To the Masai Mara via Lake Naivasha and its birds

Because the distance between Samburu and the Masai Mara is so great, Spirit of Kenya had arranged a night at Simba Lodge, Naivasha to break the journey. We arrived just in time for a late lunch and by 2.30 were out in a small boat looking for birds and hippos. The water is quite shallow so the hippos are able to walk about in it, coming on land only when it’s time to be fed.

Then there were the birds: a lovely black and white kingfisher – called the great kingfisher, we were told – enjoyed preening himself as he sat on a low branch a few metres from the lake’s edge.

There were cormorants in the tall trees, young flamingoes mixing with yellow billed storks and fish eagles waiting to perform for food. We saw them all and the second fish eagle that was called came down to snatch the fish that was thrown for him.

A quiet evening making the most of the WiFi facilities and the ambience of the hotel and we were all set for a leisurely breakfast in time to meet Chris at 7.30 to begin the seven hour drive to the Mara and our first camp there – Mara Basecamp. Like Ilkeliani where we stayed a couple of years ago, it’s on the Talek river and is renowned for the fact that the Obama family each planted a tree here when they visited.

On the way we passed through communities and settlements where daily life was in full fling. We stopped to refuel, squeezing as much diesel as possible into the tank in preparation for five days with no filling stations, looked at a couple of curio shops and stocked up on water and Chocolate Eclairs, Chris having introduced us to them on our first long journey. They’re a bit smaller than we get at home but equally more-ish!

The last few kilometres of the journey are on small, rough roads and we came across one section where the road had been washed away and we were driving over rock – very uneven and quite steep.

After just an hour to catch our breath and have some lunch, we set off for the Mara in good time for an evening game drive. We withstood the challenge of the saleswomen at the park entrance and were soon whisked away by Chris to find the first thing of interest: a small herd of wildebeest.

Greeting a few other drivers on the way and listening to the communication system the drivers use to share intelligence about sightings, Chris put his foot down and drove towards a small group of cars on the horizon. He pulled up, checked in his binoculars and said, ‘leopard’…… and there it was across the dried up river bed from us sitting proud on top of a large anthill. We watched for a while and when it walked away we followed it, until we felt we would see no more because it had gone deep into the bushes.

Moving on, we saw another group of vans, all cameras trained to the left and there, nestled in a dip in a wide open area with very little protection from the surrounding grasses, was a cheetah. Again we watched for a while and then, once satisfied there would be no more, made our way back to Basecamp in really good time for dinner and a relaxing evening despite the unexpected rain which fell monsoon style for about an hour.

Can’t wait to see what we’ll find on tomorrow’s full day game drive!