Amboseli Weekend

 

July trip to Tsavo

This past July I kicked off my summer break with an epic roadtrip to Tsavo West and East with my good bud Jackson. It was extremely dry throughout, but we still managed to scrounge up some good stuff.  

We left my house in the morning and arrived at Chyulu Public Campsite comfortably before dark. The campsite itself was out of commission because some elephants had uprooted the water pipe that serves the washroom, so the temporary arrangement was to either camp inside or adjacent to the ranger compound. Since the outside spot was taken by some other campers, we set ourselves up inside. It was a really nice place to chill and cook food, while checking the surrounding bushes and the water trough for bird action. Spotted from camp were: Pringle's Puffback, Jameson's Firefinch, Blue-capped Cordon-bleu, white Paradise Flycatcher, Sulfur-breasted Bush-shrike, Gabar Goshawk and Little Sparrowhawk. 

Jameson's Firefinch

Blue-capped Cordon-bleu

The ranger had been filling this little concrete water traugh with water every evening in order to keep the big animals out of the compound. He said that a leopard regularly frequents it, maybe one out of three evenings. This piqued our interest. 

Piqued it very much. 

You just need to sit quietly at the edge of the gate, he said, and listen for the sound of its tongue lapping up the water. On the first night, we heard the sound and got super excited. But my headlamp revealed not a leopard but a pair of hyenas drinking the water. Apparently, the leopard doesn't like comping to drink after the hyenas have been there (maybe they leave a bad smell?). Later that night, a giraffe came by and early in the morning, I peered over the wall to spy a thirsty elephant. 

On the second night, we heard the lapping sound again. This time, just a waterbuck. Two ladies had arrived to spend the night, although they had trouble with their tent so they slept in their car. We had just eaten dinner and were striking up a conversation over a beer. The whole time, Jack had one ear to the conversation and the other to the water trough. He told us to shut up and we duly obeyed his command. We could hear the lapping but it was more subtle than the other animals. He grabbed my camera for me while I trained my spotlight on the water trough. It was a young leopard judging by its quaint size, which was soon joined by a second of equal size. Perhaps siblings? We watched them for a couple of minutes before they walked off into the bush. What a rush! On the third night, they did not return. We had gotten extremely lucky (as Jackson and I have been many times!). 

Here are a few highlights from driving around in Tsavo West. Interesting birds seen were Ashy Cisticola, Tsavo Sunbird, Scaly Chatterers, Martial Eagle, Golden-breasted Starling, Red-naped Bush-shrike. 

Red-naped Bush-shrike, a Tsavo West specialty near the rhino sanctuary. Much easier to spot during the dry season. 

A handsome bird indeed! 

Black Rhino

This is the only black rhino we saw in the rhino sanctuary, which is open from 4 to 6pm only. We left at about 5pm in order to have enough time to drive back

Scaly Chatterer

Ngulia Mountains in in the distance - adding to the interesting topography of Tsavo West compared East

Mt. Kilimanjaro sort of visible in the distance

Mt. Kilimanjaro visible again in the distance

On one of the mornings, we took a drive to Mzima Springs. What a beautiful oasis in the middle of the vast dry scrub of Tsavo. Truly a gem of world heritage which is far less famous than it ought to be. With just the two of us this time, it felt as though we were one person short. I clenched my thirst in its cool, clear waters which burst forth from the porous rocks, a thirst-quenching force of nature. The moment was bittersweet. 

After three nights at Tsavo East, we decided it was time to head on over to Tsavo East to see what it had to offer. At the top of our minds was of course the Hirola Antelope, which we might have seen last trip but never happened to take a picture, leaving it in doubt, and the infamous Somali Courser, one of my nemeses. 

At the Mitito Andei gate, a big flock of starlings came through while I was bartering for some trinkets. Jackson says 4 of them were Shelley's Starlings, but I wasn't totally convinced. I saw them in flight but never got a confirmational photo. I did get pics of this one but I'm pretty sure it's a Hildebrandt's. 

We did a little afternoon drive then settled in the campsite for the first of 2 nights. That evening, several elephants put on a show as they commuted to a small nearby watering hole. We entertained ourselves with trying to peg on of the massive army of baboons with the slingshot. They always managed to get away by an inch. Later in the evening, I tried getting photos of Pearl-spotted Owlet and African Scops Owl in the campsite. 

The next day was dedicated to driving the triangle up north to Sala gate, then west to Lugard Falls, then back south-east to the campsite. The whole park was extremely dry, rendering our chances for Hirola very slim indeed. They prefer areas of recent rain where they graze the fresh, green shoots of grass when they're short. Not a blade of green grass in sight. A park ranger from Sala gate told us that it had recently rained near Luggard Falls, but his intel seemed to be incorrect since it was bone dry there as well. We even tried driving about 5 km north of the Gallana river crossing but turned back on Jackson's safety advice. 

Along the way we found these two male 'super tuskers' I would call them, grazing on some short shrubs by grabbing them with their trunks then shoving wads of it into their mouths. One of them deployed his 5th leg which was impressive. Quite impressive. 

Somewhere about halfway along the road that goes parallel to the Galana River, we came upon a small flock of Collared Pratincoles. We got briefly excited due to their resemblance to coursers. However, just 1km further down the road we did in fact spot a flock of 6 coursers fly across the road and land in an open expanse of dry scrub. They were quite far from the road but were undeniably Somali Coursers! We couldn't really do anything for closer views so we just headed further down the road hoping to find more. After our little probe north of the Galana River, we turned back and started heading back in a southeasterly direction. Just south of the junction for Luggard Falls, we found a family of 3 Somali Coursers standing right on the road. I got acceptable photos this time. And great views. 

Further along, there was this dried up seasonal river which reminded me of the one from the Obama documentary, the resemblance was uncanny. We were shocked to see crocodiles taking refuge in what tiny puddles remained. I wonder what they do when it fully dries up? There were a few elephants in there as well. It was very scenic. We saw a pair of White-headed Vultures at some point. 

A harmless Striped Sand Snake basking on a termite mound

Gerenuk/Giraffe-necked Gazelles

A pride of lions resting in the shade

On our second morning in Tsavo East, our focus was on exiting the park via Manyani Gate. There were reports of leopard and lions from the tour drivers, but we saw nothing of note during our exit. On the positive, we managed to get back to Nairobi with plenty of daylight left, dodging both traffic, protests and the notorious nocturnal driving. All-in-all, it was the perfect way to kick off a Kenyan summer. Plenty of wildlife, lifers, wild African bush camping and most of all, the company of an old and cherished friend. Oh, and we got the big 5!