More Meru, part 4

Sunrise in Meru

Except for waking up sometime in the night and hearing a lion roaring in the distance,( I loved that), I slept wonderfully. It is amazing what a thin piece of canvas can do for your peace of mind :).

The morning begins the same as yesterday. The alarm rings at 5:20, a few minutes later a voice cheerfully calls good morning to us and today we immediately retrieve the tea-tray. Once we finish the tea and cookies we put on our binoculars, our jackets, grab the day pack and cameras then go sit on the chairs on our porch. Paul figured out yesterday that we can hear the Cruiser door slam when Dominic is leaving the guides living quarters and if we start walking up to where Dominic picks us up after hearing the door slam, we arrive there at approximately the same time he does.

This morning there is another dramatic African sunrise which we dutifully take photos of. A giraffe is walking between us and the sun which makes for an indelible image. I love this time of the day.

Giraffe at sunrise

Yesterday in our conversations with Dominic we talked about the wildlife we had seen in Nairobi National Park. When we mentioned the two sunni we had seen, Dominic seemed a bit skeptical. I guess we read him right as this morning he asks if we have a photo of the sunni. It takes me awhile to scroll through all my photos but I finally locate the picture of the half-obscured antelope and I hand the camera to Dominic. He looks at the photo and declares, “Yes, that is a sunni” and then wistfully adds, “I have never seen a sunni”. I guess we did not realize how fortunate we were to see that small antelope.

This morning we find a troop of baboons near a small stream not far from the road. We watch as three baby baboons play ring around the rosy on the trunk of a yellow fever tree. It makes us laugh out loud to watch the antics of the playful trio. Many adults are sitting on limbs of various trees soaking up the early morning sun. One baboon has situated himself on the narrow stub of a broken off tree and for the life of me I can’t see how this perch can be in the least bit comfortable. When we have our fill of studying the baboons that appear to be studying us, we move on down the road.

Warming up in the early morning sun

This seat does not look comfortable

Dominic turns off on one of the minimal track roads where thick-bladed grass and white flowers, (are they hibiscus?) are thriving. A handsome bull elephant is feasting on the grass quite close to the road. The gigantic elephant doesn’t pay much attention to us as he is too busy ripping off large clumps of grass and stuffing it in his mouth.

Elephant feasting on grass

A bit farther down the dirt track we see a…car!! This is only the second tourist-carrying vehicle we have met in Meru so far. We met another cruiser with tourists yesterday as we were leaving the mass of elephants. Can you believe that? As is normal on safari it is only good manners to stop and exchange greetings when you meet another vehicle and Dominic follows the protocol. The people are stopped next to a tower of giraffes and for some reason when our truck pulls up the giraffes take off running. They run into a brushy area and stop. Soon there are giraffe heads peeking at us over the tops of the vegetation which strikes me as very funny. O.k. I’m easily amused.

The shy giraffes peeking at us over the vegetation

This morning Dominic is taking us to the Rhino sanctuary and we arrive at the gate shortly after we leave the shy giraffe. The sanctuary’s 27 square kilometers is ringed by a high voltage electric fence, but once inside you drive away from the wire fence and don’t notice it. Dominic navigates the Cruiser down a hill over a rough road which leads us into a beautiful valley where small mountains can be seen in the distance. I doubt we have driven a half mile when we find four white rhino grazing within a few feet of the road. Amazing. The rhino completely ignore us as they crop the grass with their wide muzzles. We spend quite some time watching the clunky beasts as they contentedly feed in the safety (hopefully) of the sanctuary. Oh yes, we spot another pair of tourist in a Cruiser on their way out of the sanctuary.

The vista across the valley and one of the four rhino

Two of the four white rhino we saw within minutes

As we continue on our search for more rhino, Dominic must stop the car as a few Plains zebra want to cross the road. Dominic had hoped that  grevy zebra would be traveling with them as they often are, but no grevy are with this group.  I believe there are only seven grevy zebra in Meru so the odds are not great that we will see the rare zebra.

