It's Nearly Over

The Fast Five in their Habitat

Our last full day of the trip started out by meeting up with the Double Cross/Enkoyonai Lion pride. We had some gorgeous golden light and concentrated more on the juveniles for our shots. Their location gave us the chance to capture them both on open flat ground and also in some of the fine longer grasses.

However, Lions weren’t our target for the day, there were more pressing engagements awaiting us. On our trip in 2017 we had seen a coalition of five male Cheetahs on a few occasions and were keen to see them again on this trip. Our efforts had been frustrated up to now, as they had moved into an area of the Mara where we were unable to go, but the day greeted us with good news.

Overnight they had been spotted back in the area we could access and so that was where we headed. To get there we had to cross the Talek River and go through the town of Talek, then back out on to open plains. On our way to the Talek gate, we had a couple more avian sightings.

The first was a Rufous-naped Lark, perched beautifully in great light and with a nice clean background, but even with a 600mm focal length, a bit distant. Not long after that we were treated to what is possibly the best Secretarybird sighting we are ever going to get. For a change, it wasn’t moving away from us. This bird was perched on the top of a tree, facing us and with a clean background for fully twelve minutes. In that time I shot over a hundred frames, before the bird flew off.

This was our signal to head for the gate and get on the trail of the Cheetahs, who have become known as the Fast Five. Within 75 minutes, we had located them. We tracked them as they walked purposely through the long grass of the open plains until they found some shade beneath a few bushes, where they took a break.

Time was getting on and our guide assessed they would stay in this location for a while which would give us chance to adjourn to a safe distance for breakfast. We found a position where we could still see the Cheetahs, but for a change took breakfast in the vehicle for safety.

We returned to a closer position after breakfast, but it was another thirty minutes before they decided to move having spotted a herd of antelope on a nearby hillside. They gradually approached their prey and as they did so we moved position again to get a better view once the hunt began. In all, we spent nearly three and a half memorable hours with these guys, but we were approaching a time where a decision had to be made.

Our plan for the trip included a visit to a local school to deliver over 18kgs of pencils, books, notepads we had taken and football kit donated by both Weymouth and Dorchester football clubs. We had some distance to travel and were in danger of not arriving before the children left school for the day. So we abandoned the Cheetah sighting and headed off. Later on, we learned from the rangers who were overseeing the sighting that the Fast Five never did hunt the antelope that afternoon.

It’s no surprise the visit to the school was memorable. The happy smiling faces of the children and the gratitude conveyed by the staff for the items we had taken were reward enough. They danced and sang for us and posed happily for photos, it was a good visit.

After we moved on, the afternoon turned out to be a similar bird-fest to the previous afternoon. In quick succession we had Croaking Cisticola, Lesser Striped Swallow, Red-necked Spurfowl and African Grey Flycatcher.

Time was moving on now and we were within around ninety minutes of darkness. It was also apparent there were some heavy rain showers gathering around us, distant for now, but ominous. We started to head back to base.

It was only about five minutes after setting off we encountered a Female Elephant with a juvenile male and a baby that could only have been weeks old. It was so small, it could fit underneath mum’s body virtually without touching her. Given Rose’s love of Elephants, this was a heaven-sent opportunity for some stunning shots. We were grateful for our Canons’ low-light capability as we shot usable images at ISO’s up to 6400 and witnessed some amusing antics from the baby.

By now the showers were getting closer, so we moved off to batten down the hatches, before we got soaked. Not long after, the rain started and it was torrential to say the least. We were still some way from camp, but dry inside.

Suddenly though, we became stuck as we negotiated a dip in the track that had become flooded. We could neither go forwards nor backwards and were in the same situation as the truck we’d encountered a few days before. Our guide swiftly arranged some assistance from a nearby vehicle that managed to pull us out backwards. Our guide and his spotter were absolutely drenched in the process as they attached and detached the towing rope.

A relaxed drive back to camp was in order and we arrived without further incident, in the dark and also, it was dry. A day to remember for some time to come for many reasons, not all including wildlife.

It's Plan A Again (Part 2)

Lunchtime in the Marsh

We’d taken a leisurely lunch at our familiar spot by the Mara River, where we had spent time with the Elephants a few days before. This time there were no sightings, but having had a good morning, we weren’t too worried. Setting off again we hoped the day would continue to be fruitful and it turned out to be the case, although maybe not in the way we expected.

We were in the Marsh area, nears Governors and this had proven to be a good spot earlier in the week. Indeed on our previous trip we had some good captures there and this time was the same.

Over the years, I’ve never really got any good Hammerkop pictures and that may partly be because I find them rather an uninspiring bird. But our first sighting of the afternoon put that right and also gave us images of a pair.

Not more than a hundred metres away we had our next encounter with an Elephant in a very marshy area enjoying some succulent green vegetation in really good light. Being Rose’s favourite animal, it’s no surprise we spent some time photographing this encounter. Eventually we got to a position where the light was less than favourable so time to move away.

Again, we didn’t have to go far before we got our next subject and this was another first for us, a Ruppell’s Long-tailed Starling. The beautiful iridescent blue feathers in this bird combined with the superb light gave us some pleasing shots, but things got even better as the bird relaxed and actually moved closer to the vehicle. Yet another memorable encounter, punctuated by a brief visit from a Fiscal Shrike.

