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We got out to the Samburu international airport (a gravel strip and a couple of shacks) where we waited for the plane. Some intrepid Kenyans had set up jewelry stands (well tables) along the runway and we got sucked in. Luckily the plane came before they took every last dollar we had but even so we ended up with more beaded jewelry than we had originally intended and spent just about all the Kenyan money we had. These guys are good.
The plane was slightly bigger this time but not much. I sat next to a guy from Berkeley who had just come from another camp nearby and was headed to the Mara like we were. We had a nice chat and talked about animals.
Our understanding was we were the first stop. But then the plane touched down at some place that wasn’t the Mara. The pilot said everyone is getting off but these two people (not us). He gets out and most of the other people get out. But we ask the people staying where they are going and they say the Mara so we think we should stay on too. But we can see they are unloading our bags. Minor crisis. So I get out, tell them not to take our bags anywhere just yet and go off to find someone that can tell us what’s going on. The others are heading for another plane so I go over there with them. I ask one of them where they’re going and they say the Mara. So, maybe we are supposed to be on this plane after all. I find the pilot, he checks his list and yup, this is our plane. So I run back to the other plane, which is now getting loaded up with new people, get Marion off before they take off with her, find our bags and start high tailing it back to the right plane.
About halfway across the runway someone who looks like he’s wearing a military uniform comes up to me. I’m trying to get my story straight in my head to tell him, since I figure I’m not supposed to be carrying my bags across the tarmac, when I realize it’s Daniel our guide from Lewa! (He just looked military in his green jacket and pants in olive green). He takes the bags and gets us on the plane. I have no idea what he’s doing there but it was nice to see a friendly face. He waved goodbye and we were off again.
The next stop is actually our stop (the first of the Mara stops). The landscape has changed a lot. It’s now grasslands with scattered trees. As we come in there is wildlife everywhere. Zebras, wildebeests, various gazelle’s, etc. It’s quite the animal parade. It’s like the opening of the Lion King. And much cooler temperature-wise than Samburu (thank goodness). We are met by Francis from Elephant Pepper Camp. As he’s loading our bags we get to chatting with a German couple who are just leaving the camp. They try to get on the plane we just got off but the pilot says no, this is not their plane. Off the plane goes.
So now the question is, does Francis leave them there to take us to camp or what? There’s another Elephant Pepper truck coming so he’ll stay with them and the other truck will take us. But not quite. Something has gone amiss. The Germans *were* supposed to be on that plane. There isn’t another one coming. They were supposed to take that plane to another connection and another to get to the camp in Tanzania where they are going. They are in a word, screwed. They were taking it very calmly, at least at the point where we left. But started to ask questions like “how are you going to fix this”. I hope they made it where they are going. But once again we feel like there is bad trip karma running around but we continue to dodge it.
So now instead of Francis the guide we have unnamed man who doesn’t speak much English to take us to camp. He seems nice enough but there’s no conversation and no ‘hey, look at that baboon can we stop and take a picture’. So after about 15 minutes I reluctantly put my camera away and enjoy the ride. There is no point in taking pictures without stopping as bumpy as it is. Although the road is across flat grasslands and is about the smoothest ride we’ve had in a week, it’s still not smooth enough for non-blurry pictures.
We get to camp and meet Sophie and Seiya. Seiya is maybe 2 and clinging shyly to Sophie. Sophie is English and the daughter of a famous Kenyan family known for cheese making. The family also has some relationship to the Lewa conservancy. Her mother or aunt or somebody is one of the three siblings who own Lewa.
We get a quick tour. It’s much more rustic than the previous two places, which is not to say it’s not very nice. But these are real tents (albeit quite large ones) and no running water. They bring in two containers in the morning, one with hot water and one with cold for you to wash up with. As one of the guests said ‘you mix it yourself’. There’s a Velcro tab in the tent which they pull open and slip the containers through. And for showers, there’s a large bucket they fill with warm water on request. Which you then pull a tab to shower with. The toilets are eco-friendly and only take half a liter of water to flush. The bed is comfortable, the pillows are soft and the view across the plains is great. There have been zebras on the horizon every time I’ve looked out there.
I should mention about the zebras. These are ‘common’ zebras vs. the Grevy’s zebras we saw up north. The stripes go all the way around and they are smaller and more compact. And we both noticed, they are more ‘zebra-y’ than the Grevy’s in that they look more like what you picture when you think zebra. I guess that’s why they’re the common ones.
We came up to the common area for lunch. There are maybe 15 or 16 people at camp. And they started showing up in 2’s and 3’s. They’ve all met previously of course (albeit briefly) and are filled with stories about their adventures from yesterday and today. And they are quite wild. LOTS of animals around — lions and cubs, hyenas and puppies, etc. etc. One couple got up early (4am!) and took a hot air balloon ride. It sounded quite nice but too early, took all day and is expensive so not for us. The others seemed impressed with them. I got the sense it was a bit too adventurous for some although it didn’t sound too scary.
