PORINI MARA CAMP, KENYA SEP 27, 2012

PORINI MARA, KENYA - Thursday Sep 27-29, 2012

OL KINYEI Conservancy (next to NABOISHO Conservancy) North East of Maasai Mara National Park, Kenya

Thursday Sep 27, 2012

CURIO STORE

SO MANY HANDICRAFTS

The drive from Mbweha Camp, Nakuru to Porini Mara camp was pretty good roads through to Maai Maihu and then West to Narok, a large town of 800,000.  We crossed the Ewaso Nyiro river - the same river that runs through Samburu. but for the last hour or so through Maasai Community Lands into the Selenkay Conservancy the dirt track was unbelievably bumpy and hard!  We saw lots of maize being dried by the Maasai along the sides of the road, and we also stopped on the way at the Curio Store - we were there for about 1 1/2 hours where serious negotiating took place for a beautiful ebony carving of a Maasai Couple and oil paintings.  

After passing wildlife including Thompsons gazelles, Maasai giraffe, Bush backs, Burchells zebra, guinea fowl, wildebeest, and cox' haartebeest, Steve dropped us at Porini Mara around 2pm where we were so warmly welcomed back by the Camp Manger David - such an amazing person, we really enjoy him.  There are 6 tents (12 clients) and 3 staff (including tent assistants, guides, cooks, and security staff) in this Eco camp in the Conservancy and nearly every staff member comes from the local Maasai community.  The Ol Kinyei Conservancy is now 15,000 acres -last year the Maasai Community added 7 thousand acres.

DAVID - PORINI MARA CAMP MANAGER (LEFT)

Josephat was assigned as our Guide and spotter, with Tipa as the driver - both dressed in their beautiful red traditional robes - almost every Maasaa that we see is very wiry and strong with not an ounce of fat on them.  We ate lunch in the dining tent sitting around a very large square table that seats 1 very comfortably - everyone else was pretty much just finishing lunch but we soon caught up with them and met the other guests from Vancouver Canada (this family of 3 had just arrived before us) and 5 folks from the UK.  We shared a glass of wine and then headed out to our tents - Jackie and Neil were in tent number 1 and we were in #2.  David advised us that the resident hippo, Simon, was currently browsing on the grass between tents #1 and #2 during the night so we shouldn't be surprised by any noises!  Simon is a long time resident, he was at Porini Mara Camp last time we visited in 2011. All of the 4 Porini Camps (Amboseli, Mara and MaraLion, and Ol Pejeta) are not fenced but have guards on duty all night long.

Each tent has beds for 3 guests and is set apart from the next tent so quite private.  It was very hot in the tent but I got an hour to update my blog while Terry visited in the mess tent with David, Jackie and Neil. At 4:30 we were off on our game drive and it was awesome.  Because Porini Mara Camp is in a Conservancy (and not a National Park) there are very few vehicles allowed, only those from the Conservancy so usually just 1 or 2, and in addition you don't have to be back by 630pm at night (as i the Parks) so the game drives can last longer and incorporate a night drive where you get to see the nocturnal animals (if you're lucky) and the predators as they start their evening hunting.

PORINI MARA TENT

We saw lots of wildlife: eland (the largest antelope) which can weigh up to 900kg!! Impala, Topi, water buck (with a large round circle on their back end which looks like a toilet seat ring!) Burchell's Zebra, and so many birds: Rupell's long tailed starling, green and yellow bee eaters, red necked spur fowl, common or square tailed grango, crowned

plover.  But we also saw amazing big cats - our very own Big Cat Diary!  We saw a total of 6 cheetah during the afternoon, and 2 lioness, we also 2 bat eared fox and this was a very interesting sighting!  There was one mother cheetah with two large juvenile cheetah sons, and it was dusk and getting dark quickly (on the equator as the sun sets it becomes black night almost instantly).  The three cheetahs were looking for a safe place to spend the night (cheetahs don't hunt during the night).  Then as we were watching the cheetah,  two bat eared foxes (about 12 to 15 inches high) came out of their den in the ground and one started running in the direction where the two juvenile cheetahs were.  The one cheetah started to chase the bat eared fox, and the bat eared fox was screaming at him and flew back across the ground and dived into their den.  So that cheetah stopped next to the den - then the other cheetah started chasing the second bat eared fox - so he immediately started squealing at the cheetah and as he ran into the den he screamed even louder at the cheetah that was standing outside his den!  Josephat (our spotter) told us the cheetah's don't eat the bat eared fox but they just like to play and chase them!

