Shortly after breakfast, we were picked up and taken to Wilson airport...small commuter airport. We cleared the bag weight restrictions and waited for our flight.
Our small little plane...
Ready to roll...
For a small airport there were plenty of planes and hangers...
Remember your safety...
Wheels up!!
We could see JNB on the way out...the slums looked even worse from the air...then we got above the clouds...we saw a gorgeous mountain range...
A Samburu Village....we saw on the flight to Samburu Camp....
Then we saw this one on the way to Masai Mara
Another dirt air strip...
Then we saw....Mount Kenya....gorgeuos..
We flew on a 12-seater for about 50min and landed on a dirt airstrip.
We had a welcoming crew....
The airport welcoming crew...
Our female pilot...had a female co-pilot too...they did a great job.
Native goods for sale...
Airport Terminal....cool....
Our first termite mound.....
Then we got to the gate to Samburu National Reserve....where we stopped for a potty break, bathrooms were ok...at least they had flush toilets, and we got a few pics.
We got these stamped..and moved on..
Remember the movie....
The guards at the gate....
Inside the chariot....
See lots of these....these are nests hanging from the tree....tiny birds build these....soo cool.
Bird condo's...White Browed Sparrow Weaver
We will be staying on this reserve for 3 nites, it's about 65 sq miles...there are many camps. From the air strip to the camp is about an hour...but we were in no hurry so we did a game drive and took us about 2.5 hrs. In Africa there are the well known Big 5....Lion, Rhino, Buffalo, Leopard, Elephant, on this preserve there are what they call The Special Five Animals of Samburu..Beisa Oryx, Reticulated Giraffe, Grevy's Zebra, Somali Ostrich, Gerenuk.
Our very first animal siting was the Somali Ostrich...they have a blue neck and blue legs....cool
....but before we got to camp we saw a Gerenuk....a long giraffe like neck antelope. Because of their long necks and legs they have never been seen drinking water..they can't get down to it...so they eat green leaves for their water...
The Grevy's Zebra...have thinner stripes and white bellies and big rounded ears,
Masai Zebra
and the Reticulated Giraffe a netting like look and 2 horns.
We also saw a Cheetah with 3 cubs, but didn't get any good pics.
We saw Dicky-Dic, antelope and Impala's... Wow what a first ride.....
and a warthog...
We arrived at "camp" and we are the only guests, this guy opened the gate for us to go in and out ....we have been told others are coming but haven't seen anyone yet and it's day 2 for us. We were met with wet towels to wipe off with and some cool juice.
You must zip and baracade your "front door" to keep the monkeys out...
The way we locked in at night
The monkeys are always around...
View from our front porch....I'll take it...
We got checked into our tents...us #6...Mom and Shea #4......we were shown around and told to zip and tie and then border up the front of the tent with your rug and table or the monkeys will come in....we believe them. And when you come back in...if even for a minute, zip up behind you....they're fast and can make a mess in a hurry. There is a whistle hanging on the wall if anything goes wrong...what a hoot
Then we headed for lunch....you order off a menu, not tons of options but plenty and very nice.
You always have a bread basket and we all had some as we were a bit hungry....Mom turned away for 1 second and a monkey got her's....he was fast. They have a guy that stands close to your table with a slingshot to keep the monkeys away while you eat....it works, except the one that got past him...
When he's not hitting monkeys he plays music...
After lunch we went back to our tents and settled in for a quick 45min before our next game ride at 4p. Because of the British influence in Africa they still have Tea time....you can have tea, coffee or hot chocolate....too cute. We headed out and we were not out of the gate good before we saw 4 awesome elephants...what a great start to the afternoon ride.
Did that elephant "photo bomb" Mom???
A little further we saw Baboons...LOTS of them...cute baby....big butt.....
.and more giraffes...they are so cool. To watch them walk along and eat out of the tree tops....is so cool.
Wish I'd gotten more of the running...it's so funny to watch, but it happens so quickly.
Need a Go-Pro on my head 7x24!!
Ok...I think mom is "photo-bombing" them...this is THEIR turf.
We heard from another driver the Cheetah and cubs were back out so we drove over there and this time got some good shots.
Big cubs...there were 3, could only get 2 in a picture...
Then we heard about several elephants with babies so we hurried over there...they were so cool. Jelly told us it's fine to be close to elephants when it's not mating season...but when it is you have to stay far away. Seems mating season is after the rainy season and we are in the dry season so all is well. Many river beds are dry, we drive across them but there is water.
