TANZANIA
& KENYA Cheeseman Safari continued
Lake Nakuru National
Park & The Masai Mara, Aug 9-13
Early morning Aug 9 we Aaron was feeling better and we did a
morning game drive from Samburu before we left for Samburu for
Lake Nakuru. We sat in the back of the car and made up some songs
for the animals we had seen, ask us about them and we'll sing
you a few. Finally saw the Somali Ostrich, the only place on
the trip we'd see it, and we got real close. Had lunch at back
at the Samburu hotel and started the drive from hell. We had
a lot of ground to cover and it had been raining a lot that day
and the previous night, hence many roads became impassable. We
drove over the equator and through the Central Highlands and
back into the Rift Valley. Drove through tea and coffee plantations,
really really pretty. BEAUTIFUL! Looked like Kerla, India, and
I kept thinking of the movie Out of Africa. We just made it into
the park before they closed the gates for the night. That night,
Nancy, Bruce and Aaron bagan a dessert sampling tradition that
left us all in stiches every night.
Aug 10, our first morning in Lake Nakuru
I slept in during the early am game drive but Aaron went. One
of the many interesting things he saw included a lucanistic Dik-dik,
and a White-frosted Bee-eater. Aaron finally realized what this
Cheeseman Safari was all about and jumped in full force never
missing a game drive or bird walk, granted we didn't many days
left. Saw White Rhinoceros, Defassa Waterbuck, Great Crowned-Crane
and many Lesser Flamingos and Great White Pelicans at the lake.
We also saw Rothchild's Giraffe with his cute white socks. In
the late afternoon we came upon two young lions in a tree and
as watched them decide whether to try the difficult climb down
or to stay lounging, it began to rain. An on our way back in
the rain, of course we saw a lepoard very close to the road in
a tree. But since it was raining it was very hard to get any
pictures. We enjoyed the hot Indian curries at our hotel that
night for dinner, our second night at the Lion Hill Lodge.
On Aug 11, on our way to The Masai Mara we saw a python in a
river for fleeting moment. We also saw lots of lions throughout
the day as well as different couples mating. During the afternoon
we had a real treat, a mother and her four young cubs were playing
around right next to our car. Since we were now in Kenya and
not in Tanzania, we had to share the good sites with at least
25 other cars, so it was not as serene unfortunately. And also
unfortnately we had a nasty confrontation with a van of tourists
who didn't have a Kenyan driver (driving their own rented car)
and they didn't know the rules of the national parks. They wanted
to pass and in order to do this they would need to drive dangerouly
close to the playing lion cubs. Just last week a tourist had
driven over and killed cheetah cubs, so giving the animals a
wide berth is very important. It got into a loud yelling match
between their car and ours and luckily they yielded to the animals,
but it got ugly there for a minute. We later reported their license
number to the park authorities.
Also that afternoon we were wondering where the great heards of wildebeasts were. They were supposed to be in this area at this time of the great migration. Three million animals participate in the migration, 1.5 million are wildebeasts and 1.5 are made up of gazelles, zebras, and other ungulates. This ecosystem upports the largest remaining poplulations of terrestrial unglates in the world. Since the heards had been through there were rotting corpses everywhere. There was so much food in supply that the vultures and hyeans couldn't keep up. Also saw a Wire-tailed Swallow. The staff and food at the Mara Simba Lodge were great and it became one of our favorites.
During the morning game drive on Aug 12 through the Masai Mara all the people in our car decided to hang out with one pair of mating lions. We spent a few hours watching their behavior & comparing it to what different studies have published. Aaron learned everything there is to know about Cisticolas. Desert Cisticola-long black tail, Zitting Cisticola-longer warm brown tail, Pectoral-patch Cisticola- stubby tail, flies wierd. Laurie & Linda then decided that Aaron was in need of a Cisticolaoscpay and Cisticolaectapy once he got home. Also saw Yellow-throated Longclaw. After lunch we saw the hippo pool and a two month old baby, very cute. We also crossed the border into Tanzania for a short time and Aaron marked the ocassion with a little performance we all videoed.
In the afternoon game drive we met up with the hollywood Lions, they were never to be forgotten. They were the most beautiful pair of lions we had seen and we voted them best in class. It was raining though so we weren't able to take a photo. Nancy, Bruce, Laurie, Linda, Titus were in the car with us and we had a rip roaring time. Around 4pm we came upon yet another set of lion cubs hiding out in a bush but no one wanted to stop to take pictures. I thought, why the heck are we out here then, let's head back to the hotel. We determined that seeing the ear of a lion cub in a bush, in the rain, through a slit of a window was not worth continuing the game drive.
Aug 13 in the Masai Mara was Aaron's favorite day of the safari but Doug said it was his slowest. One van went to Governor's camp and saw everything, I mean everything. We weren't in that car so we saw other things but mostly vast, open grasslands. We saw large herds of wildabeast, Eland, & Burchell's Zeba. Also saw a Rufas-naped Lark (which is misnamed, really has rufus wings not neck). Saw many lions sleeping and guarding their kills. Lots and lots of flies on kills. Near our room at night we saw Lesser Bushbabies in the rafters. Also saw Yellow-winged Bats flying in the open air dining room during dinner and watched the local masai men perform a dance.
Male & female Somali Ostrich (the male is black, the female is brown)
Rothchild's Giraffe with Zebra in the fantastic Masai Mara.
Adorable lion cubs playing around
Mom relaxing while with her lively cubs
Lions copulating, over 21 only please
Big vulture in action, there's plenty to go around when the wildebest are in town
Male lion resting in the beautiful Masai Mara
Mama & small baby hippo sleeping the afternoon away
The fiercest of open grassland grazers
Migrating herd. When the Wldebeast move, they walk in a straight line, one behind the other!
Take me to Siana Springs, Aug 14-15