KITIRUWA, OLGULUI CONSERVANCY
The alarm went off all too early, but we managed a very quick 6am coffee and pastry in the restaurant and were checked out and waiting for Ray from Gamewatchers to take us to the domestic WILSON Airport at 615am. The traffic was a little heavier than expected and on arrival our bags were weighed (hmmm Ray said when he picked us up, these bags feel a little heavy)! These days traveling with computers, laptops, ipads, iphones, cameras, extra batteries, charging cables, plugs and plug adaptors - there's not much room left for clothes, shoes or toiletries, especially when your total baggage allowance is total 15KG each including your hand luggage (which has to be tiny - there are no overhead bins or under seat storage in these small Safarilink planes!)
We were a few KG over between us but the plane was not full and we were soon off with two ladies from Australia. After 50 minutes they disembarked at the Kilgami airstrip in Tsavo West park and then we continued on for the next 25 minute leg to Amboseli, after ensuring that the herd of zebra on the runway disappeared into the bush when the plane's engines were revved up! It was a great flight - so wonderful to see the terrain from 7000 feet up and see how it changes as you fly south - incredible soil colours, lava cones, lava flows - small villages and homesites. The big bonus was how clear the views of Mt Kilimanjaro were - the Roof of Africa over 19,000 feet and the largest free standing mountain in the world - the sun was glancing off the glacier on top of Mt Kilimanjaro - decreasing in size every year as the glacier melts - but what a beautiful sight and memories for me came flooding back after summiting Kilimanjaro under a full moon in August 2010 along with my 4 Kili Krawlers group - Sue, Audrey, Michelle and Linda - almost to the day!
Arriving in Amboseli at the airstrip there were 4 Safari jeeps lined up either dropping off, or picking up excited clients like us! We were met by Ali, our driver guide from the Tortilis Camp for the next two days. Ali is from the Kenyan Coast North of Mombasa and gets home every few weeks. He helped construct the Tortilis Camp where we were heading and has worked there for the last 18 years. Ali has a passion for his Wildlife Guiding profession and it shows - we were to spend two wonderful days with Ali. First he checked in at the KWS Kenya Wildlife Service office at the air strip and paid the fees for our stay - these are significant at $70 to $80 per day per person and are used to maintain the parks and pay the park staff. Ali took our photos with Mt Kilimanjaro in the background - he said sometimes Kili, as it is called, is often covered in clouds - some folks stay for 3 or 4 days and never do see the summit so we were very lucky. Our jeep has 6 comfortable seats in the back in rows of two each set of two a little higher than the two in front for good game viewing. The roof is canvas and completely open sides, constructed specifically for the Safari industry.
We were soon off by 930am on our first game drive - this was Neil and Jackie's first safari ever and they were ready and looked like experienced safari clients in their khaki and buff pants and shirts - we were all pumped and ready to look for wildlife - our binoculars and cameras ready! We saw Thompson gazelles who run at 90km per hour, not much slower than the fastest animals, the cheetahs who run at 100-120km per hour - would we get to see cheetahs? we were keeping our fingers crossed! Amboseli is known for its' elephants, around 1500 in this park and over the net two days we would see lots of them - old elephants with long massive tusks reaching almost to the ground, and tiny babies just weeks old. The game drive took us until 12pm and was a slow pace with lots of opportunities to learn from Ali about the animals and birds and to observe and take photos. We saw impala, reedback and lots of birds pratin cole, cattle ibis, cranes, spoonbill crane, black and white blacksmith plover, sacred ibis, black headed grey heron, African Jicana - it was wonderful but we had the thrill of seeing the elephants, lots of them , walking through the swamp which is a behaviour seen in only in Amboseli - lots of elephants in the swamp which is covered mostly with green foliage. The interesting thing is that the elephants share the swamp with the hippos - lots of them! So we would watch the hippos with their nose, eyes and ears popping up and down all over the place while just a few yards away the elephants were moving slowly through the swamp chomping on the foliage as they went. Quite priceless were the two very small baby elephants struggling along besides Mum and trying to keep their heads above the water level - they were tiny! We sat and watched for a very long time and eventually the elephants came to the edge of the swamp and climbed out on to the dry grass - the babies taking quite a time to climb up the shallow bank - then the two of them started to play and joust with each other, roll over in the mud and try to climb on each other - so funny to watch!
