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A very pretty sunrise this morning. It’s great seeing the light come up over the hills from in bed. We’re all packed and ready to go. One benefit of the 33 lb limit is there’s not much to do to pack. The camera gear all has its place and tends to stay there. So you stuff a shirt or two and your toiletries into the duffel bag and off you go.
We had a nice breakfast and a chat with the couple from DC who are leaving today too. Marion made a great drawing of ‘Portland’ (a tree, river and sky) that we put into the slot with our tip money. Issy was very touched by that and said they would find it and put it up on the employees’ bulletin board. Murray and Issy are really nice people and I hope Lewa works out well for them. We got a picture of Treacle and a few purchases in the gift shop (some bone buttons, a luggage tag) and it was time to go.
We’re driving to the next camp rather than flying. We get to ride in an enclosed vehicle today versus the open sided vehicles we’ve been doing our game drives in. A Mercedes truck. And a friend was coming along too. We never got his name and he didn’t say much, at least to us. He sat up front with Daniel and they chatted in whatever language they speak. Swahili most likely. We haven’t been too good about learning names, language, place names or anything for some reason.
We headed back on the same road again although it wasn’t until we crossed the river by the quarry where we had seen the elephant that I realized it was the same road. It didn’t look familiar until then. Maybe I just thought we were going a different way. We stopped at the maintenance yard for gas. It was interesting to see that. The lodge doesn’t give you a sense of what the inner workings of the conservancy are like. They do a good job of masking the infrastructure from you. Everything is behind the scenes. You got a better sense of what it took to keep things rolling in the maintenance yard. Stacks of materials, various work sheds, Trucks and tractors going everywhere. They were going off to fix the road somewhere.
The girl who pumped our gas had a really radiant smile and was wearing a pretty necklace. I convinced Marion to ask to take her picture (I thought it would be weird if I did). She agreed but then wanted to see it. She said it wasn’t very good so I took another one. She was happy with that one. She seemed to really like that we had taken it.
We headed off again when we saw three warthogs running and stopped to look at them. Daniel said they are very dumb. If a predator comes after them, they will run away, then after awhile forget why they are running and stop to feed again. Then chomp. Oops. You would think that sort of behavior would evolve out of a species. But we thought it was pretty funny. It reminded me of when I go in a room then can’t remember why. But at least when that happens a lion doesn’t eat me.
We drove through the park on many of the same roads we had been on before, then left the park. Some more dirt roads for awhile but finally we hit the paved highway and it was time to put the seat belts on. It seemed odd after all the bouncing around we’d been doing but I guess since we’d be going faster they were needed. Or more likely they were always required but there are police on the main highway.
The drive down the highway was pretty amazing. There are people along it everywhere. Walking, riding bikes, motorcycles and some cars/trucks. It’s clearly a main artery of life in the area. We passed hut after hut and hovel after hovel. Thatched roof circular huts that held whole families. Corrugated metal lean-to’s that were the local shops and hotels. People out in front sitting. People just standing by the side of the road. We saw a mother walking with 2 or 3 children in tow, plus one on her back. People with things on their heads or slung from their heads. Every picture you’ve ever seen of Africa. One oddity was it seemed like every ‘hotel’ was also a butcher. That seemed a bit ominous. We later found out that ‘hotel’ in Swahili means more of a cafe so the butcher part makes a bit more sense I guess.
We stopped at a ‘gallery’. I think it was a friend of Daniel’s since it definitely felt like one of those ‘and now stop here to buy something’ stops on guided tours. But they had a bathroom which at that point was very important (as I said, a theme of the trip). We decided to pick out a small thing to buy (a small wooden hippo) as a thank you for the bathroom and the guy also convinced us to buy some note cards. “I give you good price”. Nothing is marked. So we have no idea what he’s going to say. He says 10,000. Which is shillings, which I think is $10 then realize it’s $100. Whoa. You gotta be kidding me. “But it’s rosewood and the cards are batik”. Well, luckily we don’t have 10,000 Kenyan so we start to back off. “Ok, special price for you $9000” You’re not in the ballpark buddy. I make the mistake of figuring out how much we do have. Turns out it’s 5000 and change. Which we offer and he reluctantly accepts. About three times what we probably should have paid but as I told Marion, it was worth $2000 for the bathroom alone. (We found out later at Elephant Pepper camp that if someone says $300 you should offer $3. So we probably paid 10 times what we should have but we helped the local economy and the hippo is kind of cool.)
