Funny how things play out….

17 Jan 2024

While I slept really well and feel much more myself, and more intestinally stable, I still managed to hear lions coming from at least 4 different directions overnight, so they are most definitely out there.  The challenge we would have this morning is that the fog that settles so low to the ground is an immense impediment to finding these very-close-by lion on our pre-dawn game drive. Until the sun is up and starts to burn the air off, you are stuck with guessing where the noise was when you last heard it, and hoping that the lions are still there by the time you get there.

We left at 6 am again and were pretty blind for the first 90 minutes of the day.  Interestingly, I could see blue sky overhead and even see Mt. Kenya quite clearly in the distance, it was just the immediate ground level that was socked in with this dense mist.  The days I’ve been here in Ol Pejeta, once the morning warms up it gets hot in the sun, and it feels good.  It’s just this darn fog messing up our game drives.

We decided at one point to sit and just listen, hoping that they’d roar again and give us a clue.  A lion version of Marco Polo, maybe?  We could see the mist starting to burn off and more animals became visible to us.  But no sound from the lions at all at this point.  We followed some jackals and hyenas, thinking maybe there’d been a kill they would move in on or just come from, and we also headed in the direction that some startled looking plains game were facing, to no avail.  So we kept driving and driving.  We’d stop for things like giraffe (the first 5 I’ve seen here, reticulated) or eland.  Finally we started to head for a clearing for breakfast.  Peter got a call from another guide, Albert, that he’d found lions, and he told Peter where they were.  Peter said we’d eat and go back that way.  That was the plan, anyway.  You know how all the best made plans go though, and this IS safari after all.  Land of the unexpected.

We ate and had a nice chat about weather in Boston and how we handle snow (he could not fully understand until I explained it a few times!). Breakfast was the same as yesterday except the cinnamon buns were swapped out for little star shaped fried donuts.  All good.

So we loaded the Land Rover back up with our picnic breakfast wares and off we went in the direction we’d just come from.  Up and over small inclines and declines.  I was merrily humming to myself about getting to the lions when Peter screeched to a stop with a “WHOA” and out our right-hand window, practically in the road, but absolutely in a clearing so that we would not miss him was a cheetah.

Now, for the uninitiated about safari and in particular this part of Kenya, two cats are very very hard to spot here: leopard and cheetah.  The numbers aren’t as high as in the Mara, they’re much more shy around vehicles and the landscape is low shrubby, scrub bush, so not really ideal for spotting them.  But here he was, a gorgeous cheetah, and here we were, all alone.  And don’t forget, we saw the leopard on my first night here!

Peter turned to me with a big smile and said “good things happen to good people.”  I told him “you and I are turning out to be a lucky pair!”  He radioed one of the other camp guides and he wasn’t picking up, so Peter called him instead and left a message on his voicemail.  We would sit here until the guide and his guests got here and then decide what we were going to do.  As much as this sounds like a waste of time, waiting out a cheetah is my speciality it seems.  I once spent an entire day waiting for two cheetahs to hunt.  I was more than ready for this.  I’d been training for this!

Suddenly, the cheetah got up and moved out of the beating down sunshine and headed under a small bush.  We positioned ourselves near him, close enough that I could stare in wonder at him, but with enough distance that he could see all around him. He was scanning the horizon and otherwise acting all cheetah-like.  More time passed.  Meanwhile, one vehicle unknown to Peter pulled up, snapped a couple of photos and left.  Clearly, they didn’t realize how momentous this was.

Even more time passed (I’m guessing now around a half hour). The other guide hadn’t returned the call.  Suddenly our cheetah got up and started to move through the grass.  Now, I haven’t mentioned it but the grass here is not nearly as tall or as thick as it was in Lewa.  We can actually see into it more easily.  So that was good.  The cheetah was intent on moving in a certain direction and Peter said there was a ravine that is usually a good place for a cheetah to hunt impala or other gazelles.  And the cheetah looked like that was what he was going to do.  So we trailed him through the grass (thankfully we were in an area that allowed off-roading, otherwise this would have ended nearly an hour earlier!)

Peter finally got the guide on the phone and gave him directions, but telling him to head down the road and turn in the direction of a phone antenna on the horizon.  Here you can’t really say “take a left at the fourth bush”.  Finally the cheetah laid down under another bush.  We positioned ourselves so that he had a view of the ravine which was indeed full of impala, gazelles and the like.  And then the guide arrived.  And oddly, after taking maybe 5 minutes worth of photos, they left.  All that work for that?