We arrived at Tortilis Camp (altitude 3900 feet) and were welcomed very warmly by the Italian Managers Manuela and Andreas. Dani took us down to our luxurious and comfortable tent #12A with a king bed, desk, dresser, chair and lovely seating area under canvas out front for relaxing and watching the wildlife pass by on the other side (we hope) of the electric fence! As soon as you arrive here you feel the peacefulness of this camp under the watchful eye of Mt Kilimanjaro. Tortilis Camp is actually outside the Amboseli Park in the Kitiruwa area of the Olgului Conservancy. Tortilis hires nearly 60 of the local Maasai to staff the camp and works with the local Maasai community so that everyone benefits from this cooperation - the local Maasai Community and the Camp but especially the clients. We have access to game drives where only the Tortilis clients can go so for the next two days we would see no, or only 1 other, safari jeep!
Lunch was at 1pm and we were so lucky - we arrived in time for the local Swahili menu - samosas, chicken and vegetable curries, salads and an amazing creamy banana tart for dessert and a glass of white wine. But I have to tell you about the salads - Tortilis has its' own gardens here where they grow huge amounts of fresh produce and herbs - believe me it is so carefully tended and lush - the lettuce tasted like lettuce should taste fresh from the garden, I simply can't remember the last time that lettuce tasted so good!
After lunch we went downhill to our tent, maybe 400 yards, and I changed into a swimsuit and went for a wonderfully refreshing swim in the small oval pool, but large enough for swimming a few lengths since I was the only one n there. Three Maasai are the pool boys keeping the pool and garden area clean and looking after the towels and lounge cots there where one lady was sun tanning but that would have been way too hot for me. Back at the tent now feeling relaxed I lay down on the bed while Terry stretched-out on the sofa outside the tent. We both immediately fell asleep! We had so few hours sleep over the past two weeks it finally caught up with us! It was a panic when Terry woke up on the sofa outside the tent at 10 to 4 and came racing inside to wake me up - "quick, it's 10 to 4 and we have to get up to reception for our game drive!!: We threw our safari clothes back on and raced uphill to the departure area at the front of the lodge where Ali and our safari jeep was waiting! It turned out that both Jackie and Neil had slept as well - between jet lag and two very long days with driving to Kyaithani and Nairobi and visiting with the kids and the attractions we were all starting to relax.
The afternoon game drive was fantastic! Again we chose to spend lots of quiet time enjoying the elephant families - we could watch them for hours and days just enjoying their interactions and their eating. Elephants eat around 300 pounds of grass and leaves every day - this means they spend nearly all their waking hours eating. They also spend the same amount of time walking to find their food and water. In the mornings we saw them walking from the slopes leading to Mt Kilimanjaro down into the flatlands where there are marshes and water all year long. The melting snow and the rain forest moisture all comes down into Amboseli as underground streams providing a year long source of water in the park Every afternoon you see all the animals moving away from the water towards what is their safe place to rest overnight.
We had been out for over 1 hour when Ali decided to turn around and head in the opposite direction - the other Tortilis Guide had said that they had seen lions there that morning. So we all kept our eyes peeled looking for lions but suddenly a cheetah, blending unbelievably smoothly was on the track in front of us - then - as we slowed right down we realized it was the mother and there were two juvenile cubs even closer to us about playing with each other and generally moving in the same direction as their Mum! It was a great sighting and even though we were following so could not see their faces it was very exciting. They headed 90 degrees towards some trees and then sat for the longest time keenly looking ahead, obviously tracking the Thompson gazelles and perhaps deciding which one for dinner. They were quite a way off by now so we left them to their tracking and continued our own tracking, looking for lions.