As we were leaving the sales guy came out to the truck to ask for our email address “so we can keep in touch”. Ok… I guess. We give it to him and proceeded to tell us he’s going to mail us to ask for help. He wants to become a guide but he has no money. We can send him some. Putting 20 years of parenting skills to work I said “we’ll see”. Which every child knows and hopefully he does too means not on your life. After all, you just took us for a significant ride for our wooden hippo.
On down the road. I’m fighting the urge to take pictures because you are supposed to ask before taking someone’s pictures (Daniel pointed this out again when I took one of a motorcycle carrying milk). So I didn’t get any pictures of what is a very picturesque slice of Kenyan life. The clothes were so colorful, as were the buildings (since they are made of piece parts). Children waved as we went by. We passed someone carrying potatoes on a scooter. He must have had 100 lbs worth in 4 big bags. But best of all was the truck coming the other way with probably 20 people in back and another 8-10 sitting cross-legged on the top of the cab! Here we are making sure our seat belts are on and these guys are going 50 mph down the highway sitting on the top of a truck cab. We asked Daniel if that was legal. He said no but the police presence was very lax in the area. We had passed a checkpoint earlier. He said they would stop and get down before they got there.
We left the paved road and headed to the Suruni camp. 15k of dirt roads but this area is very arid and dry and the ground is pretty dusty/soft. So generally speaking the road was in much better shape than in Lewa. Occasionally it would drop down through a dry river bed and get a bit interesting. It was fascinating to see the ground change color dramatically in a small area. First it was a bright orange, then yellow then greyer. We’re up against the mountains here. The views are a lot more interesting than at Lewa.
We catch a glimpse of the camp and it’s up on top of a granite hill. A very dramatic position. We round a corner and the dirt road becomes a path up the rock. Actually not a path, just a flat area of the rock itself. You gotta love these 4 wheel drive vehicles. It’s steep, and fairly flat as a rock face goes but yikes! I can’t image coming back down (guess we’ll find out shortly). And forget it if it’s wet. But the Mercedes just eats it up. Slowly and with great lurches from side to side, but straight up the rock.
We meet the manager, Daryl, and 3 Samburu natives in full red/bead regalia. It’s much hotter here. Very noticeable. You go up a little hill and through a doorway and a vast vista opens up. Down below about 500 feet or more is the road we came up. Mountains off in the distance stretching from east to west. You can see forever. We get walked out to our room. Number 5 again and last one on the end again. It’s more of a hike than Lewa and at higher elevation. We’re breathing a little heavier. We go past what looks like a very lovely pool down the hill. We come in the door of our ‘cabin’ and first of all it’s huge. A big living/dining room with no wall on one side. It’s open to the outside with a deck off of it built into a huge rock. The bedroom also has no wall and is pointing off in a different direction with a deck off of it that looks over the vast expanse. And a large bath. It’s awesome. I wonder where the little people are staying tonight.
But first the important things. We washed a few socks and underwear in the sink and set them to dry. Then off to lunch where we met Mick and Jen, an English couple from Oxfordshire. It sounded like they’ve been coming to Africa for ages. Just like the people in Lewa. Where do these people get the money for this? Or did we grossly overpay? They say that once Africa gets into you, you get hooked. I guess it’s true. We talked about all these different camps in different countries they’d been to. Mick is a bit of a character (aren’t all the English)?
