six days in the Mara

They say that one picture is worth a thousand words? Here are a few thousand words to describe our six days in the Mara......

Its not just the Mara River which has crossings!

Patience is a virtue.

Two spotted hyena cubs, curious about us.

The rains brought out some beautiful fireball lilies. (Scadoxus multiflorus)

Good looking king.

These guys were having such a fine time in the mud.

Maasai Mara in October

Now settled into camp in the Maasai Mara and we have six days to explore this bountiful, game filled sanctuary.  The migration animals are still here in huge numbers and there has been rain in the month since I was last here, bringing a green flush to the rolling plains and wonderful cloudscapes overhead. Our first day started well when we went to find the lions which had been serenading us all night with their grunting roars.  Two young males fast asleep just about a quarter of a mile from camp.  We were tempted to arouse them out of their stupor and gain a modicum of revenge for a noisy night but held back, this is their world after all and we the visitors.  

From these two comatose felines we went on to three very much awake male cheetah who were feasting on a young wildebeest they had killed.  These boys are quite famous in this part of the Mara and often take on fairly large prey.  We watched them finish off their meal and then head out looking for a shady spot to lie down in and rest.  

 Meanwhile Amanda had been out in her car and found a pride of three lioness and their three offspring and we enjoyed watching the cub playing with an old flip flop which he had found somewhere (hopefully the owner had not been found at the same time!).  That evening we went to visit the pride again, just a couple of minutes from camp and we were just in time to witness the youngest lioness hunt down a wildebeest yards in front of us.  

 A lunge out of cover, dust and panicky hoofs, chasing in front one way and then the other before she pulled down an old male in a flurry of hoofs and dust.  As the dust settled and she suffocated him with a firm grip on his windpipe, the surviving wildebeest looked on behind her from a safe distance.  She then then dragged her kill into cover before going off to fetch the other pride members and we watched as they tucked into a well earned meal. The sated lions then played and groomed each other as the day wound down to night.  A wonderful first day in the Mara!

 

A brief but productive visit to Lake Nakuru National Park

The female leopard we encountered on the track.

In order to get some photographs of the flamingos at Lake Nakuru we arranged for our charter flight to stop there while we went for a four hour game drive and picnic.  We had seen a leopard cub and his mother at Lewa Downs but the light had been fading and the animals were at a distance from the car.  So we were sent over the moon when at 11.30 in the morning in Nakuru a lovely female leopard came walking down the track straight past our car! 

We were able to get some fantastic photos and film of her as she went about her business, marking, sniffing and generally patrolling her territory and seemingly oblivious of our presence. As you can imagine, that was a boon and a great start to our game drive in Nakuru. There has been so much rain here in the Rift Valley that the water level of L. Nakuru is the highest that I’ve ever seen it.  As a result the salinity of the water has been diluted causing the algae to recede, in turn sending much of the flamingo to migrate elsewhere in search of food.  However there were still several hundred thousand scattered along the shoreline and we were more than happy with that!  All in all, our brief visit to Nakuru park turned out to be a great success.

 

On to Lewa Downs

A white rhino at Lewa Downs

Our drive from Meru to Lewa was interesting for the opportunity to see some local colour and rural Kenya.  We drove west, climbing 3000ft over the Nyambeni hills, passing schools, markets and farms then through Meru town and on to Lewa Downs arriving for a delicious lunch back in the bush. Lewa is nestled on a northern shoulder of Mt. Kenya and was originally a cattle ranch.  It was a pioneer in becoming a privately owned wildlife conservancy dedicated originally to protecting and breeding the endangered black rhino but expanding its reach to persuading its neighbours to conservation practices and building up the local communities of Samburu and Maasai people to a stake in the lucrative tourism sector.  We saw plenty of both white and black rhino plus the endangered Grevy zebra, elephant, buffalo, leopard and lots of the plains game. 

Black faced vervet monkey shows us the way!

Wilderness Trails, our lodge for the two nights is a comfortable and homely sanctuary in the ranch with fabulous views over a deep valley with a stream running through.  One can simply sit at the swimming pool with a pair of binoculars and a cold beer at your elbow and watch the animals coming through the valley to drink from the stream and graze in the shade of the towering yellow barked fever trees.  

