Whales and vistas

Whales and vistas 

Today was our last day in South Georgia.  Over night and into the early morning, we moved from the northeast side of the island to the southwest side and into King Haakon Bay, planning to go ashore at Peggety Bluffs.  During the morning we saw three humpback whales swimming together.  Two of them showed us their flukes and one of them did a full breach.  The Haakon Bay has several glaciers and several high snow covered mountains, directly rising from turquoise water.  It was absolutely beautiful.  We thought it was even more spectacular than the Swiss Alps.  The weather for the day was as wonderful as the scenery — the sun was out and temperature was about 45F.  It was a sunscreen day.

We rode zodiacs to the beach and started on a hike.  Unlike previous days the beach was not littered with elephant seals nor penguins (there were a few of each).  We hiked up on scree to a ridge that over looked the bay.  Rather than trying to go back down the scree slope, we decide to slide down a snow covered slope instead.  We continued to hike around the area looking at the wildlife and climbing up another ridge.  It was just wonderful to just stand on top of the ridge and take in the magnificent vistas.  The peacefulness of the scene was enhanced by the elephant seals, who today seemed to want to sunbathe rather than engage in continual (noisy)sparring by the males. 

Once we reluctantly returned to the ship, (we were some of the last few to do so), there was a polar plunge.  Anyone who wanted to jump, dive, or cannon-ball into the bay from one of the zodiacs tethered to the ship.  Katharine opted to do the plunge while Kevin photographed the experience.  

We are now embarked on 2.5 days at sea, fighting a NW wind and trying to evade a large storm, to get back to the Falkland Islands, where we will spend Friday. Days at sea are full of educational lectures and time on the bridge scanning for whales, albatrosses and other seabirds.

Albatross and waterfalls

November 4

Our luck with the weather ran out today, and we had a very misty/foggy/rainy/windy day, although still rather mild (7C). Our morning was spent at Stromness, a former whaling and ship repair center. It is also the location that Shackleton reached, after hiking across South Georgia, to find help of the men he had left on Elephant Island.   The last piece of his trek was to rappel down a partially frozen waterfall... so we hiked to that waterfall today. This was the last two miles of the 36 hour, basically non-stop trek Shackleton made over the mountains that run the spine of South Georgia. We also participated in BioBlitz, a citizen science effort connected to iNaturalist, to record everything we saw on the hike.  Since it was so rainy and windy, it somewhat forced us to focus on, and photograph, all the different plants, lichens, mosses, etc that we saw along the way... a very interesting and different way to hike. The rain made it difficult to photograph some of the birds because the.camera wanted to focus on the water droplets on the lens.

In the afternoon we visited Prion Island, a nesting location for wandering albatross.  Access to the island is strictly controlled by the government.  Permits are required and a maximum of 50 people can be on the island at a time.  Ironically, given how much wind we had experienced throughout the day (including our trip there with waves crashing over the bow of the ship), it was so calm at Prion Island that we saw no adult albatrosses in the air, but we did get to see four albatross chicks of differing ages. Albatross take up to two years to choose a mate, and then after the chicks hatch the parents spend 13 months raising the chick to the point of fledging.  There are estimated to be only 30,000 wandering albatross left in the world; their numbers are declining because rogue fishing boats still use long line trawling, which can entrain and drown albatross in the lines. 

Prion Island also is home to nesting gentoo penguins, giant petrels and the South Georgia pipit, a tiny songbird which weighs 1/17th the weight of an albatross egg! Both the albatross and the pipit have found ways to survive in a cold an unforgiving climate. 

The image of the wandering albatross chick is not great because of the dense fog.

Penguins X 4

Title: Penguin x 4

November 3:  Cooper Bay and St. Andrew’s Bay

After more typical South Georgia weather conditions yesterday, we returned to atypical conditions: warm (4 degrees Celsius), bright sunshine, and calm seas.  In other words, the weather was outstanding.  After breakfast we headed out on Zodiac tours* of Cooper Bay. Cooper Bay is a nesting location for four kinds of penguins: King, gentoo, chinstrap, and macaroni.  We were quite excited about being able to see the chinstrap and macaroni penguins for the first time.