It was time to have an honest conversation with Peter.  I wanted him to know where I stood.  I said “I turn over complete control to you.  You can read this cat.  I am worried about rain in the Mara and afraid I won’t even see cheetah there.  So I’m prepared to wait this out, whatever it takes.  Good thing I used the bush toilet at breakfast!”  Before I could even finish my speech, he said quite seriously “we will wait.”  And I kicked back, took my poncho from this morning and rolled it into a pillow for my back, put my feet up on the seat next to me and leaned against the door with my camera at the ready, staring at this cat.  I knew this could be over in minutes or hours.  I was ready.  Peter was ready.  Now all we needed was for the cat to be ready.  And then the call came….

Peter speaks Swahili to the other guides on the radio.  Some words I know, like words for most of the animals, and then there are some words that must not translate to Swahili so they just say them in English.  But in the rapid, emotional sounding flow of Peter’s Swahili, I heard “cheetah” and “duma” (Swahili for cheetah) and also “fuel injection” and “pump”.  Whatever it was, it wasn’t good, but somehow I felt like he was making a  case for us to stay put.  He turned to me and said “another vehicle has broken down on the way to the airstrip and they are requesting that we rescue them.”  

Gulp.

I then pretended to interpret his next transmission over the radio to be something along the lines of “try again please, we have a hot cheetah on our hands.”  But no luck.  As lead guide, he had to go.  And if anything gave me any consolation at all, it was two things:  he felt worse than I did about it, and I know that safari has a funny way of paying you back.  All things happen for a reason and whether we see the karma return to us today or another day, that we left to help will bring good karma to us. Somehow, someday.

So off we went zipping back on the roads.  I ended up transferring to other guests’ vehicle and their guide while Peter went to save the day.  Unfortunately my new temporary guide was the one who came and left the sighting quickly, so no chance we were going back to it.  Instead they were going to the chimpanzee sanctuary, which I’d already visited in 2014.  I went anyway, and was somewhat half-hearted about it until I remembered it was a Jane Goodall project.  It wasn’t a great experience because we arrived just as all the chimps were being fed lunch, so the rangers had to beg two chimps to join us at the fence.  (If anyone reading this is planning to visit, it really is good, I remember it being so, just avoid going close to lunch!)

We then headed back to camp where I had a Stoney Tangawizi to soothe my soul and chatted with Anita a bit.  Turns out the vehicle wasn’t broken after all, and Peter was able to turn it over on the first try, which is good since it means I’ll get him and my private vehicle back for my last drive tonight.  (Have I mentioned that I’ve had a private vehicle for all but the very brief encounter with the Floridians?  Yes, I could get used to this!)

Lunch was good today.  We had a cold lentil soup, veggie kabobs, tomato and celery salad, tabouleh and a seeded pumpkin bread.  Dessert was a lemon cheesecake.  I had a “Baraka Shandy” (named after the blind rhino we saw the other day) of ginger ale and lemonade.

Anita says my flight to the Mara is at 8:30 am tomorrow.  We’ll go out on an early drive and head straight to the airport, I guess!  I’m really, really hoping the rain they’ve had lets up.  I spent lunch starting to pack and sort out my clothes.  Back out at 3:45!  Hopefully we find our cheetah again!  <Break for afternoon drive>

The afternoon drive felt very much like this morning’s drive except that it  wasn’t the weather not cooperating.  I met Peter at the Land Rover and he apologized again for leaving the cheetah, as if he could do anything about that!  I said, “let’s put it behind us and know that someday we’ll get rewarded for leaving, who knows when, but we will.”  He seemed good with that.

He decided we’d go try to find the lions that my temporary guide had found earlier today while we were with the cheetah.  Remember he’s the one that was so hard to raise on the radio.  Well, we thought we knew where he meant for us to look for the lions, assuming they’d slept all afternoon and were where he left them to come to us at the cheetah.  Given that my cats go down for a nap after breakfast and don’t surface again until dinner, it is entirely possible!  We explored as much of the area that where we thought we should be, going around and around bushes, through thick grass, mowing over small shrubs, all in the name of finding a pile of sleeping lions.  Peter radioed the guide and he wasn’t answering.  Once, twice, three time, a dozen more, no answer.   Finally we gave up, both on looking for lions  and trying to raise this guy to get more details.  We were easily 90 minutes into looking with no luck.

We went off to another part of the conservancy looking for different lions, or anything really.  We saw a few more herds of elephants and a trio of big bulls posing beautifully in front of Mt Kenya.  But no lions.  We drove up to a flat plain with a view and had our sundowners.  It was an overcast night, no sunset per se, but the conversation was good and we had a nice chat.  Suddenly we heard on the radio someone trying to reach Peter….lions!

Never have two people packed up the snacks, empties and little picnic table and boarded the Land Rover so fast.  I told him I was holding on but to do what it took to get there.  And he did.  It was maybe 10 minutes to the lions, but we’d lost so much light.  Headlights were needed and almost everything was a shadow if you could see it at all, and we didn’t have night drive lights to help us.  But when we pulled up, our headlights revealed three big males and three lionesses and they were cats on a mission, it looked like they were going to hunt.  In the dark.