We haven’t quite figured out what all we’re doing here. There’s a Maasai village we’d like to visit and Sophie’s husband Calum does guided walks that we’d like to do. Then there’s the river crossing of the wildebeests which is the big reason to be here. So we’ll see. But we’re off to a good start.
A game drive was scheduled for the evening with us and John and Lynn (a couple from Iowa, the ones who did the balloon). But Marion’s stomach was feeling a bit jumpy and as it turned out the other couple bailed as well. So it was just me and Francis the guide. It was a bit weird but I’m getting pretty good at animal banter. We headed off out on the plains and there are just animals everywhere. Zebra, Thompson gazelles, buffalo, elephants, you name it. And a new type of antelope, the Topi. We didn’t have those up north.
After the initial ‘wow there sure are a lot of animals here’, we got to looking more carefully. And we found a male lion, the first of the trip. He was totally sacked out, on his side. He seemed quite content. The big excitement was when he rolled over. So not so good for pictures but great to finally see a male. Next, a herd of cape buffalo. We had seen these before but not in large groups and not quite so close. They are BIG suckers and apparently can be quite nasty. But they didn’t bother us.
Next up, elephants. They were down near some water and spraying themselves. A couple were knocking over trees (which they do for food). But the most interesting were two males who were playing a dominance game. Sort of fighting but mostly just locking trunks and pushing around a bit. One was clearly bigger/stronger than the other one but the smaller one wouldn’t leave him alone. The bigger one seemed quite patient with him though. We passed by an area of trees that the elephants had really just trashed. The whole area seemed really decimated. Elephants can really destroy a place.
We saw some baboons. But for whatever reason, none of our guides think monkeys are interesting. We’ve noticed this all along. I like them and wanted pictures and got him to stop. But in general, they never do. We never got the full story on that.
We came across some warthogs running. They’re a crack up to watch run because they lift their heads back and lift their tails up straight. Then both drop back down when they stop. Francis told me why (at least the tribal legend). When God made the wart hog he didn’t have quite enough skin. So he had to stretch it very tight. Because of that, when the wart hogs want to run, they have to lift up their heads and tails to make the skin loose enough for their legs to move. Pretty funny.
The big excitement (or at least to that point) was when we found a couple of female lions with 3 cubs. She was standing and they were all trying to get under her to nurse. She didn’t seem like she really wanted them too but was pretty patient.
It was now starting to get dark and about time to head in but Francis said “do you want to try leopard gulch before we head back?” Well, why not? Bring it on. So we headed down there. Getting into the gulch was another “let’s hear it for the Land Rover” experience but when we got down there we came across 4 or 5 other vehicles which means “score!”. Just follow the camera lenses and there he is up on a rock. I can only see his head at first but he did ultimately get up and turn around and stretch a bit. Actually, it was quite funny. He’d sit there not moving and all was quiet. Then he’d yawn or get up and turn around and it was like a presidential press conference. All you could hear was click-click-click-click-whir-whir-click as everyone hit their camera shutter button. I’m sure the animals love it just as much as President Obama does.
But by now it’s too dark to see anything so time to head back to camp. But wait, one last treat. We come across a spotted hyena that is chomping on a bit of spine of some poor creature. I got a great shot of him and off he went.
There are more people here than the other two camps we’ve been to. About 15 I’d guess. We all had dinner at one big table in the main tent. We sat down at one end with Neil (a brit), Sophie (the manager), Michael (a guy from Santa Monica who didn’t say much) and Jan from Holland. Jan is a talker and he didn’t have anyone to really latch onto but I was really fascinated by Neil who was very interesting and had a lot to say so I kept my head turned that way and tried to keep Jan from snagging me. It pretty much worked. Dinner unfortunately, wasn’t so good. Not horrible, just not great. But the conversation was lively.
And as an added bonus more wildlife. There was a bat flying around the ceiling of the tent. Of course my reaction was “aaaaah, a bat” and I kept looking up ominously and ducking my head. But the others didn’t seem too upset and Calum explained that he pretty much shows up every night and eats the bugs at the top of the tent. He circled around for awhile, then left. We got used to him and the next night were not bothered by him at all. Anything that is working to reduce the bug population here or anywhere else is ok in my book.
You have to get escorted back to your tent because the animals roam freely here. A Maasai with a big stick and a flashlight takes you down the path. There was a cape buffalo nearby but he wasn’t too threatening. The lights in the tents, while solar powered, are easily the most powerful we’ve had so far. At Lewa the light was barely strong enough to read the Kindle by, even holding it under it. These were much more reasonable.