Our first location on the tour was the macaroni penguin breeding area.  While we were observing our flightless friends, a leopard seal came near our Zodiac...well, not only near, but swam around and underneath it. After these encounters, we zipped across to the opposite side of the bay to see chinstrap penguins.  Here we got to see penguins entering and exiting the water.  In amongst the chinstrap penguins were three king penguins. Why they were there and why they had not noticed they were different than all the others, we do not know.  

Another beach was loaded with elephant seals and fur seas as well as having king and gentoo penguins.  We did not spend anytime observing that beach because we would be visiting king penguins later in the day.  However, near this beach were nesting South Georgia shags.  They have amazing blue eyes.  We also saw the nesting area for light mantled albatross, elegant birds that fly in parallel with their mates at the end of courtship. 

After lunch the ship relocated from Cooper Bay to St. Andrew’s Bay, which has the largest king penguin colony in South Georgia, estimated to be over 300,000.  Frequently, the water is too rough to try to land Zodiacs on the beaches, but in keeping with our good luck, the water was fairly calm.  We planned to go on a hike that would take us to a ridge overlooking the massive penguin colony. However, a fast moving and rather deep stream prevented us from doing that.  Instead, we hiked up and back to the Heaney glacier (the source of the aforementioned stream). The penguin colony stretched the entire length of our hike, about one and one half miles one way.  Much of the terrain was covered with feathers from molting penguins. After our hike, we took a short Zodiac tour along the beach to observe the elephant seals that lined the beach and the central part of the penguin colony. It was another great day in South Georgia.

*A Zodiac tour is when 8 to 10 people get into a Zodiac and are taken around to see different locations and stuff.

Elephant seals and icebergs

November 2: Gold Cove and Larsen’s Harbor

Today’s adventures began before dawn, with a zodiac ride to the beach of Gold Harbor before sunup (4:00am).  The plan was to watch the sunrise and photograph penguins with that lighting.  However, the day was overcast, so we didn’t really see a sunrise, but as the sky grew lighter we realized that the entire waterline, to about  25 feet or more deep on the black sand beach, was filled with elephant seals and fur seals of all sizes and ages. The male elephant seals were aggressively challenging or defending the existing territory borders, which made for some quick scrambles by us on occasion to stay out of their way.  Behind the seals (further from the water) were gentoo and king penguins, including a sizable king penguin colony.  Many of the penguins were trying to figure out safe paths to the water through the elephant seals, not an easy task with irritable enormous mammals in the way! 

We stayed on the beach for about 2 hours, watching the clashes between elephant seals, sometimes seeing little pups get caught between to rival males.  We also enjoyed watching the penguins.  We then returned to the ship for breakfast. At mid-morning, we disembarked again to go hiking.  We climbed up to the ridge (about 500 ft in elevation) overlooking the bay.  The views were wonderful and we got to see how massive the penguin colony was as well as the expanse of seals.  The only tricky part was finding a way down less steep than the one we had used coming up. In the end the most practical solution was to ride down a snow field in our parkas and waterproof pants... a good time sledding was had by all!  Some folks (Kevin included) climbed back up to slide down again.

After lunch the ship moved to the southern coast of South Georgia, facing Antarctica.  We passed through a field of icebergs resting on a shallow ridge outside the channel (whew!), and entered the Drygalski Fiord. The icebergs have traveled up from Antarctica. It was quite windy and a bit rough so we pulled into Larsen’s Harbor; within the harbor we were able to go back out in zodiacs to see Weddell Seals.  Weddell seals are mostly found in Antarctica, but may migrate to South Georgia to deliver their pups.  Our many days of phenomenal weather came to an end; today was gloomy and windy, and then started raining just as we headed out — a nasty wind-driven rain.  Shorty after we got back to the ship, it started to snow — a wind-driven snow!  This was our welcome to a more traditional South Georgia day.

Photos: Gentoo penguin at 5:00am and an iceberg.

South Georgia day two

November 1st: day two in South Georgia

Overnight we moved south down the eastern coast of South Georgia to Godthul (God’s cove) a beautiful inlet surrounded by steep mountains. We opted to sleep in this morning instead of doing our usual 6:00am wildlife watching trip to the bridge.  After breakfast, we took zodiacs to the beach, skirting the fur and elephant seals sunbathing. Yes, it was another calm and sunny day; so sunny that sunscreen was definitely needed.  We hiked up to a plateau to see a gentoo penguin colony. Compared to the massive colony of king penguins we saw yesterday, this one was quite small, just a few hundred.  After we returned to the ship, we were able to go kayaking around the inlet, looking at small icebergs, and peering into the depths of the kelp forest near the shore.  The kayaks are an inflatable type, which means they are very susceptible to wind and current.  The fact that we were able to go out in them was a testament to how calm the water and winds were.  Being able to kayak on one of these trips is a rare event.

