Kenya 2024: Long grasses, lazy lions, lounging leopards - but where’s the action?

[mopsy]

Super report so far. Really enjoying your photos, a lot of very creative ones.

 

As a simple point, zoom and shoot photographer I'm very envious!

[Zubbie15]

Thanks for the kind words @mopsy, and for following along!

 

The evening before our guides asked our guides if they knew what the big 5 was, which they certainly could answer.   But they were then asked if they knew what the big 6 is, and they were stumped.  I'm sure a lot of people on this forum have heard that term, but the additional member of the group are the Maasai.  In any case, that led to the suggestion that we go visit a village after breakfast, and the kids were enthusiastic (me less so, but I technically have never done it so I figured it would be interesting).  It was interesting driving there, as there was nobody around for a long time, but lots of wide open plains full of plains game.  I figured there had to be cheetah around, but we couldn't find any.  

 

Anyway, we showed up at the village - they clearly had a good thing going, as it seemed every 5-10 minutes we would hear the singing to welcome new groups of tourists to the village.  We got to see the typical stuff, men jumping, fire making (that for me was the best part, as the two young guys who were trying to do it couldn't and they had to turn to the older gentleman nearby to help - probably an indication of how often they actually make a fire...).  The best part for the village is they had a lot of stalls set up for trinkets, and my wife and daughter did all of their shopping there, so the Maasai did pretty well for themselves.  Here are a few photos for those who are interested. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heading back to camp after our visit, we passed again through the open plains that seemed like they'd be good cheetah habitat, but with no luck. To be fair it was really hot at this stage, and even if one was around it quite likely was lying under a tree somewhere.  Even the giraffe were needing a break...

 

 

[Zubbie15]

For the afternoon drive, we left as dark clouds massed on the horizon, and eventually had to drive quite fast as we could see a huge downpour heading our way.  We just made it out of range with a few drops, but a couple of minutes later we would have been drenched!  

 

Our first stop was at a waterhole, there were a lot of zebra and topi around that seemed to want to go for a drink, but a hippo in the water had them spooked.  We spent a while hoping for some action, and while there was the occasional flare-up between animals it was pretty calm. 

 

Minor zebra fight

 

Young topi males practicing their fighting skills

 

Moving on eventually we found another lone hyena - we had seen a fair number of them on this trip, but really only one or two at a time, no large clans.  The storm was clearing by now, and gave a nice rimlight for this animal which we appreciated. 

 

 

 

Moving along we eventually found the Hammerkop pride.  They were out, but quite lazy and in high grass that made for some challenging conditions.  But every once in a while a lion would move, and we would do our best to capture that animal. 

 

 

 

 

We ended up near one relatively young male (I think), who seemed to be really curious about the children's voices whenever they would talk.  He definitely was looking into the truck to understand those noises.  I've heard previously where the sounds of young human intrigue animals on safari, this is probably the first time we've experienced this. 

 

Very focused gaze!

 

But eventually the interest waned and it was time to get back to napping. 

 

 

Finally, we had a youngster come out and walk around a little, and when a bird flew overhead he checked out what it was. 

 

 

So as always it's nice to see lions, but these guys were rather relaxed.  After a while, Julius asked us if we would like to go look at something a little more interesting, but that we would have to drive fairly quickly.  Were we interested?  Of course!

[Zubbie15]

We were headed to a leopard in a tree, the hope was it would still be there when we arrived.  It was interesting here at OM, our guides did not use a radio once but seemed to get any info over their phones.  I guess there are advantages for them with this arrangement, as we never knew if they were on their phones for sightings or something else (but to be fair they were hardly ever on their phones that I noticed, I don't want to make it appear otherwise).  We got to the sighting, it was quite tight as there was a lone tree in a clearing.  I seem to recall we might have been slightly more than 5 vehicles, maybe 6 or 7?  But in any case there wasn't really much going on, a leopard in a tree with the remains of a warthog kill.  This was identified to us as a large male leopard who's territory was in this area, although I didn't write down a name.