It was a nice lunch then relaxing in the room where it’s now getting quite warm. I hope it cools down in the evening. Mick described a pretty amazing game drive they did this morning. Compared to Lewa it sounded like about 10x the animals. But it’s a bit of a hike to get there (about an hour). So we’re not looking forward to that. But we’re going to give it a go.
It’s a similar vehicle to the other place but a Land Rover this time not a Toyota. Open front, wind shield pushed down. It’s dry and dusty. They don’t get much water here.
Our guide is a Samburu tribesman named Sumoro. And with him (as always) is Emanuel our ‘tracker’. We learned later Emanuel is a ‘warrior’ and Sumoro is a ‘junior elder’. There’s a hierarchy in the Samburu tribe. Child->Herder->Warrior->Junior elder->Senior elder. You’re a ‘child’ until you’re old enough to watch the goats and cows (about 4 or 5!). Then a herder until you’re old enough to be a warrior (about 15). You’re a warrior until you get married at which point you become a junior elder. And you become a senior elder when your child becomes a junior elder.
We see dik-diks on the way out (they’re everywhere). They are the smallest of the antelopes, about the size of a beagle. They’re very skittish and remind us of rabbits. A lot more river crossings than at Lewa but no water. Looks like it would be hairy if there was. One benefit of not having water though is you can see where you’re supposed to drive. The river bottoms are sandy and soft. The trucks are heavy and sink into the sand. So they’ve laid a row of sandbags and rocks that you’re supposed to drive over so you don’t get stuck. I don’t know how you see these when the water is running.
We saw a Somali ostrich. They have blue legs/neck instead of pink and are rarer. Two young lads just turning black. They are brown when they’re young. And our first Gerenuk. Gerenuk is a Somali word for giraffe-necked. And they are. They look like the creatures making the clones in the later Star Wars movie (long neck little head if you didn’t see it). They’re the ones that stand up on their back legs to get to the leaves. It’s an evolutionary thing. Gazelles eat the low branches. Giraffes eat the high branches so they adapted to eat the ones in the middle. They get all their water needs from the leaves. They don’t drink. Which helped them to survive since there’s been a bad drought in the area for a few years and it’s killed off most of the grazers (gazelle, buffalo, etc.) as well as a good chunk of the native’s cattle.
In fact, one of the reasons the conservancy exists is because of the cattle die-off. The land is owned by the Samburu people. They created the conservancy and charge the safari camps (and people like us) to use it. They get revenue and the animals and land are (reasonably well) protected. It’s a pretty good deal.
We came across a herd of elephants that came from our right and crossed right in front of the truck. Probably 10 or 12 of them. They’re big and surprisingly fast (because as the guide said, one step for them is about 2 or 3 for us so they cover ground quickly, even when walking slowly).
They were just sort of meandering along haphazardly like a herd of sheep. But as we started to pull away from them we heard them trumpeting. We thought they were mad at the little ones because they seemed to be trumpeting at them, but instead herded them together and surrounded them facing outwards because they thought there was danger. I’d heard about this behavior but it was really fascinating to see it. They seemed to just be wandering aimlessly like the gazelle with no real coordination between them, then suddenly you realize they can communicate and have initiated an action plan and you really see their intelligence. Then you start thinking, hmmm. 12 of them, 4 of us. Many of them are bigger than our truck. Hmm…
We saw an Oryx. Just the one. Then not much else. Everyone had gone home. We took one more pass at the elephants and came back. We had our sundowners (we’re so bad at this) just before camp, It’s so uncomfortable. They get out chairs and a table, and set up for drinks. Then we have our bottle of water. And we have to make conversation, which we suck at.
But we actually had a pretty good talk. Our guide told us about the conservancy and how the Samburu had decided to do it to get funds and to help the animals and it’s been good for all. He has two kids. When he went to school it was very far away and he went off and stayed there for 12 years. It was a boarding school. He was only home a month a year. Now the school is in the village so his son doesn’t have to be away. That’s really nice for him.
