Tuesday February 21
I was up early and got a head start on packing for tomorrow. While I was organizing and sorting, I heard a lion right outside camp. The same outside I was about to walk into to get to the LandRover. No worries, we have guards at camp that you flash your flashlight at from the front of your tent, but still. They were close. Twala says when the lions are nearby we have no other animals around camp. And indeed, driving out, none of the usual zebra, giraffe, impala that we’ve seen right up next to camp were around. Last night a giraffe was grazing on a tree right next to the front flaps of my tent!
Some days out on safari are a bit slower than others but it doesn’t mean it’s any less enjoyable, maybe just a little less exciting. We started out early again and headed north toward the very large pride of 40+ lions (Iikisiusiu pride). It was after sunrise before we found some of them. They’d killed a young wildebeest in the wee hours and by the time we got there, one sub-adult male was gnawing on the skull and antlers and that was all we found left of that creature, other than one bloody hyena running away with the spine. In the distance a parade of a dozen or so lions was heading to the hill and the area where there is a watering hole. Twala said that lions often like to drink after a meal and he raced to the spot where he knew they’d first look.
We got there just as a female lion did and the spot was dry. Twala knew she’d check there first and move to another that usually has water if they were truly thirsty. She came over to the dry watering spot right next to us and surveyed the situation, then huffed off grumping about it, probably letting the rest of the family know not to bother, the hole is dry. Off she went into the bushes to sleep the day away.
Next we came upon the big tusker we saw yesterday on his own and then with that small herd. He wasn’t alone today, he was with another big tusker, and together they made quite an impressive pair. What I didn’t mention yesterday is that, while I got some really good photos of him yesterday, I’m not sure I’d enlarge any of them, and especially not display them at work, because in most of them he had a very erect penis. Any shot I got of him yesterday made it appear as if he had a fifth leg. Hanging that in my office will probably get me branded Not Safe For Work. Today when we found him, he was in that state again. His friend was not initially, but then they swapped states of arousal and I managed to snap the big guy with just four legs. The challenges of wildlife photography!
Anyway, all of us really took the time to appreciate how silently they move, even being the size these two are. Neither gave us a second look, which was good. I liked not being a bother to them.
Bush breakfast today was unique in that we were right along a migration route and several hundred wildebeest were running past us for a lot of our time out of the vehicle. They were just moving either from one source of water or grass to another, it wasn’t the great migration everyone knows about, but it was interesting to see the herd mentality at play.
Breakfast today was frittata (this place has it down with the protein!), orange muffins and granola. I had a wonky stomach overnight so ate light with just the frittata and a muffin. I feel better now by midday and ready to roll on with lunch.
Twice today we came upon herds of eland, which are a very large antelope with a very prominent fat pad that hangs beneath their chin along their neck. I’ve only ever seen them in singles before as far as I can remember, so to see them in herds like this and in very good numbers is impressive. What was funny though is that one big male eland must have stuck his head in a bush and a bunch of greens stuck to his horns. So he was walking around like he had a crown of garland on his head. It was pretty funny, especially when one of the females came over to him to try and nibble the greens!
Our last sighting right before returning to camp was pretty cool in how it happened. We were crossing a ridge above the valley and Twala stopped suddenly and picked up binoculars. He said “lions over there” while pointing to what appeared to be several miles of landscape. Further detail was “moving towards wildebeest on the horizon”. None of us could even see the wildebeest. And the horizon looked to be a good 10 miles away. But no, it was only about 4 minutes away, and when we pulled up, we found a pile of lions under a bush. How Twala made this spot like he did is well beyond my comprehension.
These were 6 cousins of the Sampu Enkare lion pride, the same pride we saw running toward the male’s roars last night after sundowners. There was one sub-adult male who looked to be in charge of 5 younger cubs (not little cubs, maybe 18 months or so). The cubs all still had spotty bellies and legs and were keen on watching us and looking at where our noise was coming from. One little guy had a wound on his nose with flies poring out of it, and he kept rubbing it with his paw. Man, I’d have him to the vet so fast if he were my cat (which is why Cape Ann Vet loves me!). They were all just hunkering down for a nap and appeared to have round bellies meaning they’d fed recently, so we had no reason to think they’d move again now, so we headed back to camp, which was less than 5 minutes away!
We grabbed a drink in the lounge area before heading back to freshen up for lunch. I asked for a Stoney Tangawizi but Minnie asked if I’d ever had a Malawian Shandy, which is Stoney, Sprite and a dash of angostura bitters and a slice of orange. I obviously haven’t had one before, but now that I have it may be my drink of choice! It’s so refreshing and a nice taste. And I know Sprite is rehydrating, which I really think I need. It’s cooler here today but my skin is so terribly dry I may never be fully hydrated again…
Lunch today was a turkish pastry stuffed with veggies and a spicy tomato sauce and the beet root salad I like. Dessert was a very thin puff pastry cup with fruit salad and a dab of raspberry ice cream on it. It was so good and very refreshing.
After Iunch I took my last siesta nap. I’m tired and I think the schedule is catching up with me, so I slept for nearly 2 hours. It warm and quiet but still good to have the sounds of the bush lull me to sleep.
Poor Twala tried so hard to conjure up some leopards for my vehicle mates. We spent over an hour combing leopard country high up in the northern part of the conservancy (we are very far south) but no luck. We headed back towards camp and instead came across several pairs of impala faux-fighting, locking horns and cracking heads together. That was kind of crazy to see.
At one point Twala stopped fast and had us look down. In the middle of the road, nestled between three stones was a crowned plover (bird) sitting on two eggs. When she felt threatened by us, she stood up and spread her wings to make a show of it, but we quickly left her to it. I think she might have picked a less trafficked place for it, but who knows.
At last we got closer to camp and saw a herd of impala all staring downhill, and we discovered the large lion pride we saw part of this morning dispersed across the hill on the other side of the valley. Those impala were so suspicious of lions so far off from where they were.
We of course went to see them. We started with three who we followed to a watering hole. Twala positioned me just right for that “lions drinking” shot, so I was very happy right there. Then we went further up the hill to find 8 more lions of various ages (but none fully grown) lying about. One little guy was attempting to stalk an impala but quickly thought differently about it and went over to the pile of his siblings and cousins and piled on.
As each additional lion turned up to the pile of lions, they’d greet each other with head or chin rubs or tail flicks. It all became too much for one of them though and a bit of a fight ensued, which I was lucky to be taking video for at the time. A couple of the older lions move away from the pile then, and the one younger lion who I suspect was the instigator walked over to one of them and swatted her across the head. It was kind of funny to see them playing like kids, or like my own cats at home!
I have spent more time with Twala and this couple doing a little more slow safari. Stopping to look at things beyond the cats (like a gorgeous bee-eater bird tonight) and also learning more from Twala.
Dinner tonight was gnocchi in a tomato sauce to start, baked fish with rice, broccoli and boiled red cabbage for the main and a molten lava cake for dessert. It was wonderful! I had a glass of Amarula for a nightcap.
One of the other British guests has been teasing Nelson, one of the dining staff about singing for us. Well tonight he made good on it and got all the camp staff dressed in their Maasai robes and jewelry and they came out and presented traditional song and dance to us. They even got us up to dance. It was really fun and a nice way to end the trip.
Five of us here all have one more game drive tomorrow, the morning one, which is the best one and then late check out and lunch before we fly back to Nairobi together at 3:15.
This trip is just what I needed to relax, recharge and heal. I’m so lucky for how much it has exceeded my expectations. Now if I could just go home and look at my photos, clean some clothes and come back!
No comments:
Post a Comment