 

I have to say it wasn't the most exciting sighting we've ever had, the leopard was awake in the tree but seemed to be something akin to a food coma.  Every vehicle took their turn going up to get a head-on photo, but then it was just waiting to see what might happen.

 

 

As the light started to go, we decided there wasn't much point in staying longer as camp was a bit of a distance away, so we started to make a slow return to camp after finishing our sundowners.  I want to emphasize that Edward made strong drinks, I was pretty tipsy as we headed out!

 

As we cleared the bushes in this area, we quickly saw a small group of 2 or 3 vehicles (my memory is a little hazy) around a lone tree with everyone looking up.  Could there be another leopard so close?  Yes, indeed there was.

 

At this point the light was almost gone, so only my f/2.8 lens was able to take photos.  But I actually quite like how they came out, I feel the mystery that seems to accompany a leopard everywhere.

 

 

[Zubbie15]

The next morning was already our last at Porini Lion, time always flies but especially when you only have 3 days at a camp.  We had time to head out for a shorter morning game drive, and did so hoping to find one of the leopards from the previous evening.  The morning started out extremely foggy, a group of giraffes were cloaked in the mist not far from camp.

 

 

As we ascended out of the valley, things opened up and allowed for another topi photograph with the dawn sky.

 

 

We searched high and low for the leopards, but had no luck at all.  We had just given up on our quest and decided to move somewhere else when we saw another Porini vehicle driving by on the other side of a small ravine, with their spotter waving frantically at us to follow them.  Well, that is certainly an invitation that's hard to turn down while on safari, and we were glad we had.  It turned out this was a female leopard that is known as Natito, who was patrolling her territory in the early morning light.  Be prepared for a lot of leopard photos (this is the leopard that was in my opening post as well)!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The previous 3 were taken by my son with the 70-200 - the last is cropped a bit but she really got quite close to us.  The eye autofocus certainly helps with the keeper rate, but I think he did well. 

 

And what I think ended up being my favorite photo, with the light conditions working well for a B&W conversion.

 

 

One thing to note, if you look closely, is that this leopard is the same one as the "large male" we had seen on the previous drive.  I was surprised, when I asked for ID on a Facebook group, to realize that these animals were the same and and that the "male" had been misidentified.  But it's far from the end of the world!

 

She reached a point where we could have continued to follow her, but the guys suggested we start to slowly make our way back to camp.  We agreed, as long as the "slowly" was true, and it was.  First we made our way to a small group of lions from the Hammerkop pride that were out in the open.  I was quite hopeful as there were 2 really young cubs on the edge of some bushes that looked like they wanted to come out, as their mother had crossed an open area to a new set of bushes.  There were several vehicles waiting patiently and at a good distance to allow them the space and confidence to continue, when a Kicheche car decided to go zooming up to them at high speed.  I don't know if they got any photos, but the cubs immediately turned around and disappeared in the bushes for good.  Argh, I was not happy.  

 

From there we slowly made our way back to camp, stopping a couple of times for interesting animals, including eland and a large herd of buffalo.  

 

 

 

 

And from there, we went back to camp to grab our stuff and head off to our next stop!  I think overall Olare Motorogi definitely treated us well. 

[Atdahl]

You can never post TOO many leopard shots!  LOL

 

Beautiful photos, I particularly like the hyena ones.  Sounds like your stay at Porini Lion was a success, we certainly enjoyed ours as well a few years back.  I may have missed this but were any of the leopards offspring of the famous Fig?  She put on a show for us with one of her cubs back in 2019 but the cub hadn't been named yet (female I think) so I am not sure what happened to it (it's sibling was killing a few weeks before our arrival apparently).

 

Alan

[Zubbie15]

@Atdahl, thanks for the comment, and interesting question.  Natito, the leopard I identified, is the daughter of Tito.  Faulu was the other leopard we saw (as it was getting dark), and a quick google search now suggests that she is the daughter of Fig.  She is described as the last daughter of Fig, I think given Fig's death in early 2022 that Faulu is maybe from a litter after the cub you saw.  I'm not sure how up to date the info is, but the same search suggests there are (were?) 4 daughters of Fig around at one point. I think we definitely had a successful stay at Porini Lion in terms of wildlife; we were not completely sold on the camp itself.  