During lunch the ship moved to Grytviken, a former sealing and whaling community and the place that Ernest Shackleton visited on his ill-fated Antarctica expedition in 1914-16.  It is almost unbelievable that a place of such beauty could have been used for such a grisly purpose... and now despite the rusting ships and factory ruins, the area is returning to beauty and native animals and plants. There were seals on the beaches, birds in the air and 2 humpbacks in the bay itself. We visited the museum, which had an amazing amount of information in a small space. It is run by a non-profit that has, among other things, successfully eradicated rats from the entire island, which in turn has enabled the birds to recover.  Two of the endemic species, the South Georgia pipit and the yellow-billed pintail duck, have made an incredible comeback.  

We are really enjoying the staff on the ship, particularly two naturalists from Argentina. One of them introduced tonight’s dinner, a traditional Argentine Asado with lots of different grilled meats. He was so funny when introducing tonight meal, which was a buffet instead of the usual served dinner, saying that you should not waste plate or stomach space on vegetables, save all the space for these traditional meats.  The food, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and desserts, on the trip has been marvelous.  It has been a challenge to match our intake with our exercise level — currently food is up three games to one.

South Georgia day one

October 31: Day 1 at South Georgia 

After spending two days at sea, we sighted land at 6:05 am (3:05 am EST) — yes, we were on the bridge of the ship when land was sighted).  It was one of the western islands of South Georgia.  South Georgia is a dramatic landscape, with mountains up to 10,000 feet rising nearly straight out of the ocean, with both snow covered and bare hillsides as well as glaciers in some of the valleys.  The ocean continued to be fairly calm, with the air temperature by afternoon of one degree Celsius and the water temperature of one half degree.  The ship sailed on the north side of the Willis archipelago, past Albatross, Prion and Trinity Islands. Trinity island in particular was coated in albatross nests. During our passage we spotted several humpback whales and lots of porpoising penguins (both gentoo and king).

The plan was to head to Right Whale Bay, but at the last moment we received permission from the South Georgia government (which manages where the various tour ships can visit) to go to Salisbury Plain.  Our trip leader was thrilled with this news; we shortly learned why.  As we turned a corner, we saw on the shore and up the hillsides what seemed to be an uncountable number of king penguins.  We were told that Salisbury Plain was the flattest area in all of South Georgia and the second largest breeding area of king penguins with an estimated 100,000 to 300,000 penguins.  

After lunch, we headed to the beach in the Zodiacs.  Once we landed, we found ourselves surrounded by thousands of king penguins. There were also fur seals and elephant seals on the beach, but they were totally out numbered by the penguins.  Many of the adult penguins spent their time entering or exiting the water in large groups. They are so comfortable in the water that when they come back to land, all you see is an incoming wave and then suddenly 20 or so penguins emerge from it! Many adults were also in the midst of molting, which makes them look both blotchy and miserable. Molting takes 2-3 weeks during which they cannot enter the water, and thus cannot eat.  The third group of penguins were the 10 month old young ones, who look like penguins wearing brown fur coats. This is their second set of feathers but are not waterproof. They will molt to waterproof feathers at about 12-13 months, at which point their parents will have abandoned them and they learn to swim and feed by imitating whatever adults are around. 

Into the southern ocean

October 30: at sea day 2

We continue to have incredibly calm seas and beautiful weather (we fear that we will, at some point, pay the price for these amazing conditions we have been having).  We have not reached South Georgia as yet, but we have crossed the Antarctic Convergence — meaning we are in the Southern Ocean.  The water temperature is now a brisk one degree Celsius at the surface.  The west winds are typically quite strong since there are no obstructions for hundreds of miles, but again reasonably calm.  

We spent a fair bit of time on the bridge again today.  We were rewarded by seeing twelve sea birds including four new ones: grey-headed albatross, light-mantled sooty albatross, Kergeulen petrel, broad-billed prion.  We also came upon three mammals, two of which caused great excitement on the ship.  The first of the two was fin whales.  These whales are the second largest mammals on earth, they can be over 80 feet long and move up to 25 mph.  They are so big that their dorsal fin does not show until the head of the whale is well into the water.  They also have two blow holes (pictured below) with a splash guard in front of the blow holes to divert water away from them.  The whales we saw were about 60 feet long (picture below).  

