Kwaheri Africa

November 22 – morning game drive, bush flight back to Nairobi, museum, market, and flight home

I awoke just before 4am to some loud munching and shuffling just outside our tent. I got up and shone a flashlight around the tent and while I could see bushes moving and hear sticks breaking I still couldn’t tell what animal it was, but I knew it was big! My best guess was an elephant just based on the sounds. I crawled back into bed and within a few minutes there was a loud elephant trumpet followed in quick succession by four or five more trumpets. I definitely did not fall back asleep after an elephant wake up call! When mom and I left for the morning game drive the night guard pointed out broken branches and other damage right outside our tent from the elephants going through!

Our last game drive started with a gorgeous sunrise and continued with some pretty amazing sightings. We saw a group of four lions on the plains, ready to hunt. They seemed to have their eye on a dazzle of zebras, but they gave up as the sun rose and it warmed up. One lioness found a bird feather and they started playing and chasing while one lion kept guard and one had a little nap.

Our guide heard that another group had spotted the female leopard and her cub so we sped off on that direction. When we arrived we could only see movement in the bushes. Our guide positioned the vehicle so we would be able to see the leopards if they went up the trees or crossed a creek bed and sure enough, they crossed the creek in a few minutes.

The leopards continued deeper into the shrubs and we lost sight of them. We returned to the lions to see if they would head to any cubs or attempt to hunt. One of my favourite moments from the morning was when one of the lions stopped to mark his territory and scratch on a tree. We watched the pride walk along the savanna until they continued down into a valley and out of sight.

Continuing to drive, we came down one side of the valley and could see a large herd of cape buffalo on the other side of the valley that was flanked by two lionesses. We watched from afar as each lioness tried to move in on the cape buffalo, but the buffalo chased the lionesses away each time. We drove closer and watched as one of the lionesses had a singular buffalo in her sights. The buffalo was in taller shrubs, just trying to get down to the river for a drink. The lioness initially watched from about 20 meters away and slowly started to move in. She got within a few meters when the buffalo noticed and became aggressive, charging at the lioness and snorting. The lioness was alone in the immediate area and she quickly gave up the hunt.

We returned to camp for breakfast and to finish packing. The vehicles were loaded up and off we went to the airport for a short fight back to Nairobi. The “airports” are not much more than one building with a bathroom and a dirt runway. Something we all found very interesting was that this airstrip has someone on a motorcycle that rides up and down the runway before each flight lands or takes off to scare away any wildlife! While waiting for our plane to arrive we watched him chase off a few wildebeest and birds.

Once back in Nairobi, we went to the Karen Blixen museum and then on to a few markets and stores to do some shopping.

Once we had all bartered and spent more money than intended, we went to a hotel for dinner and got a day room to get ourselves organized for our flights home.

Overall, our trip home was uneventful, but long.

Although this is my last daily post, I do still have some additional posts in mind.

Thanks for wandering with me, I hope everyone enjoyed following along with our trip.

Julie