 

That's actually a good segue to the last post before moving on to Naboisho -  a few words about Porini Lion (adding before posting that this ended up longer than expected, and a bit longer than "a few").  I think, all things considered, this was our least favorite camp of the trip.  Not that anything was bad, far from it, but there were a variety of little things that added up a little in our minds.  I should also say that I struggled a little finding a camp in this conservancy that seemed like a good fit for a family with younger kids, and indeed I was a little surprised they booked us as I saw mention on their website of a minimum age of 8 for the camp.  I think an adult-only trip might have been a better fit here, and would suggest my comments be viewed in that light. 

 

For the good parts, the family tent was massive, the towels were the softest I've ever come across in Africa, and the shower had great flow (almost too good, you had to be careful not to finish the bucket before being done, which is an issue I've never had before!).   Food was good and plentiful, the location was nice and private, and the guides seemed to have a good handle on where to find the wildlife.  So all the key parts of a positive stay are definitely present.  

 

Things that didn't fit us so well:

- when we arrived the camp manager didn't know we had booked a private vehicle.  This was kind of odd, and he said that our guides would know.  I have to say this caused a bit of stress for us, mostly because we know that it's not fair to other travelers to force them to endure a game drive with our kids (they are generally good, but will have a short-lived fight once or twice on each drive).

- in general the atmosphere around camp was very serious.  We had come from Offbeat, where, for example, the cook came and took our kids to show them the kitchen, or our room attendant taught them a few Maa words.  This just didn't seem like something that would be done at Lion.  A big deal?  Far from it, but just a nice little extra with the kids.

- meals were odd.  Generally they are taken communally, but we were offered and accepted a separate table as we understand and accept that not everyone on safari wants to be stuck with younger kids at meals.  This worked for the first day, but then a large family showed up (10+ people) who I believe were Danish, and they decided to add us to their group.  They generally spoke Danish together, so it was hard to develop much commonality. We eventually warmed to each other, but at first I think both groups wanted/expected to be alone.

- Also about meals, and I realize this can be tough in the bush, but we came back fairly late after the night of the 2 leopards and were offered to go directly to the mess tent to eat.  The kids were tired so we agreed, only to wait ~40 minutes for any food to show up.  Had we known this we would have preferred being back in our tent for the wait.  We also had one night where we were never asked what we wanted to drink, and never really given the chance to ask anyone for something.  

- we were offered departure at 6:15AM, and despite repeated and insistent requests to leave earlier we were told quite firmly that departure was going to be 615.  And even one day when we showed up before 615, we waited for that time before leaving. Similarly, when we set out in the morning our guides always told us when we would aim to be back (I think it was 11) and we would be back within about 15 minutes.  So a little more flexibility would have been appreciated.  

- laundry was offered (no underwear, as is fairly typical) but it took a long time to come back (this may have been related to the storm I mentioned earlier) and we actually had to go ask for it prior to leaving or they would have forgotten it entirely.

- last, the family tent (#5) is right by the main areas (WiFi tent, mess tent).  Both nights we had groups that stayed after dinner to have a drink and chat, and we could clearly hear them from our tent.  And then in the morning the path from the staff quarters was right behind our tent, and starting well before 5 we could hear noise and talking as staff walked by.  It wasn't awful, and in fact I was the only one who woke up with it, but neither was it ideal.

So all little things that weren't really massive issues on their own, but adding up together just made things a little more difficult and less smooth than they otherwise could have been.  I would never discourage someone who wanted to go to this camp from going there, but at the same time if/when we return we will almost certainly want to try a different camp in this conservancy.  

[Atdahl]

@Zubbie15thanks for the info about Fig and her cubs.  She was a legend around there so glad to hear that at least one of her cubs is still alive and well.