We and the English couple are the only people in the camp right now. So we had dinner with them and Darryl again. The guy is really into insects as it turns out. He’s been going around his room finding interesting things, especially after they spray at night. He’s an odd duck for sure. They’ve done a lot of traveling. 20 times to Africa, plus India and other places. He was in the international division of whatever company he worked for.
They do that thing some English do where they ask a question after a statement. They’ll say “we did this, didn’t we”, or, “this is blue idn’t it?” It’s kind of funny. He talked about Gaddaffi a bit, who is now hiding in Zimbabwe where our host is from. He’s not a fan of Gaddafi or the Zimbabwe dictator (but then who is really). We talked a bit about the diamond trade and blood diamonds. Controlled by the Jews and the Dutch per Mick. He’s not a fan of them either. Or “Pakis”, the Pakistanis who drive all the cabs (except for the one from his town who takes him to the airport, who he was okay with).
As we started to get the gist of where the conversation was headed, we begged off when coffee came because we had to get up early. It’s very warm in the room. And once again, like at Lewa, cinder block pillows. Doesn’t anyone like a soft pillow in this country?
Morning came pretty early. Marion heard the guy at the door and woke me to meet him. There’s an actual door at this place. It’s not a tent. I had to find my glasses and some pants to let him in. A game drive didn’t seem like such a good idea at the time. But it turned out to be really great. We really like our guide Sumoro. He didn’t make us feel awkward and uncomfortable like the previous guy. The silences didn’t seem uncomfortable. The sky was streaks of pinks and purples, darker and getting lighter from left to right as the sun came up from behind the hills/mountains. From the lodge you look out to mountains on the left and right with a long vista in between. It was very pretty but I didn’t get a good shot of it unfortunately. It was still pretty dark.
We headed down the rock again. (We found out at the end of the drive that the path on the rock is more obvious now because they’ve been driving it but nobody ever made a ‘road’. They just found a path up and stuck to it. Gotta love Land Rovers). We hadn’t gone far when we saw a blob in the road. It turned out it was a spotted hyena! They’re nocturnal and it’s very rare to see them. Quite a treat. We headed down the same road as the night before. It hadn’t improved. We hadn’t gone far though before we started seeing dik-diks. But not too much excitement until we got back to the area where we were the night before.
Our intrepid spotters noticed lions off the road a ways under a tree. But as we spotted them, the ‘minivan people’ were driving up. Let me pause to describe the minivan people. There are two types of tours in Kenya. There are the locals, like we’re using. You go to a camp, local people live there and do the drives. Then you go to the next camp and the same thing happens with locals in the new area.. The other option is a tour company that takes you from place to place. These are the minivan people. You hook up with them in say Nairobi and they drive you from location to location so you can ‘see it all’. Per Sumoro, they are just drivers, not trained guides like the locals. They don’t have respect for the animals or the local people or area and are generally not well thought of. We saw some examples of why later.
But at the moment, what we realized is our guide was going to take us ‘off road’ to see the lions but didn’t want to do it in front of the vans. Either because it’s not allowed or they would follow. We poked around a bit hoping they would leave but they didn’t. So we moved on so as not to give away the lions were there. In fact, Emanuel, our ‘tracker’ who is a shy Sumburo warrior of about 22 who doesn’t speak much English, put a devilish little smile on his face and put his finger to his lips to tell us not to say anything. Very cute.
Farther up the road we came upon a group of about 3 vehicles and it turned out to be a leopard in a tree, with a kill. It’s very rare to see leopards. But they had the place surrounded and we didn’t get a very good view. The van people communicate by radio and had called all their friends. There were 7 or 8 vans there after awhile. So we decided we’d come back figuring the leopard would stay there since he had a kill. But we started to get a sense for what our guide was saying about the minivans. They just swarm and tend to frighten and upset the animals (and us).
