us is not as cool and bolts. During breakfast we notice some wildebeest starting to mass nearby. At first we don’t take much notice, as we had already decided that we weren’t going to spend all day waiting for a crossing that would very likely not happen. But they are gathering very fast (I never knew a herd could grow this quick) and Nelson seemed to have the same feeling as me – this crossing was very likely to happen. More than me, he thinks he knows where they are going to cross and we should go and see. We all five pack the breakfast things in two minutes flat and as we start to drive, the wildebeest start to move.

 

We arrive back with the gathered photographers within a couple of minutes, and Nelson stops in a spot giving him access to the river banks two ways (the Hollywood Bowl, as I may be alone in calling it, is a river, but flooding has created a wide passage which means there is a shallow, wide gorge in the dry season, with a river in the middle of it. There are a lot of trees and bushes and so to observe the action on the river an in the gorge you need to be parked on the edge of the “gorge” – they are of course river banks, but that would be misleading – there is a long distance between the “banks” and the river itself in normal flow. We turn off the engine and wait for barely a minute when Nelson starts up again and heads off to the right. We can see wildebeest pouring into the gorge through the trees, but no clear views at all. Then suddenly we are out in the open and stopped right in front of them, flooding up hill and then flooding down and into the gorge and across the fairly shallow river.

 

 

 

Of course it is dusty and chaotic and becomes a lot more so as the wildebeest column starts to split in two, pursued left and right by a white periscope sticking up from the reeds – a leopard is in there with them and she (it is Olive we see later) is trying to select one from the speeding mass. We get brief glimpses of her and her tail, and she goes left and then right and then back again, but can generally only follow her by wildebeest movements. Then we lose her completely for a couple of seconds and a wildebeest to the right collides with something and falls in the water…. except it didn’t fall because when it gets up there is a leopard clamped to its neck, who must have hit the wildebeest like a train. They are in sight only briefly and then disappear into the water with a splash. Suddenly all the wildebeest are gone and it is almost quiet, and the dust clears a bit and the wildebeest staggers out from some long grass and collapses, with leopard still attached to its throat. It occurs to me that this is an overly dramatic and intense experience and I might wake up any moment in my tent looking forward to my day in the Mara; but I take a few photos just in case.

 

 

The kill is quiet and clean – she bites the neck and pulls it forward, forcing the wildebeest’s feet back and making kicking or butting nearly impossible. Near death the wildebeest makes a huge final effort and gets in a couple of kicks, but the leopard moves her weight again like a wrestler and it is over.

 

 

At this point I become fully aware that everyone else from the kill-in-the-tree and a few other vehicles have joined us, but it is only after this that things start to get really busy. But this had been Nelson’s “spot” and I suspect he was feeling a little bit proud of himself ... but only from an extra bit of wattage on the smile when he greeted other Maasai guides he knew; for people like him something like this is an exceptional but not at all unique experience - for that we would have needed the wildebeest to return for a crossing the other way, pursued by a pack of wild dogs.

 

After the wildebeest had been released by the leopard, the clean up crew arrived, in the form of Olive’s fully grown son. This one apparently refuses to leave home, although he is monster-sized and his mother had obviously mated the previous year. He grabbed the carcass and dragged it into cover in the long grass that had obscured Olive from the wildebeest until they were already committed to the crossing and she went among them. Still-panting and wet mother and son had a brief touch and then she slowly walked up and away into some rocks, where there are presumably some nice cool caves. She's old now and it showed a bit after the kill (not at all during it). Since they were all fed (the kill on the tree which had started everything) two minutes later he followed her and it was as if nothing had ever happened.

 

It was only 10.30 now. Certainly it wasn’t time for lunch, so we’d have to go and look for a follow up to that. Since we were in Hollywood anyway, we popped in to see the two remaining cheetah brothers, who were sitting under a tree with bulging bellies, napping but not quite sleeping. This was our fifth meeting with them, and they really did look to be a little sad, but that was certainly just our imaginations.

 

 

 

Since they were obviously going to take a long time to sleep off the meal, we left them to it. Not far away (but far enough) Nelson spotted a lion in a stand of bushes. As we got closer it turned into two lions, and then four as we saw there were two very young cubs - short, bendy leg but running age; ready to join the pride. The flies were clearly annoying the mother and after a short while she got up and walked off, snarling at the flies and followed by her cubs.

 

 

 

She resettled in another stand of bushes a short way off and although there were still a lot of flies, she seemed more content and allowed the cubs to suckle as she drifted off to sleep.

 

 

 

 

 

Full with milk the cubs played halfheartedly for a short while and then assumed the same “belly up” position as their mother.

 

With stops for a few birdies and others, it was after 12 now and so we could reasonably head somewhere for lunch. On the way we came across another lioness with young cubs, and saw some hyenas, as well as a brief glimpse of a reedbuck in a lugga. As we approached our lunch spot there appeared to be more wildebeest around – but there were also more giraffes and topis so that probably didn’t mean anything.

 

 

Lunch was in a beautiful spot from where we did not see a single other vehicle for the hour we stayed there. Tuna sandwiches would have tasted fantastic after the morning we had enjoyed, but lunch was genuinely excellent.

 

 

During lunch a column of wildebeest started running past us, about 800 meters away. By the time we finished lunch the column had been running past us for 15 minutes and it was still going, with wildebeest appearing from every direction to join it. Since we were only 10 minutes drive away from the Mara River and that is the direction that the column was now heading it became clear how we were going to spend our afternoon.

Edited November 10, 2011 by pault

[samburumags]

Phew! Give me 10 mins and then carry on!!