 

Alan

[Zim Girl]

Really enjoying this report @Zubbie15.

Stunning photography.  I particularly like the rimlit hyena and lion cub lying in the grass from a couple of posts ago.

[Zubbie15]

My pleasure @Atdahl.  Thanks @Zim Girl, appreciate the kind words.

 

Leaving OMC, it took us about an hour to get to camp in Naboisho, the cleverly named Naboisho Camp.  This is run by Asilia; we had stayed at their sister camp Encounter Mara in 2022 and wanted to return, but decided to go to the more upscale Naboisho Camp because it has a pool, which we thought the kids would appreciate at this stage.  We also wanted to return to an Asilia property because we had really enjoyed our time with our guide, Jackson, and thought that it would be good to try to have him again.  

 

Arriving around 11, we received our briefing from camp manager Maggie, who was a lot of fun to be with.  She gave us an overview of the property, the rules, etc.  I have to say I found it more than I really want for a safari camp, not that it was amazing.  For anyone who has ever been on the TripAdvisor Tanzania forum, there's  a regular poster there who often recommends people go to Lemala's 4 star properties over their 5 star to have more of a safari feel; this was kind of how I felt about the Asilia offerings, I think Encounter just felt a little more like a real safari camp.  But we were here, the kids were really happy to have a pool, and might as well take advantage of the amenities!

 

The family tent we had was extremely large, and very private.  

 

The living room area, with our view out over the plains

 

Part of the "more than I needed" amenities, a fully stocked (and no charge) working refrigerator.  Not something I've had often in the African wilderness

 

One of two bedrooms, they were identical

 

And the bathroom area, with both indoor and outdoor showers and 24 hour hot water.

 

And the most important part of the property, the pool.  We spent a lot of time that ideally would have been used for napping here!

 

In any case, we did get our hoped for Jackson to guide us, and while he said he didn't initially recall our faces he pretty quickly could remember a lot of details of our trip.  It was good to see him again, and to be guided again.  This was the only camp of the three where there wasn't a spotter also, so it was just him and us, but I don't think we missed anything without the extra pair of eyes.   Jackson suggested that we head out and look for leopard on our first drive, which worked for us.  I knew from various sources on the net that Naboisho had been having good sightings in the weeks leading up to our visit of a mother leopard and her cub, as well as two different cheetah mothers with 4 and 2 cubs, respectively.  Obviously baby cheetahs and leopards are always high on most people's list!

 

So we headed over to a tree where a few other vehicles were already parked.  In the tree was the leopard Sankuet, along with her ~6 month old cub.  Mom was relaxing in the tree.

 

 

But baby was being trouble, and playing with the remains of a kill they had stashed in the tree trying to get the last pieces of meat. 

 

 

They weren't alone, there was a very sad looking lone hyena under the tree really hoping that something would fall down to it. 

 

 

[Zubbie15]

Mom started to really fall asleep, while the baby kept fiddling with the kill and coming very close to dropping it on the ground.  

 

 

Dangling precariously

 

Trying to reposition the kill, but not having much experience

 

During this time, mom slept very soundly, never even twitching as the carcass was moved around. However, the hyena was almost salivating at the prospect of the kill.

 

If only I could climb...

 

Eventually the cub settled down briefly, and for some reason the hyena decided to give up and we watched it walk away over the plain.  Of course, not 5 minutes later the cub moved again, and down went the remains. Well, even if mom seemed like she was asleep she was off like a shot, down the tree and picking it back up.  

 

 

 

 

With the remains back in the tree, she decided to keep them with her and so she stashed them very high up in the canopy, where we couldn't see her well.  A few minutes later the hyena came back, not realizing the golden opportunity it had missed!

 

Since she was way up in the tree, we decided to reposition further away where we could see her while having our sundowners.  It wasn't a great shot photographically in general, except at one point she perked up and seemed to look directly at us. 

 

 

But then it started to get dark, and we decided to head out.  As these pictures have probably demonstrated, the evening had been quite cloudy, with a few drops of rain, but as the sun set there was some clearing on the western horizon and so we scrambled to find a subject, any subject, to photograph.  Well, it had been a trip of topis, and that's what we ended up finding, and making one of my favorite pictures of the trip.