A few of the plains zebra that crossed in front of us

We continue along the edge of the sweeping valley for a while before we drive uphill and wend our way through a forested area. An old bull rhino is standing, rather listlessly, in a forest opening with a few scraggly bushes scattered about. Dominic brings the Cruiser to a halt and I snap a few photos of the motionless rhino. The white rhino doesn’t move a muscle for the time we spend with him and we wonder if the beast is ill or just really old. We continue on in our search for more rhino and grevy zebra but come up empty.

The lone rhino that was so listless.

As we descend into the valley on our way back to the gate, Dominic sees three grevy zebra half way across the verdant valley. Paul and I must use our binoculars as we can barely make out the shapes of the zebra with our bare eyes, let alone tell that they are grevys. How in the heck did our guide recognize them as grevys at this distance! As we are studying the heavy-set grevys, a giraffe floats in that dream like walk they have towards the three zebra. When the giraffe reaches the zebra the tall mammal bends its long neck down towards one of the grevys, The zebra lifts its head up and the two very different species touch noses. How interesting.

Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu sitting near the exit to the sanctuary.

When we reach the gate to exit the sanctuary, a man comes to open the gate for us. Before he can open the electrified gate a husky Kenyan walks up to exchange greetings with Dominic who introduces the man to Paul and me. When Benjamin finds out we are Americans he immediately begins to talk about Americas presidential candidates. Are you kidding me, we are in the middle of nowhere and here we are listening to a man who works at the rhino sanctuary giving us his opinion on every candidate that is running for president. To say Benjamin is not afraid to tell us what he thinks of some of the candidates is an understatement. Paul and I find ourselves roaring with laughter at some of Benjamin’s statements, (some are ludicrous stories he has read on the internet) but again we marvel at how much interest Kenyans have in politics. He ends his rather one-sided visit with us by telling us about a past Argentinian president that had a three-legged dog for his security detail and drove a Volkswagen and this proved he was truly a man of the people. Whaaat? I need to check that story out because I have never heard that one. As Benjamin is walking away he tugs at his shorts that look like the American flag and tells us how much he loves America. The poor man who has waited patiently to let us out of the sanctuary finally can open the wire gate and let us drive through.

We are driving along just enjoying the fresh air and our surroundings when Dominic stops the car. Dominic tells us that there is a naked mole rat in the road. Say that again? As Paul and I poke our heads out the windows of the Cruiser to take a look at this creature with the strange name it doesn’t take long to see that it is aptly labeled! That is one ugly rodent and Paul likens it to Gollum from The Hobbit.  These are the critters that make the miniature dirt hills in or along the roads we have been seeing and often there is dirt being thrown out of these mounds making them resemble miniature volcanos. The naked mole rat is nearly blind and when this unfortunate looking animal decides he wants to return to the den, he falls on his side and moves his head around to locate the den hole. When he finds the opening to the den the hairless mole rat stands up and crawls down into his den, mooning us unintentionally (I think). We stay for a little while and we can clearly hear the buck toothed rodent gnawing at the hard ground which is the way they excavate their dens, but no fine dirt is thrown into the air as I had hoped for.  I would have liked to have had a photo of that although it would have been hard to capture in a photo anyway.

Naked Mole Rat. Yes he is supposed to look like that.

Mooned by a naked mole rat, not a pretty sight.

This is not the work of the naked mole rat we saw but these are the dirt piles they make and often plumes of dirt are being kicked out of the hole.

When we have our breakfast this morning out in the bush, Paul tells Dominic his Swahili name that was given to him by Mrefu. Mapumbo doesn’t compute with Dominic who tells Paul that this word is not familiar to him. After hearing the story of why Paul was given this name it does make him laugh though. He tells Paul the name for testicles in Swahili in Kenya is different but it is also very derogatory. Paul had already introduced me as Mama Ndege which Dominic even uses at times when he speaks to me. Paul then tells him a few other Swahili names Mrefu has given some of our safari friends such as Mista Tembo and Mama Mbuzi, explaining to Dominic how the safarists earned these names. However the Swahili name that causes Dominic to literally grab his belly as the laughter bubbles out of him is Mama Mavi (I think I spelled that right). We tell Dominic that our friend was given this name due to her interest in all kinds of animal scat. He admits that it is an appropriate name and then lapses into more peals of laughter.