One of the genets at Wilderness Trails

  

At dinner we were entertained by a couple of genet cats which were trying to catch a mouse bird that was roosting in the roof thatch.  The bird table is always populated with red billed hornbills, white browed sparrow weavers, fire finches and many other species of bright and dull coloured birds, a bird watchers dream!  Our two nights here were punctuated with walks to the veggie garden, horse back riding, camel riding and game drives, all in the shadow of Mt. Kenya and all in the beautiful setting that is Lewa Downs.

Red billed hornbill on the bird table.

 

Return to Meru National Park

I have been enthusiastic about Meru all this year and here I am again.  This park just keeps delivering and has really given my guests and I some wonderful wildlife this season.  

We arrived at Kina airfield on our first day and luckily I had told everyone to un-pack their cameras and binoculars for the drive to camp because we would be seeing game. Sure enough we found a couple of male cheetah in the shade of an acacia looking at an impala buck.  

It was almost mid day and the sun was hot but I could see that they were hungry so we spent a good while with them as they eyed up the options and then eventually lay down in the shade for a sleep. Just too hot to hunt.  That afternoon we tried to find them again but they had moved on, hopefully finding a meal.  

We did however find a small pride of lion out on the plains and spent the evening watching them sleep and enjoying our first sundowner Tusker as the sun set behind the Nyambene Hills.  A great start to our safari with some wonderful pictures to take home at the end of the day.

Every park in Africa that I have had the pleasure to visit has its own special feel to it, giving each a distinct character and flavour.  The diversity of features found here in Meru from the open plains with golden grasses to the cool green swamps and their towering raffia palms. From the rounded granite kopjes lifting above the grey coloured bush to the distant blue ridges of the volcanic Nyambeni hills in the west.  All this and the gift of water;  rivers and streams cutting through the dry bush and brittle grasses bringing the promise of life to tree and animal alike,  pools filled with hippo and sandy banks with crocodile.  Sausage trees and baobabs, acacia and mahogany, tamarind and doum palm marking the course of the rivers with a verdant green.  

Meru has a wonderful character which I have come to enjoy and I will certainly be bringing more of my guests to introduce them to this beautiful and alluring park.

From the red dust covering the rough bodies of the elephants to the lesser kudu with white flashing tails as they bound into cover we have had some great game viewing.  The reticulated giraffe, tall and graceful but dwarfed by the towering doum palms, the white rhino we saw at mid-day, standing in the shade of a tall acacia, the hyena we heard, early this morning as we were getting up before dawn to prepare for our game drive.  The hoary old bull buffalo, with their hanging judge look and moist noses glaring at my truck as if challenging me to dare....The baboons, climbing higher into scrubby trees to get a better look at us and then the young ones chasing each other around in play as their mothers keep a wary eye out.

 Tomorrow we head out for our next leg of the safari, a drive to Lewa Downs on the other side of the Nyambeni Hills and more adventures.  This is my last trip to Meru this year but I will certainly be back next year and am already missing it!

Tena Tena to Robins House - the wonderful Luangwa National Park

Our last destination was downstream from Tena Tena and on the other side of the Luangwa river. Simon drove us down to where they keep a boat which was poled across to the other side and we met with Kanga our guide from Nkwali, another one of Robin Pope’s lodges.  The drive south was filled with lion and lots of other game. We saw the Crawshay's zebra a sub species of the Burchell’s zebra and another first for me.

We stayed in Robin’s house which is perfect for a family with room for five and their own plunge pool, living room, kitchen and views over the river.

It is situated right next door to Nkwali Camp and could offer overflow accommodation if we came with larger parties.

Nkwali camp is beautifully designed with each of the rooms looking over the river and a central mess area built under the cool shade of a giant Natal Mahogany tree.  The horizon level pool offers cool relief after a game drive in the hot sun.

 We also had a look at Luangwa safari house which is a beautiful masterpiece of natural rock, thatch and imaginative architecture. While we were there at least three families of elephant came to drink and mud-bath in the lagoon in front of the house. One could easily forego the evening game drive and enjoy the elephant and other game coming into the waterhole from the comfort of the shade on the veranda. Big enough to accommodate a party of eight this is a real gem.

Our evening game drive took us across the river on a pontoon ferry which reminded me of crossing the Tana river in Kenya many years ago.  

