Raising the bar

Monday, November 5

Last night the lions continued to taunt me all night.  I heard them several times but only looked at the time twice, to see how long until I could go find them.  Once at 4 and once at 5:30, just before I woke up.  I slept without the aid of pharmaceuticals last night but didn’t sleep through the obvious feline reasons.  The hippos outside my tent also were quite loud and right under my doorstep all night.  They apparently never left the river to go eat, or if they did they left someone here at all times to keep up the hippo chorus.

I realized when my coffee was delivered that I’d forgotten my anti-malarial last night.  I don’t know if I’ve ever done that before.  Well, that’ll make things exciting....

We were in the vehicle for 6:15 sharp.  The sun was already up but it was still ahead of being that golden light, so off we went.  Ping pretty quickly found two lionesses from the Paradise Pride II.  This is half of the splintered Paradise Pride that lives quite near camp.  One of the two lionesses was perched elegantly on a termite mound in the perfect golden light so we were off to a promising start.  I never tire of just sitting and watching lions, even if this is all they’re doing.  At one point it seemed like she wanted to go hunt a warthog across the river but it ended up being sort of half hearted when the warthog wouldn’t meet her halfway.

We saw a large hippo out of the river with a large wound to his rump.  It looked fresh and Ping said it seems unlikely that the hippo would take to the water today in order to prevent infection and the fish getting into it.

What is left of the famous (via Big Cat Diary) Marsh Pride, which I was eager to see if only in name, has recently been taken over by 6 strong males.  These same 6 have also taken over the Ridge Pride and are heading for the Double Crossing Pride in Olare Motorogi too.  They are a force.  We came upon one of those 6 males honeymooning with a female from the Ridge Pride lying quite near the road snoozing.  We stayed around to watch them mate, which only took about 1/2 hour to happen again.  It must be late in the honeymoon for them to be taking so long to get around to it again.  Early in their mating they’d be doing it every 15 minutes or so.  In three months’ time there’ll be some new Ridge Pride cubs.

Ping then wanted to head to the Kiboso area, where Kiboso (aka Pretty Girl) the leopard’s two two-year old cubs are.  We pulled up to a small cluster of vehicles (maybe 3-4)  and seemed to have just missed some action because a bunch of hyena were running around excitedly or nervously.  We waited a while because Ping really thought this would be a good opportunity to hunt because there were some warthogs with little piglets just ripe for the taking near her.  We circled the dense bushes where we thought she might be and finally I spotted her coming up out of the ravine. Then the madness ensued.  More vehicles materialized and I suspect the word was out on social media or What’s App because even more came, tearing through the Mara and stirring up dust.  In the end she was practically surrounded, with the ravine behind her and a tight circle of cars blocking almost all of her sightline to the plains.  If she wanted warthog she couldn’t see it yet.  Two vehicles from one operator (Africa Keys I’m looking at you) were really cutting her off and being aggressively.  A bunch of drivers tried to get them to back off but they wouldn’t. It was kind of sad.  Ultimately she gave up.  One of my vehicle mates was very upset and wanted to leave, but then as the leopard started walking straight towards us back to the ravine, she decided to take a few more photos before we departed on principle.

This leopard, even though it is already two years old, was so much smaller than any other “adult” leopards I’ve seen.  She went right across the front of our vehicle so she was quite close to me.  Gorgeous creature.  I’m sorry for all the raucous that was caused, although Ping was incredibly respectful.

We stopped to have a bush breakfast overseen by five very inquisitive giraffes.  I had crepes, apple muffins, hard boiled eggs, beans and bananas with coffee.  It was delicious but even better to just get out of the vehicle and stand.

We went back to where the leopard was and Ping got excited to see a mother warthog with 2 tiny piglets running around right in prime leopard territory.  He said that if the leopard saw the piglets she certainly wouldn’t let the opportunity pass.  We waited about 1/2 hour and the piglets went back into their hole.  Either the leopard was totally asleep or had gone elsewhere.

Our next sighting was quick.  I have in my notes that it was a Ridge Pride female with three cubs, two males and a female.  They were doing nothing but trying to keep cool in the shade of a small shrub.

Not far from there we found a larger part of the Ridge Pride, with a pride male with a golden mane who is another of the six males that have taken over Marsh and Ridge Prides.  There was the pride male plus eight others.  One of the younger males, with just the start of a mane, was stuck sitting just outside the shade of the acacia tree.  Ping read the situation and said that the other weren’t going to let him into the shade because the pride male didn’t like him.  The younger male was at that uncomfortable point of almost getting kicked out and the pride still letting him stay.  The pride male had a different opinion.

We sat here for easily 2 hours total in the hot midday sun.  It was worth it because the dynamics were amazing.  There was a palpable tension there, despite the fact that 5 female lions were passed out cold.  That pride male didn’t close his eyes long enough to lose track of the hot, panting young male out in the sun.  Ping told us to stay alert because an altercation was going to happen when we least expected it.  I took the opportunity to practice metering my camera, taking it off auto with continuous shooting (cue foreboding music here) and otherwise killing time taking photos.  At one point I put the camera down and shut it off.  I was bleeding through batteries and memory cards like I had an endless supply.  And just when I least expected it, something triggered the male and he went after the young boy out in the sun.  Some pretty vicious growling and yelping ensued and the young male ended up assuming his position back out in the sun, no one else really bothered with this.  And I missed it all.  By the time I picked the camera up, powered it on and waited to zoom a bit, it was over.  But I did see it all.   The young male pooped in his spot and the pride male peed against the tree, both an interesting display of territory.  And both sat down where they did that.  Strange.