Our breakfast spot for today. Paul’s photo

After breakfast we leisurely make our way back to camp. There are more giraffe to enjoy and a large male Somali Ostrich with his striking grey/blue neck. We come upon an elephant who has placed his large trunk over his lone tusk (the other tusk is just a stub), has rested that tusk on a low branch in the tree he is standing under and then rested the rest of his trunk in the v where the tree trunk divides, giving him further relief from the weight of his heavy appendage I guess. There is another young elephant standing nearby the old bull. Eventually, the lazy elephant withdraws his trunk and walks towards us. Now we see the reason for this rather bizarre posture, the bull is in musth which is evident by the white secretions oozing from the glands on the side of his head and the fact that he is continually dribbling urine. Bulls in musth are unpredictable and Dominic watches the big guy closely but although he approaches the vehicle he makes no aggressive movements towards us.

Bull resting his trunk on his tusk and the tree

An easier image to see the elephants trunk over his tusk and coming out the other side of the tree

The bull comes in for a closer look at us

Not far from camp we stop to watch red-billed quelea in a nesting frenzy. We have driven through this area every day where these sparrow sized birds are residing, but it has been early in the morning and we only heard the singing of the queleas as they were beginning to wake up. At other times of the day we have witnessed the huge columns of the numerous birds that look like dark plumes of smoke as they fly overhead. This morning we stop to have a closer look at the bustling birds that are starting to weave nests in every bush and tree around. I’m not talking one or two nests in each selected site but nests being constructed so close together that I don’t see how the birds know which one is theirs! We need to return to camp for lunch but we vow to take more time this afternoon to sit and watch these avian home builders.

A red-billed quelea just beginning to weave a nest

After lunch and another interesting visit with Craig, Paul and I return to our tent. It is quite warm inside so we decide to return to the open sided lounge to see if it is more comfy. It is cooler here as there is some air flowing through the lounge but Paul, who is sockless and wearing his flip-flops has his ankles come under attack by mosquitos so we retreat to our stuffy tent. I decide to go back out and walk the circuit from our tent to the mess tent to the load up area, because we are not getting any exercise! I can tell my waist band is already fitting tighter and we have only been in Africa for five days! I walk about a half mile before I have to quit due to the heat. We both do take a nap despite the warm interior of the tent.

The pool at the camp

Path leading down to where we sat around the fire before dinner. The small river is close by this area

We leave a half hour later than usual  on our afternoon game drive due to the heat. We stay true to our word about quelea watching so when we come to the quelea nesting area, Dominic parks alongside the road and we just sit and observe the intense avian activity. There are a lot of raptors sitting in the trees watching the busy birds too, such as Tawny Eagles and Long-Crested Eagles. The birds of prey seem to be hypnotized by the huge numbers of quelea flying all around them. We never see the raptors even attempt to pick one of the little birds off for a meal so we figure they have already eaten their fill or they simply can’t focus on a single bird due to the constant motion and the close proximity in which the birds fly.

A Tawny Eagle watching the quelea

Dominic drives us a bit farther down the road where we see large groups of quelea dropping out of the sky into grassy areas and then taking off again. The nest-building birds are gathering grass, which is the material they use to weave their nests. It is amazing to see how the healthy stand of grass is mostly stubble once the birds vacate these spots. When the foragers take to flight again you can see long pieces of grass streaming out behind them and occasionally another bird will grab the free end and pull part of that stem of grass away for himself. It is only males that are gathering and weaving the nests according to Dominic. He tells us the males will work swiftly to construct the nest and then try to entice a female to choose his nest. When the female does select a nest along with its builder, the two will mate and then the male leaves the female on her own to incubate and raise the chicks.

