20 Jan 2025 - Monday
Another good night’s sleep until I was awoken by a noise which I at first thought was something going through my luggage behind the bed. It sounded like rummaging or foraging. Monkeys are around here so I just assumed it was them. I waited a bit and then ascertained it was outside and something grazing, but there was a swish and tap on the tent that was relentless for half an hour or so. I finally came to the conclusion it was a giraffe eating and the swish-tap was its tail hitting the canvas of my tent. There are worse things to listen to in the dead of night, I suppose.
I was up and out for 6 am again today and we had the express intention of finding leopard today. Yesterday was chock a block full of lions but there are three leopardesses and two cubs here I’d really like to see. Do you think we could conjure up one at all? Or even a lion? NONE! 6 hours of game driving and we came up empty, as did all the other guides around. There’s no real explanation for this other than a short bit of drizzle during dinner last night and once in the overnight, but not even enough to notice wet ground when I left this morning. So where are they?? I CANNOT have a cat-less day on safari! The pressure is on for tonight.
So I turned to other sightings (gasp!) and my curiosity was piqued when we saw a gorgeous giant eagle owl in a tree right by the side of the road. Ping says that the Maasai community are split on whether seeing one is an omen of bad luck or a blessing. I’m leaning toward the former given how cat-free the rest of our drive was!
We also came across a formidable herd of Cape buffalo, which had to be 500 strong. It’s been a while since I stopped to appreciate one of the big five, so we sat for a bit and I took photos. Ping pointed to one of a handful of acacia trees a bit away and said “we’ll go have breakfast there.” I didn’t know which tree that was, but I certainly didn’t think it would be the one closest to this herd of buffalo! In an effort to keep my name off the roster of dumb Americans killed on safari, I protested but he said I would stay on the other side of the vehicle for him. Plus anyway, since they are about 50 meters from us, it’ll take them 50 seconds to get to us, that’s plenty of time to jump in the vehicle. OOOOkaaaaay. No worries then? Except over the course of the meal, a few would inch closer as they grazed, then stare at us sniffing. Whether they were sniffing us out or just Ping’s bacon and sausage remains up for discussion, but I was glad to swill my coffee and get back in the car while he cleaned up. Having been gored and tossed by a buffalo, Ping is remarkably calm around them!
Having survived breakfast, we did another pass around leopard country and came up short. We also revisited areas where the big lion pride we saw yesterday have been seen and didn’t see anything. I know this can happen, I’ve had it happen before, but it’s just so frustrating, particularly with only 3 game drives left here and my desire to see these leopards before I leave Naboisho. Fingers crossed for a better afternoon drive.
We did of course follow up on last night’s failed lion hunt, as I knew Ping would want to in the light of day. Overnight he reached out to his colleague Paul, who is a big cat expert as well as Bill who owns Wild Source and is a big cat biologist. First both of them really wished they could have seen this. And second both agree that this was likely a new-phobia, the fear of doing something they’ve never done. That they were crouching in a defensive posture was notable. Ping got a call from the guide who was on the sighting with us and she went first thing this morning and couldn’t find anything. He called a security guard at the camp near the sighting and he heard no confrontation at all overnight. We also did a thorough search and found no buffalo (dead or alive), no sign of a kill (blood, fur, bones) and no lions. It’s almost as if we imagined it! How that buffalo got away is completely beyond me, but Ping says when they believe they are about to be killed, they can rally and exert extreme effort. It’s all really interesting I think, I’m just still licking my wounds over not having seen a successful (albeit ridiculously easy) hunt! This should have been a slam dunk! I also believe I’m very black and white and need resolution, so for me to see something that was so obviously solved and dispatched with little effort, I was frustrated. For the lions. For the buffalo. For me. For Ping. He wanted that kill badly.
Lunch today was wonderful, as I’ve grown accustomed to. The starter was a carrot and ginger soup, which reminds me that I really ought to be making more soups! (How is it I always come home so inspired to cook differently and yet somehow never do?). The main was a vegetable quiche, lovey and what a nice crust on it! Dessert was a pineapple passion fruit sorbet. Another reminder that I need to branch out a bit. What was really creative about this is that the sorbet was passion fruit and there was a slightly frozen ring of pineapple on top of it that was a bit slushy. Probably not the most delicate way to explain it, but I liked the textures together.
I wrote the top half of this post sitting on the deck of my tent overlooking the valley. It is a view to remember. I’ve been tying to take mental and audio snapshots to remind me of this when I need a lift. The weather today is just about perfect, high 70/low 80 and dry, sunny and a bit breezy. It should not be as oppressive as it has been the last couple days when we head out at 3:30.
Random thoughts….I am really glad I rented the second camera with the shorter lens. While I’ve taken over 3000 shots on the 100-400, I have about 800 on the 18-150, so I really have needed it. I’m sitting here now just taking shots of all the birds landing near me.