Ping felt like the battle wasn’t over so asked us if we wanted to stay.   We did, especially if there is a chance this could get more vicious.  Unbeknownst to us, he’d texted the camp and had a full hot meal brought to us, along with Flavian who served us and got to stay with us for the rest of the day.  We ate in the vehicle.  For me it was a lentil and carrot salad, potato salad and ziti with onion and fresh red and yellow pepper.  I didn’t think I was hungry but it hit the spot.

A female lion came over to greet the young male who had slowly crept into a small slice of shade.  She nuzzled him and then plopped down next to him.  Well, the pride male didn’t like this.  He eventually launched at the younger male and then the female (perhaps for her disloyalty?).  I caught the whole thing but since I never put my camera back on continuous shoot, I got exactly one shot.  It looks good, but who knows until I get back home on my PC.  Ah well.  I really ought to know better!  But I did see both encounters, which is a mental memory I can’t erase.  We decided to leave when all but the pride male were left under the tree.  He appeared to have earned no friends, but seemed happy enough being the only one to sleep in the shade.

Next we headed over the marsh to see the Marsh Pride.  Yaya, a veteran Marsh Pride lioness has two 6 month old cubs that Ping hoped to see.  He found her pretty quickly along the edge of the marsh, but they were all sound asleep.  We waited to see if they’d wake, but other than stirring slightly and rolling over, they didn’t.

There was another mating pair in the marsh area, but they were sound asleep and hadn’t moved in a while, so we moved on. Ping spotted something else.

We saw a lone lioness heading away from the marsh and toward the plains.  It seemed she had her eye on some zebra further along the marsh.  Two other females ended up joining her. The first lioness seemed serious, crouching low, head down, creeping straight on to the zebra.  The second lioness didn’t seem to get the message and was sort of boldly strolling around, half intent on a hunt.  In the end, the eland and the zebra that was the target figured it out and the hunt was scratched.

We returned to camp around 6:45 tonight, so that was really a marathon day of over 12 hours, but somehow it seemed to fly by.  During the course of the day we were talking about crowds in the Mara Reserve and that I’d heard how crowded the Mara was but we just weren’t seeing that, other than the leopard this morning.  Ping said that it’s much more crowded where the Fast 5 cheetah coalition is and where Amani and her cubs are now.  I sort of quietly said that I’d love to see both and Ping absorbed that and said “Ok”, which made me wonder if I’d planted a seed.

I took a nice hot shower, remembering that I have limited water this time, and got a lot of dirt and dust off me.  I’ve been sitting in the front with Ping where it doesn’t get as much cover from either sun or dirt but it felt great to be clean again.

While I was writing the blog here in the room earlier, I heard a whole lot of commotion and loud splashing just outside the tent in the river.  Ping said at dinner that it was the hippos leaving the river to start grazing early.  While I was showering, the staff brought me a dawa (vodka, muddled lemon and honey) to my room, which really hit the spot after the day we had.  They also brought banana chips which were great!

Dinner tonight was again at a table set up out in the yard off the common area.  Our appetizer tonight was cream of broccoli soup.  The main was crusted baked fish with hollandaise sauce, potatoes and cauliflower.  Dessert was a nice orange marmalade cake.  

Right in the middle of dinner there were three lions roaring right outside of camp.  Ping said it was probably only 200 meters away.  He said that it sounded like contact calls, just to let the other know where they were, nothing confrontational.  Good to know.

After dinner, Ping said the plan for tomorrow will be the same wake-up and departure times.  Our destination will be another part of the Mara to try to find cheetahs.  He is going to research where Amani and the Fast 5 are, and hopefully we can see them.  Oh please, big cat gods, that would just really top this safari!! 

Home Sweet Mara

Sunday, November 4

Last night had me out cold once the Adrenalin of the day wore off and I could finally settle down.  I slept right through to the alarm and had a hard time shaking the sleep off once I did get out of bed.

I took a good shower and had my coffee and cookies as I finished packing.  I joined Andrew and Thomas for breakfast and the three of us shared a ride to Wilson for our flights to the Mara.  Unfortunately that meant I had to say goodbye to Rashid sooner than I expected.  He is an excellent guide and when I return to Nairobi I would not hesitate to stay at Emakoko and be guided by him again.

Breakfast was the same as yesterday except we had strawberry muffins which were excellent.  I wish I’d taken some for the journey.

Leaving Nairobi National Park we saw quite a few birds which I admired but didn’t bother to dig my camera out for.  I did however get it out when we came across a lioness with four young cubs.  The cubs were pretty mobile and alert enough to be wary of the 5 or so vehicles parked along the road where they were resting in tall grass.  They scooted along first and their mother followed.  I don’t think these are the same as we saw before since this lioness was collared.  Not sure if I managed to get any good shots since the grass was so tall and it was a very quick encounter.  That brings my lion count up to 13 here at NNP, though.  Now I definitely know they exist here!

