Special Birthday (Part 2)

Olbarnotoi intent on seeing off Notch 2

Arriving at the Ol Kiombo airstrip in the Mara felt like coming home and Joseph our guide was there to meet us in his full Maasai attire, complete with machete. He had been riding shotgun on our last safari and we were impressed with his knowledge and ability to seek out the game.

A leisurely drive to the lodge for lunch was punctuated with a nice sighting of a Goliath Heron, our first since Botswana in 2015 and better pictures ensued.

Lunch was very welcome, it had been some time since we ate breakfast in Solio, but as always, we were itching to get out on a drive. Joseph was equally as keen to get out there and by 3:30 we were photographing Maasai Giraffe near to the lodge. Next up were Spotted Hyena followed by Southern Ground Hornbill, before the inevitable Lion-fest kicked in. We’ve seen very many Lions on our visits to the Mara, but these were new to us so merited attention for the rest of the day.

Our first full day started with the normal 5am alarm call, which gave enough time to get ready and have a coffee before the scheduled 6am departure. It’s still dark when we leave and frequently it’s dark when we return between 6 – 7pm. Our days on safari are long through choice and involve us having breakfast and lunch in the bush. We very much subscribe to the ‘snooze, you lose’ theory and yes, the light can be tricky in the middle of the day. But we’ve seen some wonderful sights at those times and also been able to stay on sightings when others are returning for brunch, or get prime position before the afternoon drives come out.

At first light we were with some endearing Lion cubs playing in the open. We had to use high ISO numbers (6400), but the resulting pictures are fine and a joy to see. We spent a little over an hour with the Lions before moving away and into a session of birds either side of breakfast. More Lions and Hartebeest took us through to lunchtime. Crocodiles and Lions filled the rest of the day.

Next day our first encounter was with a herd of Buffalo containing several calves, before we had one our most harrowing sightings to date. A single female Lion had taken down a full size Zebra and ripped open its gut. We soon realised the Zebra had been pregnant with a fully developed foetus visible. This Lion was the mother of the cubs we had seen the previous day and what we were to witness was testament to her intelligence. Ordinarily she would hide the kill, go back to her cubs hidden about a mile away and bring them to the kill. But on this occasion, she hid the kill and then walked the mile back to her cubs with the baby Zebra, still in the foetal sack, in her mouth.

Our next sighting was a pair of Giraffe fighting in the Marsh area of the Mara. As you can imagine, this is something of an ungainly sight, all being done with their heads and necks. It can also be fatal if one of them breaks its neck in the process. This fight lasted around 15 minutes and can best be described as a draw and thankfully no fatalities.
Staying in the Marsh area, we spent some time with a Lion pride containing four cubs and then moved near to the Governors airstrip, where there was a Hippo pod in a lake, the surface of which was completely covered in weed.

This day was rounded off by a session with a Kori Bustard displaying its technique for cooling down in the heat by hugely fluffing up its neck feathers.

Day three commenced spending some time with the Enkoyanai pride of Lions where again there were several cubs and then encountering a herd of Zebra paddling and drinking in a river. Next up were two of our favourite male Lions, the brothers Olbarnoti and Lolpapit. Close by, we spotted a magnificent Black-chested Snake Eagle before spending some time with e Double Cross pride of Lions.

What followed in the afternoon was to shape the trip for the next couple of days. We found a dead Hippo beached beside the river, which was giving food to both the Crocodiles and the Lions. It wasn’t just any Lion we were seeing; it was the legendary Scarface and a first sighting of him for us. There was so much action that we spent the whole afternoon there, as did Jonathan Scott and a film crew.

The drive back to the lodge wasn’t without incident either. Not far into what was probably an hour-long journey, the truck ran out of diesel. Very shortly we were joined by another Land Cruiser and transferred into that with our guide to continue the trip. But there was still more excitement to come.

When we had spotted Olbarnoti and Lolpapit in the morning, we had also noticed Notch 2 was close by. Encountering them on the way back, it was apparent Notch 2 had become too close for comfort and Lolpapit felt the need to chase him off. Unfortunately Lolpapit was carrying an injury and even walked with a limp, so a chase wasn’t going to last very long nor remove Notch 2 far enough. So Olbarnoti took up the chase soon overtaking his brother. What ensued was a sight to behold and something special to be involved in.