We found them a mile or so away outside of Amboseli Park boundary and into the conservancy - two female lionesses and 4 cubs!! The cubs were very young, maybe 1 or 2 months old - two were feeding with one of the lionesses, one was feeding with the other lioness and the last cub was out and about playing on his own in the grass a few feet away. He was really curios and decided to walk right up to our Safari Jeep and take a good look at us before going back to feed from Mom. We spent a good hour watching the activity - we were the only folks there and it was interesting to watch the cubs move between the two lionesses - both Moms sharing the feeding of all 4 cubs. We watched for a good hour while the sun set but eventually we had to turn around and head back to Tortilis Camp - what a game drive! We passed many zebra, wildebeest, and Thompsons gazelles all heading back to their safe place for the night and it was quite dark when we pulled into Tortilis. Manuela and Andrea were there to greet us with hot towels and ask about the game drives - before we entered the bar with the views of the watering hole with Mt Kilimanjaro behind and the moon shining brightly and the incredible stars - how could this be improved? Only with a Bombay Sapphire gin and tonic over ice and sitting down to share the memories of an amazing first day in Amboseli and the Olgului Conservancy.
Dinner is served at 8 each night and you are served at the tables again under straw roofs with open sides and the same amazing views. Dinner started with gnocchi (Italians really do make amazing pasta!) followed by roast beef dinner, and ending with a dessert of ice cream complemented by chilled white wine - it couldn't have been nicer. We headed down to our tents around 830pm passing by the comfortable seating area with cushions under the night skies with the glowing embers of the camp fire in front. We fell into bed - actually, I downloaded all our amazing photos first but when I asked Terry to come and see the one video of the lions and their cubs that I had taken - he tapped me on the shoulder and said "go to bed" I had fallen asleep in one split second with the video playing! So then I fell asleep but there is one more story I must tell you about so read on!
When we returned to the tent after dinner, the doors are all left zipped up because of the monkeys who get into the tents and create havoc if they are not zipped up. Well - at the top of the zip between the mesh and canvas doors on the inside there was this little creature of some sort, about 4 inches long with a furry tail about the same length. We entered the tent and he hid behind the top of the fasteners for the door - so off we went to bed not knowing what this was! The next morning when the alarm went off at 530am (our hot chocolate would be brought to us at 545am ready for a 630am game drive departure)Terry tells me "do you remember waking up in the night and asking me why I had the light on?" Until Terry mentioned this, I had not remembered this at all - I was in a very deep sleep!
Well, Terry woke up when something started pulling his hair! Then he heard tiny foot prints crossing the pillow - we knew what this might have been but this morning it was nowhere to be seen!
TORTILIS CAMP, AMBOSELI SAT SEP 22, 2012
It was a beautiful morning and the birds were all singing - we lay for just a few minutes in bed before getting up to shower and dress for our game drive. Daniel arrived at 530am with a tray of hot chocolate and cookies - what a way to start the day. Walking up the hill to the main camp we could see Mt Kilimanjaro with its' blanket of clouds still covering the summit - but the sky was blue and the sun was rising and would soon burn off the blanket for spectacular views once again.
It was another great day in Amboseli and Olgului Conservancy - we spent hours with the ellies, and on the morning game drive we took photos of the ellies and giraffes with Mt Kilimanjaro as a backdrop - spectacular! Our wildlife included zebras, learning that the very short mane and the darker black colouring were the males, and the longer mane and lighter brownish stripes were the females. Lots of Thompson gazelles, Maasai Giraffe and of course the birds - huge flocks of small quellella birds all rising and settling together - considered a great pest, almost like locusts, as they feed as a massive flock and eat everything in one spot. We saw Egyptian geese, squacco herons, lappet faced vultures, fish eagles (similar to our own bald eagles in Canada with white head and dark brown body)- in fact we saw one fish eagle very close to the track on top of a dead branch - he had a small terrapin (tortoise) upside down eating the body and the shell looking just like a dinner plate and as he tore into his breakfast! The blanket was lifted on Kili and the sun came out just a beautiful day. With photos from inside our tent last night we think we even solved the question of what our tiny visitor was - after checking with the guides they think it was a baby lesser bush baby.
