Samburu Day 2 Afternoon

Samburu Day 2 PM

After a very hot morning and nice lunch, plans for “sundowners” or drinks at sunset are made, at  a viewing platform that provides a wonderful vista. The food here has been quite good, especially the fish, which is what I’ve generally had. They serve the main dishes with a flourish,  swooping the covers off all at the same time

We’re off for a late afternoon wildlife ride, and start off by seeing a very large male Reticulated goraffe, much larger than the ones we’ve been seeing earlier. Several elephants are down by the river, and we see another herd of Impala, again with. Young male who may be cast out of the herd soon. On one side  are some Vulturines, and on the other side, a flock of Guinea Fowl, which prance away in synchronized hops.

We see some Water bucks, which have rather bovine faces, dark gray, a whole group of females, though somewhere nearby is a male. Then a young Impala male is getting chased by the dominant male. As he drives off the younger guy. Nearby is a troop of about 20 Yellow baboons, which look rather like the Olive baboons we saw in the Swrengeti.

Catching up to the other trucks, we cross a bridge where we have a great view of some large herd of cattle drinking on the shore, tended by Samburu. We are en route to a place called Buffalo Springs. We see a huge termite mind, about 7-8 feet tall, polished smooth because the elephants run themselves on the mounds to get rid of bugs. This area seems the driest yet, with no leafy green visible; even the trees are brown.

We see a gerenuk standing on its hind legs, feeding on a tree with front legs folded under. Their hind legs are powerful, able to lift the lighter front body into mid-air, as the head is small and the neck very thin. These are the only antelope that stand on their hind legs like this. We see more herds of Impala but these are smaller groups, likely because the harsher condition won’t support large groups as easily. A group of oryx are nearby, with quite a few youngsters; prancing about; we learn that the females come together to form nurseries to protect the whole group. In the distance are what’s called the Black Mountains, rising up above the plains. We see some yellow-bellied hornbills; the female sits on her eggs for a long time, while the male goes back and forth to get food to feed her. We see some more Grevy’s Zebras, with heir beautiful white tails with a single black stripe, very dramatic. 

Back near the river a huge  herd of perhaps 80o Impala are gathered under a tree, and two males were fighting, their grunts audible from some distance away. The large dominant male is clearing out the young male, who will form a bat belie group until they at able to get their own females. While the big male is busy, a younger male sneaks up on the side and cuts a female and her young one from the herd, and off they go. Driving back along the river, we see a Goliath Heron, huge even though he is kneeling down. Along the sandbank is a small crocodile, the first one we’ve seen in Samburu. We head back to the lodge, and see a trio of large white-backed vultures lurking in a tree, as one expect vultures to be.

When we are nearly back to the lodge we see three older lion cubs, about 6 months old, who run into a sort of den inside a large bush. They are eating hungrily with the mother. The young cubs look a bit like California mountain lions. We can hear them grunting, and the sound of the animal bones cracking.