Safari: Kicheche Laikipa – Part 3

Posted on May 10, 2016 by Janet

If you’ve read my first and second blogs on our safari at Kicheche Laikipia, in Kenya, you’ll know that it is now late March 2016, on the cusp of the rainy season. We’re the last guests in this intimate 6-tent camp near Nanyuki, which will close for the season in just two days. This morning we’ve slept well and are ready for the 5:30 am knock at the tent door and the tray of coffee, hot chocolate and biscuits. Within 40 minutes of waking, we’re with our guide Albert Chesoli out on the savannah, awaiting the sunrise. As yesterday, Mount Kenya is clearly visible on the horizon; later in the day, it is almost always shrouded by cloud.

Slowly, the sky turns pink….

…. and finally, the sun rises. Though we don’t have the lovely giraffe silhouettes we saw yesterday, there’s always something interesting on the horizon at Ol Pejeta Conservancy, like these zebras grazing amongst acacia trees in the distance.

It isn’t long after sunrise when we’re rewarded with what is our best sighting in all of our safari excursions. We spot two cheetah brothers (Acinonyx jubatus), the remaining pair of three brothers born six years earlier. They are amazingly synchronized in their behaviour, heads turning at the same time….

….lying down at the same time, then meandering off through the grasses together to sit, one marking a tree to establish territory.

Albert positions our van as close to them as possible, then turns the engine off. For the next half-hour or so, we are utterly absorbed watching them in this quiet corner of Ol Pejeta. Like the cats they are, one sharpens his claws on a dead tree trunk….

…while his brother watches for prey, preferably an antelope or gazelle straying from the pack.

What beautiful markings on their faces!

Soon they begin to relax – a snooze, perhaps, in their future.

The cheetah brothers are so transfixing, I’ve been switching between still photos and video. Because of weight restrictions on the small planes, I only brought my ‘small’ camera, the Canon PowerShot SX50HS with its powerful 50x zoom lens (now replaced by the Canon SX60HS with 65x optical zoom), but it’s perfect for recording these two stunning animals interacting playfully and lovingly with each other like the bonded 6-year olds they are.

When it appears that lolling around wrestling and grooming each other, rather than hunting, is on their agenda, we turn on the engine and head back out on the savannah…..

…. but the other animal sightings this morning are somewhat anti-climatic after our cheetah experience. We decide to stop for our picnic breakfast, and Albert finds us a clearing near a spring-fed stream and prepares to sets the table.

This morning’s menu features Scotch eggs, a delicious combination of spicy sausage and boiled eggs, with crepes and mango chutney.

As I sip my coffee, I notice a little glimmer of bright-red in the grasses. It’s the tiny flower of an indigenous hibiscus, H. aponeurus. In my later reading, I discover this little flower was used by the Maasai in witchcraft!

Besides the acacias, the other predominant shrub on the savannah is Euclea divinorum, which is widespread on the African continent.

The morning has warmed up considerably and many of the animals seem to be hiding from the heat. So we drive back to camp – pronounced Kee-cheh-chay – to put our feet up for a while before lunch.

After lunch, I read on our tent porch and watch a cape buffalo at the water hole. But when I approach with my camera, he galumphs off through the mud…..

….. so I photograph the cattle egrets on a dead tree instead.

In mid-afternoon, I’ve arranged to meet William Wanyika, who not only works in the Kicheche camp administration but is the resident beekeeper, something he’s been doing for most of his life. (Photographing honey bees is one of my great passions.)

William shows me the flowers of the abundant euclea, which are providing most of the nectar flow for the bees at the moment….

…and I ask him to talk a bit about his beekeeping while I videotape him. What a treat to have this opportunity to learn about something I’ve chronicled at home. Here’s my video – sorry about the buffeting wind.

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As we get closer to the Sweetwaters Chimp Sanctuary where the majority of lodges and hotels are, we find lots of crowded safari vehicles on the road; one driver pulls close to tell Albert about a lion sighting nearby On our way to find it, we come upon a bull elephant (Loxodonta africana) drinking at a pond. It’s clear by his partially-unsheathed penis that he has also recently been (or is about to be) urinating. From his vantage point, Albert doesn’t think he’s in musth, but with my telephoto lens I can capture him at a safe distance and later see that there are secretions from the temporal glands at the side of his head which seem to indicate that he is. If so, his urine contains much higher levels of testosterone than usual, and dribbling it around signals his musth status to other males.