Jan had been telling us about all the animal sounds going on all night. So we were prepared for a tough night. But apart from crickets (or the African equivalent) and a few birds it was pretty quiet. And later on, even that stopped. I heard one hyena ‘woop’ but nothing else. In fact it’s the first night I didn’t spend an hour or two at 1am trying to go back to sleep. Hopefully that will continue the next two nights.
We had arranged to not go out immediately on the game drive but stay in and have breakfast and go an hour or so later. They set up a nice table out in the open area but still full service in the English style. Calum told us there had been elephants by the tents on the other side (from us) of camp. And there had been buffalo too based on droppings out in the field. But nothing bothered us.
John and Lynn did join us for the game drive. The plan, or so I thought, was to keep it relatively short since the whole reason we were starting late was Marion had some concerns about her stomach. I didn’t work out that way. It turns out this was our day to wait for the wildebeest crossing. We ended up being out all day until late which we weren’t really prepared for. But it all worked out okay for the most part.
So off we head out into the plains again. We started in the same area I was last night to begin with. And it’s still just chock full of animals. But now we’re starting to get into the wildebeest herds. And there are a LOT of them. Thousands and thousands from the sounds of it, although we didn’t see quite that many. We started heading towards the river which is about an hour and a half away. We passed by a Maasai village. Lots of cattle, corrals made out of long sticks, mud huts and bright red clothing. We found a village dog munching on a piece of meat/bone with a couple of vultures and Marabou stork waiting around for their turn.
Then up ahead the tell tale sign of something interesting — multiple vehicles. We go over to have a look and discover a cheetah. This one is up walking around. Francis says he’s looking to see if there’s any game around. Not hunting per se, just checking things out. We try to keep after him without spooking him, along with the 4 or 5 other vehicles. And at one point we see him make a dash into the bushes and moments later two gazelle come bounding out. One zigs, the other zags. The cheetah doesn’t get either one. Francis said they detected him before he got close enough to really pounce. Cheetahs are apparently the least effective hunters of the cats. In fact hyenas have the highest percentage and the wild dogs are next, then lions (but not the males), then leopards, then cheetahs. And actually, there’s some talk that cheetahs may not be cats at all since they don’t have retractable claws like other cats do. They may be their own unique species.
We continued down through the wildebeest herds towards the river, stopping as we saw things. Francis spotted a pair of lions lying together. One male and one female. This is apparently pretty unusual so the speculation was that they were a mating pair and if we hang around a bit, we might get a lion peep show. When lions mate they go at it every 15 minutes or so. At least for awhile. And over the course of a few days. So we figured we could hang around a bit and wait for them to try again. But apparently they’d had enough for awhile. We waited about 30 minutes then gave up. They pretty much never moved. (Later at dinner the people from another truck said they did see some mating going on. Not sure if it was the same pair or not. Missed our chance at lion porn.)
The two mating lions were part of a pride that had a couple of females who were lounging nearby and a young male (maybe 3 years old Francis said). The male was up looking for something to chase. Normally the females hunt (and are much better at it) but since the young male wasn’t the head of a pride yet, he didn’t get all the privileges of rank and needed to find his own food. Or maybe he was just bored. Anyway, he was out on the prowl, looking for wart hogs. There were wart hogs around with babies and at one point he gave chase to a mother and about 6 babies. The mother ran interference and distracted the lion and eventually they all got away.
But shortly after that we found another group of two lions, one large male and another young male. The large male was sleeping but the young male was gnawing on something. As we came around to get a look we realized he had a wart hog piglet head he was chewing on. It was simultaneously fascinating and gross to watch.
Next on the hit parade, mongoose. Our only mongoose sighting previously was Marion had seen the tail of something go into a termite nest and our guide thought it was probably a mongoose. But here we saw 10-12 all running around. They are very cute.
Then another vehicle sighting. About 4 or 5 gathered around something so we went off to have a look. It’s vulture city. There is quite a gathering around. Then we see why. There’s a large wildebeest carcass on its side and a lion sitting nearby guarding it. He had already eaten but wasn’t ready to give up the rest of it to the scavengers. The scavengers were hanging around waiting for their chance. The lion would chase someone off one way and others would try to sneak up behind him. But he’d chase them off too. It looked like he had his work cut out for him. We left him to his task.
We got down near the river finally. And we knew from the other trucks from camp that nothing had happened at the river crossings yet. We’d been out awhile and we were pretty hungry and everyone had been holding in having to go to the bathroom for awhile. On the game drives the euphemism for a bush toilet break is “I need to check the tires”. We figured that out and got Francis to stop. It’s a pretty open plain. Francis found the only bush around for quite a ways. You orient the truck forward and everyone goes back behind and behind the bush. Then hope no other trucks come by. Okay for the men. A bit dicier for the women but everyone managed it. Although we all tried to minimize liquids in the afternoon.
