Once more unto the Mara! A belated trip, and a belated trip report: June 2022

[janzin]

Two interesting anecdotes to relate. As I had mentioned, the founder of the Mara Raptor Conservation Project was staying at Serian with his girlfriend. When we arrived back at the main lodge that night, everyone was sitting around the lounge area peering into...what was it? A VR device!  Stratton invited us to sit with them and have a look. Turns out he'd been monitoring a Martial Eagle nest----way up high in a tree, they had a nest-cam in there as well as I think some drone footage, and had loaded it into this VR device. This was the first time we'd tried one of these and omg it was just amazing. It was as if we were up in the tree with the birds--looking down and around--literally sitting in the nest with them, completely immersed. Not for those with vertigo as we were maybe 70 feet up!  Impossible to describe if you've never tried one of these on. Very, very cool. It was then that I showed Stratton the photos I'd taken of the tagged Martial Eagle a few days prior, and he asked me to send him the GPS coordinates (which I had, since my Z9 has built-in GPS.)

 

Next anecdote!

 

As I also mentioned, the South African photographer Chad Cocking was currently "photographer in residence" at the camp. We'd sat with him at lunch, found he was a nice, personable guy, and so arranged to bring him along on our game drive the next morning. We'd had so much fun on our last Serian stay with the British photographer Trai Anfield. Even if you don't want or need instruction, it's just interesting to have them come along for a drive to talk about photography, get their perspectives, etc. Trai was a little better for us as she was a Nikon shooter--Chad was a Canon shooter, so we didn't talk too much about gear but it is still a nice perk to have at Serian (at no extra cost, btw.)

 

So we set out that morning with Chad.  Of course, we were searching for leopard but also for any interesting photo opportunities.  Unfortunately, there wasn't much of interest to shoot that morning...no interesting light or action. But we had gone pretty far when this happened...

 

 

Yep, stuck in the mud! (This wasn't the first time for this trip--I forgot to recount when we got stuck in a ditch in the reserve with Ping. We got out of that one fairly quickly as we were not too far from camp.)  But this time, we were way off track and not close to any camps. Not like any other vehicle was about to come by. 

 

Luckily, of course James had his phone and was able to contact the rangers. They eventually came to help!

 

 

 

Chad and I got out of the vehicle but Alan elected to stay sitting. This proved to be a bit of a mistake...

 

 

Alan (and the cameras) got splattered with mud!

 

Well, that pretty much killed most of the drive...we were there over an hour I think, between waiting for the rangers and them hooking it all up etc. 

 

Always at least one of these incidents on safari. At least this trip we had no flat tires!

Edited July 30 by janzin

[janzin]

Once again, for the afternoon safari we set out in search of Nelangu and her cub. This time James had some intel on where she'd been found in the morning--very close to Offbeat Mara camp, way on the other side of the conservancy.

 

Finally! We arrived to find her perched in a tree!

 

 

Unfortunately there were several other vehicles there. Even though there is a limit of I think five vehicles at a sighting, there wasn't that much space. We were sort of in the back row and it was really annoying because the car in front of us didn't even seem to be looking at her or paying attention!  The woman was looking at her phone and the guy looked like he was sleeping!! What's wrong with these people??  But I managed to maneuver enough to get a few shots.

 

 

We spent hours sitting with her, waiting for her to get up.

 

 

She'd move around a bit, but didn't come down from the tree. Light was getting lower.

 

 

Other cars started to leave. And then she started down! We hoped she'd go looking for her cub, who must have been nearby (this was not a tiny cub, but several months old at the time.)  I have lots of not-very-interesting shots of her walking through the grass, which I never bothered to process.

 

She headed for a termite mound.

 

Which made for some lovely poses.

 

 

 

 

 

No sign of the cub. It was late by now and we had a long way back to camp, so sadly we said good-bye. Maybe we could find her again tomorrow. But meantime, we were thrilled that we'd seen our Nelangu again!

 

Edited July 30 by janzin

[Atdahl]

Wow, fantastic leopard shots.  Certainly a great way to make up for the morning drive.  Poor Alan, mud and exhaust but he still managed a wave....that made me laugh. 

[janzin]

Our last day at Serian, sigh.  It was a bit of "everything" day so these may be out of order.

 

It hadn't been a great trip for sunrise/sunset shots...as there never seemed to be clouds at the right time and place. But here's one dawn silhouette.

 

 

I don't think I've posted any zebra shots yet.

 

 

There was a waterhole (looked like an old cattle pond, definitely artificial) which we passed several times.  Mostly we saw buffalo there but this day, there was a nice herd of zebra.

 

Just an overview so you can see what it looked like:

 

 

I enjoyed getting some nice zebras lined up and drinking. The light was a bit harsh at this point.

 

 

 

 

 

Always a good subject for black and white.

 

 

Four in a row!

 

 

A bit further afield, we spotted a gorgeous male lion strolling toward us. This was Logol of the Marsh Pride.