Unlike the female elephants that congregate in matriarchal communities with grandmothers, daughters, aunts, female cousins and the youngest male and female calves living together, young male elephants are kicked out when they reach their adolescent years (about 14) and will live in “bachelor clubs” with other males and a dominant bull male, from whom they learn behaviour. When females are in oestrus, musth males can detect it from far away.

Once the elephant saunters off, we go in search of the lions, finding them resting in the trees near the road, likely waiting for darkness before going hunting. So we drive on.

Next we find a pair of grey-crowned cranes (Balearica regulorum) doing their courtship dance….

….and a southern white rhinoceros drinking at one of Ol Pejeta’s water troughs….

….and some newborn zebras, below. The common (Burchell’s) zebras (Equus burchellii) usually give birth during the rainy season in East Africa. The mare will separate from the herd before delivering in order to protect the vulnerable foal.

Albert points out that zebras have evolved long enough legs for a newborn that when standing behind their mothers (and combined with the visually confusing stripes), lions cannot easily detect them.

As we drive on, we see a group of safari vans parked along the road, all the cameras trained on a lioness She yawns…..

….then saunters off, and we decide we’re a little tired, too. Time to head back for a drink – the traditional safari ‘sundowner’ – before dinner.

Tomorrow, we fly home and this is our final sighting at Kicheche Laikipia and Ol Pejeta Conservancy. But I’ve collected video of a lot of the animals we’ve seen over the past few days, and put it together so I can enjoy the feel of the savannah here any time I want. I hope you enjoy watching it, too..

On our last morning, we sleep in a little (no safari drive today) and have breakfast in the main tent before packing for home.

We say our goodbyes to Andy & Sonja Webb, and Albert drives us into the little airport at Nanyuki and watches until we’re safely up in the air. These flights are often milk runs, and the sleepy passengers settle in as we head to Wilson Airport outside Nairobi via a stop at Lewa Downs, where we began our Kenyan adventure one week before.

As we fly over Laikipia, I gaze down at the landscape below us. The patchwork farm crops…..

….the wheat fields…..

…and the great forests and acacia-dotted plains of the conservancies and parks where Kenya’s magnificent animals roam free.

It is a land like no other, and one we’re so fortunate to have experienced.

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Postscript: Given the vagaries of airline schedules, a total of 41 hours will elapse between awakening at Kicheche Laikipia and going to bed In Toronto. To pass some of the hours before our Nairobi-London leg, we’ve booked a day room at Macushla House on Nairobi’s outskirts, where we stayed for 2 nights more than a week ago on our arrival in Kenya from London.

We can sit and read in an easy chair….

…while enjoying the unique furnishings, like this cool owl support post….

Or sip a gin-and-tonic at an outdoor table with lunch…

…after a swim in the pool.

Eventually, it’s time to brave Nairobi’s traffic to Jomo Kenyatta airport to begin the flights home to Canada. As always, East Africa has bewitched us, its people have enchanted us, and its majestic animals have served as powerful reminders that there are still beautiful places in the world where ‘wild’ is more than just a word, it’s a covenant with nature.

A Kapama Safari – Part Three

Posted on January 14, 2015 by Janet

It’s the afternoon of our second day at Kapama Private Game Reserve in Limpopo (Day 4 of our South Africa garden tour). The calendar says October 12^th and the temperature is very hot, in the mid-30s or 90F+ with humidity. It is the first and only time our bathing suits will emerge from our suitcases, as we take the opportunity to cool off in the swimming pool at River Lodge. Leaving our room for our third game drive (I also blogged about our first and second game drives at Kapama) I come upon a few nyalas browsing in the brush adjacent to our suite. Shy by nature, they have nevertheless learned to be calm in this safe environment. As we head into the bushveld in our vehicle, we slow to watch their lookalike cousins, the greater kudus. But the word on the radios is that a leopard has been sighted in the vicinity so Willis and another tracker head off into the bush on foot. Clearly, they know their job, but um……

Part of the fun of being on an animal safari is the occasional insight you gain into the plants that grow in the bushveld. The shrub below is the magic guarri bush (Euclea divinorum) and Dino points out that the leaves are so rich in bitter tannins that it is not browsed by wild animals. Those tannins also provide a dye for traditional basket-making (in Durban a few days from now, I’ll buy four beautiful Zulu baskets for my children). Parts of the tree are also used by the traditional sangomas in “divining” problems (thus the botanical name) with the body or mind; the bark is used to fabricate ropes; and a decoction of the fruit is used in making an alcoholic beverage. It has many other uses as described on the plantzafrica site, including treatment of coughs, diarrhea and stomach problems.