Peter moved us a head of the lions as they walked across the plain, and set us up perpendicular to where they’d be walking, illuminating the space in front of us with headlights.  One lioness stopped to scan the plains and I felt bad for her.  I didn’t want to reveal her to the plains game that was ahead of her, so I asked Peter to turn out the headlights.  And that’s how we ended up sitting in the dark and how one of the coolest/scariest moments on safari happened.

While my eyes were adjusting, my hearing got more intense.  I was trying to pay strict attention to sounds since I couldn’t see anything.  It was killing me not to know what was going on ahead of us.  Suddenly I heard the grass to my left start to rustle, and it got louder and louder until I realized it was a lion walking…..right.toward.us.  And just as I realized that, I could make out the first big male, dark mane and lighter body, no more detail that that, passing maybe 15 feet in front of us.  And then the next one came past, and the third one.  Holy cow.  

Peter heard the zebras scatter, so now there was nothing for the cats to hunt, they’d been spotted.  Presumably they’d sacked out up ahead of us, but not before the three boys let out a chorus of roaring vibratos, strong enough for me to feel it in my bones.  I couldn’t help but flip on my phone’s video recorder, and just record this moment in the dark.  It was intense.  My adrenaline was pumping.  WHY does Kenya do this to me??

We left the lions and plan to return early tomorrow morning to see if they’re still there. Fingers crossed.

Returned to camp and drinks around the fire pit with the rest of the guests.    There are 6 new guests here since lunch and they were declaring victory for finding the cheetah who’d just hunted.   Ugh, that stings…

Dinner tonight was a spinach mousse over a cheddar cheese sauce, vegetable Wellington, which was delicious, and a fresh fruit pavlova.  Really very tasty!

I can’t believe I’m already two camps into this trip.  It has flown by, but when I look back on all I’ve done and seen, it seems so much longer.  And the best part is, I feel so much more like myself than I have in several months.  It’s good to feel like me again.

Well, I did say I wanted to see rhinos!

16 Jan 2024

I lost wifi the last two days in Ol Pejeta, so I’m back posting these.

Last night I felt rough.  I feel like I ought to go back and fill in the edges around yesterday’s blog because I charged through it only to get to sleep.  The intestinal distress had kicked up and it was freezing flipping cold here.  There were three blankets and a comforter on the bed as well as a large hot water bottle when I got back, and that was still not enough to get warm.  I hugged the hot water bottle all night.  No, this is not typical for this time of year.  This is climate change, my friends.

I took a Zithromax to try to head off my issues and shut out the light early.  I slept well, but I’m also back in lion country and remember waking 4 times to hear them near camp roaring their heads off.  I liked that, no worries.

Coffee was delivered in a to-go thermal mug at 5:30 (what took them so long, I’ve wanted this on every safari for the last 10 years!) and I was picked up and walked to the Land Rover at 6 (back where I can’t walk around unaccompanied in the dark; lions you know).  It was cool enough for my fleece and the flannel lined poncho in the Land Rover, as well as the hot water bottle on the seat.  But it’s still a far cry from the 20 degree weather at home!

We headed out in the direction of the last lion calls.  We finally came upon one big male who had just flopped indiscriminately in the middle of a clearing next to a mud bath.  It’s as if he had been walking along teh savannah and said “ah, to hell with it, I’ll nap here”.  That was before sunrise.  He won’t have lasted long once the sun came up over Mt. Kenya.

Sunrise here is neat because it gets light long before you actually see the sun due to Mt. Kenya.  There’s the painted sky that lasts until the orb finally crests over the mountain and lights everything properly.  It is just beautiful.  There was also a fog that had settled at ground level that gave everything an ethereal feel.  It was really pretty.

We came upon a small herd of elephants in front of Mt. Kenya and we stopped to watch them.  The matriarch of the group paused, then started to approach us.  I was in the back-most window on her side.  She kept coming closer and closer and for a moment I felt panicked but then I just relaxed as I looked her right in the eye and whispered “good morning”.  She was easily within 10 feet of me and she held the connection.  I could see the scratches in one of her tusks and the mud that had filled them. I could see the remnants of some greens stuck to the point of the other tusk.  Finally she flicked her trunk at me and stepped aside, our connection broken.  It was an amazing, sobering and very special moment.  My eyes filled when she walked off.  I had been given a gift.

I still had the young American newlyweds (Floridians, I don’t need to say anything more) but thankfully they were moving on after bush breakfast.  I had to let it go, but they had no safari etiquette and he talked louder to our guide, thinking he would be better understood.  I’m not sure they were aware how special last night’s leopard sighting was or this morning’s elephants were.  It’s a shame.

