November 21 – sunrise, game drives, bush dinner
Our morning started off with another gorgeous sunrise. We watched a family of baboons playing in a tree and chasing each other around while the sun rose.
After sunrise we continued on our game drive and four lions in the open plains. They laid in wait for any prey that came their way. After a while of waiting and watching the two lionesses got up and began chasing and wrestling with each other. After that burst of energy they began to slowly head to the shade for some nap time.
We drove in the direction the lions were headed and we spotted more of the pride including some cubs. Multiple lionesses came out of the bushes with cubs of varying ages. They started to cross a stream and head up a rocky embankment. I didn’t have a clear view of the stream, but at one point I heard a big splash and one of the lionesses turned back and growled. A few seconds later a cub came running up the rocks soaking wet.
The rest of our group headed back to camp early for breakfast and a casual morning.
Mom and I stayed out on our game drive and enjoyed a bush breakfast with just us and our guide.
We continued our game drive in an area of Naboisho that had not yet explored. since it was just mom and I we were able to choose where we went and what we wanted to try and see. We stopped multiple times when there were birds close to the road and we waited for them to fly so I could attempt to photograph them in flight. We also crossed a river that had a bloat of hippos, including young ones. Many of the hippos had their heads above water so I was able to a that photograph more than just their ears and top of their snout. Driving back to camp we saw a bull elephant and there is a watering while just around the corner from “home” where we saw a parade of elephants getting a drink. Just as we arrived there was a hippo with four or five turtles on its back! It went underwater just as I tried to take a picture.
We returned to camp for a relaxing afternoon and watched wildlife from afar from our deck and the common area.
On our evening game drive we returned to the same area as the morning since the rest of the group had not been there yet.
We quickly came upon a pride of sleepy lions. The guides confirmed this was a pride that we had not seen before.
While viewing the lions the conservancy rangers arrived and asked everyone to move along. The rangers are always around the conservancy, monitoring Masai cattle movement and ensuring rules are followed at wildlife sightings. This was the first time while we were there that all vehicles were actually asked to leave an area.
We continued driving and I finally saw a large crocodile! In the same area we saw a few vervet monkeys along the river on top of floating vegetation. This was a behaviour we had not seen yet on this trip. At one point a monkey got too close to a pair of Egyptian geese, who honked and chased the monkey away from the river. There was also a pair of grey crowned cranes on the river bank who posed fabulously for us.
We stopped for our last sundowner of the trip, shared our favourite moments from safari, and enjoyed our time together.
We began heading back to camp for dinner when we suddenly took a detour off road and arrived to a fully set up outdoor dinner. We gathered around the campfire wrapped in Masai blankets in awe of our surroundings.
The sunlight faded fast and very quickly we were lit by the fire and the stars. The other guests staying at our camp trickled in and we settled in at our tables for an amazing starlit meal. The entire trip has had amazing food, but this experience of eating under the stars was by far the best meal we had.
At the end of the meal Greg pulled out his thermal scope and we were able to see a tower of giraffes on the hill above us as well as a clam of hyenas that were very close and hoping to scavenge anything we had dropped.
Upon our arrival back at camp, mom and I packed our bags and prepared to head back to Nairobi.
Thanks for wandering with me,
Julie
J Cork Photography 