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Amboseli

Letter from Kenya

1st June 2023

Letter from Kenya

The best destination for a first safari? The ideal country for a ‘one and done’ safari? The classic of all classic safari areas in Africa? Kenya, Kenya and Kenya. 

For the last 10 days, Kathy and I have been revisiting four areas in Kenya which help make it what it is: an astonishingly diverse, breathtakingly beautiful country. A country which lives up to even the most elevated of expectations for a safari. Lots of animals which are easy to see. The friendliest of people. And a well functioning tourism infrastructure with accommodation choices to suit everyone’s taste and budget. 

Early on, at Elewana’s Tortilis Camp in Amboseli, we rediscovered the feelings and emotions which go hand in hand with being on safari. The feeling of being in the right place. The pervasive sense of being connected with your surroundings. Almost as if Africa is where you belong and where you’re meant to be.

It is not unusual to experience deja vu while on safari in Kenya. On just our second night at Amboseli with Mt. Kilimanjaro slowly disappearing as the last light faded to black, I felt oddly at home. Or maybe I never really left the last time. The distinct feeling of having lived that precise moment already – of having the same experience again – was as palpable as the evening breeze on my skin. As many times as this has happened to me and other people I know, I’ve almost come to expect it in Africa. Maybe it is just a memory of a dream. Or something buried deep in our subconscious mind, hearkening back to our progenitors who spread out into the world from this very area. Africa. It’s good to be back.  

All an Africa aficionado has to do is to enunciate four words out loud and something magical happens… Amboseli. Meru. Samburu. Lewa. The mind lights up with visions of elephants wallowing in an idyllic swamp setting. With images of one of East Africa’s best safari lodges, its rooms carefully tucked in among giant granite boulders. With pictures of a Samburu warrior – dressed to the hilt in ceremonial garb – straddling a boda-boda noisily taking its owner to the weekly market. With recollections of conservation work encompassing habitat, wildlife and the local community – rivaled by none. 

Traveling within Kenya in the typical ‘safari cocoon’ – where everything is taken care of and you literally just have to show up each morning – we were once again wowed by the country’s dazzling diversity of animals, landscapes and experiences. All without setting foot in the Masai Mara, its crown jewel.  

In just 9 nights on safari – with quite a bit of time taken up with site inspections – we tallied 36 mammal species and 145 bird species. The numbers – even as impressive as they are – become almost meaningless in the light of specific experiences. Here are a few:

Incredibly, two cheetah kills on the same day. Both kills made by female cheetahs taking down young Grant’s gazelles. One in Samburu, practically within sight of Elephant Bedroom Camp and the other one in Lewa on a game drive from Lewa Wilderness Lodge. We watched, spellbound, awestruck by the cheetahs’ amazing turn of speed as they ran down the overmatched gazelles.

Several hundred strikingly beautiful lesser flamingos reflected in the glassy surface of Lake Amboseli, superimposed with the reflection of Mt Kilimanjaro. An abundance of riches.

A powerful tawny eagle striking a cattle egret midair and downing it. Upon our approach, the eagle took off right in front of us. With the unfortunate egret gripped tightly in its talons, the eagle made its way to a distant copse of trees. Ironically, the dead egret’s immaculate white plumage shone like a beacon against the eagle’s chocolate brown feathers.

Two female lions walking along a track in Samburu, their ultra-lean appearance telling a story of hardship among plenty. Tall grasses creating ideal cover for herbivores whose numbers had plunged due to a long and only recently broken drought. The result? Hard times for lions.

A kaleidoscope of vividly colored reticulated giraffes, their rich orange-brown pattern creating the most stunning of natural tapestries. Converging and separating, their extraordinarily long necks jutting out in every direction – they were nothing short of Daliesque.

All of these extraordinary sightings came courtesy of our outstanding guides – John Njoroge in Amboseli, Joel Gachora in Meru and Francis Mayetu at Lewa. We also reconnected with our long-time friend Edwin Selempo, head guide of Origins Safaris, our Kenya destination management company for the last 20-plus years. In his usual inimitable way, Edwin capably guided us in Samburu. As always, he wowed us with his amazing birding skills, the easy and almost unobtrusive way in which he imparts information and his sunny disposition. Witty repartee? Better have it ready when traveling with Edwin.