Red-billed Queleas pulling grass to weave their nests with. The birds are just a blur of motion so you can see why the raptors seem confused

One other amusing incident we witness is a fork-tailed drongo harassing a Long Crested Eagle that is perched in a tree. The drongo picks his moment and dives down on the eagle delivering a nasty peck on top of the eagle’s head, causing the black bird to flinch. The eagle will watch the drongo intently for a while but as soon as the eagle diverts his gaze elsewhere, the drongo hones in like a missile and drops his beak bomb on the inattentive eagle. All three of us have a laugh at the Long-Crested Eagles expense and the drongo is still causing havoc for the eagle when we drive away.

The Long-Crested Eagle that the Drongo kept pecking on the head. I wasn’t fast enough to photo an actual attack.

We enjoy our Tusker beer while watching a large herd of Cape buffalo in the distance. On our way back to camp we see eyes glowing in the road far ahead but the creature runs into the bush before we can reach it. Dominic uses a spotlight to light up the side of the road and I use my headlamp too. Suddenly there are eyes glowing where I am shining my headlamp. Dominic backs up and we are able to see an African Wildcat which looks a lot like a domestic cat in size and shape. Cool! Paul and I have never seen this small cat on our past safaris.

As we drive on enjoying the cool evening air, Paul asks Dominic if there are bush babies here. Dominic answers in the affirmative and before long he has pulled the Cruiser off the road next to a couple of trees. He shines his spot light into the tree canopy and we can see two sets of shining eyes staring down at us. We get a good look at the big-eyed critters through our binoculars.

After returning to camp, Paul and I walk to the tent to shed ourselves of our binoculars, cameras, and daypack and to freshen up. We than flash our headlamps outside the tent for our escort to return and walk us to the camp fire. We have a new guard tonight who is carrying a rifle that is nearly as big as he is! We also have a new bartender. Craig tells us some of the staff have taken the night off. Paul, who discovered that they have Amarulla in the bar, opts for this African liquor that he loves. I have a small glass of Tusker to go along with the snacks that are served to us.

Here is a real tusker to compliment my Tusker beer.

The dinner topic with Craig tonight turns to his family’s business which is growing roses. Craig talks about the various aspects of rose farming but the most interesting part to me is that the roses are shipped to Holland and sold in an auction to be dispersed throughout Europe. I would put a photo of Craig here but Paul and I failed to take a picture of the man.

When we are ready to return to our tent, our little guard marches along in his worn, oversized boots and we dutifully follow. When we reach the tent I see that the canvas on the front is still rolled up. I suppose the person who let the canvas down last night isn’t here. We tell the guard that we want to unroll the canvas and Paul begins to unhook the fasteners. Our serious escort, (he surely was a park ranger or in the army at one time), tries to help but he has a flashlight in one hand and his rifle in the other, plus he can hardly reach the hooks anyway. Paul ends up letting the canvas down mostly on his own and once we are safely inside the tent the little man turns and marches away.

One more full day in Meru. Nancy

Giraffe portrait

The Somali Ostrich we saw today

A vervet monkey

Meru day two, part 3

Paul and I settle in for our first night in Offbeat Meru camp. We have been escorted back to our tent after dinner by one of the staff. When we are safely inside the tent our escort says goodnight and walks away. I have taken my shoes off and Paul is over by the   wooden shelving used for our clothes, when he tells me to come over and look at this. I peer down to where he is pointing and see a scorpion! Real nice.  Paul, who still has his shoes on, stomps on the beige, rubbery-looking arachnid, lifts his shoe and unbelievably the creepy thing scuttles away hoping to crawl under the wardrobe. Paul lands another blow on the escaping scorpion but when he lifts his shoe this time there is no sign of the scorpion. We use our headlamps and shine them behind and under the shelving but we can’t see the creepy crawler. I grab the can of “doom” spray and liberally douse the area behind and under the white wardrobe. Paul has walked away and when I get back on my feet, I had to kneel to spray under the shelves; I see the scorpion just a few inches from where I was kneeling. Yikes, it makes me jump but the good news is that the creature is dead. Paul and I figure that it was stuck to the bottom of Paul’s shoe and when he walked away it fell off. Yesch! Paul picks it up with some toilet paper and flushes the dead invader down the toilet.