We saw lots of antelopes and gazelles (and learned the differences). I can now at least distinguish an impala from a gazelle and possibly multiple gazelle types. We saw a pretty large group of Oryx. We had only seen them solitary up until that point. And Gerenuk’s doing that standing and eating thing they do. I just love that. What a great adaptation. When they stare at you they look just like Sheldon on Big Bang theory. Same long neck and facial expression.
We gave it some time then swung back around to find the lions again. The van people had not discovered them. Sumoro took us ‘off road’ which you’re not supposed to do and drove us over to them (carefully so as not to spook them). Two females and two little cubs plus a 3 yr old or so, hanging out in the shade under a tree. The little ones were so cute.
Once back on the road (and I always use that term loosely), we passed a male ostrich who was still sitting on the nest waiting for the missus to get back. We had seen him there the day before. The female sits on the nest during the day because her coloring is brown and she blends in with the ground in daylight, and the male sits on it at night, since he’s black. But he was still stuck on the nest. She must have been having quite a time somewhere because it had been awhile now. It might have been my imagination but he definitely had a “why I oughta…” look on his face.
We started heading towards the river and came across a big group of vultures. Clearly something had been eaten there recently. Most of them were just standing around but a few had a few bones and tidbits left. Our guide was speculating whether the lions we had just seen might have killed something there.
Next on the hit parade were warthogs. 3 or 4 in a group. We related the story our previous guide had told us about them not being too smart and Sumoro agreed. He said that’s why they generally get eaten. Sorry wart hogs
We saw a van stopped and went to investigate and discovered more lions! A second pride with a couple of females and cubs. This group had apparently come over from across the river and were ‘poaching’ on the other pride’s territory. Our guide believed these were actually the ones that had killed whatever the vultures were feeding on. The pride on the side of the river we were on apparently had a very large territory. There were two prides on the other side and a smaller area. So they decided to come over and see what they could get away with. He thought they’d likely go back over the river before tomorrow before any trouble brewed.
We watched them for a bit then sure enough 2 or 3 more minivans came screaming up with people shouting and oohing and the lions immediately got up and left. Thanks a lot. Sumoro definitely does not like these guys but as it’s a national park, there’s nothing he can do about it. But we figured, with all the minivans down here with the lions, it was our chance to go back and check out the leopard, which we did, but he was gone. Spooked by the minivan hoards. Sumoro said it was unusual for a leopard to take a kill up a tree, then haul it down and move somewhere else. It’s a lot of work and stress on them. So he must have been pretty riled. Luckily I got one decent picture of him the first go round. But it was the final straw and we now hated the minivan people too.
So time to head back down to the river and have our breakfast. It’s a fairly wide river but it looked pretty shallow. It’s the only water anywhere around. All the tributaries that we crossed to get there were dry. As we got to the river edge we saw a couple of crocodiles up on the shore. Mick had told us that one of them had been eating a giraffe carcass the day before and we saw the bones.
We stopped for breakfast by the river. And as we sat and started to eat we noticed we were being stalked by monkeys. First we saw one, then two, then maybe half a dozen. It got a bit eerie after a bit. You’d look left and nothing there. Then again and there’s a monkey sitting there watching you. Where’d he come from? Then you look behind you and there’s another one that wasn’t there before. Now one on the right and now two on the left. A bit closer this time. But turns out they are pretty skittish and didn’t come much closer. Not like the monkeys in Costa Rica that were more of the Somali pirate temperament. We weren’t allowed to feed them because that WOULD make them like the Costa Rican monkeys. They looked pretty sad though, and hungry, as Marion said. (Note, to Marion, all animals, and many small children ‘look hungry’, pretty much all the time)
After lunch we drove along the river. We saw Marabou storks. Sumoro called them ‘the undertakers’ and that’s just what they looked like. Especially from a distance. They look like they have suits on and are standing hunched shouldered with their arms behind their backs. They’re very ugly birds, which we commented on. Sumoro said ‘yes, very ugly but well dressed’. After the storks we saw a ‘tower’ of giraffes. Apparently that’s what you call a group of them. It makes sense I suppose. We had seen a fair number of giraffes but never in as big a group. One of the giraffes was pregnant.