AMBOSELI

Tanzania has the mountain and Kenya has the view.  All too true when said about Kilimanjaro when viewed from Amboseli National Park. Amboseli is the spot from where you can see Kilimanjaro like you’ve always imagined it: a great big looming mountain abruptly jutting out of the open plains, surrounded by nothing. Which makes it, as the guidebooks say, the world’s highest freestanding mountain.  

The perfect Amboseli photo opportunity? Having a few of Amboseli’s strikingly white-tusked elephants in between you and the mountain… Beyond needing a bit of luck for that, you’ll need a competent guide who understands the movements of the elephants into and out of the swamps and who can anticipate where they will be at specific times of the day. Plus of course the mountain has to be visible, which is not always the case. 

As massive as it is, Kilimanjaro is as evanescent as an image on an Etch-A-Sketch. One minute there, the next minute – gone. Your best chance to see it is usually early in the morning or late in the afternoon during the wetter part of the year, from about November through May. During the dry season from June through October, the mountain often disappears completely, hidden behind a hazy curtain of clouds, fog, dust and smoke.  

Did we see the mountain? Did we ever! Kili was out from our arrival to our departure, morning until night. If we never see Kilimanjaro again, that amazingly evocative picture will be emblazoned in our memories forever. The incredible snow-capped bulk of it, its overwhelming presence transforming a nice corner of Africa into a place you simply have to see and experience.

MERU

Meru National Park is Kenya’s forgotten secret. The park gained a measure of fame – and lots of visitors – in the late 1960’s after the release of  ‘Born Free,’ a movie about Elsa, an orphaned lion cub. Elsa was hand-raised by Joy Adamson and her game-warden husband George, right in Meru. Ironically – and often omitted from the tale – George had to shoot Elsa’s mother in self-defense when the lioness attacked him while trying to protect her cubs. Elsa, one of three surviving cubs, was successfully released back into the Meru wilderness a couple of years later. After being away in England for more than a year, the Adamsons returned to Meru and found Elsa – who still remembered them – with three cubs of her own.

Then the story of Meru took a turn for the worse. Invading bandits and poachers from Somalia decimated the wildlife for much of the late 1980’s and 90’s. Visitors stopped coming and the park fell into neglect. It wasn’t until 2000 when the Kenya Wildlife Service, under the leadership of Richard Leakey and with the financial support of private conservation groups, was able to invest substantial amounts of money into combating poaching and restoring the park to its former glory.

Current day Meru is once again a showcase park, famous for its striking African savanna landscapes and its diversity, with the park containing an extraordinarily high number of different mammals and birds. Even so, the park is still lightly visited compared with most of Kenya’s others. On one occasion we spent the better part of 40 minutes observing a lone female lion beneath a tree on the edge of a stream without so much as one other vehicle driving by. Some 13 perennial streams flow through Meru from west to east, defining the landscape of the park. The rivers – which are part of the Tana River basin – act as magnets for wildlife, particularly in the dry season which stretches from June through September.  

We simply love Elsa’s Kopje where we rested our weary heads for a couple of nights in Meru. This stunning property is considered by many to be one of the most spectacular locations and lodge designs in Africa. In addition to its splendid location, with its individually designed rooms artfully obscured by vegetation and rocks on the slope of an inselberg, Elsa’s has a charming central area overlooking an infinity pool, and a solid reputation for good food, great hospitality and top-notch management. 

SAMBURU

Samburu is Africa right down to its ubiquitous red dust which gives its many elephants their telltale cinnamon brown appearance. It can be a harsh and unforgiving place, particularly in times of drought which can last for months, even years. Dry or not, Samburu is always dramatic. If it’s not the striking vegetation – dominated by massive stands of doum palms – it’s the glimpses of far-off mountains like Ololokwe, the sacred mountain of the Samburu.

Be on the lookout for the unique gerenuk antelope in this area; it is easily recognized by its long thin neck, its tendency to stand on its hind legs to browse and its peculiar ‘ET’-like facial features. While visiting Samburu we recommend taking some time to visit a local manyatta. Squeeze into one of the smoky, bare-bones huts and observe the near total absence of so many material things we take for granted. 