The other mammal that caused great excitement, perhaps, even greater excitement, was a pod of killer whales.  The naturalists believe there were eight to ten members in the pod.  Killer whales are the largest member of the dolphin family.  They are matriarchal with the “grandmother” being the leader of the pod.  The killer whales we saw were type A — meaning they are primarily mammal hunters.  Sighting killer whales on this trip is not typical.  Once the pod was sighted, the captain of our ship diverted us from our course in order to follow the pod (photo below).

The last mammal, a fur seal, did not generate as much of a stir.  In fact, it was sleeping on the surface of the water while we were scrambling about the bow of the boat watching and capturing images of the killer whales.  This little guy woke up as the ship drew close to him.  He was rather surprised to be woken by such a large object bearing down on him (picture below). 

In the Scotia Sea

October 29: at sea

We spent the full day today (and will again tomorrow) at sea moving from the Falkland Islands to South Georgia. The ocean has been very calm, which has enabled us to maintain a good speed (about15 knots) and made traversing the decks fairly easy.  We spent a fair bit of time on deck or up in the bridge, scouting for sea birds and sea mammals. We were rewarded with wonderful sightings of fifteen species of sea birds, including black-browed, wandering,and royal albatross, cape petrel, northern and southern giant petrels, slender-billed prion, sooty and great shearwater, and swimming rock hopper penguins.  We also saw hourglass dolphins.  We were not able to capture images of all the birds we saw, but we did get some good ones. 

We also heard presentations from the staff on the Falklands Conflict in 1982, the geology of this region, and other topics.  After dinner we watched a movie about Shackleton’s ill- fated but heroic journey to Antarctica and South Georgia in the early 20th century. 

Pictured below are a wandering a

Falkland Islands day two

October 28: Carcass and West Point Islands, West Falklands

Who would have predicted that the one thing we didn’t pack and would need would be — sunscreen! We had another mild and sunny day today in the Falkland Islands. 

This morning we went on a several mile hike across meadows on Carcass Island (a private island named for a ship that ran aground there, rather than for dead animals, as there’s not a lot of non-bird wildlife). After being greeted by gentoo penguins on their way back to the ocean, we walked across a portion of the island. We saw a number of new birds, some of which are endemics, and some of them quite sneaky in that they hide within the tussock grass. We also learned that Magellanic penguins have very dense feathers and nest in burrows in the ground so as to cool off in the (relative) heat of the day. Much of the natural habitat of the island was destroyed with years of grazing by sheep.  The owners of the island replanted the native tussock grass on portions of the island to try to re-establish more of the natural environment. It was fascinating to see how barren the parts of the island open to the sheep (in particular) were, compared to the grasslands and bird life of the areas fenced off from them.  We particularly liked seeing the two kinds (each) of wrens and finches today, and the flocks of baby geese toddling after their parents. 

This afternoon we moved to West Point Island, and again saw a large mixed rookery of black-browed albatross and rock hopper penguins, this time in a very mucky and muddy (and smelly and noisy) environment. Yesterday’s rookery was stony and exposed, today’s was quite a switch. It was in the midst of tall tussock grass, and as you tried to slog your way towards the birds you could see, you often stumbled onto a nesting pair, or two or sometimes three pairs, of either penguins or albatross hidden in the grass. This sent you to an alternate path, often into deeper muck, in order to avoid them.  It was fascinating to find them in these little muddy hollows, when most chose to be out in the massive rookery.  We spent quite a while just watching the behaviors of the birds, including watching a penguin “bathe” in a trickle of water from a small stream in the rookery, or hopping down the steep rocks amidst the crowds, or the albatross just gliding around the rookery.

Tonight we begin two days at sea, moving towards South Georgia, 870 nautical miles away, which will give our sun-and-windburned faces a chance to recover. Pictures tonight include rock hoppers in the tussock grass, a grass wren and a white-bridled Finch (the latter two endemic species). 

New Island, West Falklands

October 27: New Island, West Falklands.