Bush breakfast this morning was at a river crossing under a pretty yellow fever tree.  I had frittata, mini pancakes, a hard boiled egg and museli and a dab of homemade yogurt, oh and the pastry of the day which was a delectable cinnamon bun.  Man, that was delicious!

I had so many sightings of rhinos today that I can’t remember the order.  Most were mom and calf pairs, both black and white species.  One pair of whites was just so relaxed and calm, they didn’t give us a second glance.  We watched them graze for a while in an area called Zebra Plain, this immense flat plain that goes on for as far as the eye can see in any direction.  They ate for quite a while and then moved to a dusty clearing and just stood there.  And stood.  And stood.  The calf laid down.  The mother continued to stand.  Peter said, “the mother wants to wallow” and he motioned to the mudbath about 30 feet from us.  So we decided to wait it out.  After another 10 minutes or so he spotted a pair of black rhinos about 1/4 mile away, so we moved on to them for just a few minutes before they laid down to nap.  We turned around and headed back to where the whites were, and they were both in the mudbath!  How Peter knew this would happen is a mystery!

Another memorable rhino sighting came on the afternoon drive, when we found a massive male white rhino grazing on his own.  White rhinos are sociable, so it would be normal to see this one with others, but he wasn’t.  He was grazing and I was taking photos.  Suddenly Peter started the vehicle and we left, without him asking me “are you good?” as he normally does before we move on.  I didn’t think much of it, other than that it was a short sighting and maybe he saw something else to move on quickly to.  After a few minutes, he said “sometimes I just don’t trust white rhinos even though they are supposed to be calmer.”  So his gut had told him to move on.

I had a whole bunch of elephant sightings today which were just so relaxing to watch.  We transferred the Floridians to the car heading to their next camp at the marsh area, so we stayed there and watched the wildlife.  There was a huge troop of baboons there, as well as lots of impala and a small herd of elephants, all coexisting peacefully.  I could quite honestly sit and watch elephants eat all day, the chill way they pull up grass and transfer it from ground to mouth is mesmerizing.

At lunch there was a small family of a mom and 3 younger eles who were across the river from camp.  They were drinking at the watering hole and then headed off, but not before the mother rumbled and acted all in a dither about something, as if she saw something that disturbed her.  After lunch when I went out with Peter, I’m fairly certain we saw them again, only with one more family member, and Peter thinks the extra member was a male recently kicked out of the family (to prevent inbreeding) and that his returning upset the mother.  Every time the family moved on as it grazed, the male would try to tag along, and sometimes the mom or one of the older siblings would push him away.

One of the last groups of elephants we saw was a herd of 9 plus one massive bull grazing in the south side of the conservancy.  The male was in musth and not so patiently waiting for one of the females to be in estrus.  He was agitated and three times took an aggressive step towards us, which Peter thwarted by starting the Land Rover. That noise got him to stop and rethink his next move. It was a bit unsettling that he was so wound up that we agitated him, but that is love in nature.  Peter only let him try that twice before we decided to move on though.  No sense poking the bear (or bull elephant, in this case!)

At one point this morning, Peter stopped in the middle of the road and pointed out a dung beetle rolling a ball of dung across the road.  I sat and watched it because there appeared to be a female clinging on to it while the male pushed it.  The dung had been smoothed to a perfect round ball and once the male found the safest spot for it, he started to dig a hole for it and then the female would deposit eggs into it.  The eggs would be fed by the dung apparently.  To see a beetle pushing a ball many times its size was what captivated me the most though. Nature is amazing.

Our sundowner was at a hyena den.  We first came upon two sub-adult hyenas just lying next to a hole.  Peter said the parents go off and “rest” away from the kids all day and leave a couple of the older kids in charge of the younger hyenas in the clan.  I didn’t see any other kids, but the longer we sat there, more younger hyenas came up out of the ground from another hole maybe 50 feet away.  They all piled together either for safety or to keep warm while they waited for their parents to return.  We left after sunset, so I didn’t see the parents.

Lunch today was a really fresh lemon avocado soup with a “make your own pizza” and a just-right pineapple frozen yogurt.  I am certainly eating well.  After lunch I did yoga (yay for Peloton connecting here!) and had a shower.  My hip had really bothered me since the hike from hell, so getting everything moving again really helped it.

Dinner today was red snapper with a pineapple coconut sauce, brown rice and stir fry veg.  Dessert was a wonderful chocolate brownie with whipped cream and a cherry tulle. 

It was not nearly as cold after dinner as it was the night before.  I did not need the several layers of blankets on the bed or the hot water bottle, thankfully.  I did fall asleep while writing this though, so this is being finished at lunch on the following day!