Francis had not been too forthcoming about the plan and subtle hints about lunch were not getting through. So after the potty break, we got pretty adamant that it was time to stop for food. (We found out at dinner that a midday meal is not a normal part of the culture for Kenyans, so he can maybe be forgiven). Lunch in the bush is never just here, unwrap this sandwich and let’s move on. Which is actually what we would like. No, and I blame the British for this, it’s a whole elaborate affair. Tables and chairs are set up, with a tablecloth. There are plates and cups and cutlery and a whole buffet of food items. Fruits, scotched eggs, quiche, ham, bread and on and on. And of course the driver is expected to set all this up while we languish about. It’s uncomfortable, at least for me. And Francis was clearly not a big fan of the arrangement either.
But we paused and had a nice lunch by a tree while the panorama of animals revolved around us. In fact at one point a herd of wildebeest came up on the hill above us and Francis moved the truck to block the view of our little picnic, worried they might come over and try to help themselves. It seemed to work and they didn’t bother us.
From the radio we hear there is no big excitement happening at the river crossing yet so how about we go look for hippos? Hell, yes! We haven’t seen any hippos yet and I didn’t think we were going to. So off to the “Hippo pool” at a different area of the river. There is a set of rapids and as I’m looking at them I think, hey there’s a hippo in the middle of the rapids. No, stupid, it’s just a rock. Hippos sit in deep pools. But then we get closer and the rock opens its mouth. It is a hippo! He’s standing in the rapids, facing upstream, with his mouth open trying to get something to flow in. There’s some confusion on that point. It seems like it’s obviously fish he’s looking for but Francis said they don’t eat fish. They’re herbivores. So it was not clear what he was after, but he was definitely taking in big gushes of water with his mouth open hoping for something to get in there. Or maybe it just felt good. Other hippos are popping their heads up in the pools above and below the rapids. It was pretty exciting. And there was a crocodile or two to boot.
We get word that things might be happening down river crossing way. We get over there and the good news was nobody had made it across yet today so we haven’t missed anything. Some people had apparently been sitting there for quite some time so we considered ourselves lucky on that score. But not much was happening. The wildebeests were organizing around an area that wouldn’t be good to cross but we didn’t know any better. And Francis wasn’t particularly forthcoming about what was going to happen or when. So here we are well away from the river thinking we’re going to miss something. But the other trucks are back here too. The wildebeests would start to move and we’d say “they’re moving, yup, there they go, looks like they’re moving all right” and Francis would sit there (because there really was no reason to do anything) and we’d get all exasperated.
But then they really seemed to be making a move but headed towards an area where Francis said he’d never seen them cross and would be really bad if they did because the far bank is too high. But he dutifully headed down to the river and found a spot where we’d be able to see them if they did. Of course they didn’t. It is in fact a really bad spot to cross. But the area we went down to was filled with crocodiles so we got a chance to have a look at them. Big suckers. Like some of the gators we saw in Florida.
So after that little adventure we finally got the full story. We’re hanging back so we don’t spook them or make them nervous. When they start to head for the crossing, we’ll let them bunch up near the river then drive in and find a spot to watch from. So we felt a bit better at that point. But still nothing. It’s now about 4pm and we’ve had a very long day. We’ve invested a lot of time waiting for this crossing but we’ve all about had it. We try to give little hints to Francis. Well, I guess it’s not going to happen today. Will sure be nice to get back. Doesn’t work. Then more direct. “Ok, I think we’re done here”. Francis doesn’t want to go. Ok we’ll go he says. In, “just a few more minutes”. Time passes, the wildebeests head off somewhere. Well let’s go look at where they would have crossed. Well, ok. And it was actually interesting to see and a few more crocs to boot. Ok, so let’s go back. Right, but on the way back we should check the other crossing area just to be sure. Well, ok. We’re out here. And there is a group there that looks like it’s making a move. They’re heading for the river. There they go! Psych! Not gonna do it. We think they are spooked by a big white van that has parked on the other side of the crossing right where they would come across. Evil minivan people! In fact, as we were leaving a ranger came over to talk to them. The wildebeests make a few other feints but nothing. Meanwhile, we’re putting more and more pressure on Francis to call it a day. He finally relents. But it’s ‘we’ll go look at some other things and give them a chance’. AAAAAH!
We head back up the hill a bit and there’s a rhino being swarmed by trucks. We stop and have a look at him. It’s actually quite a rare sighting for the Mara since there are only a few there. But we had seen rhinos at Lewa so we weren’t as excited as I suppose we should have been.