The pontoon was just big enough for the Land rover and then our ferrymen hauled us across, hand over hand with the cable strung from one bank to the other. We found lion, leopard, hyena, genet cats, white tailed mongoose and lots of hippo. 

After the game drive we again crossed the river but this time in a boat at night and we couldn’t help thinking of the crocodiles we had seen earlier as we walked along the low bank to where the boat came to pick us up.  We arrived safely back to Robin’s house and during a delicious dinner under the stars we listened to leopard calling as well as lion and hippo. 

This was our last night in Zambia and we had great fun.  For me there was the added bonus of having Phoebe along and we really enjoyed each other’s company.  My thanks to Robin Pope safaris, Peter Jones and all the other people, hostesses, caterers, guides and managers who welcomed us to their camps with the warm hospitality which seems to be such a signature of Africa.

Zambia is a gem and I would heartily recommend a safari for those of you who enjoy the wilderness and wildlife and want to explore somewhere a little off the beaten track. I will certainly be back.

South Luangwa National Park and Tena Tena Camp

Onwards we must go and our next stop was in the South Luangwa National Park in one of Robin Pope’s camps, Tena Tena.  We were met by Simon Pitt, the manager and one of the guides at the camp, at the Mfuwe airport. 

Tena Tena camp is situated in the shade of Sausage trees and Natal Mahogany on the eastern bank of the Luangwa river. 

The camp is simple but comfortable and gives us access to a remote area of the park where walking is allowed. The camp remains in situ from May to November and then is dismantled for the wet season.  

We enjoyed a guided walk with Simon and one of the Park Scouts where we were able to appreciate the game and trees, tracking and stretching our legs! A breeding colony of southern carmine bee-eaters was a highlight as was seeing the Thornicroft giraffe which is endemic to the Luangwa valley. 

We also went on a night drive back to camp after our sundowner and saw a couple of honey badgers. One of them narrowly escaped a sticky end when he ventured close to the water edge of an ox-bow lake and a crocodile lunged out at him! 

There were also a lot of elephant, bushbuck, puku, buffalo, kudu, impala, baboon and of course, masses of hippo and croc in the Luangwa river, in fact Phoebe counted fifty five croc as I was photographing the carmine bee-eaters. 

I think this was my favorite place on this safari as it was very much a bush camp, simple but comfortable, wild and remote with great hospitality and guiding and the feel of ‘old Africa’ about it. 

 The game was wild but we saw plenty and there was always the feeling of the next adventure just around the corner.

Lower Zambezi - theres a Tiger fish on my line and an elephant shaking the tree!

Our next destination was the Lower Zambezi national park and we were staying at Sausage Tree lodge right on the banks of the river.

Our flight got in to the main airfield and from there we had a short drive through the tall riverine forest before emerging out on the banks of the Zamezi river and then taking a boat for the final part of the trip to camp.  It was fun to sit on the boat and watch game on the islands and shores; elephant, buffalo, impala, hippo and a score of birdlife.

 Our hosts at Sausage Tree were Alan and Nicky, a couple I had met briefly back in Kenya a couple of years ago and so it was great to catch up with them again.

In the afternoon Phoebe and I decided to see if we could hook a tiger fish from the river and so we went out with our guide, Mike, to test our luck.  The fishing was fun and we hooked two big ones, although they both got away with the hooks in their mouths, the first jumped several times and pulled off a few yards of line before breaking free.  The second was probably a catfish or ‘vundu’ as they are locally known and again we had a short stick rod bent almost double as it pulled strongly against the drag.  Once again it managed to break the line and Phoebe and I contemplated our fishing skills or lack thereof!  We did have fun and along with the fishing enjoyed watching the wildlife and the bird life and the glorious sunset so altogether a successful outing! Some of the other guests had been out on a game dive that evening and seen lion and leopard along with buffalo and elephant plus of course lots of impala, kudu and other game animals.

The following morning Phoebe and I enjoyed watching a young bull elephant just outside our room feeding on the seed pods fallen from the acacia albida tree. He was carefully picking them up one by one and when they were all finished he went to the tree and gave it a few big shoves to shake off a whole bunch more. As we sipped our coffee on the veranda we quietly enjoyed watching this beautiful animal taking his breakfast.