Last of their kind

 15 Jan 2024

I slept reasonably well but woke with a bout of intestinal distress, whether from the anti-malarial or the copious amount of veggies I’ve eaten in the last couple days, I’m not sure.  I feel fine, just gurgly.  I had another shower and started to pack before breakfast, then met Johnson and some of the other folks for a late breakfast at 8.  Most everyone I knew here has left or is leaving, so I’d be lonely if I stayed, but I really don’t want to go.  This camp is lovely, welcoming and more than comfortable.  I could easily take up residence.

I had scrambled eggs, a muffin, mango and pineapple for breakfast, alone with a cup of coffee.  I had a nice chat with one of the camp managers Daniella, who works for Tauck tours when she’s not here.  It is interesting to hear the many stories of a tour manager, and reinforces my hunch that I could never, ever deal with people all the time like that.  She said she loves to travel, except when she’s leading tours.  I kind of figured that.  Keep your happy place your happy place, and don’t make it a job.

Johnson drove me to the gate of this conservancy where I was picked up by someone at Kicheche for the rest of the drive.  It took about an hour to leave the conservancy itself.  When I gave him his tip, I also gave him a 4Ocean beaded bracelet that I’d brought for each guide.  I explained to him that by buying that, it funds the cleanup of a pound of ocean trash, and he was very touched by it and asked me to put it on him.  He was such a nice guy.  I always hate leaving my really good guides, and I will certainly miss the life of luxury at Lewa Wilderness, such an amazing camp.

Peter will be my guide at Kicheche Laikipia.  He is the lead guide here and coincidentally I’d just seen an Instagram post about some great sightings he’s had with guests lately.  We drove the two hours on a highway (40 mph) through Nanyuki, the major town here, and then to Ol Pejeta Conservancy.  I’d been here in 2014 on my first Kenyan safari, but don’t remember much about it since it was my first stop and I was such a newbie.

There wasn’t much to see along the way but some huts masquerading as stores with “God’s Favoured General Store” or “God’s Favoured Nail Salon”.  I did not have time to stop to inquire about how one becomes God’s Favoured anything, but you never know…

Anita is the camp manager here and she greeted me excitedly.  We did the camp walk through and lunch was served quickly thereafter.  My tent is similar to other Kicheche tents and is definitely a far cry from my little chalet in Lewa!!  I’m back to tented walls!

Lunch was a great smorgasbord for vegetarians.  A zucchini boat filled with diced veggies and cheese.  A chick pea salad.  A sweet corn salad.  Bread and cheese.  And a sugary cornet filled with cream stuck into a tree tomato (tastes like kiwi kind of!)

The whole drive here, I was planning to seriously crash and nap after lunch but it turns out that I’m off to meet the last two northern white rhinos on the planet.  Literally the last of their species.  I’ve been looking forward to that, so rally I will!

The trip to the rhinos was of course wonderful.  Not that I celebrate that there are only two northern white rhinos left, but what a wonderful thing the conservancy is doing by talking about it and having the rhinos serve as brand ambassadors for their cause.

We arrived and were met by a ranger who looked very familiar to me.  It was Zacharia, who I recognized from several Ami Vitale interviews and videos I’ve watched.  She is a renown wildlife photographer who has covered the rhinos’ story for years.  Zacharia is the keeper for the rhinos.  I told him I recognized him and how and he said Ami is actually in Kenya now to cover the rhino translocation later this week (moving rhinos from here to another conservancy because they actually have reached the limit here on numbers that are sustainable).

Peter drove us into the rhinos’ enclosure and Zacharia called them over. It is Najin and Fatu and a third rhino, a wild born southern white rhino who was brought here to teach Najin and Fatu how to be a rhino. They’d both been raised in zoos and didn’t know how and were also eating poorly.  Fatu and her southern friend are thick as thieves and tend to bully Najin, so Najin’s horn has been left long and pointy to defend herself against the bullies, whose horns have been trimmed for her safety.

The rhinos were eagerly picking up the snacks pellets that Zacharia had dropped for them to get them close to us.  Once Fatu thought all hers were gone, she came right over to me in the vehicle looking for more!  Zacharia was telling us about their behaviors and how they’re taken care of, and he answered our many questions.

They’ve gathered dozens of embryos from Fatu and are waiting for the right time to implant them in one of six wild-born southern white rhinos who have been brought here to act as surrogates.  What I found extremely interesting is that the scientists will determine which rhino to impregnate by bringing in a sterile male to gauge when the female is in estrus.  When he tries to mount one to mate, the scientists will implant her.  I would have thought that scientists and vets would be closely monitoring hormone levels through blood or urine testing, but apparently this is more accurate!

Once we left the girls, we visited Baraka, the blind black rhino that lives here also.  I’d visited him in 2014 so I knew what to expect, but it’s still fun feeding him and scratching his ears.  He’s taken to breaking out of his enclosure overnight and knocking over trees all over the grounds.  He may be blind but he’s still mischievous!