 

 

We were quite happy to have seen these two so early in our stay, it definitely reduced our stress levels about finding them.  

 

Edited July 18 by Zubbie15
Pictures out of order

[AndrewB]

That Topi pic really is lovely!

[Zubbie15]

Thank you @AndrewB.

 

The next morning dawned nice and clear, and we set out to try to find some lions.  We had found on this trip, and this was most severe in Naboisho, that if we did not catch the lions on the edges of day they were not going to be found otherwise.  I asked Jackson about this at one point, and he mentioned that there was a lot of grazing being performed in the conservancy at that time, and because of that the lions were sheltering from the Maasai during the day.  I will say at one point later in our visit we crested a ridge and looked down on the valley below and could count 7 large herds (100+ animals) of cattle just within sight, so it did seem to be the case.  It was certainly not ideal, but we just had to work harder for our lion sightings.

 

This morning was a good example of this, Jackson knew specifically where he wanted to go to find lions, and we did find a couple of lionesses walking very quickly toward some thick bushes.  We attempted, where possible, to get some backlit photos, but this was easier said than done given their speed of movement. 

 

Pretty good

 

Nope, wrong angle!

 

A bit better.  

 

But we only had a few minutes with them, and soon they were beyond our reach. We debate searching to see if any other members of the pride were going to come to this area, but ultimately decided to continue along.   This turned out to be a good idea as not far away was a small breeding herd of elephants, including a relaxed small baby.  Given my daughter's love of elephants and babies, we definitely had to stop, and we spent a bit of time with this family.

 

 

 

 

This sighting was up on a ridge, and while us tourists were admiring the elephants Jackson was using his binoculars to see what might be around.  He eventually turned to us and said guys I see something on the other side of the valley, we should try to get there soon if possible.  However, he was worried that the animals would be difficult to find, so he actually radioed another camp car and guided them to the sighting, and then we could ensure that they would be able to guide us in.  What could it be, and would it still be there when we arrived?  

 

[madaboutcheetah]

Lovely skies for your topi!!! Fabulous image  ........ 

 

Naboisho looks like they've had quite the re model since my visit in early 2021 ...... I'm sure you had a fabulous stay!  Thanks again for sharing all your wonderful photos ....

[janzin]

Ohh Naboisho looks like my kind of camp I'm learning in my old(er) age that I really prefer comfort over rustic on safari (I know that's not a popular opinion here on ST.) I don't need the pool but an indoor shower is a must and the other comforts don't hurt.  The only other place I've seen an in-tent minibar on safari was at Amanzi camp in Lower Zambezi. We loved that camp! It's really nice to have those cold drinks at hand (although certainly not a necessity.)  Of course, the comforts come at a price...

 

Anyway more fabulous photos. That topi with the pink sky is amazing...

[Zubbie15]

Thanks @madaboutcheetah and @janzin!  

On 7/19/2024 at 11:07 AM, janzin said:

It's really nice to have those cold drinks at hand (although certainly not a necessity.)

It would have been if we were ever in our room, we were either on game drive, eating at the main area, or at the pool (where we could also get drinks).  So we never took advantage of it, other than putting our water bottles to keep them cold.  

 

What Jackson had seen was the cheetah Namunyak and her two cubs (~7 months old if I recall correctly).  This was one of two mother cheetahs that had been in Naboisho - we were told that the other, Nishapae with 4 cubs, had disappeared a few days earlier and maybe we would see her (spoiler alert - the next day we stopped to talk to a car of rangers and they told Jackson that Nishapae had been sighted in Mara North, so we missed her and the family).  We followed the directions of the other camp car to where they would, stopping briefly for another female lion who peaked out from some bushes. 

 

We found them lounging in an open area, mom being quite relaxed.

 

 

The youngsters alternated between relaxing for a few minutes...

 

 

... and then getting in trouble and chasing each other around.