       What a day. We made a beach landing in the inflatable Zodiacs near the Barnard museum on New Island, one of the smaller islands in the West Falklands. New Island was given, in its entirely, to a nature conservancy.  There are about six houses for researchers and the rest is wild. The island is 8 miles long and about a mile wide in most places. A short morning walk took us to a series of cliffs and valleys where Southern Rock Hopper Penguins, Imperial Shags (cormorants) and Black-Browed Albatrosses all nest.. thousands of them. Rock hoppers look like small belligerent rock musicians with red eyes and yellow eyebrows. Their name actually comes from how they walk — less by waddling as other penguins do, and more by hopping especially on rocky terrain. There were birds everywhere, and while some colonies featured a particular species, other spots were completely mixed. We also saw a major predator of young penguin chicks and penguin eggs, the brown skua. The rock Hopper penguins nest near the albatrosses, who can scare off the skuas, so mixed nesting is advantageous for the penguins. 

        The albatrosses have already mated and are sitting eggs on columnar nests made of guano and grass, while the rock hoppers and shags are still courting and building their rather simple grass-lined nests. We also saw a single pair of Macaroni Penguins, somewhat larger and with much larger yellow face feathers. We also saw some new meadow birds. That was just the morning!  

When we got back to the ship we learned that there were a lot of Kevin’s on the ship.  Everyone heard, “Kevin 308 and Kevin 318, please check back in.”, over the loud speaker.  Whenever anyone leaves the ship they need to sign out and sign back in when they return.  These Kevin’s did not check back in.  People were amazed at the number of Kevin’s on the ship, but of course there are not that many, the person making the announcement meant cabin 308 — her accent gave everyone a good laugh.

        After lunch we took a 5 mile walk, covering much of the length of the island. Here and there we saw Magellanic Penguins, nearly always alone and standing upright and still like sentries. Since these penguins nest in holes in the ground, it is possible the ones we saw were sentries and we just didn't see the others. Near the end of the hike we came to large colonies of Gentoo Penguins, including a whole parade of them coming up from the beach. We also saw Striated Caracaras as well as Skuas, scouting out the penguin colony for possible prey. Once we were penguined out for the day, we headed back to a beach to take a Zodiac back to the ship. On the Zodiac trip back to the ship, we were entertained by Peale's Dolphins swimming and  jumping all around. 

      So, we saw four species of penguins, dolphins, and eight other new birds. Oh, and it was 50 degrees and sunny with (relatively) mild winds... Not normal weather here at all for the Falkland Islands...we have been warned not to get used to these conditions.

A day at sea

October 26: at sea to the Falkland Islands

Today was spent en route to the Falkland Islands.  Although we were told the voyage was considered fairly smooth, moving about the ship was an exercise in balance and we gained a deeper (and a more personal) insight into the image authors paint of how sailors walk.  A fair number of our group members are wearing anti-motion sickness patches, and quite a few others who don’t have the patches decided that bed was the place to be today. We are grateful that we have steady tummies, and we appreciate the courage of people who know they will be ill but still come on these trips through their love of nature.  We also discovered that working out on exercise equipment is an interesting experience when the machine is moving about.  Watching water slosh around the shower floor was also fascinating.

We spent a fair bit of time on the bridge staring out into the ocean watching for sea birds and ocean-based mammals.  Our endeavors paid off in that we got to see several species of albatross, several Peale’s dolphins (picture attached taken through a window so it’s not great, but they are there), two fin whales and one humpback whale, and some smaller birds. One group of smaller sea birds are called petrels, after St. Peter, because they appear to walk on the surface of the ocean. Between the strength of the wind, the roughness of the seas, and the flight patterns of the sea birds, taking photos was a bit of a challenge to say the least.

To Terra del Fuego

This morning we flew to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, on the island of Terra del Fuego at the tip of Argentina and along the Beagle Channel. The flight was uneventful until we neared our destination and the spectacular snow covered Patagonian Andes appeared outside the windows. The Andes run north-south, separating Argentina from Chile, but turn and run easterly at the southern tip of South America.

In this remote and beautiful location, the city of Ushuaia has grown to a population of 70,000 people, many of whom are employed in electronics assembly. The mountains at the end of the Andes range are only about 5000 feet high but because the surrounding land is at sea level, you see the full mountain, which is very dramatic. We drove to a national park set up to protect the southern Andean forest. There are no conifers here, just 5 species of southern beech trees that are only found here, Chile, New Zealand and Australia. There are essentially no mammalian predators and almost no insects because of the climate and the isolation. At Bahia La Pataia, we boarded a large catamaran and sailed back to Ushuaia. Bahia La Pataia is also the end of the pan-American highway, 17,848 km from its starting point in Alaska, and 3000 km from Buenos Aires. As we sailed through the Beagle Channel we were able to see a group of South American sea lions, our first species of albatross, and a number of land and aquatic birds. It is early spring here, so some bird species are beginning to have their breeding plumage. 

