Strathspey Wildlife
 Gorillas & The Masai Mara 2005

Wed.12th.Jan.2005

An early start - 6am - as we made our way for an early shower in the darkness, I became aware of a "growling"  from the upper reaches of the trees around the shower block, but it was too dark to see anything.  Whilst having my first brew a short time later, Steve returned, now in the early morning light, having identified the source of the noise. We returned, and he pointed out a pair of Verraux Eagle Owls high in the tree. These birds, the largest of the Eagle Owls have a varied diet, with domestic cats  featuring on its prey list! (Shame about the pale sky behind the birds which spoilt this shot) 

Time to hit the road again. We travelled across to the volcanic Crater Lake, where we had a very pleasant breakfast in the lodge.
This was followed by a walk around the lake, to see flamingo, pelican  and numerous water-birds. On return to the lodge we saw a camel! This one however - as opposed to having had a long walk into Kenya - was the survivor of a pair that was to have  provided camel rides, and hopefully breed, He now has the life of a tourist -  wandering around  the lake shore!! Following our walk around Crater Lake, we had a chance to stretch our legs once more with

 a visit to Hell's Gate Park. Here we were able to stroll amongst the giraffe and zebra. The giraffes were feeding amongst the trees, and there must have been around a couple of dozen just wandering about, giving curious looks to our group as we meandered around,  just yards away. Being on foot, this gave a real feeling of being close to the wildlife - though I wouldn't like to try it amongst the bigger game of the park. We returned to camp for lunch. A quick lunch, then  it was time to pack up in preparation for our visit to Lake Nakuru National Park.

Our visit to Nakuru was much awaited - as Marcell had promised us our first rhino!! As we entered we had frequent stops - a Steppe Eagle posed on a dead tree alongside the road, as did a Fish Eagle -  a zebra and young were close by - then there was another stop to take a shot of a waterbuck resting near to the roadside.  All eyes were peeled as we progressed through the park. Another stop - and Marcell paused, and peering through his binoculars, pointed out some distant shapes in the bush. Some distance, yes - but  - he had found our first rhino - in this case a pair of White Rhino

not white in the strictest sense - the name comes from their "wide mouth" hence the generally adopted name. We were to get much closer to rhino later in the trip, but it was a cause of some excitement as  we followed the pair closely making their way through the trees, eventually getting to within reasonable camera range of the pair. Following our trip to Nakuru, we made our way to our camp for the night. Unlike the previous nights - this was to be a "wild camp" in the bush - no bar here, and the prospect of a walk from the camp into a dark corner to visit the loo - Spooky !!