 

 

Or climbing nearby trees.

 

 

Eventually mom was brought into the game, and they made her get up.

 

 

When they started moving it was quite difficult to follow, in particular the two cubs were chasing each other around in the deep bushes and we would just get quick flashes of spots every once in a while.  Mom didn't pay particularly close attention to them.

 

 

Originally Namunyak had given birth to six cubs, but at this point she was down to two.  Jackson made the comment that she wasn't a very attentive mother and she was really putting her cubs at risk with how little she was watching them, and between our time in February and now she has actually lost another one.  So she is down to one cub at this point, unfortunately.  She ended up settling down in some deep bushes and the whole family went to sleep, so we continued along.

 

We eventually ended up on some plains, where a relatively small herd of wildebeest was present.  For some reason I didn't take any photos here, so I will use a couple of photos from my son's camera.  There were some very young babies here, including some that must have just been born.

 

 

Jackson spent a while telling us why the Maasai weren't a big fan of wildebeest, and how in particular the placentas can cause disease in their cows, and soon after we found a placenta on the ground. 

 

 

We looked long and hard for a female with legs sticking out of her, in the hopes of seeing a birth, but no luck. Our last sighting of the morning were some giraffes.

 

[HeatherY]

I’m very much enjoying your report. Your photos are fabulous!

We also had Julius as our driver at Lion Camp, so It looks like he went from us to you. Overall he was good to us, but I can relate to your  comment about rushing on occasion.  I also understand some of your comments on the camp in general. While we enjoyed our time there, it did have a different feel compared to other camps we stayed at - not nearly as relaxed - and having seen how the camp manager interacted with the rest of the staff, I feel that may have contributed.  

 

Thanks also for clearing up which cheetah we saw!  I kept thinking it was Namanyuk but it didn’t sound right and my notes were a bit of a scribble, but I see now it was likely Nishapae with her four cubs. We never saw her again so it might have been one of the last sightings before she left Naboisho (we saw her from one of our drives when we were staying in Ol Kinyei). 

Mara North is on our list for consideration for our next trip, so I’m going to revisit that part of your trip report when we get closer to the planning stages. I think your camp-style is similar to ours. 

I look forward to seeing what the rest of your trip brings!  
 

[Toxic]

@Zubbie15 A fantastic report and photos! I hope you have your topi sunsets up on a wall or in a gallery somewhere! 

 

[Zubbie15]

@HeatherY, thanks for the comments, I'm somewhat happy that you had a similar takeaway as we did about Porini Lion and that it wasn't just us!  I think the manager of a camp really sets the tone and can have a very big effect in either direction.  I quite liked Julius (and Edward), I felt they really did well by us in terms of sightings, we just didn't have the same type of rapport that we've had with other guides.  That's far from the end of the world!  I think you would enjoy Mara North, and I would fully endorse Offbeat as a quality camp to consider.  

 

Thanks @Toxic, I haven't gotten around to ordering any photos for the wall yet but that will definitely be going up when I get there!

 

The afternoon drive started with the goal of finding some male lions who had been seen on an eland kill, but while we knew what clump of bushes they were found it now matter how much we (and a couple of other vehicles) searched they were nowhere to be seen.  This was quite close to the edge of the conservancy, so they were likely hiding from the humans we could see around.    Instead, we detoured back to a small family of elephants (the same ones we had seen earlier, in fact) and got another brief session with the youngster.

 

 

Giving up on the male lions, we decided to head to a nearby valley with a small river, where a male leopard was often found.  Despite looking quite hard in all of the large trees along the banks, we didn't see him anywhere.  There were some baboons in a tree, and we stopped for a quick look since baboons had been relatively uncommon on this trip.

 

Bombs away!

 

Continuing along we headed into another valley, and came across a small clearing where there were ~100 zebra all grazing peacefully.  We stopped to look at the herd, admiring as always the babies.