Next down the river was a real highlight. A large group of elephants, maybe 20, all ages, wallowing in the mud getting their daily baths. And they really seemed to be enjoying it. It really felt like take the family down to the river for bath time. Okay, everybody roll around. All done? Let’s go. You could really sense an intelligence and a family bond you don’t feel with say giraffes.
Just down from the elephants was a ‘bachelor pad’. A big group of male Oryx, gazelle, impala and wart hogs. All the stray males apparently hanging out together. I guess it was guy’s night out.
We made one more pass looking for the leopard but no luck. But as we were about to make the turn for home, here comes Mrs Ostrich down the road. Finally getting home after being out partying. I’m sure her husband was going to have some choice words for her. She seemed to be swaying a bit from side to side. Still had her buzz on I guess.
And last but not least, as we were heading back, we found a large group of Oryx and baby Oryx in the area near the lodge. All in all a great day for wildlife.
As we hit the last river crossing though, trouble. A truck had slipped off the sandbags and there were 8 or 10 guys digging and what not trying to get it unstuck. Our two choices were to wait for them to get it out of there or risk the sand crossing. Sumoro kicked in the 4 wheel drive and managed to get us across, sloshing and sliding a bit. We praised him for his driving skills (and were glad we didn’t have to sit there, it was getting warm).
The truck was from a French film crew that was staying at the lodge tonight. They’re shooting a scene (just one we think) in the area but it’s quite a production. Lots of people and equipment. Good for the lodge since other than the crew we were the only guests today.
We got up the hill and I asked Sumoro if I could take his picture. He agreed. I took it through the passenger window but then he had me come around and take the other side. I guess that’s his ‘good side’. I got one of Emanuel (our tracker) as well.
The Frenchies had arrived in force. But we haven’t interacted much with them. They set up a separate table for us at lunch and we had a nice chat with Darryl the manager. The Frenchies look like you’d expect the ‘talent’, directors and the other bigwigs to look. Like LA types only speaking French. Which of course makes them seem even more pompous.
We had decided to skip the afternoon game drive. We’re both about game-drived out at the moment and still have 4 days in the Mara. It was quite warm so we decided to hang by the pool. Marion got a massage (one free with the room). We discovered it was only one free when I went and asked for one too. Then bailed when I found out it was $70. I felt a little bad but ah well. The pool was nice. Cool which felt great. 3 of the Frenchies showed up and proceeded to strip down to their underwear and go for a swim. Why not I guess. A few more showed up later as well. They didn’t seem to want to talk to us and we did our best to ignore them too.
We had decided to do dinner in the room just to lower the stress level a little bit. So we were hanging out in the room for the afternoon and evening. There seemed like an endless parade of people coming by. The people to close the screens. Someone bringing the laundry. Someone to set the table for dinner. You’re supposed to tip at the end but everyone seemed to stand awkwardly expecting one (but didn’t get one).
Then the power failed. Marion had a fan on to cool things down while she napped and it stopped. We thought maybe we had used all the juice since the camps are solar powered. We were feeling bad about that. But then later things came back on. So then we were thinking maybe the Frenchies were trying to plug in their hair dryers or something. It went off again and someone came by and did a few things and it came back on. Then off again. It was getting dark and we were beginning to get worried because all we had was a small (and randomly failing) flashlight I had brought with us, and a small battery powered lantern but I wasn’t sure how good the batteries in it were. I finally walked down to the lodge (which is no short distance) to see if this was going to keep happening and maybe get another flashlight. But they assured me it was all worked out. They had added some kind of new heater and had the power setting on it wrong and it kept shorting out.
