Elephants, Monkeys and Lyons, Oh My!

Jambo once more from charming Kenya.

After a frustrating couple of days at Tsavo,  we have finally arrived at Amboselli NP,  about a 3 hour drive west of where we were at Kiliguni. The frustration came from the futility of our game drives, and had nothing to do with the beautiful lodge where we stayed, which was my favorite so far. The open air dining room, bar, and patio overlooking the water hole, great service by the staff, and a room with a water hole view all added up to a great place to stay.

We just returned from our Wednesday morning game drive, followed by a late breakfast in the lovely dining room here. We departed the lodge at 6:30 hoping to find our first Kenyan lions out on the marsh. We were finally successful this

morning, spotting a pride of six lions. They were all sleeping when we first got there, but soon they awoke and started to move. They came right past all the assembled Jeeps, quite a morning parade. They had been in the open,  but were now heading back into the cooler marsh to relax during the day.

As I write this morning, I am sitting on the beautiful open air patio here at the Serena Amboselli,  another location to which I would be more than willing to return.
As I write, the resident vervet monkeys keep coming by to check me out and see if I have any food they can steal. After I  saw how quickly one stole a piece of bread from another guest this morning, I even put my phone in my pocket, rather than on the table,  just to make sure that a monkey wouldn't mistake it for food, and steal it.

Our drive over here yesterday from Tsavo was interesting because we had a convoy. Or at least we were supposed to have one. Apparently there are bandits who prey on safari vehicles going from one park to the other. There have been enough occurances over the last few years that the government provides an armed escort, but the vehicles have to travel in a convoy. For some reason, our paramilitary guards failed to appear, so we headed down the road without them. Needless to say, we were all a little nervous about this, but our guides seemed relaxed. And, of course, the entire drive went without incident. Hakuna Matata. :-)

This NP is known for its abundance of elephants and beautiful views of Mount Kilimanjaro. So far, Kilimanjaro has mostly stayed hidden by the clouds, but we have seen lots and lots of elephants. And they are really interesting to watch. Every day, they spend the daylight hours in the green grass areas, each one putting away hundreds of pounds of food. At night, because it gets so cold in the marsh, they move miles away to where there are trees that can help shelter them from the cold. So each morning long lines of elephants are seen heading toward the green areas, while in the evening, their paths are reversed. Our driver,  Koikai, says they are just like people, going to work in the morning and returning home at night.  It is quite a spectacle. Imagine a circus parade with hundreds of elephants of all sizes, from the oldest,  biggest bulls to tiny nursing infants,  all heading to one place,  and you might come close to what we have been seeing.

There are lots of other animals here in Amboselli, too. We have seen gazelles, and giraffes, hyena, impalas, zebra, jackals, monkeys, cape buffalo, a male cheetah, a long-necked (giraffe) gazelle,

Cape Buffalo

crested cranes,  an eagle owl,  warthogs, hippos, an African fish eagle,  numerous other beautiful African birds,  agnd the ever-present wildebeest,  but that's nothing gnu.

We now are down to one last dinner,  one last game drive,  one last night sleeping with the sounds of the savannah. In the morning, we start our safari  home, via Nairobi, Rome, and Washington D. C. after more than two weeks on African soil. We have learned to care about this land and its people, in addition to the wonderful animals and birds that have entertained and enthralled us. In talking to other members of the group, I think many of us have felt some personal changes , whether major or minor,  and cannot help but feel influenced by the African/Swahili culture and its friendly citizens.

This may be an ending,  but for many it has also been a beginning,  if not for a significant impact in how lives are led,  then at least in levels of awareness of places and people that are more "next-door" to us than they ever used to be.

I hope to be in touch soon with a final round-up of experiences, thoughts, and feelings. As always, Asante Sana, for letting me share this experience with you.

Kwa heri for now.

