Nothing says 'Welcome to the Africa' as well as his highness here....
Another day in beautiful Kenya! Our tour group was up and out fairly early, loading onto the 2 vans around 7:00.
Kirk's Dik Dik
We were barely out the front gate of the Sarova Mara Game Farm gate when Voila! Walking along the fenceline was a Kirk's Dik Dik. These tiniest of antelope are barely the size of a Cocker Spaniel, between 6 and 11 or so pounds and lovely 'Bambi' eyes. These little guys tend to stick to forested areas so I can see why the thick trees near the perimeter gate suited it's needs just fine
Tiniest of Antelopes
I could have stared at the tiny mite for hours but we were soon off in search of other game.
A couple of Masai Giraffes
Stoic looking Maribou
The bush/grasslands were plumb full of animals. There were at least a dozen Maribou Storks in one meadow clearing. They were just standing still, as if on a break. Maribou Storks are not the prettiest of birds, with their unfeathered naked headsd and drab 'funeral director' feathering.
Break Time
Soon enough, there was a second super cool antelope to admire: a Steenbok. Steenbok are twice the size of the little Dik Dik we saw earlier. Steenbok are not as fussy in their habitat as are Dik Dik. Steenboks can be found from thickets and woodlands, in stone laiden savannahs all the way to near desert type locals.
Steenbok
After viewing such dainty antelope, it was thrilling to view Africa's largest antelope, weighing in around 2K, the Common Eland.
Eland with its complement of Oxpecker birds
Had no luck getting any of the Elands below to pose (had no carrots on hand), so the one standing there licking it's own flank was the best I could manage. The Warthogs up front seem disappointed they weren't the center of attention. I mean, they were posing after all.
Oxpeckers were on board the Elands for clean-up duty.
While we're on the topic of 'large', we ran across our first Ostriches! There were a few scattered females, which are brown, and one leggy male, with jet black and white. Everybody in the van shrieked with delight to see the huge creatures. Of course I too was yelling, when it suddenly hit me... "This HUMONGOUS animal is a... 'birdie'!" Don't know why it took me so long to see the thing as a bird, but honestly it really gave the impression we were viewing a Velociraptor.
A BIG boy
And one more antelope - a beautiful Waterbuck
We got good looks at the bad boys of the grasslands, Hyaenas, Silver-backed Jackals. In the last few years Hyenas have had better PR. They are now known to normally hunt their own food - which often enough is stolen by lions or leopards - so they are not primarily scavengers as once believed. They also are quite the feminists, with any female Hyena being higher in the hierarchy than any male Hyena. Take THAT patriarchy!
Spotted Hyaena
The highlight of the predator viewing was a female Cheetah with four cubs. They marched across the grass, settling in for a sit down under a small tree. Never expected to see Cheetah cubs so that was yet another wonderful viewing.
We watched the cheetah family for quite a pleasant while. The cubs stayed fairly close to Mama. I love the extra 'fuzz' Cheetah cubs have along the crest of their heads and backs. It's believed that makes them resemble African Badgers, which are tough S.O.B.s that no animal wants to mess with, so the cubs by imitating the nasty badgers, get a benefit from looking a little like badgers. Not sure if that's entirely true, but it's a cool thought.
It was the kind of day where so many lions, elephants and giraffes were seen that all of us just relaxed and stared at the beauties, lost in our revery.
Lost in some daydreams of its own
Late morning we were up on a ridge, looking down at a lazy river where hippos lounged...
... and crocodiles lay peacefully on muddy shores.
As is now a typical day, around noon-ish, it was back to camp for a leisurely lunch, followed by hours of free time. I wandered around the camp and discovered there was a small library near the reservations desk. Look what I found, that made my afternoon. I do have phone apps that specialize in East African birds but it was nice having this guide to help me sort out a few of the trickier birds.
Around 4PM, we took off for our final Masai Mara wildlife tour, and it was quite 'Birdy'.
This nosey little Spurfowl came right up to the van to stare at it.
Little Bee-Eater
Lilac-breasted Roller
African Wattle Lapwing
White-headed Buffalo Weaver
This beautiful Pied Kingfisher put on a great show, catching a fish
Red-Eyed Dove
Tawny Eagle
Helmeted Guinea Fowl
Grey-backed Fiscal
Red-necked Spurfowl
It was quite the day for beautiful sights and have I mentioned yet how the weather is absolutely perfect? It is nowhere near to being hot and it isn't cold either. I guess I'm the baby bear because the weather to me is just right.
Here is a short video, perhaps 4 minutes, with the Ostrich, Cheetah, etc., all that I managed to to shoot today. Enjoy.
Mr. eagle, apparently waiting for a bus or something
My tour group was up, fed and out early today. On our way out, there was an African Fishing Eagle on the side of the dirt road, quite close to the lodge. We stopped and offered it a ride, but it seemed to have other plans.
A bit later the van stopped so we could watch Olive Baboons also loitering along the roadway. Everyone laughed to see one large male baboon, with ZERO shame.
Cover yourself, you rude baboon!
Nearby a baboon mother industriously groomed her youngster.
Mom's insistence on cleanliness is so embarrassing
A few feet off the ground another mother baboon held a cute infant, while an older youngster sat at her side.
Mom, baby and junior
Soon we headed south for Maasai Mara, another Kenyan National Reserve. It's a little north of the Tanzania border. The Reserve is famed for it's density of African wildlife.
There were many goat/cattle/and sheep jams along the way that slowed us down a bit.
Halfway through the morning driver our van stopped at a HUMONGOUS tourist shop, where we could use the rest rooms and purchase anything we decided we couldn't live without.