After saying goodbye to Andrew and Thomas since they were going to another part of the Mara, my SafariLink flight left at 10.  When I checked in my luggage was 2 kg overweight but they seemed to overlook that.  My flight was only 3/4 full and we stopped at one other airstrip before landing at Ol Kiombo which is the closest to Enaidura.

At long last I met Ping.  He welcomed me like an old friend and I passed along many hellos from people at Emakoko and friends of mine who have been on safari with him before.  I’ve read so much and heard so many good things about him and his guiding that this was really cool to finally be with him.

I won’t be alone at Enaidura with Ping but the couple I’d be with weren’t arriving yet so we took a slow game drive to camp, passing a very dark Maasai giraffe and a leopard tortoise along the way.  He’s already shared so many cool stories and told us how Bill and he started Enaidura.  I have a really good feeling here and absolutely love the camp.

He’s set the camp up right along the Talek River, which meets the Mara just down the way.  All the tents front the river, and when I mean right along, I mean RIGHT along.  10 steps outside the front of my tent and I’d be dropping down to river.  The water levels are quite low now but are higher during the rainy season.  He says there is still a chance I’ll get to see a crossing since the wildebeest are so confused this year and there are still good numbers around.

The camp and tents seem to have thought of everything.  The bed faces the front of the tent, the tent is more screen and less canvas, meaning really good air and sight lines to what is going on around me.  The bathroom has a light in the shower (hurray?) and the shelves and coat rack are logically right in front of the bathroom, giving a private place to dress or change and leaving the living area for resting or looking out.

There is a resident bush buck who lives out right next to this tent #1. He stood up and made like he was going to leave when Ping showed me to my tent, but he never did.  I spent a bit of time here lying on the bed watching him eat greens outside and went out to take photos of him right next to the tent.  How relaxing is this?

Lunch today was a pea and carrot salad, spaghetti with tomato sauce and lovely sliced peppers and a cake with a jelly filling and icing.  I saw zebras on the opposite bank, heard a hippo belching out down in the river and heard an alarmed impala quite nearby.  I’m back in the Mara!!  I can’t wait for the overnight!

Since we ate so late after waiting for the other couple to arrive, it’s already 3:45 and almost time for our first game drive!  I’m lying here on the bed and could really take (and use!) a nap but I am afraid to be late for the drive.  The dwarf mongooses keep running by the front of my tent.  They chirp  at each other and run like the wind from cover to cover! 

Ping had either lions or leopard on his mind for the afternoon game drive.  I certainly hoped for either or both but I’m just trying to appreciate being back here, making mental snapshots of the gold and green of the landscapes and how vast and open and fresh it feels.

Pretty soon after we left camp we came across a tower of giraffes.  There were 6 or so and two males, an older and a much younger one, were necking, which is swinging their necks violently to hit each other.  This is a challenge for dominance and can get quite violent and even lethal.  Just recently there had been an instance from another part of Kenya in which both male giraffes died from the effort, both from heart attacks of some sort.  What we saw never got to that extreme but these males meant business.  It is really impressive to see the power and flexibility of their necks, and how they can contort themselves to take a shot.  I could hear the “thump” when a particularly hard hit met its target.  There was a lot of shoving and one trying to force the other up against a nearby acacia tree.  It was really interesting.

As we were watching the giraffes Ping saw a herd of wildebeest streaming at top speed down a hill toward the river.  Since we were close by we decided to follow them.  Ping’s hope was that they were headed toward a crossing point and that we’d get to see a crossing.  He said it’s still possible based on the numbers still around.  This herd was easily 200 strong and that in itself was impressive.  They were all going full steam ahead toward the crossing and then two ostriches ran perpendicular to them and diverted them well inland.  Any attempt at heading to the river was thwarted.  Ah well.

Since we were near the river we took a drive around for the Paradise Pride which tends to hang out there or near our camp.  We saw some relaxed impala nearby so knew there were no lions around.  We then started to explore a different part that is known for leopard and came up short there too.  Then on our right up on a plateau we saw a herd of impala and a few of them were looking intently off in the distance.  Then simultaneously all of their heads popped up and looked at the same point.  So of course that’s where we headed.  It seemed fruitless until I looked across the river to the opposite bank and at the very same time as Ping said “lion”!   And there was my first male of the trip.

Unfortunately, this male was sound asleep and facing away from us.  I could see mane, forehead and a bit of nose.  He also had a pretty deep gash where his mane started.  He was in a deep looking sleep and we were rapidly fighting the dying of the light.  We had maybe 20 minutes until sunset and every minute he kept his head down was a little less perfect of a photo I’d get.  To rub salt in the wound, I was watching him through binoculars and he seemed agitated by flies and even yawned once and that’s when I realized who this lion was, Scarface.

Scarface is an old man likely nearing the end of his life.  His best years are definitely behind him, but he’s named for the rather ugly eye he has from a fight when he was younger.  There’s no missing him, there is practically a hole where his right eye should be, but he has a massive black mane.  Even before I confirmed the bad eye, Ping suspected it was him from the mane alone.  To see him was indeed pretty cool, even as fleeting as it was.  To have a photo would’ve been gravy.  I still have 2 1/2 days though...