After a couple of hours Ali drove us up to a hill with a viewpoint of the entire conservancy and the Western side of the Amboseli Park. A fantastic spot for the panorama feature on Terry's Lumix camera where we can take a 360 degree wide angle photo.
After descending down an incredibly rocky and bumpy trail to the flat sandy plain below and stopped to watch several families of Burchel zebra (they're the ones with the wide black and white stripes - although some have white and black stripes!!) walk to a small watering hole and stand in a line for drink - great for a group photo. Then ever so slowly we drove totally off road, which you can only do in the conservancy as everyone has to stay on the gravel roads when inside the park. We could see a herd of gazelle and noticed that they were all facing the same direction and Ali wondered out loud what they might be seeing or watching. So we all searched carefully with binoculars and could see nothing. So Ali started to inch the land cruiser forward and around some of the clumps of dried brush. Then wow!!
Lying in the shade of a large bush was a cheetah...no 2 cheetahs... no 3 cheetahs! It was the Mom and two cubs, maybe 1 year old, from the day before and they were all devouring their breakfast! They had killed a gazelle very very recently and were just tearing into it! As we looked closer Neil spotted a small head and we think it may have been the mother gazelle with a small baby - if the cheetahs killed the Mom then Ali said the babies will sometimes get confused and could have come close to her Mom and then be killed herself. We were so close but very quiet - the cheetahs knew that we were there but not bothered at all! We took loads of photos - this was a very special sighting - we consider ourselves lucky to see a cheetah, let alone 3 of them so close and with a kill, Ali told us he had never seen this before! The benefit of being in the Conservancy was that we were the only land cruiser to be watching this action until a long time after Ali advised the other guide from Tortilis and we left to give them some quiet time with the cheetahs - it could not have been better - what a thrill!
Ali started driving over the savannah in a very open area and we were all talking and excited, how could our game drive be any better? Then another surprise! Ali drove us into a clearing under a large flat topped acacia treee where the chef from Tortilis was all set up to cook us breakfast, the table was laid with linen and silverware, fresh fruit and cereals - we had a bush breakfast - imagine sitting under blue skies and sunshine being served as if at a top notch restaurant it was one of the best breakfasts you could ever eat. Along with the cold dishes, we had omelets, eggs, bacon, sausage, tomatoes and toast - Bon Appetit! Just a few yards away was the bush toilet - the area already having been checked for any wildlife hiding behind the bushes. Imagine my surprise when I walked behind the bush and there was a portable seat and toilet paper over a hole dug into the sand!!! Such luxury - my first experience ever in Africa of anything other than a bush!
After breakfast round 11am we headed back to check on the cheetahs, but they were already gone - only two vultures picking a few scraps off the few bones that were left. Then we headed to the Maasai Village of Esiteti for a visit and it was just an excellent visit. Or guide, Lamayin, met us and took our $20 USD entry fee which was then passed on to one of the other 6 men to be deposited into the village funds to be shared by all. All the men from the village came out in a long line chanting their very deep welcome chant and dropping forward their heads and chests all together in time - very effective and serious expressions on their faces. The ladies soon arrived as well and soon we were all dancing with Terry and Neil being invited to join the line of men doing their famous high jumping (remember the movie "White men can't jump" - its true in comparison to these guys).
We danced with the ladies while they sang, each song line ending with a little jump. Terry and Neil got to jump wi the Maasai men - as Terry said when he saw my photos of him afterwards - "well I felt like I was jumping 6 feet in the air and I'm not even 6 inches off the ground!" But believe me - those Maasai warriors can really jump high and to see them compete against each other is quite exciting to watch and they really enjoy jumping.
