Friday February 17
Last night was the first night all week I didn’t sleep well. I think some of it was my dinnertime tippling (damn that British woman for turning me on to Shiraz after 2 G&Ts!) and the other was the constant snorting I kept hearing behind the tent. It was very close, definitely not elephant because I couldn’t hear the ears swishing. I asked over breakfast and it was a few Cape buffalo. I like that the camp staff have a very good handle on what’s going on all around the tents, and they don’t seem concerned that all of this was that close, so I won’t be either.
I was up at 5:50 to finish packing and freshen up before I left. Freshening up would have to wait since Boris and his friends broke the water main again. The water wasn’t repaired until 6:25, just in time for me to leave for breakfast.
Robert ate with me and we had a nice chat. Breakfast was scrambled eggs and toast, two little pancakes and a bit of granola, coffee and juice. I don’t know why I’m always so hungry because I’m doing absolutely no activity apart from the hike yesterday. But I will gladly continue to eat the food since it is so good.
Godfrey from a local tour operator was on hand to drive me the 2 hours to Kalama Airstrip (I could not afford the private charter for a 90 minute excursion, LOL!). Half of the drive was on dusty, dry roads, the other half on newly paved asphalt. He got us there in about 1h 45. We had as much of a chat as we could with his not very good english.
It was mildly disconcerting to come across a “police stop” on the tarmacked road. There was an impromptu stop with a set of portable steel spikes in the road so no one could pass. A bunch of men in camouflage and masks over their faces sat on the side of the road. Godfrey told me they just needed to check passports but that said nothing more. The guy on my side of the vehicle checked the passport, asked me my name and checked the passport stamp. The guy on the other side checked Godfrey’s license and asked where we had come from and where we were going. And then we were on our way. I wanted to ask “were those actual police?” Just as I was about to, he said that they check along that road because it originates in Ethiopia 12 hours away and a lot of opium is trafficked through there. Nice. I guess I didn’t look the opium smuggler type.
We got to Kalama Airstrip and my flight arrived quite soon after. It was 75 minutes to the first Mara stop and another 5 minutes to mine. A Kicheche driver was there to take my luggage and shuffle me on to my first stop in Olare Motorogi Conservancy. I’d been here on my first safari and loved it (it was the home to the gorgeous Fig the leopard). I’m so anxious to see what is in store for me now.
One thing very obvious from the plane is how much greener it is here. Up north they are in dire straits in terms of drought. Everything is sand colored and painfully dry. Here they’ve been getting a bit more rain, so there is a lot of grass and things look healthier. It’s also about 15 degrees color. If I had to guess, I think I went from over 100F in Sarara to about 85 here now. I’ll take it.
Too funny, there is a mother-daughter pair at lunch here today who remember me from the airstrip at Laikipia. I was landing as they were taking off 5 days ago! Crazy.
Lunch here was quite good. Vegetarian quiche, roasted beet salad (which I love!), another vegetable salad, a great cheese roll and a cheeseboard. Dessert was raspberry mousse. And even after not sleeping well I still cannot say no to a glass of rosé.
Schedule here is up at 5:30 am, out at 6. Back for lunch, out at 4, back at 7 and dinner at 8:00. I can handle that!
We met for tea at 3:45 and headed out at 4:00. I have been matched to share a vehicle with a Swiss couple. When we met our guide, Benja, I made it clear, loudly, that I’m here for cats. They are too. PHEW! I was worried they were birders. There’s always that risk, but we’re good now.
So off we went at 4:00 and we decided we’d head for where Benja last saw cheetahs, with a target of mother and four grown cubs. We drove a bit and Swiss Girl spots two massive owls in a tree. Now, we all declared ourselves not be birders, but these owls were huge and pretty impressive, so we stopped.
We spied a vehicle stopped in the middle of the plains and next to it were two male cheetahs who turned out to be Kiraposhe’s boys, who I spent two days watching hunt when I was last in Mara North. They are still together and doing well, although one is limping from a hunting accident, but he is apparently much better now.
Then we moved on and the Swiss Guy spots a male lion just lying under a very small tree. So we stopped. His brother was under another nearby bush belly up, head back, mouth hanging open. We had to confirm he was breathing to make sure he wasn’t just dead. Both of them were out cold, so we moved on. Then Swiss Guy spots the rest of the pride (Enkoyani pride for those who know) on the other side of the (dry) river. Benja takes note, and we keep driving. Then he stops to check around us with binoculars, and stops again for a large herd of buffalo and giving us the history on the Cape buffalo in Kenya. I turn around and make eye contact with Swiss Guy and he makes hand motions like “lions, over there, let’s go!” I laughed but at least we were on the same page. Finally, we got to them, with just one other vehicle there to watch.
The rest of the Enkoyani pride, as far as I could count, had 5 lionesses, 2 sub-adult males and 4 cubs. And OH.MY.GOD were the cubs funny. They’d just woken up and the lionesses were sleeping on, so they were piling on each other, play fighting and generally roughhousing. One little guy wandered off and found a stick to play with, and he had it for no more than 3 minutes before another came to take it from him. One of the lionesses was very good about indulging them in some play time and she gently play-fought with them. The cubs are about 4 months old now and absolutely adorable; it was so much fun just sitting and watching them be kittens. Although as a nervous pet parents chewing on sticks and eating grass concerned me!
At one point, all four cubs went to nurse off one lioness. She seemed marginally annoyed but she let them. The little sounds coming off of them, the content little squeaks, followed by kitten growls as they each fought for position. It couldn’t have been a better start to my stay in the Mara. It is so damn good to be back here. I can’t believe I’d been in Kenya almost a week and hadn’t seen a lion yet!
Just seeing the landscape, the vast yellow-green with blue skies and bright puffy clouds just hanging over it all, that is what I’ve been waiting for.
We were back around 7:30 and I decided to just go to the fire pit and have a drink rather than go back to the tent. I missed the fun though because the other two tents near me found a herd of 5 elephants grazing up here. Ah, it’s ok. I’ve already had my close elephant encounter on this trip!
I heard a lion roaring as I sat around the fire pit waiting for everyone else to come to dinner. And again towards the end of dinner. And then as I sat here writing this, it was behind me on the right and then getting closer towards the front of my tent. THIS is why I miss this. They’re out there!
Dinner tonight was samosas, rice and carrots and green beans, with a banana custard for dessert. I’m utterly wiped out from today so heading to bed early. 5:30 will come early!
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