 

 

As we considered moving along, a lone lioness appeared on the edge of the bushes overlooking the valley.  She was very skinny, and very intent on the zebra - we were expecting her to hunt, since they had no clue she was there, and were hoping to get a private show since we were the only ones there.  Unfortunately, as she looked at the herd to try to choose a target, the sky began to get darker, and darker, and eventually a very strong wind whipped up.  Well, this caused the zebra to move off, in the wrong direction, and the lioness disappeared back into her bushes.  So close, but so far!

 

The storm came right over us, and we had to stop and put down all of the rain covers for about 20 minutes. It was a really impressive downpour!  When it cleared out of our area, the rain covers went back up, and Jackson, after a quick call on the radio, started to head off at a decent speed.  I was quite excited we were going to find something good to finish the evening, and with the clearing storm it was shaping up to be a nice sunset.  We continued on, and I scanned not seeing anything, before noticing a cluster of vehicles up ahead.  What could it be?  Then I noticed there was a bonfire, and everyone was out around a table.  Not to be a grouch, but I much prefer to be out searching for wildlife and taking advantage of the good light over stopping for sundowners.  Oh well, the rest of my family seemed to enjoy it at least...

 

The most memorable part of this stop came after a few minutes of us having stopped.  We noticed that the food had attracted 5 or 6 hyenas, who were circling around and creeping gradually closer. One of the camp employees came up to my son and said to him "Let's go," and before either my wife or I could say a word the two of them were running at the hyenas, screaming and waving their arms.  We were so surprised we didn't even think to take a photo, but if you'd told me at the start of the trip that we'd watch one of our kids chase hyenas on foot I would not have believed you!  

 

And that was it for the evening, once drinks and snacks were done we slowly made our way back to camp, not seeing anything in the increasing gloom. 

[Zubbie15]

The next morning dawns bright and clear, and we're out trying to get something interesting as a subject for the rising sun.  I seem to recall the plan might have been to head toward the hippo pool, but this could be incorrect. In any case, up to this point we had always turned right when leaving camp, but today we instead turned left.  Well, 30 seconds later the radio crackles to life, and while I don't understand much I do hear "sharubu," which I know is the nickname ("moustached") that guides use amongst each other so that most tourists don't know what they are talking about over the radio.  In any case, we immediately pull a U-turn, and head out to the open plains in time to catch a fairly large group of lions hanging out and walking around, slowly making their way to the safety of some bushes for the day.  Apologies for the lion overload that is to come...

 

Dawn light gently illuminating the start of a mane

 

, 

Lovely pre-sunrise light which seemed to change every minute

 

 

Purple skies, although with the "messiness" that characterizes some areas of Naboisho

 

On the move with a purpose

 

 

Incoming

 

Once the sun cleared the horizon, we positioned ourselves to try for some backlit shots.  The conditions weren't the absolute best, but some came out pretty well.

 

First rays kissing the lion

 

Sun higher

 

Bathed in gold

 

Based on the timestamps on the pictures we spent ~25 minutes with them, but it went by really fast!  The lions ended up in an area we couldn't follow, and it wasn't even 7AM yet!

[Zubbie15]

At this point, Jackson mentions to us that there is a leopard in a tree, but it's on the other side of the conservancy and so quite far away.  Do we want to go?  Well, sure!  So we head off at a fairly consistent pace, arriving at the destination to find the leopard was still in the tree. Most of the conservancy must have known about this leopard, however, as we count at least 12 other vehicles right in the area.  There was also a ranger vehicle, and they weren't doing anything to make the crowd move, so it was definitely an unexpected experience.  Jackson suggested that the leopard was likely to get down and head toward a bushy area, and that we hold back rather than join the group.  

 

Getting down from the tree, you can see that there were a lot of vehicles right near the leopard.

 

There were also some zebra in the area, but they were well aware that there was a predator in their midst.

 

 

Eventually the leopard started to walk in the direction Jackson predicted, and all of the vehicles that had been crowding around it repositioned back to where we were parked.  

 

It then stopped at another tree for a brief break, but shortly continued along again.

 

 

Where it came right up to our vehicle, going exactly where Jackson had predicted and so we had a perfect head's on view of it.