Elephant Bedroom Camp, where we spent two nights, is a small camp hidden among the riverine forest on the banks of the Ewaso Nyiro River. The camp is right in the heart of the best game viewing area of Samburu and guests don’t have to drive miles and miles (as is the case from some other camps) to see the wildlife. Guests from other camps drive here. Over the course of our 3-night stay there were lions, leopards, cheetahs and African painted dogs seen within a mile from the camp. Also an aardwolf.

LEWA

Every once in a while on my African travels I discover a place which immediately appeals to me. Bonus? When I realize that our guests will enjoy and appreciate it as well. The Lewa Wildlife Conservancy is one of those places. Lewa is special on many levels. Back when I first visited in the late 1990’s, it struck me as being almost sublimely ‘Out of Africa.’ It was no different this time around. Mostly, the place just shouts ‘Africa.’ Standing there on a clear day on an elevated spot, you can see the jagged peaks of Mt. Kenya to the south. If you turn around 180 degrees, on the horizon to the north looms the sacred mountain of the Samburu – Mt. Ololokwe. Mountains, valleys, vast open grassy plains and the gray-blue horizon seemingly reaching up to the clouds.

Other ways in which Lewa is special? It harbors and actively protects more rhinos (white and black) than any other conservancy in East Africa. Lewa’s rhino population has grown from an initial 15 rhinos to around 255 rhinos currently, a significant percentage of all rhinos in Kenya. Lewa also has a great mix of endemic species including Grevy’s zebra, beisa oryx and reticulated giraffe. Some of these animals – like the Grevy’s zebras – are rare and endangered and they are all spectacularly beautiful. Lewa has an enviable record as a hugely successful wildlife conservation entity and for effectively involving the surrounding community and mobilizing their support. 

So what is a keen safari enthusiast to do? If you’ve never been to Kenya, give us a call at 1 800 513-5222 or email me (bert@fisheaglesafaris.com) to discuss some options and let’s get you on a flight to Nairobi. With the possible exception of April and May, Kenya is a true year-round destination. For the wildebeest & zebra migration, July through October are the best months but there’s much to be said for November through March as well. Been to Kenya before? No reason not to go back. Kenya is the most diverse safari destination of all and there is always somewhere new to explore, or a different time of the year to visit. Take a few friends and book one of the exclusive use properties at Ithumba or Galdessa for the most amazing orphan elephant experience of a lifetime!

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Elephants: Everybody’s Favorite

23rd October 2020

Elephants: Everybody’s Favorite


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Elephants: Everybody’s Favorite

As a native of South Africa and someone who was fortunate enough to start going on safari as a child, I probably saw my first elephant in the wild before I was even 5 years old.  As kids in the back of the VW Bus driving in the Kruger Park in South Africa, my sister and my brothers and I would literally shriek with delight when we came across a herd of elephants.  We would stare at their giant tusks in awe, comment on their amazing ears, marvel at their versatile trunks, laugh at their antics, coo over the little ones, and just generally be delighted to be in their company.


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Having seen literally thousands of them since then all over Africa, one thing remains the same.  Every elephant sighting remains special.  It is never ‘just another elephant’, or’ more elephants’, no matter how abundant they may be where I find myself.  Elephants are fascinating creatures on so many levels and they have an almost visceral impact when you see them in the wild, especially close up.


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Of course, there’s the sheer size of them, their massive bodies making an unequivocal statement as to who is the real king of the African wilderness.  Hint:  it is not the lion.  I’ve seen enraged, trumpeting – sometimes even shrieking – elephants scare off lions many a time.  Given a certain set of circumstances elephants are afraid of nothing and very little will stop them.


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Mostly though elephants are adorable, much loved creatures who are always busy doing something.  Mostly eating.  The leaves on trees, shrubs, grass, bark, fruit, seed pods –  pretty much any edible plant material.  Another favorite elephant pastime:  drinking.  It is endlessly entertaining to watch elephants drink.  They cannot go without water for extended periods of time and are almost always to be found within striking distance of a known (to them) source of water.  Which means that on safari in Africa, one of the best places to find them – particularly in the dry season – is at a water hole, along a river, in a dam, a swamp or marsh.