After a lot of driving and radio communication, we finally come upon the leopard (Panthera pardus) resting in the bush; alas, well camouflaged by shrubs and grasses. Some people are bothered by the collar around its neck, thinking this somehow makes it “tame” and not a valid part of a “wild animal safari”. In fact, Kapama is a conservation oasis for cheetahs and leopards that have been rescued, often in dire circumstances, either trapped in a farmer’s snare in the wild or in locations where they have been caged to amuse their owners. This leopard was likely rescued and collared as part of Fred Berrangé’s Leopard Conservation Project which has saved more than 150 leopards since its inception in 2000. But catching them and bringing them to animal reserves is not the project’s main goal; it is educating farmers in how to deal with leopards as predators of their domestic animals, rather than removing them from the ecosystem in which they play a vital and natural role.

It’s a quiet game drive after that, and we head to the clearing where Dino transforms himself from expert game ranger to cocktail waiter. Cheers!

And as we stand chatting and sipping our “sundowners”, the sun appropriately goes down and the sky over the Drakensberg range is suffused with colour.

Then it’s time for our second night drive. Willis’s flashlight sweeps the bush on both sides of the road.

And somehow he sees them: a pair of female lions sleeping on the far side of the waterhole. Dino turns the vehicle and we drive the 4×4 down the slope to the water’s edge. Gulp. But these cats are fast asleep and we are able to study them quietly for a few moments.

The lion sighting, after seeing the leopard, puts us in a great mood as we drive back to the lodge under the stars for dinner.

4^th and Final Game Drive Day 5 of our garden tour “dawns” early and we get a start on packing our bags, since we’re heading to the local airport right after lunch to fly to Durban. Soon we’re climbing into the vehicle for our final three-hour game drive. As often happens, our tracker sees tracks! Dino and Willis get out and study the footprints by the side of the road. Fresh lion tracks is their conclusion.

And a few minutes later, Dino gets out to follow a drag mark in the dirt: a hyena has dragged home dinner through the bush. Dino points out the white-backed vulture (Gyps africanus) waiting in a tree for the thermal winds that will aid in its airborne search for food.

And then we find her, a female lion down by the watering hole – likely one from last night now looking wide awake but not in the least concerned about us watching her.

We drive on, and Dino gets out and tells us a little about the silver-clusterleaf tree (Terminalia sericea), a common bushveld species. According to Plantzafrica, “The leaves and roots are boiled in water and the infusion is taken orally for the treatment of coughs, diarrhea and stomach aches. the leaves can be used as an antibiotic for wounds. In case of bleeding, a paste can be made by cooking the leaves in water and placing them on the wounds. The wood is used as a source of energy for cooking and boiling water, for construction huts, for fencing material and for solid structures. Leaves are food for caterpillars during the rainy season.”

Driving on a bit, we come upon a female white rhino (Ceratotherium simum) and her calfforaging in the grasses. Here is a little flavour of the atmosphere in the bush (and the sound of ranger’s radio communications) as the rhinos feed.

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And our last mid-morning coffee break at Kapama, with Dino and Willis sharing the pouring honours.

Caffeine and biscuit under my belt, I’m now wide awake and in focus…..

Our last lovely sighting of our South African safari features two male giraffes “necking” at a water hole. Giraffes move in loose herds, the females sticking together and the calves playing in groups. At around 3 years of age, the males leave their mothers and become part of “bachelor herds”, often standing side-by-side and using their necks like boxers’ arms and their heads like fists to show dominance. This pair is just sparring, says Dino, while assuring us that the real thing is much more vicious.

And then it’s time to leave Kapama. What a wonderful two days we’ve had here, but it’s time to get back to garden touring. We leave Limpopo province and re-enter Mpumalanga. Here are houses in the small town of Bushbackridge, so named in 1880 for the number of antelopes that roamed the slope.

We pass a typical fruit vendor’s stand selling bananas, oranges, onions and tomatoes.

And this fabulous jacaranda tree spangled with weaver nests.

And farm pickers working beneath the Drakensberg foothills.

Then it’s time for a short shopping stop at a smart little mall in White River where I find this lovely “made in South Africa” beadwork necklace. (Yes, I do like gaudy costume jewelry, now that you ask!)

Finally, we’re at the airport for our 1-hour flight to Durban. Stay tuned for more on this city, including the lovely Durban Botanic Garden.

Janet Davis Explores Colour

In the garden & the world

Tag Archives: Euclea divinorum

Safari: Kicheche Laikipa – Part 3

A Kapama Safari – Part Three

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