"That's it, Junior. Just keep your back towards them and your head down, and they'll go away."
We had come quite a long way from Kichwa Tembo camp, so at this point we headed generally back towards the North Northwest, still looking for animals as we drove. We had slim pickings for about 40 minutes, but at 11:59 came across more hyenas, this time a mother with a juvenile. The picture isn't real clear, but you can see them both.
"That's it, Junior. Just keep your back towards them and your head down, and
they'll go away."
We pulled into camp in plenty of time for lunch, which was another multi course hot meal starting with soup and ending with dessert or fruit. Then we had some time to rest until our afternoon drive at 3:30. This was the day that the "camp warthogs" were out in the mowed grass, grazing on their knees. It was also the day that one of them almost ate Mookie, as I described in installment 9.
By 3:30 we were ready to go again. This time Willie took us in a different direction. Before we got to the park entrance, he turned right and followed a road up the escarpment, climbing steadily as we followed a gorge back into the hillside. Far down in the bottom of the gorge we could see through the trees and brush a stream bed with many large rocks. At one point Les was looking down into the gorge and had Willie stop and back up, thinking he had seen an animal. Sure enough, there were baboons down there on the rocks. They were too far away to take a picture, but at least we spotted them. Finally reaching the top, we drove along through low trees and brush seeing some impalas. Suddenly we noticed two or three different gazelles. They were about the same size as the impalas, but didn't have the "111" markings on the rear. Willie told us they were mountain reedbucks, and although the are usually pretty elusive, one of them posed for us and actually let us get relatively close.
Our only picture of a mountain reedbuck. Note the large, bushy tail with white
underside.
Willie then pulled ahead a short distance and took us right to the edge of the escarpment looking back toward the East and the Mara River below. We took this next picture there, in admiration of the view and scenery.
The view from above. The Mara River and the Northern end of the Masai Mara.
We never got to the left side of the river.
By now it was just after 4:00 PM, and we were still on the lookout for leopards. Willie took us back from the edge and drove us slowly around some rocky outcroppings and trees. As we came around some brush we suddenly found ourselves right beside three giraffes. As we watched them, we realized that one of them was much taller than the other two, but the other two were almost exactly the same size. Could they have been twins? The big giraffe (mama?) would nuzzle the others. We still wonder. Here they are…
Mama and twins?
A few minutes later Willie pointed out to us a small acacia tree with the bark stripped off of the trunk. Having been "girdled," it was dead. We asked what had done that, an elephant? He told us that the Masai people would take the bark from a tree like that for one of two purposes: either to make a flavored beverage, a kind of tea; or for medicinal purposes. There is a "quinine tree," the bark of which is used by the Masai as a treatment and cure for malaria. I remembered from my grade school history that quinine was made from the bark of a tree. Fascinating! The local tribal people still use natural, herbal medicines. This is the tree.
Tea, or medicine? Like a silent dog. (No bark, get it?)
While up on the top of the escarpment we also saw some zebras but not much else of interest, so Willie took us back down the same road we had driven up and went onto the Mara plains for the short time before sunset. Since it was now after 5:00 PM, we stayed fairly close to the camp area. We saw some small animals scurrying off into the underbrush and tried to get a picture of them, but didn't have a lot of luck. Our best attempt is shown below. Willie identified them as "banded mongoose;" if you look closely you can just see the bands.
At about 5:15 we saw some elephants approaching, so we waited and let them come to us. As usual, they ignored us since we weren't in their way. This was the time of day that they headed back up the escarpment to spend the night. I noticed one whose trunk was quite a bit shorter than most, and pointed it out to Willie. It looked like it had been cut off about a foot or more from where the end should have been.
Note the missing tip of this animal's trunk. Compare with the trunk of the lead
elephant in the next picture.
Willie told us that this elephant had a condition called "trunkitis" (seriously, no joke this time, although it sounds like one). The cause is not known, but occasionally the end of the trunk becomes affected by this disease and part of it is lost. This is very serious, because the elephant uses the tip of its trunk to feel and select certain plants and leaves for food. The very tip is used almost like the fingers on our hands to grasp and pluck things. Without this tip, the elephant has a very hard time feeding itself, so the trunk disease is often, ultimately, fatal!
Looking back in the direction these elephants had come from we saw more coming, then still more! Some were heading directly for the Land Cruiser, so Willie eased out of their way and let them pass us. This was when he told us about their habit of going up onto the escarpment in the evenings, but coming down in the mornings to spend the day near the river. Here comes the next group…
Elephants on parade! Check out the length of the trunk here!
Before long there were dozens of elephants of all sizes moving steadily in the same direction. This was the largest herd we saw in one place at any time on the trip. The picture below gives an idea of the size of the group, but there were many more not in the picture.