As we waited for dinner we watched the geckos. Once it got dark the bugs came out and once the bugs came out the geckos appeared. We had at least four on our ceiling. Two around each light. One was really good. He was my hero. He was grabbing bugs left and right. He was the smallest one which seemed odd but maybe he was the hungriest. But this other one. He was pathetic. Bugs were walking right past him. Practically bumping into his head. Nothing. I don’t know how he managed. Maybe some sort of gecko meals on wheels program.
So anyway the lights stayed on and dinner came. But not all at once– one course at a time. A gentle knock on the door and a tall Samburu man would say ‘hallo”. In he’d come with a tray of something — lasagna and rolls to begin with. Thank you and off he’d go. We’d sit and eat. Then a bit later — knock knock hallo and he’s back with more. 3 courses. After the 2nd one we realized he has to haul this stuff 200 yards or whatever it is from the kitchen to our cabin. But I guess if you’re used to walking 15 miles to work (or whatever) it’s not a big deal.
Dessert came and it was tiramisu, which is not a fan favorite of either one of us. We had it at Lewa as well but it was much milder. This was strong and neither one of us could eat it. So now what to do. Leave it? Too embarrassing. Plus the ants would get it. Throw it off the balcony? Possibly but the cabin is all closed in now for the night. So last resort, flush it down the toilet. Sad, I know. We had nightmares that it would somehow gum up the works and we’d have to explain why we were flushing tiramisu down the toilet. But it all went down fine. Of course we still had to put the plates in the mini-fridge so the ants wouldn’t attack the crumbs. So I suppose we could have put the whole thing in the fridge but somehow that didn’t occur to us at the time.
As the evening wore on it became increasingly clear that the room was filling with bugs. Lots of fluttering and we’re starting to get bitten. So time to hit the escape pod (the mesh enclosed bed). But oh the array of bugs attached to it. Two particularly huge things with great long antenna the size of your thumb. Ick. We quickly got ready for bed and ducked inside for cover. Monster boy was just above my head. On the outside, but still. I was going to flick him off but he was right over my bag and I was afraid I’d take him on to Elephant Pepper Camp. But finally I couldn’t stand it and gave him a good flick which I hoped would cause him to travel some distance and clear the bags which apparently it did.
We’re headed for the Mara tomorrow. Another rickety plane ride. Sumoro is driving us to the airport and we’ll take one more look for the leopard on the way.
We got clever and set our own alarm for 10 minutes before they were going to come for us so we didn’t have that awkward moment where we finally hear them at the door and have to get out of bed, negotiate the netting, get some pants on and open the door for them. As it turned out, Marion was up about a half an hour early anyway but it was still a good idea.
We got everything packed and headed up for breakfast. We found out from Darryl that the French movie is not a documentary like we thought. It’s just a regular film. One of the stars is Diana Kruger who was in Inglorious Bastards. She is hanging around looking for coffee but I’m faced away from her and I don’t want to turn and gawk. I got a glimpse of her in the mirror. It didn’t look like she was prepared to be up this early. Darryl asked her how she slept. She responded “not well”. She didn’t elaborate and he (wisely I think) didn’t pursue it.
Sumoro and Emanuel are taking us to the airport with a game drive on the way. We say our goodbyes to everyone. Marion got another picture of the Samburu tribesman and down the rock we went.
This morning instead of a hyena we were met with a jackal. Very cool. And giraffes up the wazoo. We saw 3 big (5-7 strong) herds. We got down near the river and saw a herd of elephants heading down for their morning wallow. And Grant’s gazelle’s and impala and gerenuk,warthogs and dik diks. The big treat though was there was a cheetah. 3 minivans were already around him but he was handling it okay. I got some shots of him sitting up and walking which the ones at Lewa never did.
Sumoro really wanted to find us a leopard and he found some fresh tracks. We followed them in the truck and found a spot where there were drag marks. An indication the leopard had killed something and dragged it away. But he had dragged it into a big thicket of bushes. Sumoro was sure he was in there. We circled around a few time but never got a glimpse of him. Too bad. But Marion got a great shot of his tracks in the sand.
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