What I love about Ping so far are his stories and his eye for a good photograph.  He moves the car into the perfect angle so the sun is behind us.  He’ll even frame a shot to get the elements lined up just so.  I’ve never had a guide so in tune to photos like this and I love it!

We came back to the camp and had a quick shower.  These bucket showers are awesome!  I’ve never had them like this that work so well and have such good pressure!  I forgot where I was momentarily and ended up out of water before I was done.  I don’t know whether I said it out loud or thought it, but I said “oh shoot” when it ran out.  Next thing I know, I heard a voice of a staff member who asked if I’d like another bucket!  Oh heaven, this is great!! Yes Please!

I headed out to dinner back in the common area and sat by the fire with my gin and tonic.  Flavian is a nice young girl who works here (Ping has a few women working here, which is quite different from most other camps). She comes from Narok which is about an hour away from the Mara.   Until she worked here, she never saw any of these animals. She said if they saw anything like this where she grew up, they’d kill them for food.  So she’s thrilled to be seeing them all now, but that when she started she was so afraid.  It was very enjoyable talking to her.  

Dinner tonight was butternut squash soup, vegetable stew (zucchini, carrots, tomato, spinach) over rice and a piece of cake with chocolate sauce.  Another great day of food!

Up at 5:40 for wake up call, off we got at 6:15!!

Sitting here in my tent now at 9:30, I just heard a lion roar!  Already!  Heaven!

A new best day ever

Saturday, November 3

Forgotten from last night (or lost in the haze of two Dawa’s and a glass of wine?!)...in addition to the ubiquitous rock hyrax here, new to the Emakoko experience are a family of genet cats and a bunch of bush babies who join the dining room crowd at dinner.  The genets seem familiar with Anthony, a relationship which is bolstered by the generous bowl of Friskies he leaves down for them.  Genets are a cross between a cat and a ferret, with an elaborate spotted coats.  And I’ve only ever seen bush babies on night game drives, and usually just the shiny brightness of their eyes from within a bush.  I had no idea until last night that they are quite similar to North American gray squirrels, with long bushy tails.

I managed to sleep the sleep of the exhausted and jetlagged last night.  I took an Ambien at 10:30 and it delivered a precise 7 hours of sleep for me.  I woke at 5:30 ready to go for the day and was dressed and ready to roll when my 6 a.m. coffee and cookies were delivered as my wake up call.

That I feel mentally and emotionally far more stable today really ought to be a wake up call to me.  I feel more like a normal Amy and really need to bottle up this feeling to remember it when I’m back in reality.

Today we headed straight out on a game-drive, choosing to save breakfast for mid-morning.  Rashid said that since it is Saturday, that the park would be crowded, but since we are already in the park and a fair distance from the gate, we would head to the most remote part of the park that day-trippers would take hours to get to and start there.  Later today we’d got to the other side that the day-trippers would have covered earlier, all to avoid the crowds, which is a great strategy.

Of course lions were on the agenda here, since I never managed to see them on my prior trip here.  Late last night I received an email from one of my Safaritalk friends Tom, who shares a love of both the Emakoko where I’m staying now as well as Nairobi National Park.  He said that it is his birthday today and that I was to go out and “find something spectacular for me”.  Early in the morning, we came across a newly born zebra, just minutes old, still wet and finding it’s legs beneath it.  Its mom was nuzzling it and licking it clean.  It chose today, Tom’s birthday, to enter the world.  To me that was just poetry.  I sent a photo to Tom to appreciate.  It’s funny how Mother Nature seems to offer up just what you need.

Nearby the lodge is a hyena den which we saw late in our drive last night after the sun had gone down.  I didn’t manage to get well-lit shots then but saw the puppies and mom again today and they really are darn cute.  And very curious!  They kept running over to the vehicle and then running back to their mother if one of us moved.  Rashid explained that the den was likely shared by two females who had puppies a few weeks apart.  The pups were different sizes, the smallest probably being about a week old.

We spotted about 4 black rhino along the way and then came upon a solitary male who appeared to be grazing near the road around the bend from where we were.  Rashid slowed the car to a crawl and got as close as he thought he could with a running engine and turned off the ignition.  We sat and waited a bit and the rhino got closer as it grazed and finally stopped and looked right at us.  At this point it was maybe 40-50 yards off, fairly close for a sighting in my experience.  I popped out the roof hatch and started to take photos when suddenly it was getting closer without my manipulating the lens.  I looked up from the viewfinder, puzzled, how was it getting closer without my zooming in?  My mind calculated this quickly, it was charging!  It would rush forward 10 steps or so, stop and snort at us.  Then do it again!  It ended up 20-30 yards off and stopped, staring us down, before it turned and ran in the other direction.  It was a spectacular encounter.  So between the newborn zebra and the rhino, I was rewarded by this early morning game drive.  As I say, I’m never disappointed when I get up early.