Time was moving along and we felt it was perhaps time we did the same, but our guide suggested before we left the area we should revisit the spot where we had taken lunch to see if there was any likelihood of an Elephant crossing. In less than five minutes we were there, but no sign of any Elephants again. However, there was a Hippo pod in the river and quite a bit of noise being made, more than we had heard from Hippos before. It became apparent that the noise was emanating from just one pair and what we were witnessing was a courting and mating ritual. Of course all this was happening beneath the surface and all we could see were the heads. In fact it could almost have been mistaken for fighting, which had been our first thought, but once the female became submissive, there was little doubt.

From that point on, the drive turned into more of a bird watching afternoon. First up we had a wonderful opportunity with a Desert Cisticola singing its heart out atop a branch. That was swiftly followed by a Coki Francolin, albeit fleetingly and no chance for a picture.

Shortly after we came upon a flock of Crowned Plover and mixed amongst them were a number of Senegal Lapwings. It was getting into late afternoon by now and the light was less harsh, so we managed some nice pictures, aided by the birds being quite confiding.

A little further on along the track and we encountered a breeding pair of Yellow-throated Sandgrouse. These birds were more of a challenge as they fall into the category of bird that is always walking away from anyone who ventures close with a camera. Much the same as the Secretarybird.

There was then a lull of about twenty minutes before we came upon our next encounter, this time a Red-capped Lark. This was another new species for us and some nice, if distant, pictures of it feeding came our way.

Our bird watching sequence was nearing its end by now and brief sightings of a juvenile Yellow Wagtail and a Chestnut-backed Sparrowlark wrapped it up for the day.

It wasn’t the end of the day though and as we made our way back to camp we had a glorious opportunity with a large Banded Mongoose family playing on the Termite mound they called home. The light was perfect as we were in the golden hour and it was coming from a position virtually directly behind us. We spent a magical twenty minutes observing their behaviour and capturing some wonderful images before the light went.

This still wasn’t the end of the day though, as ten minutes later we encountered Olbarnoti and his girlfriend again. No excuse for not shooting a few frames, but the auto ISO setting on the cameras hit its peak setting of 12,800 as we fired away. Fortunately we were quite close and even at that setting, usable images resulted.

Looking back, this had to be a day to counter the slow day we had earlier in the trip. There weren’t many more days to come.

It's Plan A Again (Part 1)

Grey Crowned Crane

It’s always said that a good plan should be flexible, but it also needs to be repeatable. Happily, Plan A at Zebra Plains is both, so first on the agenda today was to look for Kaboso again and she didn’t disappoint. In fact she gave us a rare treat by introducing both her cubs to us for the first time.

We had a fairly frantic fifty minutes as they emerged from deep vegetation, crossed some open ground and then were lost to sight in more deep undergrowth. It was very early and the sun had yet to appear over the horizon when we first sighted them, but we did get some shots, albeit at ISO values up to 10,000. As the sun gradually rose we were able to use more usual ISOs, as the golden light on them was beautiful. It was also an amusing sighting, as although the female cub stuck close to mum, the male was more adventurous. He was already very wet, but he was repeatedly lagging behind mum and she had to stop once or twice to call him. A superb start to the day and already more than 350 frames exposed, but no point in hanging around so off we went to our next opportunity.

About forty minutes later we were with a coalition of Male Lions known as the Autumn Boys, who are the sons of the Topi Pride girls. This wasn’t a terribly fruitful sighting though, they were lying down in long grass and we weren’t able to get any clear or uncluttered shots. About a quarter of an hour passed while we tried and failed to get anything useful, but things soon looked up as word reached us that the Topi Plains pride were on the move. A ten-minute drive and we were with them, watching and photographing their antics for around forty minutes.

The Topi Plains pride is quite large and a wide range of ages. We estimated there were at least 15 on this occasion, but stretched out over a long distance and in the long grass, it wasn’t easy to count them. They were stalking a herd of Topi that were some way off, but were quite relaxed about it and kept stopping to take a break and look around. This was particularly good for us as it gave us numerous poses to capture, helped in no small measure by the fact they came quite close.

It was clear from their relaxed nature that there wasn’t too much interest in chasing after the Topi and with breakfast time rapidly approaching, we left to find a convenient tree.

Suitably refreshed, we decided to go in search of the five male Lions we had seen the previous night, hoping to find them in a decent location and maybe a bit more active. On the way, we again had a nice sighting of a pair of Grey Crowned Cranes and took the opportunity to check the Hyena den once more. There wasn’t a Hyena in sight, but a relaxed Malachite Kingfisher rewarded us instead. He posed for us for fully four minutes before he decided we’d had our chance and flew off.

We soon located the 5 boys and as usual they were doing very little. Lying in the long grass at the base of a tree to get some shade, occasionally one would sit up and look around for a few seconds, then flop back down again. We were quite distant and the heat haze was a problem so nothing usable resulted, unlike one photographer who had managed to get close. Park rangers appeared to move him along, but it appeared he had documentation allowing him to be off-road. He was in a vehicle that had no side door and so was able to get the very low point of view we all crave. With his proximity to the lions though, it did look precarious.

Eventually we got a better set of shots, a just reward for our patience and ability to sit with them for over 90 minutes. But it was now the middle of the day and very hot, so time to find some welcome shade and adjourn for lunch. It had been a good morning, starting out well and continuing to deliver.

Next time, I’ll continue with the afternoon section of the drive, which turned out to be mainly dominated by birds.