The baby's are so cute.....
We'd had another great ride, was almost dark and time to head back. It's dark here about 7p....and since it's cool...so far no mosquitoes...woohoo, but we're prepared if they show up. Before dinner we got a short talk on the Special Five Animals of Samburu..Beisa Oryx, Reticulated Giraffe, Grevy's Zebra, Somali Ostrich, Gerenuk. "James" ..he gets asks so much what his real name is he put it on a slide...it means one that likes tongue twisters...he was given this name as a child because he liked tongue twisters...said if he'd been a good hunter, his name would have been about that.. (we found out later this was just a story...his name is James....good grief)
He did a great job. Each nite we get a new talk before dinner.
Check....got him on 2nd day....
Check....
First animal we saw...check..
Check,,,,,,,
2nd animal we saw....check....too cool
Dinner was good, chicken for 2 and sliced rack of lamb for 2 of us. Then it was bed time....we are all sleeping fairly well but up early is tough. Denny and I got some things ready for the laundry the next day and took showers and clocked out. We were told the electricity goes off from 3p-6p and midnight-6a everyday. This is when you are glad you have tent mesh siding so air can get through cause the fan overhead will go off at midnight. We were fine..in fact it got a little cool, but was really nice...could have slept longer but they came at 6a with Denny's tea and my ice for water and some cookies. Time to get up...first morning game ride is 630a.....you have to catch animals early morning and later afternoon. Would be great if you could catch them around 10a or 2p....but not happening!!!
This morning Jelly told us he had a dream we would see a Lion and lots of elephants....he was determined to make that happen....he was also after us seeing a Leopard. We headed out and didn't see much for a while....but then we saw Giraffes and elephants and other things you see lots of Dickey-Dic, Impala, Gazelle. We took a bridge across the river and got to see a Crocodile in the water, not a great photo op but we saw it.....
Not too much later Jelly spotted the Leopard in a tree....he was gorgeous. Jelly said he was a young one and not used to the trucks so he ran fairly quickly but we got some good pics of him.
Most of the animal pics Shea has taken...I try to get the video. I take pics too, but my phone is nothing compared to her camera....what a shot!!!
AWESOME.... many folks don't get to see Cheetahs and Leopards...we have seen both in just 2 days. This afternoon Jelly wants to start early and drive further away where he thinks we will see Lions...ok by us...let's go.
We got back and had some breakfast....Eggs Benedict was funny...but had some resembance to what we know....the pancakes were more like crepes...and sorta tasty. You certainly don't go hungry, you just need to be a little flexible. ....when in Africa.
Jelly's dream came true...we followed tracks....
....2 Lionesses....and 2 cubs....wow. When we first found them you could only see one lioness, the others were inside some thick brush under a tree...so we moved on and came back later and found them a little further away but got better pictures...
The 2nd visit shots....
See the 2 heads....these are not small cubs, but not tiny...but too young to be on their own yet.
All three........the 2nd lioness is missing......we watched them a long time, it was so cool...
Between our first trip to see the lions and the 2nd trip we saw....
Water Buck....
An Ostrich on her nest...
A Beisa Oryx...the last of the Samburu Special 5...
Our 2nd Leopard......she walked in high grass to the base of the tree then jumped with great ease to her resting spot...beautiful.
Jelly had to change a flat tire very quickly...he did a great job....love our open roof/side Land Rover..
We've seen so many birds....
Superb Starling
Guinea Fowl
Secretary Bird
Yellow Necked Spurfowl
Steeppe Eagle
Brown Snake Eagle with Yellow Eyes
Yellow-billed Stork
Mom and babies...Crested Francolin
The landscape is gorgeous....just like on National Geographic....that's the Ewaso River (a river of brown water), the water comes from Mt. Kenya where there is snow.
We loved theses palm trees....this is the only place where they grow...I'd love some back home
Another terrific evening drive....we came back to a talk about the big cats in Samburu, and the tribes here
Dinner again was very good...red snapper, pizza and beef filet....all excellent. Again we all slept good and were up early for the morning drive....not far out we saw our 3rd Leopard and by far the best for photo video op.
Then a perfect silhouette....good morning to us!!!
Then more of lots of things and 2 more lionesses........but no cubs...
Our lodge is wonderful....dining area...and bar...
Some areas around the "camp"
Pool...needed some work...
Kids room where they have fun things for kids
He kept the sidewalk clean....hummmm
After James saw some of Shea's pics he wanted some....she was happy to share..