No scorpion photo. How about a pleasant giraffe instead!

When we retire to our tent for the night, even before the scorpion is discovered, I notice right away that the canvas has not been lowered on the front of our tent and only the tight mesh netting separates us from the outside. I ask Paul if he thinks they forgot to lower the canvas but we agree this isn’t the case since the canvas on the sides and back have been let down. Hmm, I don’t recall ever staying in any tent, mobile or permanent like these, where the canvas isn’t put down for the night no matter how hot it is.

I’m not sure what time I wake up with a jolt but the reason for my eyes flying open is a bad dream, well a nightmare. I will have these bad dreams/nightmares occasionally throughout this safari and I don’t know if the Malarone is to blame, or the rich food we consume a couple of hours before we go to bed. The hyenas are chattering wildly and it sounds like they are very close to the camp. Normally, I would relish lying in bed listening to the laughing and whooping of the hyena but with the dream fresh in my mind their maniacal sounds just add to my discomfort. There is enough moonlight that I can make out the outlines of trees through the mesh screen and I see other shapes that I’m not sure what they are. I immediately think, “If I can see things outside of the tent then wild animals can easily see inside the tent”.

This Superb Starling looks as though it has had a few nightmares too!

“Paul, wake up, we need to put the canvas down on the tent”. Paul does wake up but insists that we are perfectly safe and that he really doesn’t want to go outside the tent. He turns over to go back to sleep and I lay there with my eyes open wide. After a few minutes I hear a deep grunt which is repeated a few times. “Paul do you hear that”? “Yes, Paul answers, “but it is a long ways away”. I continue to lay there listening and looking and when the sound comes again I sit straight up in bed. Paul sighs and says ” I see we are not going to get any sleep until the canvas is down” and he crawls out of bed, gets his headlamp and after flashing the light around the front of the tent to make sure nothing is out there, he steps outside and has the canvas rolled down in a couple of minutes. Paul informs me that the canvas has not been rolled down for ages and again thinks I’m being silly. That could be but I know that once I can’t see out I drift off to sleep within minutes.

The alarm goes off at 5:20 and at 5:30 a friendly voice calls good morning from outside our tent, then he is gone. It takes Paul and I a few minutes to figure out the man has left the tea tray on the table that is on the “porch” of the tent. Paul brings it inside and we enjoy the tea and cookies before walking up to the dirt lot where Dominic is waiting in a Land Cruiser for us although it isn’t the truck that caused us trouble yesterday. Dominic greets us with a smile and good morning and we are off on our morning game drive. Driving through the park, we watch a beautiful sunrise that begins with a hint of color on the horizon to watching the bright yellow orb rise over the tree tops. Gorgeous.

Beautiful sunrise. Paul’s photo

Dominic takes the road that runs next to Leopard Rock, which he laughingly tells us the guides call No Leopard Rock because they have only found a leopard there once. This makes us chuckle but we enjoy looking at the kopje, leopard or no leopard, which is made up of a jumble of red rocks with a few trees and bushes managing to find a place to grow among the colorful rocks.  This morning a small group of reticulated giraffe are browsing at the base of Leopard Rock, the early morning sun making both giraffe and rock glow. The giraffe evidently don’t like the fact that we have intruded into their space and as they begin to walk away I marvel at how they appear to be almost floating over the ground. I do love to watch giraffe in motion.