As I was out the hatch in the roof though, I heard a lion roar and told Rashid and pointed in the general direction.  So I know now at the very least that they exist here.  We tried for a while to conjure them up but then just gave in to the natural rhythm of the drive.  We found a small lake that had zebras drinking and a pair of hippo floating lazily.  On the other side of it Rashid spotted a crocodile hatchling on the water’s edge, barely a foot long.  I’m used to the massive crocs I see in the Mara, so this was notably smaller.  I also spotted a rock agama lizard sun bathing in the road, and a second visited me here on my deck at the Emakoko after breakfast, this one missing half his tail!

This visit has already confirmed for me that, even without the cats, Nairobi National Park is a underrated gem.  In just two game drives I’ve seen: black rhino (7+), zebra, wildebeest, impala, grant’s gazelle, Thomson’s gazelle, Coke’s hartebeest, waterbuck, giraffe, duiker (spelling? A small gazelle), eland, hyena, hippo, jackal, ostrich, genet, bush baby and rock hyrax.  I’ve also seen a slew of birds, the exact names of which I cannot remember, but include doves, bee eaters (at least 2 species), roller, plovers, sandpipers, starlings, larks, kites, vultures and eagles.  I still cannot believe this is right in Nairobi and so accessible to so many people.  That the government doesn’t do more to protect and promote it is a sad situation.

Returned back to the lodge around 9:45 for a quick breakfast of scrambled eggs, apricot scones (delicious!) and granola with a splash of yogurt.  I devoured a pot of coffee by myself (caffeine withdrawal headache be damned) and then took a shower.  Sitting out on my deck enjoying the air before lunch and when we then head out to Sheldricks for my private visit.

The weather here has been good so far.  They got a drenching of rain before I arrived yesterday but it cleared to be pretty nice in the afternoon.  It’s probably mid to high 70s if I had to guess, certainly a lot more comfortable than the last two times I was in Nairobi in February.  This is short rainy season though, so short rains can be expected at any time.  I’m comfortable in short-sleeved shirt and pants, but am sitting out in shorts and a t-shirt now.  I could take this weather year round!

The rest of this is written 9 hours later...fasten your seat belts.

Today will go down in history as my best day on safari ever.  No, seriously.  I’ve said it before and never think it can get better.  But then it does.

I met up with Rashid just before 2 and he’d just gotten back from getting the truck serviced.  He said he ran into the Kingfisher pride, a lioness and her four sub-adult daughters at the top of the hill.  Off we went.  Except the hill is pretty bumpy and slow.  We were maybe 15 minutes getting there.  And no lions.  So we made a best guess, remembering that I have a 3:00 appointment at Sheldricks.  We went about 15 minutes and he said he saw an impala with a young baby in the same spot coming back earlier, so if the lions headed this way, the mother would have taken the baby off or been eaten, so they didn’t come this way.  We doubled-back and went another direction.  Rashid stopped and looked through the binos and somehow spotted them about 1/4 mile off.  “They’re hunting”, he said. OH NO.  I’ve done this before.  I’ve waited hours and hours (quite literally) and if a hunt happens, it failed.  I can think of at least twice I’ve invested time in failed hunts.  And I had somewhere to be anyway, I couldn’t invest that time again.

We pulled up to an area with knee-high grass.  Rashid could see where four lions were crouching, I could only see them as the poked heads up slightly and I could see the black backs of their ears.  All of them were focused on two male impalas standing in front of a small bush.  The lions spread out in a circle around their target.  They kept creeping closer so slowly, tightening the circle bit by bit.  I was watching through my camera and saw the middle female lion get so darn close to the impala I could hardly believe it didn’t see her.  Then the impalas both turned to exit the scene to the right.  Big mistake.  I’d have thought that middle lion would’ve gone right at it, but one from the side dove in.  After the fact, Rashid said that it was as if the lions didn’t have the same plan.  One went for one impala, another went for the other.  I thought that I was watching with my naked eye but I also felt my finger go down on the shutter. They got the impala!  Impala and lion flying through the air well above the grass from right to left.  The five lions somehow got the impala over to the far right, conveniently not more than 15 feet off a road (we must stay on-road in NNP, so this was convenient).  We pulled up just as they were tucking into the impala.  I watched a bit of the lunch, then realized we only had 40 minutes to get to Sheldricks and Rashid said that’s exactly how much time we needed.  So we left.  But not before noticing that the impala all of a sudden tried to move! It wasn’t dead yet, even after having most of its insides taken out.  Yikes.  As I’ve seen plenty of lion meals, I was ok with leaving.  But think about it, we caught up with these lions at about 2:15 and we were leaving at 2:20.  That’s how fast it was!  What was even better, we were the only vehicle there.  It doesn’t get better than that.  Fingers crossed on the photos.  I’ve never taken action shots of any sort, and I don’t even remember looking through the viewfinder, so I don’t know how good they’ll actually be.

Sheldricks was wonderful as usual.  They have 22 babies there now and while I missed some of my regulars who have graduated to the reintegration sites all over Kenya, I still had a good time with the four I have left, Enkesha, Luggard, Jotto and Tamiyoi.  Enkesha was one of the first in and one of the first to eat and then dive head first into the mud bath and also the very last to leave.  She loves her mud baths! She didn’t leave it the entire time I was there!  I ended up playing with Tamiyoi before I realized it was her, she is a playful one who really likes attention.  Luggard seems to be walking better but he stays off on his own because he doesn’t like getting pushed around by the others.  I got my photo with Jotto but quickly lost him in the crowd.  I didn’t take as many photos this time as it was more fun to just watch them interact.  So many personalities, like kids on a playground.  One of the larger elephants tried to push a baby out of the mudbath and the baby started to trumpet and Edwin went over and called the bigger one by name and it stopped right away!  Another time all it took was for Edwin to lift his finger and wag it at them and they stopped.  So funny.

