Jackals Dinner

While out in the Mara one afternoon my guide pointed out some vultures circling in the distance. They start this circling behaviour when they see a kill and hope to pick the bones when the predators have finished with it. I don't know how high these birds fly but when I first saw them, they looked like small specks highlighted against the blue sky. How they manage to spot a kill from this height is impressive, they must have some special kind of eyesight. It was not long before more and more vultures joined them, they come in real high then gradually get lower and lower until settling in a tree, near the kill, to wait.

We headed off towards them and sure enough found a pride of lions enjoying the remains of a buffalo. I knew it was a buffalo because of the distinctive curled horns. The vultures were not the only scavengers in the vicinity, there were a couple of hyenas and five jackals also eyeing up the food, obviously none were brave enough to get too close until the lions had had their fill and moved off.

The guide got a good position and parked up so we could see what would happen. When we arrived 15 lions were eating, as we waited one by one the lions, when full, moved off to lay in the shade and sleep off their large meal. It was down to the last two lions and the scavengers were still waiting patiently, but you could sense their increasing anticipation, as they slowly edged closer, with the vultures squabbling over bits of entrails and gristle that had been scattered on the ground away from the main carcass. Finally the last two lions finished. Before they had gone three feet the vultures were in, swarming all over the carcass so not even an inch of it could be seen, at least 50 of them all jostling for position.

The hyenas started to walk away; they had clearly decided that the rewards possibly wouldn't be worth the effort required in fighting off that many vultures. The jackals however had no such qualms and dived right into the melee. I was surprised to see that the vultures made space for them, in fact if any of them got too close the jackals would turn and snap at them, even jumping right up into the air as they flew just out of reach. More than once a jackal got a mouthful of feathers when a vulture didn't move quickly enough.

It was hard work for them, they must have been really hungry to stand their ground and fight off the huge numbers of vultures for such a small share of the food. After 10 minutes between them they had picked the carcass clean.

Hippo's are dangerous

I love this sign, kenyans have a knack of stating the obvious, especially when it comes to sign writing. I came across this sign while at a campsite on the shore of Lake Baringo. There was another sign as you drive into the camp suggesting to visitors that camping in this particular place might also be dangerous and you do it at your own risk. It seemed a bit over the top but you could imagine that if a tourist did actually get attacked by a hippo one of the locals would rush up and say 'you were warned!' Since I wasn't camping as such, it didn't worry me unduly. Myself and my husband were staying in a banda, not a tent, although our chef had pitched his tent next to our banda and he didn't seem too concerned either.

While we were waiting for dinner me and Ken strolled down to the lake which was in fact only about 20 metres away. The scene was just perfect, water gently lapping against the sandy earth, birds singing in the background and hopping around picking up insects. The sky was turning a golden orange and pale pink as the sun was setting. Then right in front of the lake was this sign urging us to be cautious and stating the obvious, that both hippo's and crocodiles are dangerous, It didn't say that hippo's were likely to pop up right in front of you without warning, which is exactly what happened, suddenly two hippo heads appeared out of the water so gently they barely caused a ripple, they were less than 5 metres from where we stood!

My first reaction after the initial surprise was to take a photo, I always have my camera with me. They were so relaxed and didn't look in the least bit threatening. Hippo's are generally only dangerous if they feel their babies are threatened, we found this out the following day when we were out in a boat and accidentally got a little too close to a mother and baby, she didn't like it one bit. She actually chased us away, making really load noises at us and leaving us in no doubt that she meant business. You tend not to hang around when faced with two tonnes of angry hippo, they can overturn a small boat no problem. Or they might attack you if you surprise them while they are grazing. They come out of the lake each night to graze on the land retuning to the lake at dawn. We could hear them communicating to each other outside our banda, I wasn't about to pop outside in the dead of the night and surprise them anyway!

We never got to see any crocodiles, dangerous or otherwise. My lasting impression of Lake Baringo was one of tranquility, so relaxing and calm, a perfect place to write a book. The reason for this is that there is not much to do, no activity or distractions.

Thieves in the Camp

Monkeys are probably the most adaptable of animals, they actually welcome us visitors to their country as they find many ways of expoiting and benefiting from us. While taking other peoples things without asking is actually a crime, for monkeys it's more an opportunity. It's not always an easy task to protect your belongings especially if it's edible!

We camped for two nights at a site just next to lake bogoria, a lovely campsite with a resident troupe of vervet monkeys and a plague of mosquitos. The monkeys hang around the camp full time in the hope of getting left overs and anything else they can get their hands on. They go to the bins each morning and evening to see what has been thrown away. They inspect everything and will eat almost anything they can digest. In the photo above they are tucking into the remains of our spagetti bolognaise and thoroughly enjoying it.

