Chapter 2

Previously on CharliExplores, you read about Rene’s and my introduction to the awesome African safari experience which included, among other things: Lewa Safari Camp – our safari home for four incredibly interesting and educational days. You were introduced to Misheck, our very knowledgeable and experienced guide/driver who educated us on safari life, wildlife, conservancies and so much more on our daily game drives. Game drives – the heart and soul of the safari experience and held twice daily.
We talked about our morning and evening game drives with Misheck where we roamed the open bushlands for hours observing, photographing, and learning about the diverse and fascinating African wildlife in their real life habitats.  And who could forget the lovely tradition of Sundowners – safari happy hour – during the evening game drives.                     

* You also got a small glimpse of the conservancies and their invaluable endeavors to save these amazing wildlife populations.  Thank you for joining us on our journey!

Naibor (Nahēbor) Safari Camp in the Masai Mara National Game Reserve (Mahsahē Mahrah), Kenya.

On July 19th, we arrived in the Masai Mara – the southwestern area of Kenya along the boarder between Kenya and Tanzania.  The Masai National Wildlife Reserve covers 580 square miles (371,200 acres!) It is home to nearly 90 different species of mammals and 500 species of birds! In other words, it is a huge place with a whole lot of animals – a perfect place to go on safari!

A bit more rustic than Lewa.

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When I say that Naibor was more rustic, let’s just say that it was definitely more roughing it than we had gotten used to!  Before I go on, let me introduce you to Michael. I guess you would call him our steward at Naibor – he brought us water in the mornings and evenings, and was waiting outside our tent with a flashlight to escort us to dinner or wherever we needed to go after dark. He was Massi (native of the area), tall, lean, and a man of few words, but he preformed his duties with quiet competence! Okay, back to the camp setup. We had a chemical toilet but no running water – just a pitcher and a basin to wash face and hands. However, we did each have a shower every evening, and here’s how it worked. After game drive, we would tell Michael that we were ready for our showers. He would then haul water down to our tent climb the ladder to the platform  outside said tent (seen in the photo below), and call out, “Ready?” When the showerer called back “yes,” Michael would pour the water into the receptacle on top of the platform. The person showering, would pull a chain on the shower in the bathroom inside the tent, and the 7 minute rain would commence. (There was a fancy rain-shower shower head in our makeshift shower, ha!)  These were called bucket showers and certainly added a new twist to the safari experience, lol! 

Okay, on with the safari!

Our camp was on a high embankment next to a river and a hippo pond. We were very close to the river, so were serenaded by the hippos throughout the day but especially at night. They are very loud with a unique language that ranges from dolphin like clicks and whistles to grunts and what sounded like loud belching, lol! We were concerned that the noise might be an issue at night. However, as tired as we were after safari-ing all day, we had no trouble sleeping despite the discordant lullaby.

Remember, you can tap on the pictures to enlarge them for a better view. Then tap the return > or x to return to the post.

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Hippo Facts: Hippos are, as the Christmas song states, vegetarians. They spend most of their day cooling themselves in ponds or rivers and grazing the plains at night. The hippo is the third largest type of land mammal next to elephants and rhinos. Hippos average 3,310 lbs for males to 2,870 lbs for the ladies. Gestation period is 8 months. *An interesting note, because of their density, hippos can neither swim nor float…odd that they spend so much time in the water.

The game drives were set up exactly as they were at Lewa Camp, right down to the departure times – 6:30 AM (uhg!) and 4:30 PM. Happily, Sundowners was the same also!!! What a lovely way to end the drive! But I’m getting ahead of myself!

We showed up at 4:30 for our first Naibor game drive and were introduced to Moikai (Mōēkahē). He also is a member of the Massai tribe and was our guide for game drives at Naibor.

Moikai was funny, entertaining, educational, and knew exactly where to find everything we wanted to see and more! Our first evening trip was a prime example! Moikai got word of a leopard in the area, and our search was on!!! *Leopards – elusive and sometimes hard to find.

This impressive girl had taken down an impala and dragged it up into a tree – out of reach of the hyenas and jackals – to feast on it at her leisure.

Warning, the next video is pretty graphic!

The jackals and hyenas were not far off. Both species are scavengers, but they each have different rolls in the scavenging arena.

This cutie is a jackal. Jackals are about the size of a small to medium sized dog. Adults only weigh 15 – 22 lbs. Their job is similar to that of the vulture. They eat the entrails and clean the bones of other predators’ kills…. eeewwwww!

Hyenas are the size of a large dog. Their job is to finish the job. Once the jackals and vultures are done cleaning the bones, the hyenas eat the bones. No leftovers or mess to clean up. Nature is incredibly efficient!

We returned to our leopard’s tree for a quick visit all three days we were at Naibor. On the third day, our lady leopard needed a drink, so when we got to her tree she was down and on the move. We got to see her up close and personal – just WOW!!!

Okay, on to some of the other distinguished inhabitants of the Masai Mara!

“We already saw giraffes!”you might say, but not these! Look closely at the color and pattern of the coats. Unlike the reticulated giraffes’ rectangular patches, the Masai giraffe is darker and has star-like spots. Their population numbers are better than their reticulated cousins. There are approximately 32,500 in existance. However, poaching still threatens their numbers, which are also tragically declining.

And we saw ELEPHANTS!!!!

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Moikai informed us that, of all the bush animals, elephants are the best mothers. They are very attentive and keep their little ones close and protected. They also teach their young survival skills. The female offspring stay with the herd for life while the males leave to go their own way between 12 – 14 years of age.

African bush elephant facts: Adults range from 8.3 ft – 13 ft in height with males growing significantly larger than the females. Weights vary between a dainty 5,000 lbs to a whopping 14,000 lbs (2.5 – 7 tons)!!!! The gestation period is 22 months – WOW, and I thought 8 months was bad!

As with the other large animals, especially the big 5, elephant populations have declined significantly due to poaching. One 2016 report estimated that the elephant population had declined by 111,000 elephants in the span of a decade. It is estimated that there are now only 415, 000 elephants throughout all of Africa. These incredible animals were/are slaughtered for their tusks and teeth – ivory. On July 6, 2016 the United States ban commercial trade of African elephant ivory. Thankfully, many other countries followed suit. Once again, the number of babies we saw give hope that the bans on ivory trade and efforts of the preserves and conservancies will be enough.

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On our daily drives, we crossed numerous shrunken streams and rivers usually on rutted roads with steep uneven banks! I was never really nervous around the wild animals, but these crossings had me closing my eyes and clenching my teeth – lol, go figure!

I had planned on covering the Great Migration in this post, but decided that it needs it’s own space. So that’s it for now.

Stay tuned for the next exciting episode! Coming soon: Lions, and Wildebeests, and Zebras, oh my!!!