CHEETAH

We stopped and enjoyed a sundowner (gin and tonic, and red wine) as the colours in the sky fadd from reds to blues to mauves to black, and then drove slowly back to the camp.  They use a red spotlight so that it doesn't bother the animals and it lets you see red eyes and movements in the dark.  This let us see lesser bush babies in the trees and then jumping from tree to tree, as well as jumping through the grasses - we thought they should be called African kangaroos - their jumping actions are so much like kangaroos that you see in Australia!  We also saw the night jar bird - they sit in the middle of the tracks when it is dark, presumably enjoying the warmth left in the dirt and sand from the sun warming it during the daytime hours.  There were several of the Dik Dik couples around (they mate for life) - the smallest antelope, maybe no more than 15 to 18 inches tall - they are unbelievably cute!

Back in camp we were taken from the land cruiser to the camp fire sitting in a circle of canvas camp chairs and offered a pre dinner drink while we relaxed and warmed up.  You do get chilly sometimes in the early morning and evenings in the open safari land cruisers, even though they always give us a shukra- the red tartan blankets that the Maasai always wear.  At all Porini camps they give you a green waterproof poncho that is lined with the red tartan shukra - so cosy!

Dinner was served to us at the large table again and we gladly went to bed afterwards, every day with the early mornings and the long bumpy game drives means that collapsing into bed after dinner is heaven.  First we arranged our wakeup call time, and what drink we would like when we were woken up - their wonderful hot chocolate with cookies of course!

HIPPO TOOTH

Friday Sep 28, 2012

We had the alarm set for 5:30 - time to get dressed before our wake up call arriving with hot chocolate for 2 at 6am.  We slept well even if we did  wake up a few times with monkeys on the roof and hyenas calling to each other outside our tent #2.  Jackie and Neil were awake half the night with Simon the local hippo eating right outside their tent #1 so I've got an idea that Terry and I were so tired we slept right through that! 

More the security and night guard was busy keeping us safe all night, and Tipa (our driver - the Maasai name means Maasai Warrior) and Josephat (spotter) were ready to go and so by 6:30am we were all off on our full morning game drive taking along with us a picnic breakfast and not planning on returning to Porini Mara until lunch time. The sun was just rising, and we had a giraffe pose for us against the sunrise with trees on the horizon - how special!

LIONESS

Early morning is the best time to look for the predators (hyenas, lions, cheetahs and leopards) before they settle down for the day so we were off at a good clip over the extremely rutted, bumpy and rocky trails to see what we (or Josephat and Tipa) could spot. We wandered along the stream and could not spot any cats, so then we crossed into Naiboisho Conservancy along the streams there (we passed a safari jeep from Kicheche Camp in the Naboisho Conservancy - there are about 6 camps in Naboisho but they are not allowed to cross into Selenkay Conservancy where Porini Mara is located) - the black faced monkeys were at the top of the trees making a hell of a noise - warning every animal in sight (including us) that there was a predator close by.  We spent a long time looking and eventually saw a leopard streaking past at the top of the hill towards the cliffs quite a way off - the cliffs were not passable for us in the Land Cruiser so that was our leopard spotting for today!  The monkeys also stopped their noisy chatter so we knew the leopard had gone.

It was a lovely morning in spite of the leopard being his normal elusive self!  We had a very large male lion with huge mane sleeping in the bushes that the flies hate - did you know that lions are active for only  4 hours each day, the rest of the time they spend sleeping and generally lying around doing nothing!  This is in comparison with elephants who spend 16 to 18 hours every day searching for leaves and grasses and eating - since they eat 250kg each day you can see why they spend so much time doing this!  Elephants live until age 60 to 65 and during their life span have 6 sets of teeth which each last around 10 years.  When they have lost their last set of teeth they can only eat soft leaves and grasses which is why they migrate to the marshy areas where the foliage is soft and easier to eat - but they are old and weak by now and quite often do not have the strength to get themselves out of the soft muddy marshes and die there.

ZEBRAS

We stopped on a hill with wonderful views of the valley and savannah around 9am for a breakfast prepared on the picnic table with stools by Josephat and Tipa - hard boiled eggs, fresh bread, pork sausage, bacon, fresh fruit (the fresh mango was to die for along with melon and passion fruit) freshly brewed coffee and tea - excellent! Then we continued on doing many miles and seeing so much.  The number of Maasai giraffe in this Selenkay Conservancy is amazing - at times we saw at least 20 together - a Journey of giraffe when they are walking, or a Tower of giraffe when they are standing still!  The name giraffe comes from "arafa" which is Arabic for "fast walker".  At the end of our morning drive we saw a very young 2 or 3 week old giraffe that still had the umbilical cord hanging under his belly - apparently this disappears by the time the giraffe is 4 weeks old.