We left the sanctuary and quickly happened upon a lion pride that was made up of a male, 4 females, 1 sub-adult male (the pride male’s son, very close to being kicked out of the pride as he ages) and 3 tiny 2 month old cubs.  I was smitten.  Any lion encounter is celebrated, but when there are three little ones in the mix, I’m over the moon.  I love to listen to their chirps and contented sighs as they nursed and loved to watch them play just like my cats do.  But what was really weird about this pride was the Dad was actively mating with one of the females (not the cubs’ mom).  Usually lions go off and “honeymoon” away from the pride for 5 days or so.  But not these two.  Every 5 minutes or so they were up and at it.  And the male lion was not in a good move.  The cranky old guy made a couple of swats at the cubs who just wanted to say “hey daddy”.  It was absolutely wonderful to start off my stay like this, even if there was so much going on it was hard to know where to look: cute cubs, grouchy dad, nuzzling sisters, mating lions.  Yikes!

We were the last to leave the lions just as it was nearly completely dark. We drove maybe 10 minutes and suddenly off the right side of the road strolled a leopard.  Yes, for a second night in a row I’m seeing a leopard in the dark!  Peter was so excited, he said he almost never sees them here.  She was absolutely gorgeous and put up with us as we backed up and waited for her to pass us again, over and over.    At one point she was sitting up tall and pretty in the middle of the street, as if she knew she was good looking.  I was ecstatic.

It’s funny, I heard next to nothing in terms of overnight wildlife noise while I was in Lewa, but while typing here tonight, I’ve heard elephants, zebra and hyena.  It may not be the quiet night of sleep I’m hoping for.

Dinner tonight was gnocchi starter, fish and mashed potato croquettes for the entree and vanilla panna cotta for dessert.  It was all so good!

Back for dinner late because of the leopard situation and early to bed.  We’re up and out for 6 am tomorrow.

The not so elusive leopard

Sleep is becoming better with each passing night.  Last night I think I only woke very briefly twice.  Both times I remember thinking that I would not get back to sleep, but I did and slept right up to the alarm for the first time.  I don’t know how my body is ok with getting up at the time it would normally be going to bed, but it is muddling through.

This morning it was just me with Johnson, which was great.  I’d told him last night I’m game for anything, but if I had to wish, it’d be lions, rhinos, gerenuk (one of the northern 5 I still haven’t seen yet) and anything else he can conjure up.  We went out at 6:30 and took breakfast with us, my thought being that would allow us to go further afield and see territory we hadn’t covered yet.  That was indeed the case.

Johnson starts every day with “today is a beautiful day”.  I asked him if he says that every day and he said that he does.  I wonder if I started to do that at home if that sort of positive affirmation would work for me.  Let’s face it, I don’t have the office that he does!

We drove for a long while before we saw anything at all.  I think we passed one snoozing white rhino somewhat close to camp but other than that it was just quiet.  No other vehicles but strangely not a lot of wildlife either.  It was cold, for here.  I still didn’t my fleece on, I was comfortable without it.  I’d guess it was probably mid 60s or so but a bit humid and really overcast.  We need the sun to warm things up a bit.  But unlike yesterday, there was no rain at all this morning.

The first wildlife we stopped for was near the marsh and it was a marsh mongoose, which Johnson said he only sees once every 6-7 years.  He was so excited about the sighting he called to tell someone about it, even though it had already scampered deeper into the marsh grass.

We came across a large sighting of zebra, both common and Grevy’s species, which was neat to see and be able to compare the two upclose.  Nearby this herd were two Besia oryx, another species of the Northern Five that I had seen before, but not this close..

Johnson had spoken with a couple of the guides we passed along the way and heard that there were lions on the move but that they’d gone into thick grass.  He saw a ranger’s vehicle from the road and approached it, learning that the lions were right there.  But where? All we could see was waist high grass!  As we nudged a bit further, several heads popped up, including one big male, a female and about 5 of the cubs we saw on Friday evening.  The grass was really a challenge.  So much so that we missed seeing the other females and all the other cubs!  The ranger said that all 12 were here, safely under cover of the grass.  I managed a few documentary shots with the camera, but none that will be worth publishing, I think.

Driving further along Johnson saw a reticulated giraffe (another of the Northern Five) crossing the road.  Obviously familiar with the area, he knew it was heading for watering hole and set me up for a shot across from it.  I was perfectly positioned for the giraffe to contort itself, spreading it’s legs wide enough for its long neck to reach the water.  Hearing that giraffe gulp down gallons of water was pretty cool.  It’s easy to see too why they are at their most vulnerable to predation while in this position; it’s not easy to get into or out of!

