Kenya day 33 - Contrasting Scenery

Another early start - we went out for a game drive before breakfast, and were in just the right place to find a lioness and her three cubs. The grass is quite long, and the cubs blend in very well, but there are three small faces in this picture!

Mother + 3

We also went for fuel in Voi on the main Mombasa-Nairobi road, and found giraffes and waterbuck and a "dead slow" (rock hyrax!) at the park gates, and another lion family on the way back too. This lioness was napping under a bush just metres from the road.

Waterbuck

Giraffes and Grant's Gazelle

Rock Hyrax

Mother + 2

My room/tent at Tarhi Camp

Agama Lizard at Tarhi

Zebras

After breakfast back at the camp, we decided that Jesper needed to see a doctor about his foot, which had gone a funny colour, so it was back to Voi and a wait in the marketplace for me while he got treated.

Voi town centre

Voi matatu stance

Black-shouldered Kite

Lilac-breasted Roller

Afterwards, we headed up the main road to the gate for Tsavo West - a complete contrast of appearance, it's rocky and wooded instead of the broad grasslands of Tsavo East.

Tsavo East - red soil and open plain

Tsavo West - rocky hills and woodland

That makes for more difficult wildlife spotting - there are more places to hide, and even elephants seem to disappear very easily! These were in a riverbed; we'd have missed them if we hadn't looked for the water in the riverbed (it was dry anyway).

Elephants in the riverbed

Olive Baboons looking for insects in a storm channel

Hoopoe

Dik Diks crossing

Hundreds of Red-billed Queleas - about the size of Sparrows

 We visited a protected area within the Park where Black Rhinos are under special protection from poachers, but unfortunately no rhinos were visible, in  spite of there being 600 somewhere in the area! Even large animals can disappear in this Park!

Waiting to get into the Rhino Reserve

 We did come across a herd of buffalo in this area, though...

Buffalo cow and bull

Buffalo cow and calf

 We stayed at Ngulia Lodge, high up above the plains and with some superb views as we drove up:

View southwards, towards Tanzania

Near Ngulia Lodge

My room looked out over a waterhole where elephants were drinking quietly as we arrived.

Nice, well-behaved elephants!

 Minutes later, there was a huge splashing racket as the Buffalo arrived, elbowed the elephants aside and jumped into the waterhole for a nice wallow and some pushing and shoving!

Elephants head off as the buffalo mob arrive...

....and stand or even lie in the waterhole, jostling for space!

As darkness fell, the Lodge staff tied a large meaty bone to a framework near the waterhole, and almost immediately a leopard arrived to eat it. We watched for about half an hour as this beautiful cat worked at chewing the bone off the frame:

Mmmm - nice bit of meat tonight

Are you watching me?

Yes, I do have spots on my tummy - how about you?

I'll take a break - they've tied it on tight this time

Right, now I can relax and eat in comfort!

During the bird migrations in spring and autumn, scientists put mist nets out at night by the waterhole at Ngulia to catch and ring the birds. With this chap around it must take a fair amount of nerve to go out and disentangle birds from the nets...