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Over the years, we have experienced many particularly interesting or satisfying elephant viewings, and every now and then have gotten lucky with a photograph.  Here are a few of them with some of our notes and recollections.


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Chyulu Hills, Kenya

One of my personal favorite elephant photographs is this one, taken of several elephant bulls at a small water hole right below Ol Donyo Lodge in Kenya’s Chyulu Hills.  What made it special to me at the time – and what I tried to capture – was the seemingly invisible turf battle going on.  These big bulls were in fact barely tolerating each other’s presence.  Their ‘togetherness’ was simply the result of none of them being substantially bigger or more powerful than the others.  Reluctantly, by the looks of it, they granted each other just enough room to get some water, and then move on.  Nobody dominated, and everybody benefited.


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Amboseli Swamps, Kenya

Amboseli is one of the best places in Africa to see elephants.  Amboseli is a small national park which is famous for its elephants and its perfect view (cloud cover permitting) of Mt. Kilimanjaro.  The Amboseli elephants are special because of the size of their tusks, their approachability, and their daily pattern of walking out of the woodlands to the swamps and then back.  It is an arid area so they almost always kick up some dust which makes for atmospheric photos and awesome views.  It happened to take me three visits to Amboseli to get some really good photographs of elephants with Kili in the background, but it’s mostly a matter of luck.  Good or bad.  On my third (successful) visit there were several first-time visitors in the vehicle with me…  You just never know.  This photo of a herd of elephants walking toward the swamps early in the morning, was made special by a relatively small but critical element:  the one big elephant looking back.  Just that.  Without it, it’s a nicely lit and atmospheric shot of elephant walking, kicking up some dust.  With the one elephant looking in the other direction?  You can judge for yourself.


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Hoanib Skeleton Coast Camp, Namibia

Photography is all about light.  Many professional wildlife photographers rarely attempt capturing anything beyond the morning and afternoon ‘golden hour’ window, when near horizontal light beams cast a flattering glow on practically everything it illuminates.  Including elephants.  Digital photography – which allows considerable manipulation of exposure levels in post-processing – has opened up a somewhat bigger photography window.  Even so, few serious photographers expect a good outcome for photos taken in bright light in the middle of the day.  The exaggerated shadows and washed out colors associated with harsh midday light, make it a poor choice.  This photo of a desert-adapted elephant taken on a game drive from Wilderness Safaris’ Hoanib Skeleton Coast camp, is a good example.  The soft morning light adds depth and drama and makes the photo ‘pop’.   Take this same shot at noon and all the warmth is gone.  It may in fact work better as a black and white image, then.


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Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe

Hwange’s 30,000-plus elephants are wonderful photographic subjects, particularly in the dry season when hundreds and sometimes thousands of them congregate around the many artificially pumped water holes scattered throughout the park.  I will never tire of watching a herd of elephants approach a water hole, particularly after a long and dusty, thirsty walk out of the woodland.  As they emerge from the trees, they start to walk faster and faster still.  The young ones run ahead, excitedly, to get to the water first.  Then, almost solemnly, and with serious intent, they all start to drink, practically simultaneously.  They fill their trunks with one deliberate deep draft of water after another, squirting several gallons of water forcefully into their mouths.  Again and again.  Not until their thirst is quenched, do the elephants start to relax, look around at the other herd members, and begin to interact.  Elephants lined up at a water source make fantastic photo subjects, as did these three at the Little Makalolo water hole in Hwange.  As is the case  with giraffe necks and heads, there are often patterns or symmetry – or for that matter asymmetry – to be observed and captured.  Look for it and incorporate it into your shots to tell a story and add drama.