Somehow I have either windburn or sunburn on my top lip. Ping thinks it’s windburn since he has it too. The sunblock lip balm I brought only makes it sting and more irritated. I put Savlon on it last night before bed and that’s helped but I just put hydrocortisone on it and that’s better. Writing this more to remind myself to think of a better lip protection next time!!
The afternoon drive was wonderful! Spoiler alert: we found cats!
We headed out at 3:30 again, just ahead of when most camps go out at 4:00 for the evening drive. Our plan was to drive slowly to hit the area for the three female leopards when it cooled off. It actually was a lot cooler than recent days and quite windy. I thought maybe the wind would keep the cats in hiding so I was a bit apprehensive. Our plan never really materialized, as often happens on safari.
Ping stopped the vehicle to scan the horizon with the binocs. Then I heard “LIONS! They are hunting!” And he slammed the car into gear and we went steaming off across the plains. I could just make out in the distance tiny tawny specks and one much darker spec running across the plains. As we drove Ping said that they bolted out from under a large bush and split up and ran, which is hunting behavior. I was breathless. It was still before 4:00 and there was not another soul to be seen.
It took maybe 6-7 minutes to get to the lions and by the time we did, they’d all flopped down in knee high grass with the exception of a couple of females, who quickly followed suit. There was another pile of about 9 lions of various ages, then the male on his own and a couple of other females off separately. This was the same big pride as yesterday morning, well part of it, several were missing. And now I’m getting to see the pride male who I’d not seen yesterday.
They did not seem motivated to move once they settled where they were. A few got up, looked interested in something we could not see in the distance, and then flop down again. We sat with them for a half hour or so with no one else around and debated what we’d do next.
Ping was on the phone letting other guides know about these lions when suddenly the male lion got up and started walking right for the vehicle. He looked me dead in the eye as he approached the vehicle and that was enough for me. I leaned wayyyyyyy over into the other seat and said “Twala, Twala, Twala”. Yes, that’s right, in my moment of panic I called out another guide’s name! OOooof. Ping leaned over in my direction and asked where he was. I looked and only saw the black tuft on the tip of his tail right under my window. He was RIGHT THERE. Ping said “he’s only looking for shade” and I said “he can find shade somewhere else.” Ping started the vehicle and the lion moved. A few minutes later he tried again. Ping laughed and said “I cannot have a terrified guest.” I wasn’t exactly terrified, it is just that this is now the second time in a week that a lion has made eye contact with me at a very close distance and I’m still not sure how to not freak the hell out!
All this time, a rather large storm was brewing and heading straight for us. The sky grew darker, the temperature dropped and the wind picked up even more. I suggested we start looking for leopards before it gets wet. So off we went. We seemed to be driving out of the direct line of the storm, which was good. Ping started making the loop around leopard country when he stopped to talk to the rangers. They said there was a male leopard with a kill clear on the other side of the conservancy. He wanted to know if we should go for that. I said I still wanted to see Figlet, Sankuet or Nadala and we know if the kill’s in a tree, he’ll be there tomorrow morning. So we continued on. Then he got a call from the guide he’d just told about the lions and he said that wasn’t a male at all but a female with two cubs. No brainer. Off to the female and cubs!
It took about 45 minutes to cross the conservancy and we hit some rain on the way. The rangers were guarding the bush where the leopard and the cubs were eating. The leopard was well known by the name of Nolari. I had not seen her before but know of her from all my social media reading. When I got my brief turn, I saw them all eating an impala. I’d guess the cubs are maybe 4-5 months and of course quite cute. We moved off to let others have a turn.
Ping thought that if we went and waited around the other side of the big bush she was in, the leopard would drag the kill out when they are done eating and it hang it in the only tree nearby, as that is leopard’s typical practice. So we went around and cut back away from the path from the bush where the leopard was and the tree she’d likely be headed to. A few dipshit guides must have figured out Ping was waiting for a reason, and piled up between us and the bush, cutting off her line of sight to the tree as well as her path to it. Ping’s really well respected here so he texted the guides and asked them to back off and why and they did. After a bit longer, Nolari came out of the bush and just sat and posed a bit while she contemplated her next move. By now it was getting dark and all but one other vehicle had left. She laid down by the bush her cubs and the kill were still in and we stayed until we could no longer see her. Since she’s just up the road we’ll go there first tomorrow.
We zipped home since it’s just down the road from where Nolari is. We had an early dinner which was, as is now customary, wonderful. My starter was a mozzarella arancini (rice ball breaded and fried) and the vegetarian option was a vegetable pie, which was a bunch of different veggies diced up and in a pie crust with a cream sauce and some cheese. Dessert was a flourless chocolate cake which was heavenly.
Back to the room to sort out the tips for tomorrow, shower and pack. I move on to my next camp and say goodbye to Ping after the morning drive.
And hallelujah for it not being a cat-less day!
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