Fun in Amobseli

Our safari season starts of with a bang in Amobseli in our private Ker & Downey preserve. The pictures speak for themselves!
Setting the target for 'spear' practice!
Present arms!
New friends made.
Girls together.
Giraffe watch on!
Follow my leader at our school.
Of course it is about the elelphants too!
Dressed up for the dance!
A very large puzzle.
Ole BooBoo, the king of our Preserve!

The wilderness of the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

From Amboseli we drove to the border with Tanzania, Namanga, and onto Arusha where we had a delicious lunch.  Onward we flew to the Serengeti and over the active volcano, Ol Donyo Lengai; three spectacular volcanoes in two weeks!

 As we drove to our camp we came across two old bull elephants who were wrestling and play fighting with each other.

The wildebeest migration is massed on the short grass plains of the southern Serengeti.  We found this large group crossing an arm of Lake Ndutu despite the danger of their young calves when they could have easily walked around.  We saw one poor calf which was left behind, exhausted from wading through the mud and chest high water.

The next morning we found a troup of baboon basking in the warm sunlight before they descend for their breakfast.

After searching all safari we found our... elusive leopard on our way to catch our charter back to Arusha on the last day of our safari.  Nothing like keeping it to the last minute!

Amboseli and the Kisongo Maasai

Flying by charter and flew close to a newly snow covered Mount Kenya.

Our first morning in Amboseli and our private Ker & Downey Safaris preserve were we work so closely with the Maasai and we had a fabulous view of Mount Kilimanjaro!

That morning we were invited by our Maasai friends to watch them tap blood from a cow using a special bow and arrow.  Most of us tried the fresh blood for breakfast!  Amazing to think that in the 21st Century a way of life like this still exists!

We visited Esiteti Primary School which will soon be retired for the new buildings we have helped to build for the Maasai.

And what better way to finish our day but to watch the Maasai throw their spears and have a few lessons too....

People have asked us if the Maasai dress like this and take part in our "Maasai Olympics" for our guests....  As you can see they have such a great time that we are just part of the scenery!

Lewa Downs

Onto Lewa Downs by car from Meru; an interesting drive with a much better understanding of rural Africa!  Lewa has already had good rains, it was lovely and green with lots of wildlife.  With the rain comes our 'African spring' with birds courting each other and nest building.  The male Lilac breasted roller brought a gift of a grasshopper to his mate before they settled on the top of their favourite perch above their nest hole.

There were many elephant on Lewa with Mount Kenya in the background it was a beautiful sight to see!

This young female showed us how big she is to stop us from getting closer to her!

The two young cubs who were orphaned last October have been hunting for themselves despite being too young to be very experience in hunting.  So far they have been successful, earning our respect and admiration.

We found a white rhino with her calf down by the river drinking among herds of zebra, elephant, waterbuck and warthog.

Meru, great to return!

Meru was looking stunning before the rains, still dry but in great shape!  Showers had put down the dust a little before we flew into the Park and on our first evening we were delighted to see a male cheetah.  He was totally unconcerned by us, walking around and marking his territory.

The next morning we set out early to find a very large herd of buffalo.  As they smelt us they stampeded putting up dust and cattle egrets.

In the cool of the Rogerewo Rriver a pod of Hippo watched us keeping a wary eye on the human visitors.

Our camp was up in the shade of some tall 'yellow fever' trees where we were surrounded by troops of baboon, more buffalo and elephant.  It is always great to return to Meru National Park!

In our special concession at Amboseli

Well I have become lax and this safari is long over but here is the final stage in Amboseli for the blog. October is the end of the dry season and the lake-bed was as dry as it can get with the hot sun and winds creating dust devils and the occasional dust storm. I guess that it was a good lesson for us to experience some of the extremes that Africa can go through and show us how the wildlife and people are at the mercy of the climate. It seemed as if the area was holding its breath for the onset of the November rains, elephant herds crossing the lake-bed to get to the shrunken swamp for life giving water and then trekking back across to get to the brush and trees for food. A commute which governed the lives of not only the elephant but also the giraffe, zebra, wildebeest and even humans and their cattle. As the dry season deepens the food gets farther away from the water as it is eaten, causing this daily ebb and flow of animals.
The maasai are a stoic people when it comes to the seasons, facing destitution and starvation during heavy drought years with a simple 'Shauri ya Mungu' : 'It is the will of God' . I suppose it is because this is something they believe they cannot change and so they just get on with their lives. This year actually is a normal one and the grass so much better than last year which saw the end of a tragic three year drought which decimated their cattle herds and also much of the wildlife.
The final day of our safari saw the usual visit to the one of the local maasai ingang (village), in this case we went to David Kraini's ingang and did some shopping in the market and visited with his mother at her hut. These two little girls were excited by the us foreign visitors but also a little shy! In the evening we had sundowners and a dance at the top of Nado Soit, the hill behind camp and we were lucky to have the peak of Kilimanjaro come out from behind her shroud of clouds creating a magically beautiful end to the day and the final evening of our safari.

From the Mara to Ol Donyo Waus

We finally left the Mara for Ol Donyo Waus in the Chyulu Hills where we stayed whilst my camp crew packed up the several tons of tents and equipment for the move to Amboseli.

The flight took us right over the Great Rift Valley which winds down Eastern Africa from Ethiopia to Botswana and split Madagascar from the mainland millions of years ago. Eventually in millions more there will be other islands off the eastern shore of Africa as the rifting process continues but for now we are blessed with the spectacular volcanic mountains, escarpments and lakes which characterizes this wonderful geology. One such lake is called Magadi which is a masai word meaning salts or soda and our flight took us right over this extraordinary lake. From the air the lake resembles more an alien landscape than anything found on earth as the salts form a hard red crust on the water and float into honeycomb patterns.

Ol Donyo Waus was as picturesque as ever and we were blessed with beautiful scenery and wildlife. I love the contrast of the golden grasses on the plains with the rounded volcanoes of the Chyulu range in the background. These three pictures may capture some of the essence of this beautiful area.

In the morning some of our party took the horses out while others went out on the mountain bikes with the Massai guides and still others went walking. We all met for a picnic breakfast in the shade of a flat topped acacia on the edge of the sweeping plains.

This time of year sees the arrival of oryx calves, helping to renew the population which had been hit hard by the terrible drought of the previous three years. Rival orxy bucks are disputing territory and mating rights, this pair disturbed one of the bull elephants who had been snoozing in the shade of an acacia!

From my room there were wonderful views over the waterhole and the plains to Mt. Kilimanjaro. There was also great micro wildlife viewing, Emerald spotted wood doves coming to drink at my plunge pool and Agama lizards sunning themselves on the wall. Always something to catch the eye and attention!