Back at the pier in Ushuaia, we boarded our ship, and after a mandatory safety briefing and practice drill, set out for the first leg of our journey. The Falkland Islands are 37 hours, or 355 nautical miles, away; so we will be spending the next day traveling. We do expect to see some more sea birds as we go and, perhaps some large ocean-based mammals.

Buenos Aires

After an overnight flight from Miami we landed in Buenos Aires at  6:15am local time. We were shocked by the immigration process-- no lines, done in under 10 minutes.  After meeting some of our tour members and settling into the hotel, we went on a guided walk in the neighborhood around the hotel. We learned some interesting things.  Buenos Aires is very European in architecture and in culture.  Many of the public buildings, and even the layout of the formal parts of the city look very Parisian, but contain an eclectic mix of modern and many eras of French styles. There are squares or plazas every 4-5 blocks.  Even the Argentinian language isn't exactly Spanish but a mix of Castilian with lots of Italian and Portuguese words and much waving of the hands.  Buenos Aires was not originally a spanish colony but only a port, and gained its independence between 1810 and 1816. Our tour guide credited Napoleon's capture of the king of Spain in 1808 as creating the opportunity for the South American colonies and territories to revolt, including Buenos Aires.  The city is also very flat, the entire city is between 0 and 16 meters above sea level.  In the afternoon we took a bus and walking tour of larger parts of the city, including the pink government building famous for the Eva Peron balcony.  The older parts of the city, particularly near the original port on the LaPlata river (called La Boca or "the head") suffered from flooding whenever the winds blew in from Antarctica.  La Boca is now a very colorful area with brightly painted corrugated tin houses and outdoor artwork.  La Boca silted up years ago, as did the second port; they are now on the third.

And we are off again!

We are currently sitting in the Miami airport.  Part one of our trip, albeit the most dull part, our flight from NYC to Miami is complete.  The real part of  our trip to Buenos Aires, the Falkland Islands and South Georgia begins shortly.  It will be quite the weather adventure also-- predicted highs in the 70s in Buenos Aires, 50s in the Falkland Islands and 30s in South Georgia! While we hope to see seals and whales, a lot of the trip will be about flying and swimming and flightless birds. We made our own bird book to be able to identify the 6 species of albatross (did you know there are many species of albatross?), 8 species of penguins and 22 species of petrels we may see, not counting ducks and geese and hawks and... We hope to be able to send updates on our adventures, internet permitting near the end of the world, and also hoping that we will be able to take pictures like the one below!

Heading home

Sunday

Our last day in Africa. We chose to pack a picnic breakfast to be able to spend as much time as possible in the bush before our puddle-jumping flight back to Nairobi. Having seen so much, it was fun to slow down a little to learn more about individual species: zebras bark as a warning of danger and make a sort of hooting sound to call members of its herd; dik-diks fight by pretending to head butt without ever actually touching one another; and you can find hippos by following their strong sulfurous smell! We saw the hyena puppies again — they were wresting and playing with each other — and two of the lionesses from Friday night. We also saw the bathing elephants from last night, including a very small (less that a year old) baby boy. We visited a waterhole to watch giraffe manage the gymnastics of drinking.  A photo of him and a couple of his drinking buddies is attached.  We breakfasted by a hippo pool, being careful to be upwind of them (see earlier smell comment), which was great fun. On our drive to the air strip we saw a total of fifty-nine hippos in three different pools, two Nile crocodiles, and seven new species of birds.  Not a bad last drive.  

What a great trip this has been. So many animals, so many different landscapes, climates and cultures, and 251 species of birds, of which we managed to photograph at least 200. As we begin 21 hours of travel to get home, our eyes and brains and hearts are full of images and memories. We are also thankful for the outstanding guides we had during our trip — Paul, Joseph, and Lucas.  They played a large part in making our trip so special.  All of them also loved birding and loved the fact that we loved seeing all varies of wildlife, big and small, and everything in between.

