We bless the rains down in Africa, gunna take some time...

[RooFlyer]

All she did was pose perfectly for the camera. Magic.

Quite the Princess.

 

[bPeteb]

Day 4
Samburu National Reserve Samburu National Reserve

Two things I forgot to mention that happened yesterday. One was that the Sony RX10 decided to die as bAlt was taking photos of the leopard. I’d tried to talk him into letting me bring my trusty old Samsung NX500 but he’d said no. One camera it is. I then played around with it on the drive up to the lodge and it came back to life. For how long, who knows.

The second was that you are escorted back to your rooms after dark. There is a risk of elephants and baboons.

Oh, a third - the mattresses here are hard, regional China hard. We have a firm mattress but these are next level.

Greeted by a beautiful dawn as we wandered up for our 6am start


Down a different route along the opposite side of the airstrip. A group of jackals playing on the road

Sunrise over Samburu National Reserve


Tawny eagle


Steppe eagle


We spent a long time driving through the undergrowth along the river where we saw some warthogs


more, or the same, elephants


kingfisher


Elephants playing in the river

 

[bPeteb]

Vulturine guinea fowl


A very large tower of giraffes up by the airstrip, maybe 14


A fleeting glimpse of a Kori bustard


Then time for breakfast. A good spread.



breakfast view from our table



We had the rest of the morning and early afternoon until our next drive. I was going to have a swim and even though the water was warm enough, the wind whipping across the plateau was not.

Samburu Sopa Lodge - The Lodge

Tucked away within Kenya & Tanzania’s vast landscape, Sopa Lodges will be found in hand-picked locations with panoramic views. We pride ourselves in offering our guests memorable experiences with the warmest East African welcome.

www.sopalodges.com

looking back to our rooms. bStut in 12B and we're in 14. No 13


lizard visiting us at breakfast


time for some photo editing after lunch, with a beverage of course



All sorts of wildlife visiting the waterhole during the day including a Grevy's zebra

and a huge group of baboons early in the afternoon


More of the wildlife around the lodge

 

[JohnM]

One was that the Sony RX10 decided to die as bAlt was taking photos of the leopard. I’d tried to talk him into letting me bring my trusty old Samsung NX500 but he’d said no. One camera it is. I then played around with it on the drive up to the lodge and it came back to life. For how long, who knows.

I have found that Sony cameras are very susceptible to being disrupted by humidity. It can be a real pain in the tropics and going in and out of cold air-conditioning in a humid environment.

It's a good idea to keep them in a bag with silica gel.

 

[bPeteb]

We have

I have found that Sony cameras are very susceptible to being disrupted by humidity. It can be a real pain in the tropics and going in and out of cold air-conditioning in a humid environment.

It's a good idea to keep them in a bag with silica gel.

Thanks for that John. We have our cameras in a sealed box at home loaded up with silica. Hadn't thought to bring any with us. It's much cooler at the moment and it seems to be working ok again. Fingers crossed.

 

[bPeteb]

Back down to the valley and river at 4



Some better pics of the Grey Crowned Cranes



More elephants


and vervet monkeys



we see these all of the time. They run down the road in front of us constantly and make quite the racket. Yellow-necked spurfowl/francolin



We drove around and around looking for a pair of young male lions, even playing the call of a female lion, all to no avail.

Time to call it a day and then literally beside the road on the way back up to the lodge were the three young cheetahs again. There was just us. No other vehicles. They came right past the vehicle. Bloody amazing.

Jackson got on the blower to let everyone else in the vicinity know but they were on the move and by the time other vehicles arrived they were a good 150m away.

 

[bPeteb]

then over the radio came the message that Jackson had been listening for - the young lions had been located.

We’d literally been 50m away from them when we’d been searching.

Pretty incredible to get as close as we did, along with the maybe eight other safari vehicles


Long drive back up to the plateau that finished in the dark.

Treated to a genet wandering along the edge of the restaurant deck after dinner


Then it was time for bed, in the hard bed. If you want a soft bed you better bring your own mattress topper!