Johnson then said we were in gerenuk territory and to be on the lookout.  I didn’t realize that gerenuk are not nearly as numerous as impala or other gazelles here.  He speculated that there are fewer than 20 left now since they are a favorite meal of the leopards.  Yet somehow he managed to find a male with 4 females!  These antelope are sometimes referred to as giraffe antelope because they have an antelope body and a neck long like a giraffe.  What I think is neat about them though is that they never drink water; they get all they need from the leaves they eat.  They are also known to stand on their hind legs to reach higher leaves, but I did not see them try that today. I was surprised now that I’ve seen them because I expected them to be larger, at least the size of an impala, and they are really much smaller.  In any event, I’ve now seen all 5 of the Northern Five here at Lewa:  Somali ostrich, Grevy’s zebra, Besia oryx, reticulated giraffe and gerenuk.  Not a bad weekend’s work!

We stopped nearby the gerenuk for breakfast with a view.  The valley here is just beautiful.  I feel like I’m repeating myself but I haven’t seen a part of Kenya that is so striking and I’m not sure one could ever tire of it.  I’ve already started to miss it, and I’m not even gone yet.

Breakfast was coffee and juice, hard boiled eggs, scones, baked cheese sticks (like crackers) and skewers of fresh pineapple, mango and watermelon.

After breakfast we made the slow drive back toward camp.  Johnson stopped the vehicle when we rounded a curve and straight ahead was a lovely white rhino and her months old calf.  They’d both just wallowed in some mud and were heading toward the tall grass.  I stood and shot out the roof of the Land Rover but then made sure to just stop and watch and appreciate this little creature and its mom.  How absolutely blessed I am to see them.  They were, like other rhinos we’d seen on this trip, very relaxed and unbothered by us, but we were sure to be respectful, shut off the engine and not approach too closely also.  It was a spectacular morning.

On the way back we discussed our plan for the rest of today.  Johnson feels like the lions looked skinny and in need of a meal.  He thinks they will try to hunt tonight and he wondered if I’d want to try a night drive to find them.  Part of me thinks that is daft, since we have trouble enough finding lions in this grass, but the other part of me thinks I have nothing to lose.  I’ve had some great lion sightings already and still have 6 days in two other camps.  So the plan is lunch as usual, a walk at 4:00 followed by a shower and then an early dinner, and then we’d head out 8:00-10:00 or so for a night drive.  Sounds like a plan!

Sundays in Kenya are apparently curry days (news to me!) so today’s lunch was vegetarian curry (cauliflower, carrots, chickpeas over rice), a green papaya salad with jalapeños and halumi cheese also curry style.  I’m not an enormous curry fan but figured I’d need to eat well to fuel the big walk.  Dessert was homemade frozen yogurt made from local berries and the farm’s own yogurt.

I ended up napping for about 20 minutes before I got dressed to hit the trails.  Silly me, thinking there were trails.  I spent a full 5 minutes debating whether to take my camera, and if so, which lens.  I also debated whether to take my wallet with passport in the event I died in an avalanche and my body needed to be identified.  I left both locked up here.  Wisely.

I met Moosh’s brother and his assistant Simon (I remember his name for obvious reasons) and Nigel, the husband in one of the other UK couples visiting here.  Nigel’s wife Celia got the right idea by saying “like hell” when asked if she wanted to do a walk.  I’d been convinced it was “basically easy and slow” plus it was part of the package deal, walk first then night drive, so I either did this or just hung about and drank gin and tonic until it was time to go for the night drive.  I really need to reconsider my life choices.

I’m fit, I thought.  How hard can this be?  I run road races and lift weights.  I do Spinning on my off days.  Altitude shmaltitude.  What’s 5000 feet between friends?

So Moosh’s brother warns us we must walk single file between him and Simon.  No yelling, no running if you see anything scary.  Use tongue-clicks or low whistles to warn others just as the Cape buffalo is steaming you down.  Never get ahead of the gun.  Wait..what?  Yes, Moosh’s brother had the gun, which he loaded with four cartridges as soon as we were off camp property.  Gulp.

And off we went.  First we had to cross the river, which had two flat logs across it, through which I could see the running water below.  Already, good call that I left passport and new camera in my room.  That may have been my last smart decision of the day.  Simon had to take my hand and guide me over and Moosh’s brother and Nigel leapt like antelope across.  I would not be getting the Indiana Jones Hiking Gold Star today.  Two demerits for needing help crossing a bridge that would be illegal in the US.

And then the climb started, up up up.  And wherever or whoever gave me the misconception that this was a neatly groomed path deserves my wrath.  We were cutting our path!  My walking stick was moving pricker bushes, checking for aardvark holes and otherwise serving as another leg.  Dang.  At points the grass was over waist-high.  “But wait,” you are asking yourself, “haven’t you been saying all along that lions, leopards and rhinos are getting lost in this very deep grass?  Couldn’t they be in the very same grass you are now wading through?”  Yes, my friends, that be the truth.  Gulp.