Reticulated giraffe strolling next to Leopard Rock

Two of the giraffe that are walking away from us

I have discovered that due to the muscle pull in my back that I can’t stand up for any extended time while the vehicle is moving. I hate this because one can see so much farther when you are standing on the seat and looking out the top of the vehicle. Oh well, I will just have to rely on Paul, who does stand up most of the time, and the sharp eye of Dominic to spot whatever is out there!

As we drive into open grassland we begin to see elephant on the horizon. Not just a few elephants but lines and lines of elephants. As we get closer to this memory of elephants, (the couple from the UK gave us this neat name for a herd of elephants), the reality of just how many of the pachyderms there are is almost hard to comprehend. Dominic continues down the road until we are in the middle of this mass of mammals. When he stops the vehicle we are literally surrounded by elephants. Dominic says a lot of different families of elephants, for what reason he can’t say, are converging with one another. For the most part the elephants are more interested in each other than we humans. The young males are scuffling with each other; the little ones are checking each other out and engaging in some play, many of the elephants are greeting one another. This is a fascinating thing to watch as two elephants will entwine their trunks, sometimes draping their appendage over each other’s tusks and often placing the tip of their trunk into the other elephants mouth. We do have one half grown elephant step into the road, fan its ears and shake its head at us but then it continues across the road. One huge bull approaches the vehicle from the side where Paul is sitting, his ears fanned, and he walks to within a few feet of the truck. Dominic is not concerned at all, but still, seeing the head of an elephant that large staring at you through the window is a bit disconcerting.

Some of the elephants when we first catch sight of them

greeting one another

Paul and a friend.

The memory of elephants is traveling in the same direction as we are, so as they move on Dominic drives very slowly staying within their midst and we just enjoy being part of the parade. At one point I count the elephants that I can see to the left, center, and right of us and come up with a rough count of 100. I know I didn’t see all the babies that are swallowed up by the tall grass and I am sure I missed others. I didn’t even try to count the elephants that are behind us. Paul and I figured there were nearly as many elephants trailing us. Since there are a reported 500 elephants in Meru just think how incredible it is that we saw over a third of the elephants together in one sprawled out group.

Paul took this panoramic photo and still only got a small percentage of the big herd.

Surrounded by elephants

This Elie definitely has the right of way

After spending an hour with these interesting creatures we continue on our exploration of Meru. Truthfully, I’m never sure if we are in the conservancy or the National Park so when I say Meru I really am referring to both places. Dominic stops so we can watch a few Cape buffalo and the ever present cattle egrets that accompany the bovines. One of the buffalo has three white egrets trying to hitch a ride on his back but they are too far away for a decent photo. We hear an elephant trumpeting behind us in the distance and we turn in the direction of the sound to see what the fuss is about. On the horizon we watch an elephant chasing another one and Paul and I assume the one running away has been defeated in a fight, (victorious bulls or cows always chase the loser after a fight). Dominic is laughing and we soon understand why as the elephant running away suddenly stops, backs up to the pursuer and we witness elephants mating from afar. I’ll be darned; this is another first for Paul and me in seeing Elephant Cowabunga!

Hopefully in 20 plus months the Elephant Cowabunga will result in a baby as cute as this one.

Dominic takes us to a hilltop that overlooks a wide valley fringed in the distance by hazy hills. I’m fairly certain that Elsa’s’ Kopje, of the movie Born Free fame, is the jutting, lone hillock we can see from across the valley. Below us we see our first Oryx, a herd of impala, wart hogs and a few zebra. Dominic unpacks our breakfast and lays the fare out on the hood of the Cruiser. There are sausages, boiled eggs, sandwiches that contain thin slices of tomatoes cucumbers, cheese and bacon (I loved these sandwiches), cereals, including a granola the chef made from scratch (delicious), juice and tea/coffee. We enjoy our open air breakfast while watching the mix of animals in the valley. At one point an impala begins running and bucking out of sheer joy I guess. The enthusiastic play by the impala induces another impala to join in the fun. It left us chortling with delight to watch their exuberant behavior. After over eating, something that will be the norm on this safari, Dominic loads up the leftover food and dishes and we continue on our drive.