And then there’s a hyena on the other side. So we stop and look at him too. Still nothing at the crossing. LET’S GO BACK TO CAMP NOW. Ok. Finally. Heading back we come across a massive field of wildebeests. They’re everywhere. Pretty impressive.
We’ve been watching some ominous clouds for most of the afternoon and just about 40 minutes from camp it starts to really come down. We break out the rain ponchos they provide. That works for a bit but the rain gets heavier and we’re getting doused. We put the flaps down on the sides of the truck but it’s coming in the front. So there’s something to put up for that too. We finally get everything in place and we’re staying dry. But it’s PORING and the truck is sloshing all over. But Francis gets us through it and by the time we get back to camp it’s stopped. In fact it doesn’t look like it even rained at camp. It was pretty fun actually. Probably not for Francis though.
We each had a camp shower (very nice, how do they get the water just the right temperature) and then on to dinner.
Another not so spectacular meal. Our least impressive for food so far. Weird orangish soup, lamb, beet root (ick), peas (ick) but a very nice chocolate mousse for dessert and Marion didn’t want hers so I got two. Yeah.
And another good night’s rest. I don’t know if it’s finally adjusting to the time change or something about here vs. other places but we’re definitely sleeping better. Although Marion said she was awoken in the night and was sure someone was walking through the tent. Very likely it was elephants outside but we’re convinced they unzipped the tent and came in to use the toilet. We told Calum that and he said ‘what, again?’ Pretty funny. Actually, because this is Marion we’re talking about here, she thought it might be Somali pirates coming in to check us out and she didn’t want to turn on the light or move in case they realized she was awake.
No game drive for us today. At least not this morning. We arranged a bush walk with Calum. They drove us out into the Mara a bit and then we were going to walk back. We weren’t far from camp. Maybe 2 km but we had no idea where we were and we just seemed to stop randomly after driving a bit. A little weird. Calum brought his rifle and also a Maasai came with us with a bow and 2 arrows. Just in case. Plus radios, a first aid kit, water and God knows what else in a backpack. You don’t just ‘go for a walk’ around here.
I asked Francis which way camp was (just in case our two guides had simultaneous heart attacks). He laughed but he pointed in the right direction so I figured assuming we didn’t get eaten on the way we could make our way back if something happened.
There are four rules of bush walking. One, walk in single file. This presents a lower profile to the animals and appears less threatening. Less threatening is a good thing. This of course assumes that you are walking towards the animal because if he sees you from the side… Two, stay behind the rifle. That is, never walk ahead of Calum. This is a good piece of advice because I imagine if it came right down to it, he’d shoot you and the lion in order to save everyone else. Three, follow all instructions immediately without question. When something is charging you it’s not the time to say ‘why do you want me to do that?’ (I suspect this rule is specifically for Americans. And maybe the French.) And four, the African classic rule, whatever you do, don’t run! This seems counterintuitive but actually makes a lot of sense. To a predator’s way of thinking, prey runs. If you are running, you are supposed to be chased and eaten. To a cape buffalo or elephant, running is a sign of weakness and they will chase you to show dominance. You’re best hope, which is not to say in any way that it will necessarily save you, is to stand your ground. Easy enough to say, harder, I suspect to put into practice. But luckily it was not an issue. Although after about 30 minutes of walking we saw a lion wander by right at the spot we had been let out of the truck. But luckily we were reasonably far away by that point.
The walk was great. Very fascinating. Calum pointed out interesting plants and trees, and told us various animal facts. We found a bush similar to sage that smelled just like it, one that smelled like Juicy Fruit gum, wild jasmine and wild asparagus, elephant pepper which apparently is good for treating intestinal problems, a plant that is an antiseptic and the tribes here make beds out of it when women deliver to help keep the baby healthy, etc. etc.
The most interesting fact like that though was when we came across some white scat. This was from hyenas that eat so much bone that they excrete calcium. Turtles eat it before they lay eggs to help make the shells stronger. And people apparently eat it (ewww) because it acts as an antacid, like Tums.
We’ve been fascinated by how the local people have figured out stuff like that. That this plant solves intestinal problems or this one reduces body odor or whatever. It’s obvious if you know the chemistry but it all had to be trial and error. Who thought, gee I’m having a little heart burn, I wonder what would happen if I ate a little hyena dung? I especially like the plant that is poisonous until you boil it, then it fixes some malady or other, I can’t remember. But ok, you try it the first time without boiling and it kills someone. You’re next thought is “I wonder if I boil it if it will work then”? And who do you talk into trying it that time?
We saw lots of Thompson gazelles running around. For some reason they were very active. Calum said they were acting like it was mating season but it wasn’t. He wasn’t sure what all the excitement was about. We saw two herds of elephants and had to kind of angle our walk to pass between them without anyone getting excited.
