I saw Elephants...Lions...and Cheetahs...yea!

Trip Start May 31, 2006

Trip End Oct 14, 2006

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Flag of Kenya Samburu National Park, Kenya
Sunday, August 13, 2006

Left the campsite at 6am and headed into the National Park for our Game Drive. We were being driven by Peter in our big green truck, with Ronnie as our guide. We started just following the course of the river, for a while not seeing much, but then in a bit of a rush we saw Oryx, Grant's Gazelle, Ostrich (which Peter made a mad dash inland to get closer to and it ran away! so we u-turned back to the river), Crocodile, Hippopotamus and Impala. It was at this point that we saw a mass of white tourist vans all heading in one direction so we made to cut them off so we could find out where they were going. Peter asked the questions, and as we were just moving off past another overland truck vehicle the males in the group decided it would be fun to moon the other group...so at 7am there was me hiding behind a chair so embarrassed as these shocked tourists got to see more than they bargained for! What we had found out was the location of a herd of Elephants...so we headed straight there and I saw my first wild elephants*...(* denotes "Big Five") I was so pleased

Cheetah

. We were there hardly any time when we were told the location of a lion, so we moved straight on seeing White-backed Vulture and Black-backed Jackal on the way. Unfortunately the Lion* was slightly hidden behind some bushes, but through the camera and binoculars you could see it clear enough that it counts. Before long we were off again to find some cheetahs prowling around, after carrying on round and spotting an Eastern Chanting Goshawk in a tree, some Buffalo* and a Reticulated Giraffe, at a distance, we stumbled back across our cheetahs resting in the shade of some bushes...but as we watched they went to another bush and dragged across a dead male Impala...so we sat and watched as they started devouring it. After we'd watched for a while and they'd taken a break we headed for an early lunch stop at the Samburu lodge passing some Grevy Zebra at a distance on our way. The Lodge is a 5* hotel which people can also use as a stop in the park. We left the truck there trying to secure it so the Vervet monkeys couldn't get in (we failed and they ate my bourbon biscuits...I was not happy, at least we'd already eaten our pancakes!) The lodge is on the banks of the river and they are allowed to feed the crocodiles, therefore the crocs come and lie on an enclosed area of bank - even though they are wild, so we got to see them up close (as well as a Nile Monitor who didn't seem worried walking amongst them - I would've been). After our long lunch and some souvenir shopping (postcards and a map) we headed back out into the park

Cheetah with blood round mouth

. It was a fairly slow start again but we saw some Waterbuck, Helmeted Guinea Fowl, Vulturine Guinea Fowl, White-browed Sparrow Weaver, Olive (or Savannah) Baboon and a Warthog before coming across our cheetahs again with big bloated stomachs and some more Reticulated Giraffe ( one with a Red-billed Oxpecker on it). It was shortly after this that we came across a small family of elephants, male, female and 2 young ones bathing in a water hole and then feeding around when Tracey heard a hissing and we realized we had a slow puncture...so the guys high tailed it out of the park as quick as they could before it fully went...we nearly made it when it went flat so with us all on guard we had an all time record tyre change and only spotted a Kirk's Dik-dik...and then left the park for the evening ...well it was gone 4.30pm by this point...and we'd had an excellent animal spotting day.

Back at Camp, Greg and I went for a walk along the river (which Greg has corrected my spelling on to Ewaso Ng'iro River) and sat on some rocks looking down the river. This was a spectacular view (which I didn't have my camera for). The sun was setting out of site to our right...but the sky had a pink hue in places and was gradually a deeping blue above and around us...with a few trees on the other side of the river silhouetted...as I said to Greg...how you image Africa...with no one around...the world seemed empty...beautiful...sparse...I miss England! J After our walk we went back to the others cooking dinner as dusk passed into night and all talked about the day and all we'd seen...such a cool day.