Dominic our wonderful guide and our breakfast laid out on the Cruisers’ hood.

This was our view while eating breakfast

The morning is heating up and the track we are traveling is fairly devoid of animal life although there are birds to be seen and lovely flowers sprinkled throughout the landscape. I’m feeling a bit sleepy due to a full tummy and the warm sun. Dominic suddenly points to a tree and tells us to “look at the tree”. We look at the huge acacia tree whose twisted trunk and limbs are quite vertical to the ground and we agree that it is a lovely tree. Dominic keeps excitedly repeating for us to look at the tree. O.k., it is a really nice tree but our guides enthusiasm seems a bit overdone. Dominic has stopped the Cruiser and finally manages to make us understand that there is a leopard in the tree!! Upon finally seeing the sleeping leopard, my mouth literally falls open as I gasp in delight. I’m pretty sure Paul’s reaction is very similar to mine. Good grief, poor Dominic probably thinks these two Kansans are a bit slow on the uptake.

This is a photo of the leopard from the better vantage point without using any zoom. Dominic spotted the cat looking through the foliage on the left side of the tree! It is a beautiful tree tho:)

From this angle the leopard is fairly obscured by foliage so Dominic drives us into a better position for viewing this handsome cat. I ask Dominic how he managed to see the leopard from the road and he replies that they always check this tree out because lions like to lie on the thick, vertical limbs. He certainly was not expecting to spot a leopard in it. Dominic suggests we take our photos quickly because the leopards in Meru are very shy and he expects the feline will melt away into the understory before long. I don’t know if it is because we are quite a distance from the leopards lounging place but he is not concerned in the least with our presence.

What a beautiful leopard! I couldn’t do a thing about the limb that was obscuring part of him however!

The young male, I think Dominic identified the leopard as a male, cooperates for our photos by raising his head occasionally and looking curiously in our direction. Mostly the content cat just lays sprawled out on the tree limb and dozes. The three of us watch the big cat in awe, reveling in our luck at having seen this leopard, and the fact that we alone are here to enjoy this beautiful animal is just icing on the cake!

As you can see the leopard is quite relaxed.

Oh why not. One more photo of this lucky sighting

It takes quite some time for the buzz of seeing the leopard to wear off but a half hour after we leave the big cat dozing in the tree we come upon a mix of animals a few hundred yards from the road. There are Oryx, impala, waterbuck, an ostrich, zebra, Grants gazelle and gerenuk. It is quite warm by now and many of the animals are standing in the shade of the trees.

Despite the heat these Oryx are standing in the open and bunched together

There is a variety of behavior among this menagerie so we spend some time watching the animals. A male Oryx is doggedly following a female that must be coming into estrus. Occasionally the tired female will stand still, but as soon as the bull rests his head on her back, she begins plodding along rebuffing the males overtures. Dominic points out to us how gaunt both animals are and surmises that they likely have been moving like this for hours.

Look how gaunt these two courting Oryx are.

The lone ostrich is busy dusting himself, stirring the dirt into a cloud that envelopes the big bird. Sometimes his head disappears; I can’t tell if he has tucked his head under his body or it is just placed on the ground where I can’t see it. At times there appears to be a headless, legless, ball of black feathers quivering in the dirt. This sight is a bit weird to say the least.

The dusting ostrich

The gerenuk, an animal Paul particularly wanted to see again, is not feeding but has elevated its front feet on a nearby mound of dirt. Another gerenuk is hiding behind a tree but before we leave this hive of activity it walks past an impala giving us a better look.

Not a great photo but a gerenuk nevertheless

The second gerenuk walking by an impala.

There are two waterbuck posturing and soon they are in fierce combat, kicking up the fine dirt as they push and shove at each other. We watch the fighting bucks waging their battle until the slightly smaller one breaks away and begins to flee with the winner in hot pursuit putting an exclamation point on his victory.

