Game Drive Part 2...

Saturday, March 18, 2017

Before we stopped for breakfast we followed Nala for a little bit just to see where she was headed. She was found lying comfortably under the shade by the river.

It's amazing how the humans don't faze them at all.  We got pretty darn close and she didn't even glance at us.

After that adrenalin rush it was finally time for breakfast.

We had Daniel McMuffins!

Elephants were frolicking near the well in the river

As we were driving away we noticed a family of lions crossing the riverbed, so we followed them

They went to meet up with mommy...

Further down the riverbed we ran into some baboons

And the elephants came to join them

It was time to go back and rest up for lunch and get ready for our sundowner at Sundown Rock.  Some sights along the way...

Warthog (Pumbaa!)...check!

Oh, and this was the view from our room by the way...

I'm not sure if you've been paying attention but I've found all but the Somali Ostrich.  Unfortunately that's the only one the list that I can't check off.  But, luckily there were two walking around the riverbed right in front of Susie's and Evam's cottage and they snapped a really good picture of them! They got to see all seven!!  So lucky...

Searching for the Samburu Seven.....

Saturday, March 18, 2017

**Sorry, between being totally exhausted and the internet being spotty I was unable to blog for the rest of the trip....I'm gonna try to catch up now!

Today was our first game drive.  Besides the obvious lion, elephant and zebra, there are the 'Samburu Special Five':  The Beisa oryx, reticulated giraffe, Grevy's zebra, Gerenuk antelope and the Somali ostrich.  You can only find these in Samburu.  Once you find those, you go for the last two, the African warthog and the Vulturing guniea fowl, to make up the seven special animals to find in Samburu.  We woke up very early for a 5:30 am start to a 7 hour game drive.  It's best to get out at sunrise to get the best pictures (the lighting is amazing!) and more animals are up and about when the weather is cooler.

**UPDATE:  Grevy zebra...check!  That was the zebra on yesterday's post

You may think these are just wild dogs, but these are the African painted wolf.  They say that they are the most successful large predators in Africa.  They move quickly in packs so we were told that it was very rare for us to witness them.  According to wikipedia, "The African wild dog is a highly successful hunter.  Nearly 80% of all wild dogs hunts end in a kill; for comparison, the success rate of lions, often viewed as ultimate predators, is only 10%"

Guinea fowl...check!

Don't ask me about the birds, I have no idea.  I can't remember.  I ordered a book on Amazon about East African animals, hopefully it will help me remember!

Reticulated giraffe...check!

Beisa Oryx...check!

Gerenuk...check!  These guys are really cute.  They can stand up on two legs to reach up the trees for food.

Just a few impala...

By now it was almost time for breakfast.  It was about 8:15 and we were starting to get hungry.  We planned on stopping for breakfast at 8:30.  But then...we saw a bunch of cars in the distance and Daniel said there must be a lion over there.  Sure enough when we got there our other jeep with Susie and Evam were already there...

It was Nala!

But then we got another radio call telling us that there was also a leopard in the area.  This all happened in less than a minute...we spotted the leopard...

But then all of a sudden he got spooked and darted off!!

We turned around to see what spooked him and look what came around the corner....

Holy crap!  We were expecting a chase but the leopard got away too quickly so the lion gave up.  We went hunting for the leopard but he was no where to be found.  We didn't get to eat until almost 10:00.  Lion trumps breakfast.

Off to Sasaab!!

Friday, March 17, 2017

After one last lovely breakfast with the giraffes we were off to Samburu, a village in Kwale County, Kenya.  From there, we got nice an comfy at Sasaab, a beauuutiful lodge near the reserve.  But first, more giraffes...

The lighting was perfect...

I love this pic

After breakfast we were scheduled to fly out to Sasaab.  It was only an hour flight but on those small put-put propeller planes.  I was so worried that I was gonna get sick that I drugged myself up on Meclazine, grabbed a couple barf bags that we stole from the flights over here and I was ready to go!

I did fine!

After we landed we went straight to our jeeps and we were on our way!

We arrived at a GORGEOUS lodge with a plunge pool!  I really thought the water was gonna be warm and uncomfortable because it's so hot here, but it was cold!!

The view from our room was incredible.  It's looking over the (dry for now) river bed and we can see lots of activity from our lanai

If you can't tell what this is, it's a double shower...

 Resident dik dik feeding time...These guys are so cute!!

Here we go on our mini game drive and sundowner!!

Meet William our spotter, he can see stuff from a mile away!  Unlike me, I can't see crap.  I swear everytime there's an animal we gotta stop the car so they can explain to me what they're looking at, give me the binoculars and laugh and wait...sigh...

This is Daniel our driver/guide.  He's a crackup!

I'll explain more about the animals later cause I forgot some of their names but for now, here's just the pics

Just some elephants.......!!!

This is the Grevy Zebra and some guinea fowl

Tomorrow's post is the REAL game drive...get ready for some really cool stuff!!