There were absolutely thousands of thingies one could purchase in the store, but myself and Ila were set on getting additional bags because we each had one main bag, which threatened to explode if even one more item was added. We were told negotiating for goods was OK, so we drove a hard bargain with a sales associate, purchasing 2 large zippered - and quite beautiful bags, for the low low price of forty shillings each. I'm certain I wasn't overcharged by more than ten shillings so it was quite the triumph, lol.
Get your trinkets and tchotchkes here!
A couple of hours later we reached the guarded entrance to Maasai Mara. Just before we arrived, Jafar told us to be sure to keep our windows closed, because the Maasai women sell their wares to van passengers and they do NOT take no for an answer. Then he got out of the van, to get us all checked in with the guards, and he didn't close his window!
I love the Masai women in their colorful clothing
There was no chance I was going to buy anything from anyone, no how! Having ASSUMED I could get Kenyan & Tanzanian cash at the airport, I was without any local money since we landed in Nairobi. I hadn't as much as 2 Kenyan coins to rub together, and what I'd purchased so far on this trip was through my debit card.
And as Jafar warned, within seconds the van was surrounded by insistent women, waving pretty, handmade goods at us, while shouting their prices at us, and looking thoroughly annoyed that we weren't buying up all the goods on the spot.
"twelve shillings M'am, 3 necklaces for only twelve shillings!"
It felt like Jafar was gone for 20 weeks, not just 20 minutes, but we were all of us relieved when he returned to the van and we were on our way again.
It was after twelve noon when we rolled into Sarova Mara Game Camp.
Game Camp Gateway
Nice map of the reserve's grounds, just to the left of the reservation desk
Again, we were sorted into our rooms, or in this case buildings. We followed the porters to our assigned buildings - each being canvas tents on permanent platforms.
The grounds were lush, and the 'tent' buildings are in the background
Oh were we impressed with the room! Between the beds, just above the little shelf were oodles of electric sockets for all our electronics to charge up. Truly heaven! And note at the foot of each bed there is a trunk on which to put one's luggage.
Lovely BIG windows
Add to that, there were large, net covered canvas 'windows', on both sides of the room so a lovely breeze blew over one's bed at night. Ahhhh!
And the 'tent' had it's own bathroom complete with a nice tub/shower combo. Note the happy lady in the bathroom vanity mirror below.
Snazzy bathroom area
We have a routine now. After arriving at our lodge & assuming our rooms, we take lunch in a huge building with an abundant buffet. Then we digest, I go birding, and at 4PM it's time for us to gather together for our evening safari.
Jafar told us we would be viewing the African Big Five, which were the five species most prized and difficult to hunt. The big five are Elephant, Rhinos, Cape Buffalo, Lions and Leopards. A nice anagram for the Big Five is 'BRELL'. We saw several of the Big Five this evening.
A Big Fiver - a Cape Buffalo
This Cape Buffalo was content to loll in a nice mud puddle
We spent a few good minutes watching this Topi, an antelope, because it was waiting for its close up shots. The dark mark on its haunch is not a stain, that's its normal coloring - a nice map of Africa.
A wonderfully posed Topi Antelope
Huzzah! We finally ran into the largest of the Big Five - the Bush Elephant, and lots of them. There were plenty of young elephants as well as seasoned matriarchs.
A grand lady
Baby tusker, quite far from Mom
Giraffes happily slurped up the leaves of the many Acacia trees. There are several species of giraffes and the ones we've seen are Masai Giraffes - they have leaf shaped spots.
A parade of White-bearded Wildebeests/Gnus, more than just the pair below, strolled by.
Two Gnu
There were other predators seen throughout the early evening.
Silver-backed Jackal
Normally, periodically Jafar's radio would release a blur of Swahili, as the many tour guides chatted, sharing what animals they were locating. After one such blur of radio chat, Jafar told us to fasten our seatbelts!
My best blurred shot of the Bat-eared Fox
He tore off, with no explanation. I got excited because I knew he wasn't tearing off after seeing any ordinary animal. Along the way he stopped to point out a little Bat-eared Fox that was off in the bush. Jafar told us to hurry with our photos of the fox, as there wasn't much time to lose. I took loads of shots of the fox but all were blurred as the van hadn't complete halted.
Suddenly we were veering off road, and we could see at least a half dozen travel company vans circling a bunch of shrubs in an otherwise open meadow... and there it was! A totally chill Leopard!
Didn't think we'd be lucky enough to see a Leopard - one of the Big 5
Anyway how thrilling to see this leopard, right out in the open, just enjoying the night air and surveying its kingdom. It's good to be next in line to the throne of the Lion King!
Several Lions & Lionesses lolled around in the grass. Honestly, lolling is something that cats, both great and small are particularly good at.
Her Majesty
What a day! I didn't bother posting any of the numerous birds I got on film, but here is my best bird of the day by far. Size of a skinny turkey, Here is a Black-breasted Bustard. Nearly wet myself getting to see this large savannah bird.
Black-breasted Bustard
It was getting dark when we finally headed back to camp... it was a half hour past the time that vans are supposed to be safely back at camp. So it was a mad dash for Jafar to drive us back to camp.
We stopped along the way to see where a leopard was supposed to have been seen. We got stuck and I know I was fretting we might have to walk the rest of the way back to Sarova Mara Game Camp. But nope, Jafar did an astounding and fast job of getting us unstuck and we were soon safe in camp, just in time for dinner of course.
Today we completed seeing Africa's Big Five: Cape Buffalo, both Rhino species, Elephant, Lion and Leopard. Will wonders never cease!