The chase must have covered best part of a mile and Olbarnoti did make up some ground on Notch 2. The amusing thing was that when Notch 2 tired and needed to walk for a while, rather than pressing on and catching him up, Olbarnoti would walk as well. It really was a case of just moving him away to an acceptable distance and not about fighting over it. But there was a lot of foaming at the mouth involved. An exhilarating end to the day.

Special Birthday (Part 1)

Juvenile Elephants kicking up the dust and having fun - Samburu, Kenya

Thankfully, special birthdays only tend to come around every 10 years and these days seem to be celebrated by a special holiday. It’s a while since my last one and our annual September trip to France was sufficient celebration. OK, I embellished it by riding my bike up the Col du Tourmalet and being met at the top by friends with a bottle of champagne. Meanwhile Rose was engaged in her own battle cycling up the other side of the Col.

This year it was Rose’s turn for the special celebration and the long held plan to spend it in New Zealand was suddenly changed by the desire to visit Kenya once more. It was our third visit inside two years, but the special nature of this trip was that it wasn’t confined to the Mara. This time we started out in Samburu for three nights, followed by three more nights in Solio, before we returned to our favourite Maasai Mara.

Our first game drive in Samburu wasn’t very special and we wondered if we had chosen wisely. But all worries were dispelled next morning, when our first sighting shortly after leaving camp was four Cheetahs, a mother and her three sub-adult cubs. While we were viewing them, a quick look on the other side of the vehicle showed three exceptionally confiding Bat-eared Foxes. An hour and threequarters with them flew by.

Moving on, our next sighting was of a lone Grevy’s Zebra, a species with absolutely beautiful markings. It was soon time for breakfast in the bush and our chosen spot yielded the vividly coloured Agama Lizard. After breakfast the next delight and a first for us was a Gerenuk, also known as a Giraffe-necked or Long-necked Antelope. This first was rapidly followed by another, as we saw a pair of Reticulated Giraffe. It was time to return to the lodge for lunch.

We were soon out again in the afternoon, which was dominated by a large herd of Elephants, which contained a number of entertaining youngsters. There was also a Grey-headed Kingfisher that was determined to be photographed. Final sighting of the day was a Leopard in a tree that kept us captivated for fully 45 minutes. Perhaps our initial impression of Samburu had been a little hasty.

Next morning we headed straight to the Bat-eared Foxes and inevitably the Cheetahs were close at hand too. Two and a half hours soon passed, before we moved on to do some birds (White-throated Bee-eaters and Pygmy Falcon) finishing up with more young Elephant antics. After lunch at the lodge, we spent some time on the balcony of our tent photographing the White-headed Mousebirds.

The afternoon was mainly given over to birds, before we headed back to the previous day’s Leopard site where this time we found not only the adult, but two cubs as well.

Our final morning in Samburu started with a drive straight back to the Leopards where we weren’t disappointed. We stayed with them for about 20 minutes before they did what Leopards do and melted into the undergrowth. We did more bird shots, but the time was fast approaching when we had to return to the lodge for breakfast. However, our luck was in on the drive back where we had another encounter with the four Cheetahs, this time with a kill, followed by our first Lions of the trip.

After breakfast we had a fairly long road transfer to Solio where the main interest was Rhino. On the way we crossed the Equator and had to stop to witness the way water drains away through a small aperture in both hemispheres.

Solio was a little different in so far as the lodge is outside of the reserve. Arriving for a late lunch, we soon were in the reserve and Lions were the first sighting. Given that our main focus here was Rhino, we were soon on to them and there were White Rhino everywhere. Where these animals are persecuted and poached so readily, it was wonderful to see them in this environment where they have a good degree of protection. Our first impression here was so different to that in Samburu.

Day two started out with birds and Buffalo before we found a family of very industrious Coypu and soon it was lunchtime. Reticulated Giraffe, White Rhino and Waterbuck, together with one of my favourite birds, the Grey Crowned Crane took up most of the afternoon and was rounded off with our sole sighting of a Black Rhino. Finding our way back to the gate, we again came across a pride of Lions that filled the final 35 minutes of our day.

Our final day in Solio was rather quiet and consisted mainly of birds, Vervet Monkeys and Hartebeest. And that was our new part of the adventure over. Next morning was an early start to catch our flight into the Mara, but I’ll save that for next time.