Lions everywhere!

Sometimes you can go ages without seeing a lion on Lewa and then suddenly it seems that they are everywhere…

At 6.00am, whilst lying in my bed, I hear a lion roar so loud and close that I can only surmise that it is probably right outside my house. However, in my sleepy state, I dismiss that notion on the basis that sound travels quite a distance and decide not to get out of bed and draw back the curtains. Big mistake. The guests in the cottage near mine do open their curtains and see a lion right outside their window! Chances are it did walk right by my house on the way to theirs…

The next afternoon, I went riding with a friend from another lodge. We had the loveliest ride together, nice long canters and no worries about having to guide or have guests fall off. At the end of one long canter, Venetia suddenly shouts “S***, it’s a lion”. And there just metres from us, a lioness pops her head up out of the long grass. A heart stopping moment. Bizarrely, neither of our horses even notices which is just as well because their flight instinct would kick in. We turned and walked away, casting nervous glances over our shoulders, but fortunately the lioness did not come after us. Exciting times!!

The day gets better. After returning to the stables, we decide to drive back and see if we can spot the lion again. Venetia goes on ahead whilst I try and find my cats (who are getting rather bold and don’t want to be shut in at night, but I suspect they will be taken by a leopard if they aren’t). When I catch up with Venetia, she has driven into a huge hole and her car is well and truly stuck. I must admit, I did think twice about getting out of my car knowing that there were possibly lions around. However, I figured the engine noise and sound of people talking would probably scare them off. Perhaps not. Having decided that we needed help, Venetia and I got into my car and as we were about to drive away, a lion strolls by her car nonchalantly. She must have been hidden away in the long grass just watching us!

For those reading this thinking are you crazy, I would add that the lions on Lewa are not generally regarded as man-eating types. They have plenty of game to hunt and are shy of people. When people are out walking, the lions always run away when they hear people coming on foot, even though they don’t mind a safari car parked right next to them. Admittedly you can never entirely predict how a wild animal might behave and the walking guides do carry guns just in case. However, the local people are more afraid of elephant, rhino, and most of all, buffalo who are notoriously aggressive. For me, elephant especially when they are towering over your vehicle, are pretty terrifying. You would not want to come across one in a bad mood…

Lewa Photos - June to Sept 12

Getting up close and personal with rhino

Cheetah resting after an unsuccessful hunting mission

Pombe Rocks

Lioness

Children at Il Ngwesi Masai village

Grevy zebra

Nairobi - visas and spa treatments

On checking my blog, I realised that it is almost three weeks since my last post! Well, tonight I have free wifi (and fast – a rare find in Africa) so I had best maximise on this opportunity.

Had a busy day in Nairobi. First stop, the High Commission of India to make my application for an Indian visa. I naively thought that travelling to India would be straight forward. Apparently not. All British passport holders have to obtain a visa before they arrive in India. Not surprisingly being a British passport holder not currently resident in Britain makes matters even more complicated. Despite the fact that you make your application on line, you are still required to print the application and visit the High Commission of India in Nairobi in person to submit the form and photos. Time taken to queue up to do this – approximately two hours. To make the system even more inefficient, you are then required to go to the Bank of India to pay for your visa and then wait a further week for it to be issued. Fortunately, you are allowed to send someone to collect your passport on your behalf so I am saved the expense of a further visit to Nairobi next week!

Kenyans always talk about how bad the traffic is in Nairobi – having experienced it at first hand today, they are not exaggerating. An hour and a half taxi journey to get from my lodgings (admittedly in the suburbs of Nairobi but still less than 10 miles into the city centre) to the High Commission. Then another hour to get back out to Karen by which time I felt I had deserved an afternoon of pampering. A hair cut, lunch, massage and pedicure later, I am feeling fully rejuvenated. My feet have not been so clean in a very long time. It is hard to comprehend the dust and the dirt that is part and parcel of living in Kenya unless you have experienced it first hand.