There is a newly rescued elephant Dololo who just came out with the herd for the first time today.  She was found in a shallow mudbath with only her trunk sticking up out of the water.  She looks so sunken, hollow cheeks and very thin but they think she will be ok since she’s done well so far.  The keepers were trying to get her to go in or near the mudbath so that they could cover her with protective mud to shield her from the sun and insects.

As the hour was up the babies started to get anxious to get back out to the park and they all lined up as if to tell the keepers, “come on now, let’s go”!  Somehow, in the rush for the park, Kuishi, a not small baby elephant, stepped on my foot!  Good lord was she heavy.  Edwin was right next to me, and he said one word and she moved.  I’m fine but it just goes to show you how not “baby” these babies actually are!

We got to meet Maxwell again.  Rashid said he heard that another released black rhino got pregnant and had a calf and brought the calf back to meet Maxwell and visit her keeper, which is really interesting given how anti-social black rhinos are.

Kiko the giraffe has been moved since he’s outgrown the barn he was in.  He’s such a big boy now.  I asked Edwin why he’s so shy about going out with the giraffes he sees in the park, and he said it’s because Kiko is a Rothschild giraffe and those in the park are Masai. Never the two shall meet, I guess.  His species are more up in northern Kenya so if they are going to release him I suppose it will have to be up there.

We left Sheldricks not thinking it could get any better.  I mean, really, right?  Rashid had a mission for either leopard or white rhino, neither of which we’d seen yet.  We drove through leopard territory with no luck.  He then saw through the binos about 5 white rhinos well over a mile off.  They were just speck under the horizon.  But he knew we had time as they were grazing and don’t generally move fast like cats can.  We started to head in that general direction and saw two vehicles stopped at the side of the road.  I saw one very large camera lens sticking out of the window closest to the side of the road.  They were watching something.

That something was two lionesses and four cubs lying in the tall grass.  I’d have missed it entirely if I didn’t know where to look.  And even from my vantage point sitting on the roof of the truck, I could only see the long indentations where they were lying.  Suddenly one lioness’ head popped up and she gave a long yawn. Twice.  That’s lion speak for “getting up now” and she did.  Followed by her sister.  They only moved maybe 20 feet, but I managed to get some shots of them both.  The cubs were impossible to see clearly let alone get decent photos of, but I did see them scurry to the one they were nursing from.  Six more lions.  So they DO exist in NNP!  My drought has ended!

But we weren’t through yet.  Off we went to the rhinos.  We first found four.  I managed to get a great shot of the rhinos in front of the Nairobi skyline and just some generally nice shots.  Then it seems that the four decided they were going to cross the road.  As we were the only car on the road, I got incredible photos.  You’d think four would be enough right?  No, we saw 12 more here, there and everywhere!  We saw another crossing with a 2 year old calf too!  It was raining rhinos.

Our last sighting of the night was a bit sad.  There were two adult females, an adult male and a one-year old calf.  The male wanted to mate with what appeared to be the mother of the calf.  In order to do so, he felt he needed to make the calf disappear.  Just as we started to drive off, the male charged the calf and kept poking it with its horn.  The calf was distressed and the mother didn’t seem to do much but offer cover when the calf ran behind it.  She certainly wasn’t intervening.  Rashid says that the other female is probably in estrus and the male wants to mate with both females and sees the calf as preventing that.  It was quite dark by the time this happened and to be honest I didn’t want to be there if the inevitable happened.  Rashid said that it had happened once before that he knows of, so it’s not unheard of. And sad.  I’ll drive off pretending they all live happily ever after.  It’s easier that way.

We got back to the lodge and I came to the room to freshen up and look at my photos.  I was sitting quietly and through the room (all doors closed) ran a rock hyrax.  I wasn’t scared or nervous, just worried he wanted to get out and my room was closed up for the night.  I mentioned it to the guard as I went up to dinner and he said he’d take care of it.  Remember that....

Dinner tonight was excellent.  There’s quite a crowd here with a large family so it was a bit raucous.  I recognized one guy of a pair traveling together.  I went to sit on my own to eat (it’s not communal dining here) and they invited me over.  How nice!  It dawned on us both that we knew each other and it turned out he was camp manager at Encounter Mara, where I stayed for safari #3!  Andrew is a really nice guy and I appreciated the conversation and companionship over dinner.  Small world!

Dinner was as delicious as I’ve come to expect.  I had another dawa to get started.  Appetizer was grilled mushroom over polenta toast.  Main was ricotta and tomato tart with scalloped potatoes (the non-veg main was beef, so I got their potatoes too).  Dessert was a wonderful passion fruit meringue.  We washed this all down with a Malbec which was tasty.

