Kenya - Nakuru National Park

 Nakuru, our last game stop on this trip, is a long two-hour drive from Naivasha.  With traffic jams on the highway, the driver took a short cut which turned out to be another bumpy ride on gravel roads.  We were happy we finally got to the National Park and greeted right at the entrance by a mountain gray woodpecker, with an insect in its beak nonetheless.  It was also interesting to see several school buses with children in school uniforms, some of them even waving cell phones at us.  It seems that these children are out on end of school year field trips - it was nice to see that happening.

Since we were still missing one of the Big Fives - the rhinoceros, we were counting on Nakuru to cough up that last sighting.  And we were not disappointed.  After the driver pointed out a white and a black rhinoceros at an impossible distance, we drove around and finally found one sleeping under a tree.  We came back to the same spot after lunch, and to our excitement, it got up on its feet for us to photograph!  Five minutes later, it's back in its sleeping position again.  This whole episode highlighted how a lot of what we saw on safaris depend on luck, perseverance and of course driver/guide knowledge of the area.  We have been lucky to have good guides who worked hard at their jobs.

There were lots of bird life around the lake, but as expected, the huge flocks of flamingos are no longer around.  We saw just a few flamingos and a small group in the distance.  So I was glad we got some nice shots in Amboseli.  But it was the first time I saw a Waterbuck and with a young calf to boot.  I also chanced upon a surprise lifer - a Pink-backed Pelican that I had initially thought was a juvenile white pelican at a distance.  

We had a picnic lunch at the waterfall at the same time as the students.  It was heartening to see the teacher taking individual photos of the students in their uniforms at the waterfall - I am guessing it would be for their year book if their school traditions are like ours.  

The drive back to Naivasha was uneventful.  By the time we got to Naivasha it was late on Friday afternoon and there were lots of Kenyans on the street on their way home from school/work, some obviously heading out to a Friday evening on the town. 

We enjoyed a last sunset then sunrise on the lake and after a morning tour of the property, left for Nairobi after lunch.  We headed straight for the airport for our flights home.  This wrapped up an amazing 3 weeks on the continent.  

Lake Nakuru is huge - this is just a small part of the lake in the distance

Cattle crossing on the way to the park

Watering hole in the park

Giraffe conference - note these giraffes are different from the ones in the Mara.  They have smooth outlines on their patches.

White Pelicans on the lake.  

Pink-backed pelican - a surprise lifer.  I had thought they were juvenile whites from a distance.

A Little Egret -very similar to the Snowy egrets I saw in California, in fact slightly bigger in spite of its name.  

Cormorant with big fish!

Waterbuck and calf

Mountain Gray Woodpecker

Gray-headed kingfisher

White-fronted bee-eater

Long-crested eagle

Northern ant-eater chat

One last shot of the beautiful Lilac-breasted roller, here with all its colours clearly seen on a cloudy day

First time we saw higher ground on this trip

Bus load of school children on field trip 

Students at the waterfall, some in school uniforms for their school photo

Cape Buffalo - one of the Big Five

Black rhinoceros on the left and white rhinoceros on the right - both very far away

White rhinoceros at rest - got up briefly (five minutes!) for our cameras

Baboon and young

Such maternal concentration was testing the patience of the young one

Pair of Tawny Eagles

African fish eagle out on a hunt

On the road back to Naivasha:

Students in unitorms walking home after school

Friday afternoon on the town - curious to know where everyone is headed!

One last sunset

One last sunrise

This wraps up the Africa series.  Thanks for coming along!

Namibia - Etosha National Park/Onguma Bush Camp

 Etosha National Park is one of the largest national parks in Africa, spanning 8,600 square miles and supposedly has four of the "Big Five".  We drove from the west entrance of the park to the east entrance in a full day drive, saw many springboks, zebras and elephants but didn't see any lions, leopards or rhinoceros.  No off road driving is allowed so we were dependent on the animals appearing beside the road or at the waterholes.  But we were lucky to see many young animals - guess it's the time of year that the babies are decent sizes and are easily visible.  

We exited the Park and spent two nights at Onguma Bush Camp, a conservancy not far from the east entrance of the Park.  We were fortunate enough to see a lion on a sundowner drive at this camp but no black rhinos or leopards.  That will have to wait for Kenya.  What was different at Onguma was that we spent a morning at a hide.  This is quite an elaborate setup as you can see from the photos below.  It is a new experience to be able to see wildlife so close without disturbing them although I think they are aware that we are watching them.  We saw lots of birds and of course each one we saw is a lifer since they are unique to the continent.

Zebra and foal

Foal nursing

Giraffe and young

Almost comical!

Foreplay

Yellow-billed Hornbill - one of the first birds I saw at the lodge

 

An Oryx - the only one we saw

First sighting of ostriches

Springboks locking horns seem to be a common sight.  

A lone acacia tree is also a common sight on the grasslands, both here and in Kenya.  This one has a weaver's nest.

Pale-chanting goshawk, one of many goshawks we saw.  
Always easy to spot as they like to perch on tree tops.

Kori Bustard

First wildebeest sighting

The fenced path to the hide

Inside the hide

The hide on the outside

The hide gave us an unusual viewpoint, basically we were below ground and shooting at ground level.   The photos below were taken from the hide.  You can see it is like having the camera on the ground in front of the elephants.  

This Southern Cordonbleu was right in front of our window

Warthog came for a drink

Eastern Paradise-Whydah  
Birds are a bit harder from below ground but at least we didn't scare them away.  



This White-backed vulture was picking branches from a bush in front of the hide to build its nest.

In the afternoon, we went for a sundowner drive on the property.  There was a big effort to look for rhinos, but to no avail. However there were lots to see.  We encountered this exceptionally spectacular bird, the Lilac-breasted roller, Namibia's national bird, beautifully lit in the golden hour.

 

This is how it got its name - it rolls when in flight.  I was lucky to catch the roll.

We were headed towards the sunset spot when our road was blocked by a couple of elephants in some kind of conflict - not sure what they were doing but the situation was a little tense, with them not budging and then turning around.  The guide did not want to risk an encounter so we backed off and found another route.  

We lucked out - a lion was sitting in the middle of this alternate route!  

We waited and it decided to walk away.

Our first lion

On the way back to the camp, we saw this elusive dik-dik, the smallest antelope

The dining room at the camp overlooks a pond that actually serves as a watering hole for the animals.  So we always took our cameras with us at meals because there was always something to photograph.  Below is a male kudu - our first sighting of a live kudu even though we had been trying its meat at various stops on our route.  It is quite delicious.  

Red-veined Dropwing dragonfly

Even an elephant dropped by in the blue hour

We enjoyed this beautiful sunset before we left Namibia.  We drove to Windhoek to catch our flight to Kenya via Johannesburg.  It was a six hour drive but thankfully on paved highway most of the time.  Farewell Namibia!