Our wild life today included thousands of wildebeest (the hills were covered in black dots!), topi antelope including two young babies, bush back, reed back in the creek, Thomson and Grants gazelles, black faced vervet monkeys, rock hyrax (so cute), dwarf mongoose, warthogs (pumba) - the Swahili word for warthog is Ndiri, silver backed jackal, a terrapin (turtle) sitting on a rock in the stream, elephants with babies of course - all along the side of the hills eating leaves and pulling down trees, hippos (with very tiny baby) in the "hippo pool", and the birds we saw included lilac breasted roller, Abyssinian Scimitarbliss (same family as the Hoopoe), grey headed kingfisher (with beautiful blue body), yellow billed  stork (reflecting nicely in the water for a good photo), white headed buffalo weaver, the Maasai ostrich (whose legs and neck turn pink when he is ready to mate, versus the Somali ostrich who turns blue when ready to mate), the small rattling cisticole, chanting goshawk, white bellied bustard, Auger buzzard, vultures, green and yellow bee eater, black headed oriole (with bright yellow chest), Egyptian geese plus many others I didn't get the names of!

OPEN SIDED SAFARI LAND CRUISER

In the Great Migration every year there are 3 million animals that walk the many miles in a circular pattern crossing between Tanzania Serengeti and Kenya's Maasai Mara - 800,000 zebra lead the way eating the tall grass, followed by 1.5 million wildebeest eating the remaining grass down to the roots, 400,000 gazelles (Thomson and Grant's) and 20,000 eland antelope.  This makes you understand why this is called the Greatest Migration on Earth and why this area is so popular for adventure travellers at this time of the year.

Along with "The Big Five" which everyone hopes to see while on safari in Africa: 

Lions, leopards, Elephants, Buffalo and Rhino, there are  

"The Small Five": ant lion, leopard tortoise, elephant shrew, buffalo weaver, and rhinocerus beetle, and

 "The Ugly Five": Pumba warthog, wildebeest (Gnu), Maribu Stork, Vulture, and Hyena!!

RAIN STORM DURING AFTERNOON DRIVE

Back at camp we had a lovely lunch "al fresco" in the gardens under a large umbrella - all seated around one big table discussing the morning game drives.  We had 4 new folks from Napa Valley arrive (from Amboseli), along with Phil and ?  from Nottingham.  The 3 from Vancouver and 3 from UK had left this morning to head to Lion Camp Porini.  Lunch was nice and light: tuna quiche, cold ham and salami, salads: beets, tomatoes, cucumbers, baby corn and beans, followed by fresh mango mousse - awesome, especially with a glass or two of red wine!

At 4:15pm we headed out on our afternoon game drive with JOSEPHAT as our spotter, and Simon as our driver (Tipa had been called away with an emergency) - and within 10 minutes we were dropping down the plastic sides of the Land Cruiser and huddling under the ponchos to hide from the driving rain storm we encountered!  It didn't last too long - but long enough to stop us in our tracks for 20 minutes or so!  We came across the Cheetah Mom and she was intent on stalking and hunting the impala.  We  sat silently and watched for a long time as she would edge a few feet closer on her belly and then rest and watch.  Finally she shot up and raced towards the Impala, but the bypassed the adult mother and went after the young Impala - the cheetah almost got her but not quite.  Seeing both the cheetah run like the wind and make unbelievably fast turns and change of direction to chase after the impala, and the impala jump and turn, jump and flee was amazing.  Eventually with her prey escaped, the cheetah lay down to recover and breathed very heavily for quite a long time.

SUNET ON THE MAASAI MARA

That evening we saw another 3 bat eared fox (2 adults and baby), white tailed bustard, zebra with a young less than 1 year old baby, Cox's haartebeast, topi with 3 babies, Eland with a young baby - babies everywhere!  BUt the cap it all we came across 2 healthy male lions (brothers) with large furry black manes - awesome.  They were a little ways apart and one started walking up the slope where we could see the sun setting and the lion was in silhouette with the gold evening rays shining through his mane as he settled down and seemed to watch the sunset himself - it was inspiring and beautiful.  Then just before the sun disappeared over the brow of the hill, the lion who was further behind us let out his amazing roar to communicate with his brother and they roared backwards and forwards between the two of them for quite some minutes - the sounds just go right through you - exhilarating and exciting!

LIONS ROARING AT SUNSET

This was an amazing sighting, but eventually we continued on our way and came across a leopard who had climbed high up into a fig tree and we could just see his face peering out between the branches and leaves.  The leopard was hiding from the lions and after watching him for a short time we left him in peace and headed back towards camp in the dark but we had a full moon, so it was not pitch black and without any lights on at all we could see more than with the flashlight.  We continued to hear the lions roaring as we drove away - what a superb game drive!

Again we enjoyed cocktails around the warm and friendly campfire before dinner in the dining tent - everyone had experienced wonderful game drives and the conversations were busy and lively! We said our Goodbyes to the other guests since tomorrow our wakeup call was coming at 3:30am to get us up and over to the Maasai Mara National Park in time for a hot air balloon safari at sunrise with Balloon Safaris - another exciting day to look forward to!  Simon, the hippo, visited during the night to chomp on the grasses right next to our tent, along with hyenas calling and lions roaring in the distance - how lucky are we to be sleeping, or lying in bed, listening to the night sounds of the Kenyan savannahs?