I returned to my room to pack to move on to the Mara tomorrow.  I’d gotten that all done and climbed into bed only to look up through the mosquito net to see the rock hyrax (remember him?) jumping up at the door knob to my deck. He wanted out.  I got up, he ran and hid, I opened the door, climbed back behind the mosquito net and waited.  It took him a few minutes but out he went.  I closed the door behind him or else I think I would have had an all-night rave of rock hyraxes in here.

And that was the day.  In total, 11 lions, 1 more black rhino (bringing my total to 8), 16 white rhino, 22 baby elephants.  I honestly can’t imagine how this can be topped.  To say I am insanely happy is an understatement!

Safari Day 1

Friday, November 2

Since I’ve never returned to some place over here that I’ve liked, it’s a really heartwarming feeling to be welcomed back like an old friend.  Anthony welcomed me warmly back to the Emakoko and many of the staff not only look familiar to me but they remember me as well. That’s really nice.

We had a nice game drive through Nairobi National Park on our way from the airport.  Saw mostly birds, a couple giraffe, some eland and paw prints of lions, but no cats.  My guide says that there is a pair of leopards mating nearby.  That would be a bonus, but I think I’d be happy with rhino and lions, especially since I’ve never seen lions here before.

One thing I remember clearly about Emakoko is that I was extremely well fed.  And it continues now.  Lunch was a cucumber shot (tiny diced cucumber bits) with a warm ricotta sauce on top.  There was homemade focaccia, a barley salad with tomato and mozzarella, roasted veggie skewers with a sweet and sour sauce and a frisée salad with beets.  I chose rose wine and water.  Dessert, as if I had room for it (but I did!) was a wonderful passion fruit tartlet.  Oh boy.  It’s coming back very quickly why I want to retire here!

My guide Rashid and I headed out at 3:30 for a game drive.  Of course we have lion or leopard on the mind but I was quite satisfied with 7 black rhino sightings, and two very close to the car and one was a mother-calf pair.  There is one thing this park is good for and that is rhino sightings.  Incredible.  Also saw lots of interesting birds, although I can’t say I’m a birder just yet.  It’s just nice to be here and warm and sunny after the cold and dreary of home lately.

An absolutely wonderful dinner tonight.  I joined a lovely couple from Toronto who are on a three week journey through Kenya and Tanzania.   I’m jealous of their time off but I suppose that is what comes with retirement.  Dinner tonight started with a potato soup with smoked salmon amuse bouche.  Then the main was fish topped with a light cream sauce and thinly sliced zucchini with mashed potato and carrots.  Dessert was a white chocolate cheesecake.  I had a dawa (or two) for a pre-dinner drink and a glass of sauvignon blanc with my fish.  An absolutely stellar ending to my first day here.  In bed at 10 for a 6:00 a.m. start time tomorrow.

The Not So Longest Day

Thursday, November 1 — Part 2

It is already obvious that I will never be able to fly economy class again (happily anyway).  Finances may require that I do so but already the memory of this experience may have ruined me forever.

I left the Delta lounge and grabbed two bottle of water and some gum.  I have the nonsense fear that I will become dehydrated.  As if they don’t have water here in J-class.

Mine was the first group to board this plane, of course, and I was the second person in.  The seating configuration is 2-2-2 and in this case window seats may not be the best seat since they’re the ones without unfettered access to the aisle and the loo if the person on the aisle has their bed extended.

Yes, I said it.  There be beds.  Sitting in upright chair position with legs extended, I can’t reach the cabinet with my tv and carry on storage in front of me.  Cannot. Reach. It.  I haven’t yet fully extended my legs, but I am using the foot rest and am sitting cross-legged.  Who can do that on a flight?

After taking a bunch of photos of my spacious seating area, I sat down and was served a glass of lemonade.  Then my seat mate started chatting me up.

My window-seat neighbor is some sort of political celebrity in Nairobi.  Ferdinand is currently a governor of a province next to Nairobi and has been a member of Parliament twice.  He knows everyone in Business Class it seems, where Kenyans outnumber non-Kenyans 26-4.  I appear to be his sociological experiment of the flight, because he cannot comprehend why a woman of my age and quality (his words, not mine) does not want a husband and children.  And a vegetarian to boot?  Tsk tsk tsk (again, his words, not mine).  He maintains I just haven’t been loved well enough.  He cannot believe that I truly love my life of work, travel, gym and otherwise enjoying myself...without children.  He is of a family where father had two wives and each wife had 7 children.  It’s just different worlds.  It’s the eye-opening part of why I travel, in this case I open his eyes.

There is also a gentleman on here whom everyone on the flight crew is taking photos of and with.  It seems he’s deserving of a fair amount of respect.  I know not who he is but can only wonder.  It does not seem that my window-mate is interested in the least though.

In the midst of chatting away to my seat mate, the flight took off at about 1:20.  We’re already 90 minutes in and now that seat mate is dozing, I finished a book and am contemplating the leather-bound menu I was handed.  I’d pre-ordered a vegetarian meal, but would eat the fish that is one of three mains offered.  The flight attendant said that may not be possible unless there is fish left, since I pre-ordered the meal.  Drat.  Fingers crossed no one wants the Maine snapper.

90 minutes in and I’m feeling sleepy and am a bit unsure of what I want to do next.  I have movies, tv shows and 13 books to choose from.  Maybe after lunch I’ll have a better idea.