The rock in the area is all volcanic. There are no obvious volcanoes but apparently there’s one in Tanzania that likely spread some of it and also Mt Kenya was a volcano at one time although it’s pretty far north. The ground was very alkali (vs. up north where it’s very acidic). So it fosters growth of grass (vs. trees up north). So you get different types of animals.
The last stop was the watering hole. It was spring fed so it always has water. There were tracks from all sorts of animals. We saw two crowned cranes which are the Kenyan national bird. Very pretty with gold afros. And some obvious elephant tracks. We walked back into camp as breakfast was being served. Very civilized. Our driving buddies from yesterday are headed out today. Most of the people we’ve met are leaving today or have left. A new group of 11 Australians are arriving tomorrow. That should be interesting. The leader of that group is famous for having raised a lion in England in the 60’s that was then set free in Kenya by the same guy that did ‘Born Free’. Then apparently some years later he came back to look for him. He had been taken into a pride but when they guy called his name (which was Christian) the lion came over and put his paws around him and rubbed heads. There is apparently a YouTube video of this that has made him quite famous. We’ll need to check it out when we get back.
Adaptations we learned from Calum:
– Acacia trees have these big thorns to protect their leaves but it doesn’t seem to stop anybody. Elephants, giraffes, gazelles and gerenuks all eat them. But when they’re being browsed they give off Ethylene (or something like that) that tells the trees downwind there are browsers around. This causes the downwind trees to give off tannin which makes the leaves taste bad to the browsers. And even if they keep eating it makes it so they don’t digest well so it doesn’t do them any good.
– Up north, the acacia trees grow these pods that ants then move into and use as homes. They feed off the acacia and if anything browses the trees, they attack it to protect their homes. So it benefits the tree.
– Turtles eat the hyena dung to make their egg shells stronger
– Termites are ‘farmers’. They grow fungus that they eat. They build the mounds to provide the heat needed, add chimneys to regulate the temperature and dig down to the water table to have water and create the humidity that the fungus needs. Calum said they discovered a termite shaft in South Africa (while mining) that was 200 feet deep. Who thought this up? Some Isaac Newton termite? They’re tiny little insects with no brains. How’d they come up with something this sophisticated?
– Elephants knock over the acacia trees to eat the twigs. But the trees have a very long tap root and can continue to live on their sides (sometimes). The fallen trees cover up the grass allowing it to grow. So the elephants can then come back at some point, move the tree (other animals can’t, it’s too heavy) and eat the grass then let the grass grow under the branches again. We wondered about the intelligence of killing your food supply but it actually works out, if the elephants have enough area. It’s when they don’t that problems come up. We had the discussion about culling vs. ‘letting nature take its course’. Culling is obviously nasty business but if you don’t there are mass die offs, which is more nasty. Which you can maybe argue is ‘more natural’ but is only occurring because man has interfered. So who’s to say? They used to cull by killing selected animals but now do it by killing whole families because the elephants are so emotional and grieve it’s best if no one is left behind. More humane in a gruesome sort of way. Kenya does not cull so they get the mass die-offs.
– Lions and leopards – there is coloring on the backs of their ears and tails so that cubs following them can see them (black on back of ears, black on tip of tail for lion, white underside of tail for leopards), but prey in front don’t see it.
– Wart hogs raise their tails when they run so piglets can see them above the tall grass (and not because their skin is too tight)
– Some termites have no melanin so they create a mud covering that they can be under to eat and not get ‘sunburned’
While on the walk we asked Calum about visiting the Maasai village. He said we could but it’s basically an exercise in letting them sell to you and he finds that experience unpleasant. As do we and we’d already experienced it some. So we passed up the cultural opportunity. We never did get into a Maasai village. Ah well.
We had lunch with 3 lads from Ireland who arrived today. One worked for Intel in Folsom. Small world. They had climbed Mt Kilimanjaro prior to coming to our camp. It sounded like quite the ordeal. Altitude sickness is the problem, not the climbing. 4 days to go up. 1 to come down (was supposed to be two). One was a big Lion King fan. He’d seen it twice plus the movie 4 or 5 times. He had a bit of the Irish poet in him.
We did the evening game drive. We saw lion cubs (twice), and jackal pups. Marion, with her keen eye spotted a small rodent. About hamster sized. She got Francis to stop so we could look at him and get his picture. He was a bit amused. Then embarrassed as other trucks came over to see what we had found and he had to tell them that the silly Americans wanted to look at the mouse. But he was cute!
We were going to go sit by the crossing again tomorrow to give the wildebeests another chance but cooler heads (who don’t like peeing behind a bush) prevailed. So it’s going to be a morning game drive and an afternoon walk for our last day in the bush.
