Friday September 6
We left Rekero on schedule at 8:30 for the drive / game drive to Naboisho (in the Naboisho Consvatory) with our driver/guide, Wilson. After about 1h30m we reached the airstrip because Wilson needed to collect some tickets from an incoming flight which, after waiting 45m, never eventuated. The drive to that point was excellent as we saw a number of hippos grazing as well as climbing in and out of the water, several really large crocs (4+ meters and fat as a cow) including some feeding on a dead wildebeest floating in the water, Marabou stork (a type of vulture), a Goliath heron, 2 varieties of vultures (white headed and Ruppell), eagles, baboons, lions, many antelopes.
We finally continued to Naboisho arriving just before 1pm in time for lunch. We had driven outside of the Masi Mara through grazing land and past a few villages then back into the Naboisho Conservation area. We finally saw a few elephants and 3 recent kills that the vultures were busy stripping to the bone.
Lunch was excellent including a cold beer for Dieter and an icy cold G&T for me, we sat with the only other guests, Jody, Harvey and Penny from Calgary and the managers, Helen and Ruelof from South Africa. Our tent was larger (2 bedroom) and more luxurious than Rekero but pretty similar - it had a double outdoor bucket shower as well as a single indoor bucket shower.
We had a solo afternoon game drive with Wilson - it was very successful (except it was drizzling on and off making for poor light for great photography). We found the local pride of lions and had a great time watching and photographing 3 cubs playing under the watchful eye of mum. We also saw a herd of elephants with a number of very young ones - busy ripping down trees, then just after sundowners we spotted a leopard and finally 2 giraffe with a really young baby.
Back at our tent we had showers then dinner with the other guests including 2 new arrivals, Garzie and Cleario from Brazil - only Cleario spoke English making for a quiet time for his wife.
Saturday September 7 - election day in Oz
We both had a very restless night but made it to our 6:30pm game drive start - this time Cleario and Grazie joined us. It was very overcast, quite breezy and very cool so again the light was not the greatest. We watched a male and female lion for some time who were copulating every 15m as per schedule then we spent over an hour tracking a cheetah who did some great posing for photos but never started the hunt for some near by antelopes. Then we watched more elephants before stopping for a bush breakfast. We made it back to camp around 11am for showers etc before lunch at 1pm.
Lunch was outdoors and the cloud finally cleared, at least partly - some new arrivals joined us - 4 Aussies from Melbourne, Dana and Steve, Josie and Dan (?) and 2 American women.
For our afternoon game drive we elected for the partial evening drive - departing at 4:30pm as usual but returning at 8pm (after dark) just in time for dinner. We spotted a mother cheetah with 4 cubs - only 4 weeks old - so wonderfully cute. We got a flat tire which required Wilson and his assistance guide, Lucy, as well as Dieter and Mario to help change while Grazie and I were on the look out for lions and other predators After changing the tire we drove on a bit and stopped for sundowners then started the evening drive with Lucy manning an infrared spotlight. We did not spot too much but did see a leopard who quickly went into hiding as well as a few of the smaller nocturnal animals including one which looks and acts a bit like a kangaroo.
We made it back to camp with our jeep still in one piece (one door latch had broken and we had to tie it closed with Lucy's blanket/shawl and just 15m from home Wilson thought we were about to lose another tire; changing a tire in total darkness is not a bush experience I would personally relish - fortunately the guides have radios and mobile phones - there seems to be coverage pretty well everywhere - so much for the wilderness.
Dinner was another friendly affaire talking to the other guest including 2 more Canadians (one originally from NZ) and discussing the Aussie election results which the 2 Aussie couples had found out from their guide as well as the Springboks defeat of the Wallabies in Sydney. Of course everyone was bragging about their spottings. We found out that both the Aussie couples and the new Canadian arrivals had just come from visiting the gorillas in Rhawanda - apparently a great experience.
Sunday September 8
We had to get up at 5:30am as we were doing the walking safari with the manager Ruelof and an assistant manager, Roger. We started with a light brekkie at 6am and set-out at 6:30am for a 3+ hour walk. We saw lots of birds, antelope, zebra, hyena, and even lions in the distance. At one stage we were threatened by a pair of buffalo who spotted us - Ruelof stood guard with his rifle cocked while Roger led us away - certainly got the adrenalin pumping. Just before getting back, we spotted a pair of jackals with 2 pups - really cute - we tried to get really close but the pups went down into their den while the parents sped off.
Back at the camp we had morning tea - juice, coffee, and a toasted sambo and shot the breeze with Ruelof and Roger. Then it was time for photo loading and editing and blogging before lunch at 1:00pm.
In the afternoon we did another game drive; dinner and off to bed.
Monday September 9
It was off to Sayari - see next page.