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Odzala Kokoua National Park, Republic of Congo

By the time I made it to Odzala-Kokoua National Park in the Republic of Congo, I had seen and photographed many an African elephant in dozens of places in Southern and East Africa.  I had never seen or photographed a Forest elephant though.  As it happened, we had fantastic luck with seeing and photographing Western Lowland Gorillas at Odzala.  But not much luck with Forest elephants.  A few glimpses and some far-off sightings, but nothing worth capturing with the big camera. Until we went on a walk down a small tributary of the Congo River.  As we were approaching a clearing, a solitary Forest elephant emerged abruptly from the thick bush to our left.  As startled as we were, it gave us a side-long glance and hurried across the opening, splashing through the water and disappearing into the thick bush on the other side, moments later. It’s for ‘can’t miss’ moments like these that wildlife photographers have to be ready for anything, with a camera set to freeze motion.  Not ending up with a blurry photo is the overarching objective.  With wildlife, there is often very little advance warning before things happen.  And sometimes just moments to capture an instant in time which you may never experience again.  I’m unlikely to ever again see a Forest elephant dash across a clearing in the Congo, but this image will forever be proof that it actually happened.


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Madikwe Game Reserve, South Africa

It is easy to believe that elephants are afraid of nothing and indeed they are – most of the time.  Under certain circumstances though, they can easily be spooked, with sometimes unpredictable results.  These photographs, taken in South Africa’s  Madikwe Game Reserve, illustrate such an event.  These three young elephants were slowly walking towards a water hole when a solitary running wildebeest set them off.


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They wheeled on the spot and rushed off in the direction they came from, kicking up a cloud of dust.   I’ve seen similar behavior elsewhere such as when a herd of elephants (in the Okavango Delta) started stampeding for no apparent reason.  Ordinarily, this is not an issue to a casual observer, when you are in a vehicle.  When you are on foot though, it can be most worrisome; you’d want to get away from the elephants as fast as possible and seek shelter.


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Chobe-Linyanti, Botswana

Elephants love water and habitually enter rivers, lakes and ponds to cool off, play and seemingly just enjoy being submerged.


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They are natural-born swimmers and can stay afloat for hours if need be.  We’ve seen them swimming – with youngsters in the herd – clear across the Zambezi River.


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This sequence of photographs shows elephants close to the Linyanti River in northern Botswana, walking in the river and also ‘snorkelling’ as they make their way through deeper water.


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Mashatu, Botswana

Mashatu Game Reserve in southeastern Botswana is one of our favorite big cat destinations, but it also has great elephants.  The Mashatu ellies are among the most approachable of any and will literally walk right by the game drive vehicles, just a few meters beyond touching distance.  Which is awesome to experience – every time.  Mashatu also has a specially constructed sunken elephant hide where photographers can get the most amazing shots of elephants coming to drink.  This photo was taken of a herd of elephants approaching the sunken hide at Mashatu.  They were moving towards the water in an almost businesslike fashion at a good clip, intent on getting there quickly and efficiently.  We did manage to capture some great shots on the day and Mashatu’s resident professional photographer helped us improve our photo skills, regardless of our level of expertise.  For any dry-season visit to Mashatu, a morning or afternoon spent in the hide is a most worthwhile addition to one’s program there.


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Sheldrick Elephant Sanctuary, Nairobi

Since 1977, the David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage in Nairobi has cared for and fostered hundreds of elephant calves from all over Kenya.  Every morning at 11:00 a.m. there is a public feeding, where visitors can observe the elephants being fed, and learn a bit more about the challenges facing elephants all over Africa.  Assistants help to dispense a special milk formula for the babies, and there’s some leaves and shrubs for the older ones.  And sometimes a mud-bath on a warm day.  The young elephants are housed in a safe stable environment until they are able to survive in the wilderness, when they are moved to Tsavo National Park for possible reintroduction with wild herds of elephants.  This photograph of a tiny baby elephant happily drinking its milk formula encapsulates to me, just how vulnerable they are and how dependent they are on us – humans – for assistance.  We cannot change the past but we can help to undo some of the negative fallout of poaching and human-animal conflict.  Visitors or interested persons who adopt a baby elephant have the option of scheduling a more private afternoon visit, for foster parents only.  

Next week’s blog post will focus on the most elusive of the ‘Big Five’ African mammals – the leopard.  Much more common than one might think, but rarely seen due to their mostly nocturnal existence.  We will look at a handful of places where leopards can be seen and photographed relatively easily and consistently.

More Info

Email bert@fisheaglesafaris.com

Email jason@fisheaglesafaris.com

@fisheaglesafarishouston

#FishEagleSafaris

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