There was a much smaller crowd at dinner. Just six of us plus the hosts — Neil and Diana (who is getting on our nerves), Roy and MaryAnn the new couple from Holland and us. There was a lively conversation at dinner about homeopathy. Sophie is licensed and has practiced for some time. She swears by it. Calum is not so sure
Francis thought if the lions had a kill there would be some roaring in the night but they must not have since there wasn’t any. In fact we never heard a lion roar the whole time we were in Africa. The only noise was the wind which kicked up pretty hard and at one point knocked a mirror off the dressing table when the tent wall hit it enough times. A nice loud crash in the middle of the night (it didn’t break so no bad luck).
We’re definitely sleeping better. This was the first morning where they came to wake us and I wasn’t already awake. I suppose that’s a good sign. It was still windy in the morning and it’s chilly for the game drive. The fleece isn’t cutting it and I ended up wrapping myself in a blanket as well.
There seem to be lots of antelope and zebras out this morning. We saw two topi trying to mark the same territory. They have glands on their necks they use. One would rub his neck on the ground. Then the other would come over, paw at the ground to get rid of the scent and rub himself. A few minutes later, here would come the first one and he’d do the same thing. This went on for some time and didn’t seem to be stopping even after we left. It was going to make for a long day for these guys if they didn’t find some way to resolve it.
We came across one of the lionesses that we had seen the night before. No cubs with her. Just having a rest. She got up and walked past us and back towards the rocks where the cubs were last night. They look so amazingly powerful and move so easily. And there we sat in the truck about 10 feet from her and yet (probably stupidly) feeling very safe. Francis says we don’t taste good to lions so they’re not interested. But still. It wouldn’t take much and it would be over in seconds.
While we were watching the lions we noticed a group of vultures at the top of the hill. We went up to investigate. There was quite a vulture party going on. 10 or 12 of them plus a Marabou stork. There is a vulture hierarchy. A large type (can’t remember the name) that gets first dibs, then a number of varieties of small ones. Then the stork which can break open the bones. The head honcho vulture was feeding on a wildebeest head while the lesser ones were trying to sneak a bite here and there while he was busy. He didn’t like that much and was doing a decent job of chasing everyone off. But it makes for a stressful lunch.
As we left the vultures we passed a male ostrich. This was a common ostrich (not Somali) with red/pink legs and neck vs. the blue legs/neck we saw up north. He was just wandering around not doing much. But boy are they big. There is no reason for a bird to be that big. Unless he lives on Sesame Street it is wholly unnecessary.
We went to look for the lion cubs and found them. The group of three. Mom was on her back and there were three scrambling around trying to nurse. There was one who was having trouble getting through but he ultimately prevailed. Heading out from there we came across a hyena den. 4 or 5 hyenas lounging around. They looked full and sleepy. It must have been a good night for them.
We passed through some acacia trees and smelled the tannin that Calum was talking about, released to keep the browsers away. We saw why shortly after. Elephants. One big matriarch by herself but then farther along a whole family. A huge bull, some other large ones and then elephants in assorted sizes all the way down to practically household size. A very cute little baby who was peeking in and out of momma’s legs.
We thought we’d give the leopards one more shot and headed down to Leopard Gulch (where I had seen one a few days ago). It’s ideal leopard country. A reasonably deep gulch with rocks on the side and some good sized trees. Perfect for hiding and sitting out to sun yourself. There is a beautiful tree at the entrance to the gulch that as Calum said, just begs to have a leopard in it but he’s never seen one there. He was going to get a stuffed one and put it up there.
We had no luck. At least with the leopards. What we did find was another hyena den and this one had puppies! They were fairly hard to see. They’re all black when they’re little but we managed to see their heads poking around now and again. The other new animal we found was the hyrax. Small furry mammals that live in the rocks. Apparently they are the closest relative to elephants which is odd. But they have tusk-like incisors and their gestational period is quite long (compared to other rodents), their digestion is the same and some other stuff. Needless to say they look nothing like elephants but who knows. Distant relatives I guess. They probably won’t get invited over for Christmas.
We also discovered a very colorful lizard. Red on the top and purple farther down. He was bobbing his head up and down which in red/purple lizard means ‘hey baby, come here often?’. Francis told us that these lizards are the kind that when attacked their tails come off.
We stopped for a bush breakfast in a very nice little valley where we had some sort of mystery egg thing and very excellent banana bread before heading on again.
The last stop was down to the river. On the way we passed the Maasai village, which I must admit does not look like much. Lots of cattle (they are herders) and a big stick corral. A few folks wandering around. Not my idea of a good time.