Naboisho2

Saturday

Rather than a morning game drive, we went for a 3 mile walk across the savanna accompanied by our guide and an armed ranger — in case an animal decides to charge us. It was great to stretch our legs and see the landscape from a different perspective.  We learned a great deal about the social dynamics of the different antelope species.  For example, did you know that the stripes on a zebra not only confuse predators but also confuse biting insects and create local cooling wind patterns that enable the zebras to eat all afternoon rather than hiding in the shade as other species do?  We also learned about different aspects of the circle of life — how different creatures depend on other creatures for food and homes.

On our afternoon game drive, we got to observe how a brief heavy rain shower affects the behavior of the antelope herds. While the elephants are happy for the rain, the other species get jittery, probably not because of the rain itself but because the sky gets so dark that they revert to “sundown behaviors”.  After the rain stopped we observed two young lions and a lioness sunbathing to dry out, and two jackals snacking on fallen dates.  Near the lions we spotted a couple of elephants.  As we drew closer to observe them, the two turned out to be members of a parade of sixteen elephants of all sizes from babies to an enormous male. We radio’ed that opportunity to the other guides, who, in exchange, told us about a pride of ten lions.  We decided to curtail our elephant viewing and headed for the lions.  The pride consisted mostly of young lions playing in a field.  It was amusing to watch them wrestle, box, and running tackle one another in the late afternoon sun.  No matter what species we saw, the young always enjoyed playing with brothers, sisters, and cousins.  

We again stood on the savannah sipping white wine while the sun set (have we mentioned that this close to the equator the time of sunrise and sunset are constant within 15 minutes all year?) and then embarked on a night drive. What a night drive. In two hours (we ate dinner very late; the people at the lodge were very nice about letting us do that) we saw seven hippos out of the water heading onto the savanna to graze, five elephants heading into the water to bathe and drink, two bush babies jumping about in the trees, twelve scrub hares, six spring hares, three jackals, two bat-eared foxes and a genet (today’s viewing of the genet was outstanding). And hyenas! Four were hunting, and then we saw eleven at their den, including small puppies who were very interested in smelling our vehicle’s tires. 

The photos today include a new subspecies of Plains Zebra, called “flame-tailed zebra”, only visible at dawn, and a young male lion.

Naboisho

Friday 

Today we said goodbye to our Lewa friends and departed for the Naboisho Conservancy.  The plane ride there was like riding a city bus.  We made three stops before reaching our destination.  Naboisho lodge is a tent lodge, meaning our room is a tent; however, this is not your average tent.  There is a sitting space in the front section with two chairs and a day bed, a large sleeping section with a king size bed and writing desk, a bathroom space with the usual fixtures, and an outdoor shower— not your average tent.  

The lodge has no perimeter fence; so animals can come wandering right up tp your tent.  Once darkness falls and before the sun comes up an escort accompanies you to your tent. When we arrived, we had a wildebeest about 50 yards from our tent.  A short time later, a giraffe joined the wildebeest.

The landscape here is very different from Lewa. The land is flat and the plains open with few trees and only occasional thickets of shrubs. While it is still quite dry, the grass is greener than in the north. Naboisho has a very high concentration of lions, thanks to the huge herds of zebra, impala, thomson’s gazelles, giraffe, buffalo, topi, and of course wildebeest — and the consequences can be seen in the skulls dotting the ground as you drive past. 

We are again lucky in our guide, who is experienced and knowledgeable, and a birder. His name name is Lucas.  We also have a student who is studying to be a guide. They have classroom work and need to spend time in the field learning from experienced guides. Between the drive from the airstrip and a long afternoon game drive we saw a male lion, five lionesses, four cheetah (a mother and three young about 14 months old), two jackals, a hyena, and banded mongoose and lots of birds.

At the end of the afternoon drive, we stopped to have a sundowner — sipping wine on the savanna and watching the sun set.  We ended our sundowner a bit early when we heard the “walking, not angry” growl of a male lion. We pursued him by ear in the gathering dark, and discovered that he was on his way back to his den.  We continued the night drive and encountered another male lion and two lionesses starting their nighttime hunt.  We also came across another jackal, a scrub hare and three nocturnal species: white-tailed mongoose, genet (which looks like a cat but is related to mongoose) and springhare (who bounce around like miniature kangaroos).  

The photos today are a secretary bird and our neighbors as viewed from the tent.