We stopped a few times to hydrate (I brought enough water this time, not like when my sister and I walked the entire Cinque Terre path sharing a bottle of Evian and a bag of peanut M&Ms) and take in the view, which of course was tremendous, but I’m fully aware by now that I can see an equally impressive view from any number of spots easily reached by vehicle.

We did see some wildlife.  A waterbuck was across the way on another hill, as were two herds of impala.  Three giraffes ended up below us, looking up as if to say “now why would you go and do that?”  Good question, my long-necked friends.

I vacillated between watching my footing and being afraid to.  I traipsed through poop identified as hyena, giraffe, impala and buffalo, and tried to avoid it where I can (these shoes don’t go back into my house anyway, they’re always banished to the basement).  I wanted to watch my footing but also did not want to be the one to see any snakes scampering away.  I prayed to all that is holy that Moosh’s brother was scaring them away before I got to them.

Various thoughts beyond snakes ran through my mind, like ticks, fire ants, stinging nettles, altitude sickness, dehydration, twisted ankles, and mental incompetence.  Try as I might, I just was not in the moment and loving it.  The plan had been for Nigel to be met by his guide and intelligent wife Celia and be driven down while I climbed down with the guides.  A clap of thunder and black clouds approaching gave me all the encouragement I needed to say “do you think Johnson could pick me up at the top?  I’m beat.”  And so ended the 75 minute journey.  

Celia sat in the vehicle videoing us as we summited.  “Do you know how high up we are, it took ages to drive up here!” she yelled.  I turned and looked down to find camp and my particular little cottage specks in the tree line.  If we were already a mile high, we were easily half that more.  Gulp.

Nigel and Celia’s guide drove us about half way down to where Johnson awaited, and he took me and the guides back to camp.  My hip is angry, my head hurts and I’m tired, but after a handful of ibuprofen, a shower and the accounting for bug bites (only 2!) I am kind of glad I did it.  Once.  Onwards dinnertime.

Several hours later….dinner was lovely, yellow pepper stuffed with lots of diced, fresh veg (zucchini, onion, carrots, corn, black beans, etc.) and topped with a cheese crisp, and baked sliced tomatoes.  The starter was a wonderful sweet corn soup with onion and yellow pepper.  Dessert was a slice of spice cake with a jelly and dab of cream on it.  I washed the whole thing down with a dawa (vodka and honey cocktail).  You can tell reading this that I am just dying to get to the next part…..

The night drive. Yowza.  With how high the grass is, I was skeptical at best.  And even at the best of times, night drives are hit or miss.  But off we went.  Johnson even gave me my own red search light to look for eyes in the grass as we drove along.  He’d found out from guides who’d just come back from the afternoon drive where they last saw lions and we headed that way.  We also had a guide Mark standing up through the roof window scanning the area, looking for the tell-tale glow of eyes looking back.

After a short time we came across a bachelor herd of impala and they all looked nervous (said Johnson, I had no idea).  They also seemed to be looking in the direction we were heading.  About 300 feet further, right in the middle of the road, a young hyena was just tearing into a fresh impala kill.  When we approached it, it ran off.  Johnson said a leopard would have taken it down, not a hyena, and he surmised that the hyena had forced the leopard off its kill.  He used the light and scanned the area and the leopard was still standing nearby watching.  This was a 4 year old female leopard the guides call Nala.  As we settled down and moved the light away from her (red light so as not to blind her), she started to creep back over to her dinner.  We sat and watched her for maybe 20 minutes while she ate.  The hyena sat on the opposite side of her and waited his turn.  At one point Johnson said we should leave so the hyena could get his share, but I wanted to make sure she was satisfied, after all she did kill it!  At last she walked off into the tall grass and the hyena quickly moved in.  Normally leopards will drag their kill up a tree and save it for later, but there were no trees nearby for her to do so.

While we missed the actual kill, it was still an adrenaline rush to see her at night, right out in the open and be able to piece together what had happened.  On top of it all, she was a gorgeous cat and I was happy we helped her return to her meal and get her fill.

The rest of the drive was not productive for the cats but we did see 5 huge white rhino blocking the road, one with an incredibly massive horn.  And I kept seeing hares as I flashed the side of the road with my light looking for the glowing eyes.  It was, in a word, a pretty special night.  One sighting like the leopard is all it takes.  (My track record on night drives is now 3 for 3 when it comes to cat kills!)

Not able to go right to sleep I sat up and chatted with the folks from Connecticut who are moving on to the Mara over my gin and tonic.

The bar is set high for the next two camps.  I’ve seen the Big 5, the Northern 5 and had a stellar night drive in my first three days!

Going to try to sleep now.  I’m tired from the walk and all the excitement. I get to sleep until 7:15 tomorrow since I’ll be leaving for Ol Pejeta at 10:00.  Johnson and I will meet for breakfast at 8:00.