 

 

 

 

We followed him to a bush where he got comfortable in the shade (more or less.)

 

 

 

Not more than a few hundred feet from the lazing Logo, James spotted two cheetahs under a bush! Since Logol wasn't going anywhere, we moved over to the cheetahs.

 

These were two brothers, Mbili and Milele. There really was no good photo ops at the moment as they were in the tall grass and harsh light.  Here's a situation snapshot:

 

 

We could actually see the Logol from where we were parked by the cheetahs. They didn't seem to be aware of each other, or didn't care. So we waited by the cheetahs with half an eye on Logol to see if anyone would move.

 

Meantime, what comes marching across the plain but this group of tourists on horseback!

 

 

Crazy, they walked right by Logol and I don't even think they saw him. If he saw them, he ignored them. Seems a little risky to me

 

They must have seen our vehicle sitting by the cheetahs, but luckily they didn't walk our way.

 

Meantime, the cheetahs stirred.  I think the flies were getting to them!

 

 

 

After this excitement they went back to laying in the grass, and Logol was fast asleep, so we headed back to camp for lunch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[janzin]

I see I have very little to report from our last afternoon. Back at our room, some Wire-tailed Swallows perched cooperatively right on the cable of our tent.

 

 

 

After the break, somewhere close to camp we found a Gabar Goshawk perched low in a bush.

 

 

And visited a very smelly, and not-so-scenic, hippo pool.

 

 

An African Hobby was a good find, bird-wise! A lifer (or at least, the first I'd count as a decent sighting.)

 

 

We ended the day with more giraffes.

 

 

 

 

And that's pretty much...THE END.  The Mara delivered, as always. We are heading back to Kenya in February '25 but I don't think we can fit the Mara into this trip, we are doing something quite different (Lentorre in the south rift valley, Laikipia, the the Abardares with guide @Zarek Cockar.)  Really tempted to tack on some Mara time but it gets complicated. So close and yet so far....

 

I should add that while June was a not a bad time to go, with mostly pleasant weather, I probably would not go back in June if I had other options. The grass was just so high, making it difficult for spotting and for photography. June is actually a nice time for us to be at home (spring here.) And we actually had a better variety of birds in February, since you get northern migrants. I think February is still our favorite time to be in East Africa.

 

Thanks to everyone who followed along! Next time I will try not to be so tardy in doing my report, and hopefully I will remember more details (no guarantee of that, hah.)

Edited July 31 by janzin

[offshorebirder]

Your photos keep getting better and better @janzin.   Stunning, many of them.

 

I wonder if that riding safari group was from Offbeat Safaris?     

[janzin]

Thanks @offshorebirder! 

 

Yes I sort of assumed it was Offbeat, I don't know of any other outfit that does it, at least in Mara North, but I'm not sure.

[mopsy]

What a terrific report @janzinit was great to follow along.

 

Stunning photos too !

[janzin]

thanks so much @mopsy I almost didn't do it as it was so delayed, but I saw others (including you!) posting older reports so I figured what the heck

Edited July 31 by janzin

[Zubbie15]

Thanks for sharing @janzin, it was enjoyable to follow along with you, and it must have been fun to revisit the trip after some time and be reminded of details you may have forgotten. 

[Zim Girl]

Great trip report, @janzin, fabulous photography as usual.

Your next trip to Kenya sounds very interesting.  Look forward to that.

[Atdahl]

Great report @janzinand awesome photos.  It's never too late to do a report like that. 

[michael-ibk]

Great report as always Janet, really enjoyed it. Stunning photos all around. African Hobby would be a lifer for me too, so definitely an exciting bird. I also have an unreported Kenya trip from 2021 (Aberdares, the Mara, Ol Pejeta) but don't think I'll ever get to that.

[Athene]

A wonderful trip report @janzin and all of your photos are brilliant. I could not single one out.

It is good to hear that Faulu is doing well in OMC. We saw her in November 2021 together with Fig. She was not fully grown then and I was worried she could not fend for herself.

[janzin]

On 8/3/2024 at 7:42 AM, michael-ibk said:

Great report as always Janet, really enjoyed it. Stunning photos all around. African Hobby would be a lifer for me too, so definitely an exciting bird. I also have an unreported Kenya trip from 2021 (Aberdares, the Mara, Ol Pejeta) but don't think I'll ever get to that.

Oh would love to see that Aberdares report as we are going there on our next Kenya trip! And the rest of it of course. 

[janzin]

On 8/5/2024 at 10:06 AM, Athene said:

A wonderful trip report @janzin and all of your photos are brilliant. I could not single one out.

It is good to hear that Faulu is doing well in OMC. We saw her in November 2021 together with Fig. She was not fully grown then and I was worried she could not fend for herself.

Thanks @Athene  yes it as great to see Faulu doing well and as far as I know, she still it. But I’ve not heard anything about her sister Furaha recently.