Coming up on 4 hours into this and I have to say it’s flown by so far.  Seat mate has been asleep since before lunch.  Lunch ended up being quite good even though I ended up with the vegetarian meal I ordered.  To start there was sauvignon blanc with an eggplant canapé.  My main was some sort of spicy black and kidney beans over white rice with a spicy cauliflower side.  It was a huge portion, I couldn’t finish it.  The wine is bottomless.  They keep pouring until you stop them.  For dessert there was a mango tart and I had a Bailey’s.  It’s now 5 p.m. EST and midnight Kenya time and I’m contemplating sleep.  I watched Big Cat Tales on my phone and think I could drift off.  I explored the movies and tv on the inflight entertainment and wasn’t impressed.  There’s a lot there but nothing interesting.   Ok, maybe a nap.

11 hours in.  Well I popped an Ambien and started a British crime drama on my iPhone and next thing I know we are just under two hours out from Nairobi.  I won’t say it was solid, restful sleep but enough to pass the time and make me feel as if I got some sleep.  I also don’t feel all pretzel twisted as I might if I attempted this type of sleep in Economy.  The breakfast cart is coming.  I must make my first decisions of the new day.

I decided on the banana crepe with chocolate sauce, cereal, yogurt and a blueberry muffin.  All were mini-sized so that’s not as formidable a breakfast as it sounds.

We landed at 9:30 and had to wait for a gate to open, we were so unexpected.  I was second off the plane and first through the “other passports” line (as opposed to the visa line, since I already had one) and was out waiting for my ride by 9:45.  We were game driving in Nairobi National Park by 10:30!  Heaven!

Oh and my seat mate stayed to meet the pilot, but passed me as I was waiting for my ride, totally surrounded by armed body guards!  An unknown brush with greatness.

Departure Day #2

Thursday, November 1

Firmly settled in to the Delta Lounge at JFK’s Terminal 4.  Already the upgrade has been worth it.  Expedited security (although I screwed up and left my iPad in my bag...which I’m allowed to with TSA Precheck, but all bets are off on international flights, so I had to be rescreened) and now lounge access.  I wish I’d waited to have breakfast, the oatmeal looks good!

Flew from Boston to JFK last night.  I’m too risk averse to attempt to make it here by 10:00 am on a weekday during hurricane season.  I gate checked my larger carryon because it wouldn’t fit in the overheads on the Embraer.  It showed up no problem at the baggage claim although the “gate-check your bag so it comes off the plane first” theory is a myth.  Still only had to wait 7 minutes for it.  I was checked into the Courtyard and in bed for Chicago Fire at 9.

A very restful night (amazing what no day to day stress does for you!) and up at 8 for shower, breakfast and then shuttle straight to Terminal 4 (no AirTrain today, which I had to do last night).  I am glad I came the night before if only to get a good night’s rest and to not deal with the stress of getting to Logan this morning and being here early.

This is only the 4th day of this flight operating and they’re still working out the kinks.  Only 6 people were checking in at 9:40 and each one needed a manager to answer a question.  They’ll figure this out, it’ll just take time.

I got my seat assignment, 3G in Business class.  And the predicted flight time is now 12 hours 40 minutes, which is 2 hours shorter than planned.  I’ve been watching this flight all week and it has arrived early but the return flight has been late.  I’ll deal with the late return next week.  I have a 3 hour cushion which should be fine.

Charging my iPhone batteries now and making sure I have all the shows downloaded that I’ll need.  My plan to take Ambien and sleep for 7 hours has been thwarted somewhat by the shorter flight.  Need to formulate a plan now.

Departure Day

Well, the first of two departure days.  Today I fly to NYC and stay there overnight.  That's all to lessen the risk of a too-tight connection tomorrow morning.  I can sleep in and have a leisurely breakfast.  Tomorrow I leave for Nairobi, approximately 14 1/2 hours direct (although yesterday's flight was a mere 12 hours! Go figure!)

Best news of all, however, I got my upgrade!!  I did pay a bit more than I wanted to, but as my stress level increased over the course of the last week and my anxiety about 15 hours in coach went through the roof, I just caved in and bumped the bid up a little.  I got the notification yesterday that I got the upgrade.  I get my seat assignment when I check in tomorrow at JFK. Phew! This is my first trip in Business class, so I'm looking forward to making the most of it.  I'll find out if I get the return flight the day before my flight home.

I don't know what it is, but everything becomes about 100 times more stressful the week I'm leaving.  Work has been tough, I've been worried about parents and cats (one of whom has taken to scaling the valances in the kitchen just this week; those have been removed).  And then I come home, repack and head out to Mexico City a week later.  I must be mad!

I said to a colleague yesterday that on Friday when I'm at the Emakoko, all this stress will seem so far away.  I just hate that I let it get to me.

So many sightings on my wishlist for this trip:  the Fast Five cheetah coalition, Marsh Pride, Lucky the Lion, leopards, serval cat.  And I'm looking forward to seeing my friends at Offbeat Mara again and meeting Ping the guide at Enaidura.  But really, I just want to enjoy it.  I wonder what magic I'll be writing about in the coming days on this here blog...