Then we were lead into the village through an entrance in the dead acacia trees branches covered in the huge long very sharp thorns, laid in a big circle around all the homes in the village and used for protection from the wild animals. Each evening the opening is closed by the "gate" which is another bundle of the dead acacia tree branches. As an aside, the Maasai and Samburu also use these thorns as needles - for sewing and such tasks as piercing ears to add more decorations!
We had demonstrations of fire making, then medicinal herb usage by the son of the medicine man - remedies for malaria, upset stomachs and all sorts of illnesses. We even learned some new Maasai words: Hello- Sopa (response Ipa), or when speaking to ladies Hello - Takwenya (response Iko), Oleseri - Goodbye,
With very dusty legs and feet we were back at Tortilis by 1pm for lunch which was a freshly prepared bow tie pasta station, wonderful fresh salads (especially the butter lettuce) and white wine overlooking the waterhole and valley below (we managed to avoid the dessert table). It was relaxing and pleasantly cool under the straw roof. However, as soon as we headed out downhill the path to our tent #12A the heat was just blasting at us! We had just a short time to relax, long enough to download photos, and charge camera batteries and then head back up for the 4pm departure for our afternoon game drive. We did have one other event - the lesser bush baby was asleep on my pillow! He did wake up and go into the bathroom. which was wet from my shower, he had a drink then came back into the main tent area, climbed back on my pillow and fell fast asleep again! So unbelievably small and cute! On the way out of camp we stopped to for a quick look at the vegetable gardens - so lush with a very wide variety and healthy quantity of fresh produce for the camp.
Another superb game drive - so many elephants and babies, we just can't spend enough time watching them! We also drove through a heavily forested tree and bush area - this is about 10 years old now and a result of KWS trying to bring back some trees and bush into Amboseli and in order to do that you have to keep the ellies out. They eat up to 300kg of grass and leaves each day and have completely denuded most of the park. There is one section where a large bull elephant has broken this fence down so I think he is happily enjoying his 5 star restaurant! Kilimanjaro was clear making for a great game drive which included zebra, Maasai giraffe, Grants gazelles and amongst all the birds a long tailed fiscal shrike. We stopped as the sunset and enjoyed a glass of wine for a sundowner along with a tray of appetisers sent along by the Tortilis Camp chef.
It was dark when we got back into camp where we enjoyed a gin and tonic (and a little time using the Tortilis WIFI which we can access when sitting in the lounge and restaurant area. The fairly steep up and down to the tent means you don't run down if you only have a few minutes before dinner! Dinner was excellent - and is all served at the table so you can take as much or as little as you want. Frieda was one of our table staff, and has also served us at the Bush breakfast in the morning. We headed back to the tent enjoying the bright skies showing up the watering hole. Our visitor (the lesser bush baby) was nowhere to be seen and we were very shortly fast asleep.
Sunday Sep 23 TORTILIS
The morning came around all too soon, and after enjoying our hot chocolate brought to us by Daniel we walked p the hill and enjoyed our lat view of Kilimanjaro with the sun's ray shining on the glacier at the summit . We had breakfast and said our Farewell's to Manuela and Andreas - the most committed hosts you could ever expect to look after you, we also thanked our Guide Ali since it would be Joel taking us to the airport. Joel did a fabulous job on the way to the airstrip - lots of ellies and hippos in the marsh, and 3 beautiful pied kingfishers posing perfectly on a dead tree right next to the track! There were lots of folks from all the camps waiting at the air strip with their Guides and shortly we had 2 Safarlink Caravan planes land. The luggage was loaded and at 915 am we were off with Kilimanjaro, Amboseli and the Tortilis Camp receding quickly behind us. We had a 50 minute flight to enjoy to Nairobi Wilson Airport and then we would connect to the next Safarilink flight on to Samburu - more adventures ahead!