We arrived at the campsite late afternoon and settled in while Charles, our chef, cooked dinner. He managed to cook a three course meal on a one ring camping gas stove, which was pretty impressive in itself, not only that but the food was lovely. Tomorrow we were heading off for a full day at the lake, so after breakfast Charles made up a packed lunch and put the rest of the food in his tent, securing the zips with a padlock to keep it safe and out of the hands of the monkeys, or so he thought. We hadn't realised how determined and persistent they could be. Because they couldn't get in via the zip they picked at different parts of the tent until a small hole appeared, then they continued to pick at this until the hole got bigger and bigger until finally it was large enough for them to squeeze into and steal the food stored within.

We returned late afternoon to find a selection of partly eaten vegetables scattered around the tents. One of the monkeys was actually sitting on the branch of a tree just above the tent, crunching away on a carrot, watching us as we inspected the damage. They had taken most of our food for that evening; fortunately we had just enough to get by until we could stock up again the next day. There was a German family also staying at the campsite who were present when this took place. When they realised what was happening they had tried to chase the monkeys away but to no avail, there were just too many of them and they were very well organised.

This is just one of the hazards of camping, sometimes no matter how careful you try to be, the wildlife are usually one step ahead, they have learned how to take advantage of every opportunity that presents itself.

Tree Top House

I'd like to tell you about one of the places we stayed on our recent trip. We spent two nights in a small nature reserve called Saiwa Swamp, which as the name suggests is a swamp which is surrounded by woods. This is the only place in Kenya that the very shy Sitatunga antelope can be found.

We arrived at the reserve late afternoon and drove to a clearing in the woods to find a lovely well kept camping area with space for tents, a brick shower unit and a tiolet. In the centre of the camp was a rather large round open building with a camp fire in the middle that acted as a kitchen. We were not camping however, we took our rucksacks out of the jeep and were led to a small winding path that disappeared into the woods. At the entrance to the path was a signpost saying 'Tree Top House' Now in Kenya they tend to be quite literal, especially with their signs so we were left in no doubt as to what type of accommodation we were staying in. Sure enough about 50m in was a large tree with a house at the top of it. We climed the steps that led to a platform and entered. It was quite nice, it had a small entrance with the bedroom on one side and the toilet/shower room on the other side with a small balcony at the back overlooking the swamp. The balcony had a small sink just outside the shower room, to be fair there wasn't enough space inside to put the sink. The bedroom had two single beds and had just enough space at the bottom to put the rucksacks. The beds had mosquito nets even if they were torn in places with holes big enough to let mosquito's in but I wasn't going to let a minor detail like that bother me. after settling in we went back to the kitchen for our dinner and didn't return until after dark.

The first problem manifested itself when I entered the toilet to find really big bluebottle flies lying dead on the floor and a whole heap of wasps, very much alive, in one of the top corners. Needless to say I didn't hang around, I got out of there as quickly as I could. I shut the door on the whole thing and went into the bedroom. Ken decided that the tree outside might be a better option. We had electricity in our tree house so I put the light on while we got ready for bed, that turned out to be a big mistake. I had only just got under the mosquito net when I heard a loud buzzing sound, one of the bluebottles had got in, probably attracted by the light, then another one appeared, then another, they were coming in through a big gap at the bottom of the door! We jumped out of the beds, grabbed a towel each and tried to either get the flies out or kill them. I immediately switched off the light while Ken stuffed one of the towels along the bottom of the door to keep them out. It was like something out of a horror movie, we were completely on our own, in a swamp, with a swarm of flies and wasps outside our bedroom door and with the wind getting up our little house had started to sway a little. We did the only thing we could do in the circumstances, we went to sleep. I hoped that firstly we wouldn't end up in the swamp and secondly that I didn't need to go to the toilet in the night as I had drank a couple of beers.

Morning arrived to my great relief which was only marred by the thought that I would have to go through the whole thing again tonight. On a positive note the days were lovely, it was very relaxing and we did get to see and photograph the elusive sitatunga.

Lioness & Buffalo Calf

Well, I'm back, had a fantastic time with lots more stories. The first one I would like to share with you is about this lioness and buffalo calf. This photograph was taken in Nakuru wildlife reserve and we were the only vehicle around to witness the unfortunate demise of this baby buffalo calf.

We had arrived at the reserve the previous evening and were getting an early start for our first game drive as I wanted to photograph the sunrise over lake Nakuru. On the way to the view point Ken noticed a hyena in the weak twilight of dawn. We didn't want to stop in case we missed the crucial moment when the sun first appears on the horizon and we still had to get into position and set up the tripod. So we made a note of where the hyena was and aimed to go back later. It was around 7am by the time we had finished so we packed up and set out to find the hyena. We returned to the same spot and found not one but five hyenas on the road, straight away we knew that something was happening. As we slowly drove closer to them we also noticed two lionesses and three jackals not far away. All these predators and scavengers in one area could only mean one thing, they were after something!