Regards,

Jay

I've added a video below of our resident entertainer here at Serena Amboselli singing  Jambo Bwana,  the song that became our theme song for our group while we were in both Tanzania and Kenya. I hope it plays on your viewer.

And on to Tsavo West, Kenya

Jambo,  Jambo! 

My apologies for not getting this written and published earlier,  but we were without internet service (this IS Africa, "TIA") for quite a while last night and this morning.

I'm on the beautiful open air porch at the Serena Kilaguni Lodge inside Tsavo West National Park in east Kenya. We arrived here in time for lunch Sunday and were pleased to see the stunning views to the west and Mt. Kilimanjaro.  About a hundred yards off the porch is a small pond,  a watering hole,  apparently from a natural spring.

As we ate our lunch, a family of four gorgeous, red (the color of the dirt here) elephants were using the water hole here at the lodge to drink, bathe, and in which to generally frolic.

Click to see full panorama 

This lodge is wonderfully situated,  but our game drives have been somewhat less than what we might have expected. I'm not sure whether, after several days in the Serengeti,  we are so spoiled,  or, as our drivers and guide say,  that this NP its so big, so spread out, that it's difficult to track down our quarries. They say there are plenty of animals,  but because the rainy season has been so recent, and the rains so abundant,  the animals can get water almost everywhere,  and don't need to congregate in just certain places. For us, also, spotting is more difficult as the brush here is higher, blocking our view to some extent, and creating great cover for the animals. Seems like this would be a great place to be a lion.

We have seen, in two game drives,  evening and morning, a few elephants, several ostrich,  plenty of impala,  a couple of giraffes, one or two hartebeest,  and from a considerable distance,  Bill Zeigler’a favorite, a small group of lesser kudu. Zebras and baboon are plentiful,  but remember, a few days ago,  we were in the middle of the migration in the incredible Serengeti.

We were able to squeeze in a couple more game drives before we left Kirawira. Friday night's highlights included being able to leave the vehicles and stand on a high bank overlooking a large group of hippos bathing in the Grumeti, getting lots of good pictures,  and coming across a large group of elephants in a hurry to get somewhere. We kept trying to get in front of them, but the road kept curving (you are not allowed to go off-road in the NP), and they were really moving, so we had to settle for some side views.

Our BZ Trip Group Photo at Kirawira

Our plane back to Arusha Saturday was late so we were able to get a bonus game drive in.  We were again able to find the pride of lions from the failed zebra hunt the day before, but in addition, the pride male was spotted beneath a distant tree, and were able to easily approach and visit for a few minutes, as he and his guest lioness were apparently between trysts.

The Honeymooners 

The plane trip went smoothly with some great views of places we had explored, and soon we were back in the hustle and bustle of Arusha. A quick stop was made at the cultural center for some last minute shopping for those leaving (the place did have a lot of cool things from which to choose), and then on to the Mountain Village hotel for our final meal together.  Among a few tears and lots of "See you in July’s " (our trip reunion), my driver arrived to take me to meet my friends who had arrived in Moshi, about an hour's drive to the east.

Maureen and Joanne and I were soon reunited and we spent the rest of the day at Stella Maris, exploring the school and meeting staff members, sharing tales of travels past and present, having a few laughs (and a couple of tears,  for that matter) over remembrances of former common colleagues, sharing a meal together and looking at mySafari photos.  We headed off, finally, to get some rest, as I had to be up early to meet the bus of my safari-mates as we headed on to the Kenyan border.

We met Edwin Ongori, our naturalist/guide, and our drivers, Koikai (say "coy-kigh") and Peter at the border at Taveta, and

Peter, Edwin, and Koikai

they led us through all the customs and immigration details that come with leaving one country and entering another. Soon we we heading down the Kenyan "super-highway," according to Koikai, towards our newest home-away-from-home here at the fabulous Kilaguni Lodge.




Asante Sana for your continued patience and your emails.

 Jay

Tsavo Sunset Near Mt. Kilimanjaro