The nightly trek up the escarpment. Just don't get in their way!
We left that area with about one hour to go before sunset, and continued driving through the plains fairly close to Kichwa Tembo. We came upon a Cape buffalo bull with an exceptionally large spread of horns at 5:53 and captured its portrait.
As I remember, this guy was all by himself. More "Simba Chakula?"
About twenty minutes later Carol took an excellent shot of a red-necked spurfowl with its chicks around it. With a name like that, this bird ought to feel right at home in Texas.
We saw a bird that reminded us Americans of a common meadowlark, but were told it was a yellow-throated longclaw. From that point on we always referred to it as "that bird that looks like a meadowlark." See what you think…
A red-necked spurfowl family. Obviously a Southern bird! At right, a meadowlark
look-alike, yellow-throated longclaw.
Just before 6:30 as light was really starting to fade, we came across two secretary birds on the ground near a tree. One of them had a long stick or weed in its bill, and it looked up at the top of the nearby tree as if calculating the angle. Then it squatted, jumped up and flapped like crazy, and just managed to get high enough to land in the top of the tree. These were clearly a mating pair that were building a nest in the tree! The remaining bird on the ground also selected a long weed, looked at the tree, and thought a while. Then it turned away from the tree and hopped away. We joked that it probably needed a running start. Sure enough, after moving back about 15-20 feet, it turned around, ran towards the tree flapping, and took off like an airplane going down a runway. It also just had enough elevation as it got to the tree to land in the top with its weed clutched proudly in its beak. I tried to get a shot of the first bird taking off, but in the low light the camera just couldn't stop the motion. Here is the first bird blurring his way up toward the top of the tree, then perched with the weed, ready to start building.
Straining to get elevation! At right: Made it!
Our last picture of the day was in extremely low light, and is probably not worth including, but it's the only shot we have of an "Usampuro Barbet." (It's a bird, in case the picture is so bad you can't tell!)
Yes, there IS a bird there. Really pretty. Too bad about the picture.
It was almost completely dark when we arrived back at the camp entrance. As we walked back towards our tent we saw that all of the dining room tables had been moved out onto the lawn, and a large bar-b-que grill had been set up to cook dinner. We would be eating under the stars tonight, and afterwards a group of the local Masai tribespeople were going to entertain us with dances.
We cleaned up in our tents, then came back to the lawn area to eat. The staff had placed dozens of kerosene lanterns on the ground near and between the tables to light our way. You would think that a lighted object like that would be very obvious in the dark, but actually you had to be looking down while you walked or you were in danger of knocking them over. Carol bumped into two of them just getting to our table, and we teased her unmercifully about her coordination. I eased up on her when I almost kicked one myself.
The day had been cloudy and cool, and now that it was dark if felt almost cold. So, the staff brought out "buckets" with hot coals from a wood fire in them and set them between the tables as well to provide some heat. It was almost like having our own private fireplace beside our table. It didn't actually provide much warmth, but it was pretty!
After the obligatory course of soup, the meal was served buffet style, with vegetables and side items served from chafing dishes on a long table, and a selection of grilled or bar-b-qued meat and vegetables at the grill itself. As usual, the meal was wonderful!
The Masai dancing was entertaining, but I didn't attempt any flash pictures of it. However, Linda got some good video footage. At the end the Masai men invited any of us tourists who were brave enough (or drunk enough) to join them in a last dance. They had a few takers, but none of our party stepped forward.
When the dancing ended, we were ready to call it a night, so we headed back to our tents knowing that at 6:30 there would be one final Maina wake-up ready for us. After writing our notes of the day's events, sleep came quickly.
Our morning sightings included: two lions in the road, about a dozen hyenas, several pairs of jackals, impala, eland, wildebeest at the Tanzania border, klipspringer, gazelles, waterbuck, giraffe, zebras, elephants, buffalo, hippos (at breakfast time), crocodiles at wildebeest migration crossing, banded mongoose, baboons, warthogs, topi, hartebeest, and four cheetahs. Birds included: secretary birds, white storks, lilac-breasted roller, grasshopper buzzard, Nubian vulture, black kite, sooty chat, falcon, black-headed heron, yellow-throated longclaw, coqui francolin, pin-tailed whydah, Egyptian geese, and ground hornbill.
Our afternoon sightings included: waterbuck, impala, mountain reedbuck, zebra, giraffe, Thompson's gazelles, baboons on rocks in river, hippos, lions, buffalo, hartebeest, and warthogs. Birds include: Usampuro barbet, secretary birds building a nest, red-necked spurfowl with five chicks, yellow-throated longclaw, and oxpecker.
Installment 12: Last morning game drive in Masai Mara, then back to Nairobi.