 

 

Immediately after this it disappeared, and the kids were hungry so we headed off for lunch.  It was definitely nice to see the leopard well, but rather concerning to have so many vehicles at the sighting (and I am fully aware that we were one of the last ones there, so contributing to the problem...)

[Zubbie15]

After our breakfast, we were in good spirits, and I joked that we just needed to see cheetah to get our "cat-trick" for the morning.  Jackson asked if we really wanted to see cheetah - the kids said yes, so he said he knew where Namunyak was, but that she wasn't doing much.  We said let's go anyway, so we headed over there to find mom and her two babies cuddling in the shade of a bush.  The light was really tough at this point, so after a few photos we mostly just sat there and enjoyed being in the company of the cheetah family.  I should have thought to take some video, but I often forget and this was one of those times.

 

Not asleep, but very relaxed!

 

Some grooming

 

Checking the surroundings

 

Eventually they fell asleep, and as it was getting hot the kids started saying they wanted to get in the pool, so we slowly made our way back to camp. 

 

I'll use this shorter post to add one more photo, our family room (hard to call it a tent) was essentially shaped like a U, with the entrance in the middle of the U at the horizontal portion. Our path to the door led through a few larger trees, and when we were first shown our room the askari pointed out a nest to us in one of those trees.  It turned out to be the nest of a Chinspot Batis. It was nice because the tent in the back provided a nice, uniform background, and the female was accustomed to people coming and going so it was very relaxed.  I didn't want to overly disturb it, but did head out one day for a very quick photo session with her.

 

[Zubbie15]

That afternoon can basically be summed up by one sighting.  We headed back to where we saw the lion and zebra the day before, Jackson thought that Sankuet and her cub might be there (I'm not sure if she had been sighted in the area that morning, or if it was just a place she often hung out).  We went up and down the stretch, scanning the trees for them, but with no luck.  We stopped briefly to talk to another guide, and were leaving the area when that guide radioed us to say that they had found Sankuet and cub. They were actually in a tree right by the road, but when we had driven by they were right in the sun from our point of view so we had missed them.  When we got back to the location, the other guide had a good time making fun of Jackson for not seeing the leopard in the tree right beside the road. 

 

Anyway, this is the view we had, and they seemed sound asleep, but it was quite hot and we decided to stay in the hope they would get down as it started to cool off.

 

 

And so we waited... and waited... and waited.  A few false starts gave us hope, but we finished our sundowners with the sun below the horizon and settled in to throw in the towel.  We actually started to drive off, but then Jackson hesitated, and said I think they are moving.  So we stopped again, and in fact in a better position than before, to get them coming down just as the last light of sun left the sky.

 

 

They ended up at the base of the tree, just sitting there relaxing while the few vehicles left used their redlights to illuminate them

 

 

So ultimately we were lucky in seeing them, if only briefly.

 

[Treepol]

Lovely photos of the lions in the early morning light. I especially like the Chinspot Batis on the nest, such an unusual perspective.

Edited July 23 by Treepol

[Zubbie15]

Thanks @Treepol!

 

The next morning we were out bright and early, the plan was to look for lions before they disappeared for the day and in particular hopefully catch them while  they were out in the open.  One thing I have always appreciated with Jackson is that at the start of every game drive he takes 30 seconds to outline what the theoretical plan is going to be... I think we've all experienced how the best laid plans often don't come to fruition because the animals don't cooperate.

 

In any case, this was one of those situations, because the lions were not out.  So we contented ourselves with photographing the herbivores in the area, as the sun broke the horizon.

 

Would have been a great scene with a cat, or if at least the zebras had turned toward us.  But they were insistent on keeping turned away.

 

 

At least one looked up as the sun broke the horizon...

 

 

Not to be left out was this Tommy, although it wasn't position quite as well.

 

 

With the lions not around, and the sun now up in the sky, Jackson suggested going to see if Sankuet and her cub were near where we had left them the night before, I think he knew the answer but we were hopeful.