Very much enjoying spending a couple of nights away from Lewa actually. A much needed break from horses and guests and I wish I was staying longer. But back to Lewa tomorrow. For the first time ever, I am flying from Nairobi to Lewa and looking forward to seeing more of Kenya from the air. An hour’s flight rather than the long tedious 4-5 hour journey by road.

Yesterday was a long day. Starting with a biplane flight at 6.30am with mum for her last morning on Lewa. I love the biplane! Watch “Out of Africa” if you want to get a feel for what flying over Kenya in a tiny open cockpit plane is like. It is a very special experience. It is amazing to fly over some of the northern landscape, especially now in the midst of the dry season. It is incredible how simply and remotely some Africans still live. Just a basic mud hut and a corral for their animals (mainly goats). Most of the river beds are completely dried up so they must walk for hours, if not days, to find water. How they and their animals survive is beyond me, but many Masai claim to be happiest living in the bush this way often surviving on milk from their goats or cattle for days on end.

After the biplane, mum and I went for a last horse ride before breakfast then the long tiring drive down to Nairobi to drop mum off at the airport for her night flight home. Did lots of riding whilst mum was staying, as well as going out on a few drives (cheetahs, lions, elephants, serval cat, etc. etc), and visiting Pombe Rocks. Pombe Rocks provides one of the best views across Lewa and is where some of my grandfather’s ashes are scattered as Lewa was one of his favourite places in the world. He loved Kenya and visited many times during his life.

Just a final note on serval cats. Very rare – normally only seen at night and I’ve now seen two in the day time in the space of one week. Their body is a bit like a cheetahs but smaller. The first occasion, I was out riding with a guest when one jumped out in front of us across the track, spooking the horses. Wasn’t actually entirely sure what it was at that time and had to look in the book and discuss with the local guides when we got to bush breakfast. Incidentally, that was a very cool ride – we even saw lions. Fortunately, my spotting skills have much improved and I saw them from a good distance off so we were able to avoid the horses seeing them. That said, whilst keeping my eyes on the lions, we almost bumped into three rhino so may be my spotting skills still need some work….

A Close Encounter with Rhino and Cheetah on the Hunt

Nothing gets your heart racing like walking in the bush and getting up close to rhino. Going on walking safaris isn’t something that I’ve done a lot of and it really is so much more exciting than viewing game from the safety of a vehicle. As we were walking along the river, we spotted three white rhino having a drink. We approached quietly then crouched down by a bush to wait and watch. The rhino, one mother and her two young, after finishing their drink start walking directly towards us. With strict instructions from our Masai guide to stay quiet and not move, they literally came to within ten feet of us. They then went on by, but having smelt us came back for a second look. Rhino have very poor eye sight but consequently their hearing and smell senses are heightened. They also have a tendency to charge blindly in the direction of anything they perceive as a threat. I was slightly concerned when our guide whispers to us to pick up rocks, particularly after scanning around and realising there was not a handy rock anywhere within reach. In the event of a rhino charging, the guide will usually throw a rock to try and distract it and send it off course. Whilst the guides do carry guns, shooting such an endangered species as rhino would be very much a last resort. After what seemed like an age of cowering behind the bush, and was probably just a few minutes, the rhino decided to move on. Phew! We continued with our walk encountering lots of giraffe, zebra, waterbuck, wart hog and five more rhino – this time not at such close range.

As if that wasn’t exciting enough, the following day, I saw two cheetah attempting to make a kill. Although I’ve seen cheetah many times, seeing them in full flight after a Grant’s Gazelle is new for me and a spectacular sight. Our patience was rewarded after watching the cheetah for an hour walking across the plain and scanning the savannah for potential food. Sadly, these two female cheetah are young, inexperienced hunters. They were even attempting to pounce on small animals (mongoose, hare, etc.) in the bushes so they must have been very hungry – they certainly looked skinny. After failing there, I didn’t fancy their chances much with bigger game but as luck would have it a hapless gazelle wandered obliviously straight into their path. At this point, we could no longer see the cheetah as they had crouched low into the grass. Then pow! Two cheetah in full flight, dust flying everywhere. They got to within a whisker of the gazelle but it managed to escape unscathed. Better luck next time girls…