They were all looking in the direction of a mother and baby buffalo a little way down the road so we drove away from the predators towards the buffalo. As we got closer it was clear that the baby was sick. The rest of the buffalo herd were making their way to the lake but the baby couldn't walk far and kept collapsing on the ground. The mother was trying to encourage the baby to get up and follow her, she would move off then return when the baby called out for her. The hyenas took this opportunity to creep closer, when they got too close the mother would turn on them and chase them away. This went on for around forty minutes, all the time the lionesses kept their distance and stayed in the background, they were very patient.

The mother stayed and protected her baby as long as she could, but she instinctively knew that there was nothing more she could do and she had to follow the rest of the herd to the lake, she got further and further away from the calf, finally deciding not to return despite the cries. The hyenas we in like a flash, one, two, then three of them snapping at the calf's legs. The calf was bravely trying to defend itself, to little effect. In less than a minute one of the lionesses, who had been waiting in the background ran in and pounced on the calf. The hyenas scattered, there was nothing they could do against two powerful female lions. Once one lioness had pinned down the calf the other lioness came in and smothered it before they began their meal. The hyenas vocalised their protests, but wouldn't approach too closely, they had to wait for scraps along with the jackals.

For around an hour the whole scene played out right in front of us and not a single vehicle joined us. It was a privilege to watch the behaviour all these animals in their natural habitat and one that will stay with me for a long time to come.

Cheetah Kill

This is something that I never thought I would witness first hand. Three cheetah's stalking, chasing and killing a baby Topi, yet you see it on wildlife programmes all the time. The main difference between real life and the TV is that it is over in literally a few seconds. You don't get to see it repeated or in slow motion. Also when you see it on TV it seems less real, even though it is natural behaviour in order to survive, being so removed from my everyday life I didn't know how I would feel about seeing at first hand, one animal kill and eat another. All I can say is that I didn't think much at all, it's just so amazing to watch, to be part of it. The skill and speed of the cheetah is breath taking. My husband always wanted to see a cheetah kill so that he could say the words 'that was ballistic' like Johnathon Scott on the Big Cat Diaries, and the one chance he got he was so mesmerised that he didn't even remember to say it!

Tension builds from the moment one of the cheetah's first looks around and spots a likely target. They must communicate in some way or just maybe act from pure instinct, because they work as a team, with one stealthily approaching the baby Topi directly, keeping as low as possible and blending in with the long grass, while the other two move out wide in different directions to cut off the Topi's escape. All the while, barely able to breathe, wondering will they be successful, both wanting them to be and wanting them not to be at the same time.

After watching the chase and the kill we drove around to where the they had settled to enjoy their meal. The cheetah that that had taken the lead and had done most of the running and chased the baby Topi down was out of breath and was resting while the other two were already tucking in. The only thing was, the Topi was not yet dead and cried out one last time, the mother who was standing not far away also heard this. I've never been one to transfer human sentiments onto animals and I have no idea how gazelle's think and feel but I for one was a little upset for her.

Cheetah's tend to eat as quickly as possible in case another, bigger predator comes in and takes their meal away from them but today they relax a little as there was nothing else around.

I will be in Kenya for the month of April so will not be posting any new blogs for a while but will be back in May with lots more stories and photo's.

A Hippo's Life

Hippo's are not yet an endangered species but they have recently been added to the vulnerable list due to destruction of their natural habitat. Fortunately due to their size they don't really have any natural predators. That's not to say lions, hyenas and crocodiles wouldn't attack a baby hippo, they might have a go if they were hungry but they would then have to face a very angry mother hippo equipped with long, razor sharp incisors and is not afraid to use them.
Hippo's are generally placid animals and lead fairly sedentary lives, lazing at the waters edge during the day where they can submerge when it gets too hot, then grazing for around five hours each night, while its cool. Each night they would cover an area of one or two miles and travel even further from the river during the dry season when grass is not as abundant and the ground is dry and over grazed.

The groups of hippo's that live along the banks of the mara and talek river quite happily share their habitat with crocodiles. It is the large males that pose the biggest threat to other hippo's when they fight each other for the right to mate with the females and to keep hold of their territories when the water dwindles in the dry season.

It is quite relaxing watching the hippo's, its one of the few times when you are allowed out of the vehicle to sit quietly on the opposite side of the river bank to see how they behave. Female hippo's are very maternal, when out of the water the babies try to lay in the shade created by their mother. I watched one mother with two babies try to encourage  them to enter the river in a shallow area by gently nudging them in the right direction. One of the babies walked straight in, no problem and was enjoying the cool water, the other one though was having none of it, the mother would get him (or her, I'm not sure if their is an easy way to tell the gender of baby hippo's) so far then he would slip away from her pretty niftily, so she would have to start again. It was amusing to watch, after about fifteen minutes she did finally get the second baby into the water but you could see that he wasn't happy with the situation and didn't stay in for long.
It's so nice just to sit and watch as the natural world unfolds in front of you, there is nothing like it.