We got down to the river and there were hippos galore. All we could see were the heads and noses. They’d pop up and snort, take a breath, then drop down again. It was like hippo whack-a-mole. Although I wouldn’t recommend whacking a hippo on the head. They can be nasty. And you’d need quite a big whacker.
Along the river we came across an enterprising Maasai who was selling jewelry. Francis told us not to buy from him, that if we wanted something to buy it from the store near the village. They are trying to discourage the Maasai coming out and hustling the tourists, plus the red outfits scare away the animals. We felt sorry for him as we did for everyone who tried to sell us something. But we didn’t buy.
The ride back from the river was pretty uneventful but when we got back the Aussies were arriving. 11 people on a tour run by John Rendall the famous lion releaser. Back in the late 60’s he somehow acquired a lion he named Christian. He worked with the ‘Born Free’ people to release him into the wild. He came back a year later to see if the lion would remember him and he did. There’s YouTube video of the encounter. Anyway, we met them all at lunch. Some very nice folks it seems. We talked to one woman who does research on rock drawings and had been in the US Southwest a few times. We met famous John and he definitely gives off a (self generated) aura of mini-celebrity. I think he’s been milking this Christian the lion thing for some time. But whatever works for you. We weren’t buying his shtick which I don’t think he liked very much. He was a bit pompous for our taste.
We did another bush walk instead of a drive this evening. It’s really a different feel to walk around the bush. Even though you don’t really see as many animals up close, you still see plenty and Calum has all sort of interesting stories and facts to tell. This time we walked from camp to the truck instead of the other way around. We headed down to the water hole where zebras and wildebeests were hanging out. They ran back a way when they saw us but still hung around a bit. There were also Tommys (Thompson gazelles) and Impala. We headed into an area of bushes that apparently were actually trees that no one can figure out why they haven’t gotten any bigger. There had been a fire that burned down all the mature trees. The small bush/trees reappeared shortly thereafter but have never gone beyond that. Some mystery cycle that needs to happen that hasn’t happened yet.
We learned about dung beetles. There are 3 kinds. The kind who make a ball of dung from elephant (or elly’s as Calum calls them) and rolls them off somewhere and lays eggs in it (these are the ones you always see on TV), there’s the kind that lays eggs in the dung where the other one has carved out a ball, and since there’s one in every crowd, there’s the one that steals the ball from the first one, thus cutting out the middle man.
At one point while we were walking, we heard a fairly large rustle in the bushes to our right but after staring over there for some time we couldn’t see anything. The Maasai with us said ‘simba” which means lion but we didn’t see one (which in this case was good). It turns out the Maasai had been attacked by a lion when he was younger, surprising a mother with her cub. He had a couple of nasty scratches on his arm that he showed us.
We went into Hyena (Lair, Paradise, something, can’t remember) but no hyenas. Although we did spot a bush hyrax. Then up a hill and viola, our truck and they’ve set out a table and chairs and started a campfire and it’s time for sundowners. Being the party poopers we are, we had sodas. They were heating up a pot on the fire and I couldn’t figure out why but then they dumped in popcorn! Cool, campfire popcorn (that the poor guy had to keep swishing around using a towel to hold the pot). Very good corn though. We were up on a hill overlooking a vast vista. Off on one horizon there was rain coming down in a couple of places. And to the right a pretty good sunset. All in all a nice end to our safari drives. Maybe the Brits were on to something after all.
Then back to the camp and dinner with the Aussies. We sat around the campfire before dinner and heard the stories from the Aussie’s drive. John, the leader was doing his “I am so smart” dance, pontificating on various subjects. He didn’t tell us anything we didn’t know and some things that were wrong, and it was interesting that after giving a very definitive answer about how old lion cubs need to be before a new male won’t kill them (1 year), when Calum walked up a short time later, he asked him the question as if he had no idea. It turns out he was right but it was interesting to see the total change in demeanor when someone with more knowledge was around.
There was interesting dinner conversation about female circumcision. Not your usual dinner chat I must admit. But a very interesting perspective from Sophie, the camp host. She said it’s actually the women that are still pushing for it, and for no particularly good reason other than it’s deeply embedded in the culture and what they ‘should’ do. But also she felt it was a way for them to demonstrate that they were strong and could handle pain. The Maasai culture is based on fearlessness and ability to withstand pain. The men go through a number of rituals to demonstrate this (including being circumcised at 15 or so and it’s shameful if they aren’t stoic about it). So she thought it was a way for the women to show they were strong too. We all agreed it was still a terrible thing to do but it gave us a different look at it vs. thinking it was being forced on them by the men.
One more night in a tent and it’s hotels from here on in. We can shower whenever we want, charge the electronics whenever we want, and maybe even a little internet and TV. But it’s been a really nice break in the meantime. It’s amazing how fast a day can go by when you really aren’t doing anything.
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