3 August -- Amboseli (by Roger)

Started today with another effort at early-morning wildlife observation. We’d set things up with yesterday’s driver, Lomomo, to go out early to catch the nocturnal animals wrapping up their evening. Lomomo told us that lots of people start at 6:30 am, so we opted for the uncivilized hour of 6:15 to beat them and their dust.

Linda and Caroline (of course) were ready and by the car at 6:15 as I came running up, still zipping my camera bag and getting my bird book and binocs squared away. In our ongoing merry-go-round of digestive infelicitation, it was David’s turn to stay in. We have here what I think is the best Landrover I’ve ever been in. With its wood paneling, plush seats, wide body, heavy metal plate construction, high tires and extra-wide chassis, it’s more like a stretch Hummer than a Landrover. This is flat-out luxury.

Lomomo told us that most drivers were heading to last night’s sighting of a lion, so we skipped the crowds and went to see something much more interesting to us – a hyena den. When we got there, it was an amazing sight. There were 12 or 15 hyenas lounging around five or six large holes in the ground, and there were half a dozen pups out playing among the adults. When we drove up, some of the hyenas shied away, and the pups quickly ducked into the dens. After very few minutes though, the pups reemerged as the adults came back to the homestead. All the animals were curious about the car, and several came up to it. Lomomo surprised me by blowing the horn to scare one hyena off; he told us that the animals were commonly known to bite through thick tires if there was an unusual smell on them. In fact, they’d had to spray the airplane tires with something noxious in order to prevent the hyenas from chewing them up.

Even in their family setting, hyenas are ghoulishly ugly…and their little pups aren’t much better. It’s hard to describe a hyena pup. They are cute and playful, like any little puppy, but they have that ugly, clownish build that makes them vaguely threatening. When one came up to our car, my first impulse was to put my hand out to try to pat it, but common sense snapped my hand back real quickly before it was half out. I imagine that one of those little freaks could have nipped off a finger or two with no effort.

We watched the family interactions a long time. A young, spotted male got a bone and played with three of the pups most of that time. He’d tug on the bone with a pup and let the other pups climb over him and nip him in the ear and face; he’d respond in kind. When the thinly-haired mother came over, she joined the fun, too. They’d chase each other and wrestle around like the puppies we see at home every day. It was odd to see such ugly, menacing creatures playing and having so much fun.

Lomomo told us that hyenas form territorial clans and that they recognize members of their clan by smell. They fight viscously if they encounter members of another clan in their territory, as sometimes happens when they meet at a big kill. Looking at them in their family setting, I didn’t have much trouble imagining that.

The rest of our drive went quickly. We saw a fair number of water birds near the swamp and watched lines of elephants doing their daily walk into the swamp; that was impressive in the dawn. We then drove to the swamp’s edge to watch some hippos grazing on the Water Hyacinth and Parrot’s Feather, the same plants we have in our ponds at home. The hippos were covered with mats of these plants when they came up out of the water, suggesting to me the blanket of roses that is put on the winner of the Derby!

Not having had breakfast, I was at least partly happy to get back to the Ol Tukai for some coffee and bread, but I wasn’t there long before Linda and I headed out on a guided bird walk around the grounds. Nice walk. We saw many, many birds we hadn’t noticed before, including our first woodpecker IDs. I think our guide was enjoying himself, too, because he stayed with us a half-hour longer than scheduled. After seeing it here, we notice the Grey Woodpecker everywhere. We also saw a Black-headed Oriole, which made a beautiful call, and revisited the coucal we’d seen so well in Ngorogoro.

The 5:30 am wake-up had about taken its toll on me by then, and I sacked out for a brief nap after the bird walk. I got up shortly and had lunch. We all loved the food and service at this place. And after lunch, I sacked out again for another nap.

David felt well enough to join us for the evening game drive at 4 pm, and we were all looking forward to again seeing Jan, the fun woman from Pennsylvania who knew so much about elephants. However, Jan was out with an elephant research group, and we went out with an American couple. These two were nice enough – the guy had worked in embassies in Africa for a long time, and the woman was interested in taking photos. We didn’t talk a whole lot with them, but they were pleasant enough company.

On this safari, we skirted more of the swamp, stopping to watch a lion walking along the edge of some high grasses. At a point where the road approached the marsh, there were a lot of elephants standing up their necks in the plant-covered water. The elephants would just open their mouths and shovel in the floating plants and grasses with their trunks – they looked like they were standing in a big salad bowl and chowing down. All you could hear were plover calls and these big animals chewing, with an occasional rustle as an elephant shifted its position.

Lomomo then took us to a big hill that you could walk up, so we got out and walked up. What a great view over the plain from there. You could see the swamp lands below running off to the horizon. It was clear that the swamp was associated with a river because a certain distance from the river, the plain turned a light, dry tan. The marsh was much, much larger than I’d imagined; Caroline and I now knew why there was no danger of the elephants overgrazing in it.

At the base of the hill, we were ecstatic to discover that Kilimanjaro had finally emerged from the mist! We’d seen only fog and clouds in that direction ever since we’d arrived, and everyone we spoke to said that the mountain would probably stay that way. However, there it was! We snapped some photos and got away from the hill fast in an effort to get a photo of an elephant with Kilimanjaro in the background, the quintessential Amboseli photo.

And we got one. Several, in fact.

We also got a chuckle out of the causeway we had to cross to get back to the other side of the marsh. While we were taking pics of elephants and Kilimanjaro, Lomomo suddenly started telling us we had to hurry up because a big bull elephant was coming. We finally relented on our photography, and Lomomo scooted our car across the causeway. Soon afterwards, a big bull elephant started walking across the narrow bridge, and no car could cross. The elephant flared out its ears and defied any car to enter. It walked slowly across the causeway, then it turned around and started slowly back the other way. In the middle of the bridge, it decided to browse a small acacia, and the cars on both sides of the bridge had to stay there and wait it out. They were still waiting as we headed back to Ol Tukai, leaving behind us a big elephant, some impatient drivers, and a really magnificent sunset.

Jan had gotten back late from her safari with the researchers, and meeting her in the lobby, we asked her to have dinner with us. Happily, she accepted, and we met shortly after in the dining room and had a great, fun dinner. Jan comes to Ol Tukai twice a year and stays a week to see the elephants and other animals. She also goes to Samburo for a week during each visit for the same reason. She gave us lots of advice about places and things to see, and she kept us interested in her stories about her trips. It was a very fun dinner.

After dinner, we went to a scheduled Maasai dance in the lobby. I was somewhat ambivalent about going, but it turned out to be much more interesting than I’d expected. Our hotel has a strong connection to the Maasai; in fact, “Ol Tukai” means “Maassai.” Many of the staff of the hotel, including even Lomomo, are Maasai, and the dance and chanting were very similar to what we’d heard at Ngorongoro. I have to find a recording of this music when I’m back home….

Well, after the dance, we had our usual gin-and-tonic and went quickly and deeply to sleep. Tomorrow, back to Nairobi, clean clothes, and the Rift Valley.