We return to camp elated with this incredible morning drive! Paul and I walk back to our tent through the myriad of butterflies that are fluttering around us. The butterflies are quite lovely, white with delicate, lacy designs of black etched on their wings. It gives the camp ground a fairy tale feeling with the butterflies floating in the air all around us. I could never get photos of them as they would alight on a flower for a nanosecond and then flit away.

Here are some yellow butterflies that we often saw on our game drives. That is a Martial Eagle standing by the water. It has two legs Brian!

Paul and I freshen up then walk to the mess tent to have lunch with Craig. Craig inquires how are morning went although I bet he can guess that it went well by our wide grins and our faces might even be glowing! After we recount all our experiences to him, I declare that if we see nothing else after this morning we wouldn’t complain! I do question Craig about leaving the front of the tent open at night and the young manager affirms that this is a common practice here. I ask if they would lower ours while we are dining tonight as I just feel more comfortable with the canvas down. He replies that it will be no problem to do this.

Paul and I “chill” out in the warm tent, the canvas has been rolled back up, but it is still a bit stuffy. I have borrowed a book from the camp library that someone has left behind and begin to read it once I have gone through my photos and recorded some more items in my journal. Paul too, has brought a book from the lounge area that is actually one of many African related books that belongs to Offbeat camp. We both drift off to sleep and have a nice long nap.

Four o’clock rolls around quickly, of course it was nearly one o’clock before our morning game drive concluded. They serve tea or whatever drink you want plus a snack but I don’t remember if we even consumed anything as we are still full from lunch. At 4:30 we walk up to the loading area where we find Dominic who is flashing his beaming smile at us. Paul and I crawl into the Cruiser and we are off to see what we can see. The sun is still quite intense and the animals seem to be in short supply this afternoon. There are plenty of birds to observe though which is another reason it pays to enjoy birdlife! Dominic has stopped the vehicle where a Rosy-patched Bush Shrike is sitting and just as I click the shutter of my camera the bird launches into the air. I don’t see it but I feel the Shrike brush my leg as it flies into the vehicle and then flies back out. Paul and Dominic are both open-mouthed and so am I. We wonder if the Shrike spotted an insect sitting on my leg and decided to grab it. Dominic says he has never witnessed this before. It was pretty cool no matter what the reason.

The Rosy-patched Bush Shrike that flew into the vehicle

Paul spots a bull giraffe that has multiple lumps on both sides of his jaw. The abscesses are old and you can see the scars where they ruptured. The big fellow looks very healthy although I’m sure that when he was fighting the infection that attacked his jaw tissue that he probably had a rough time of it. We get a similar or maybe the same thing in cattle that we call lump jaw. A foreign object, perhaps thorns in the giraffe’s case, gets stuck in the flesh often inside the mouth. An infection sets in and eventually is walled off forming a lump. The abscess eventually bursts and drains, but as seen on this giraffe, the animal will have a large, hard lump for the rest of their life.

Look at all those lumps.

Here is a clearer view of one side showing the healed abscess

We enjoy tuskers as we watch dusk fall over the beautiful Meru landscape and then return to camp ready for that hot bucket shower. I know we have another wonderful dinner but I didn’t write down what was served, food just isn’t why we come to Africa. We enjoy Craig’s company at dinner again and one of the questions we ask is why there seem to be so many fussy elephants. He tells us that part of the reason for recalcitrant elephants are that elephants and farmers have conflicts on the edges of the park over the farmer’s crops. The pachyderms don’t forget the negative encounter with humans. Another reason is that problem elephants from more heavily visited Parks are often relocated here, (Dominic may have given us this info)! After dinner we are escorted back to our tent and I am happy to see the canvas has been lowered as I requested!

Dusk settling over Meru.

More Meru soon, Nancy

Two Red billed Hornbills having great fun dusting themselves.

Paul took this photo of the giraffe with the interesting rock in the background