Love the open top Land Rover....seats 7 but only us in it....our driver, Jelly, is amazing...
Out for our last game ride here.....stay tuned...more to come....
Right outside the gate we saw some village boys with their goats and donkeys. They are supposed to keep the goats on the other side of the river, not the Reserve side..oops.
What an awesome last evening ride...we found lions...a brother and 2 sisters, good size, but not full grown. The male was just being lazy, as was one female, the other one was eating what they had killed. You could hear her chomping on the bones...
He was being lazy by the river...
The male moved over to the shade...
She is chomping away....
After they all 3 moved back to the river bank we went and looked at what they'd been eating...a few bones are left...wow
Something got their attention....and they were all looking..
They moved back to the river bank...first only 2...
Then all 3......very cool
Look at those feet...wow....
And across the river...several crocs were eating something...too far away to get good pics...
One last giraffe and one last sunset....can u see his head???
We headed back for our last dinner...pork tenderloin and potatos...food is very good.
Then off to bed and to get ready to leave by 7a in the morning for our 930 flight to the next camp.
This morning we had a breakfast buffett....was really good...cooked ot order eggs, bacon, sausage, cereal, fruit, french toast, milk ...juice,,,,was nice
Then some good-byes and we were oon out way...
So long James...thanks for the evening chats and star-gazing....NEVER saw the Milky Way like that before
Can you really jump like you claim??
Thanks Monkey Man for keeping them away while we ate....but 2 times at lunch they got Mom's bread...but they are fast....
Not too bad on that jumping James..
Thanks Jelly you did a great job...
A few pics around the camp and off we went..
Reception desk...
Hallway to bar straight ahead and gift store on the left..
Kids corner...some education, some play..
Monkeys....always around....
Time for a little more game riding before heading to the air strip...Jelly found the Lion cubs again...he followed their tracks...he's so good...hope the next guide is...Their Mom was close but was sleeping.
Then we ran into elephants in the road...they were very curious and almost stuck their trunks in the car...
Who knew elephants had such long eyelashes...
This baby was sooooo cute..see those tiny tusks...
Listen hard and you can hear the baby elephant making noises...
They were so curious about us, but didn't seem to mind us being close by...
Cool ride....time to head to the air strip...we went back a little different way, one of the other workers wanted a ride to his village, perhaps he had a few off days. Jelly told us he lived 125 mi away but it can take him a whole day to get there since the public transportation is so slow. So he works on a cruise type sched....on 2 mths then off 1mth...
I can't imagine taking a whole day to go 125mi.
They use camels for work and tame them to sell camel rides..
Furniture Store...
We also saw a building very similar to these with Hotel-Vacancy sign...we really wondered.
We got to the airstrip in time to chat with the locals selling their goods...
Shea's means she's single....
Mom's meant she was a widow...
We paid them $1 to use them for pictures...then they were amazed Mom was not remarried so she told them she did have a boyfriend...they didn't believe her so out came the pictures...then she showed kid pics and videos and they LOVED it...
Shea got in on the action too....never waste a moment to show off your cute kiddos...
Then she bartered to purchase a "necklace" to hang on her memory wall at home...
Under the windsock was this statue, we found it odd that it had a woman milking an elephant on it...Jelly explained that we come and spend $$$ to see elephants, and that's like getting "milk" (money) from the elephants...
Just chillin' and waiting...
Our plane finally came..an 18-seater...woohoo...we boarded...and off we went, had to make 2 stops and would take about 1.5 hrs....luggage went in the nose....ok....
We've had a wonderful time and learned many things
Things we've learned:
1. Hot water is a premium
2. toilets don't always flush, but be glad to have a flush toilet
3. what's on a menu and what comes does not always match...but you won't starve
4. We go hard...up early for game rides, some rest in the middle of the day and up late for dinner and showers....dinner is usually a dining experience and not over until 9ish
5. Dress in layers...cool mornings but does heat up
6. Hot tea and coffee don't come WITH a meal no matter how many times you asked (unless it's breakfast)..they come after, during dessert time
7. You pay for water, but coffee, hot tea and juice are included
8. The animals are not bothered when many jeeps surround them to take pics, thus, making Denny doubt how hard it really is for National Geographic to get their pics.
9. Lots of difference in landscape and animals from place to place
10. There is no way you can fully describe it...you need to experience it....
Thanks Samburu for our first safari....the people are amazing and your land and animals are wonderful...we hope to come back some day...
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