Freeman Safaris
‘Yesterday’s Safaris Today’
Tony's diary - 25 Sep 2001
Up nice and early after a really nice sleep, these late nights and early mornings are blending the days so well we can’t remember which days are which! As we have already seen our leopard we are searching for eland today and on leaving camp we see a dark cat-like animal race down the track. Brian thought it look like a civet as it disappeared.
Once again we witnessed another fantastic sunrise. A small herd of buffalo look unconcerned as we drive by and, on crossing a stream over Anne's ford, we see a heron fishing for his breakfast. This is one of the very few streams that runs all year as it starts further up from an underground spring, an extremely interesting water course visited by many different birds as well as home to hippos and crocodiles and a watering hole when the main river dries up. We wanted pictures of Bluebell under an impressive acacia tree and in the morning glow we took our pictures before coming upon on a reticulated giraffe followed by a tawny eagle on top of a tree.
We drive past the tree where we saw our leopard yesterday. She's not there but the mongooses are at home in the old anthill. I noticed a young crested eagle in a tree which flew by giving us a superb flying display and disturbing a black-bellied bustard and a family of dwarf mongoose who where also being watched closely by a squirrel.
Brian is slowly driving down to the river when he stops and out come his binos. He scans and after a while says “leopard” and drives off to catch it up. I pick up the telltail sign of the leopard’s tail between the gorse bushes then moving towards a tree. We take more pictures as a tourist mini bus arrives, which then calls in the rest over the radio. Brian moves away and we wait. The mini buses move away and once again we have the leopard to ourselves. It ignores us and walks right past the Landrover, looks up and suddenly runs off at great speed. We witness our first ever leopard kill…. a ground squirrel!
As the leopard moves off with the squirrel, Brian says,”What ever happens, don't loose site of her as you are in for a real treat” We pursue her from a distance, lose her in the bush but see her again almost immediately. Brian crosses a sandy river and up the bank and we have an excellent view of her. She appears to be calling and, walking through a small gap in the bush, she lays down with the squirrel to one side. She calls again and to our surprise a small leopard cub suddenly appears, runs over to mum and suckles. The mother licks and cleans her. Greetings and nourishment over, the little cub pounces on the squirrel, and goes through the motions of the kill, then drags it's victim off into the bush and the female moves away as well. We too move away so as not to attract too much attention. Mother and cub need time together and if the message had got out to the mini buses they would have been back. It never ceases to amaze us how they charge from one animal to another, a short look and move on with no real regard to positioning for a picture. As Brian says, they have 2 hours at the most at each end of the day and are governed by meal timings in the lodges. It is very much a matter of see it and tick it off.
Once again our excitement is too much and we move off to the river where Brian parks up in his favourite glade under a tree to watch the comings and goings. It is time for tea and sandwiches as we discuss what I could only describe as a once in a life time show, what a morning!
We watch elephants coming down to drink, swaying past Bluebell with a swagger that matches their determination to reach the water. Other elephants are crossing and it is so good to see so many young. We notice a female with a bad gash in her trunk which Brian says will heal quite quickly. A large crocodile slips silently into the water, drifting down to where a herd of impala are nervously drinking, always skittish and far preferring to drink from pools rather than the brown river. Luckily the commotion of a tawny eagle catching a bird in flight startled the impala who rush up the bank out of danger from the croc. All the while we are watching the activity we are being watched by a group of vervet monkeys. Another female impala reaches the river for a drink as the croc drifts in for the kill. She suddenly see it and runs off, disturbing a young elephant close by who trumpets loudly, making me jump out of my skin much to Brian's amusement.
Eventually the croc drifts into the shade and, after nearly 2 hours, we move on, seeing an even bigger croc coming out on to a sand bank. It is busy on the way back for brunch. We see a saddle-billed stork, a pale chanting goshawk a little further on and, as we cross Anne's ford Brian tells us to be quiet as, there in the trees is a huge eland - the animal we set out to photo some 7 hours earlier. As we approach camp the big bull elephants are across the river. We wait for them to cross as they are coming to visit and pass just behind the tents, the closest being only 20yards from my tent. They remain in view while we each our brunch. Barisa informs Brian that he had seen a lioness with small cubs not far from the camp and it seems a good idea to try to find them on the evening drive. It is so hot we all sit in the shade after another fantastic brunch watching the river, the Egyptian geese and a grey-headed heron as well as the big bull elephant.
The Landrover is cleaned and ready for action as Brian rounds us up and off we go again. The aim is to work the swamp and spring area in the hope that we will see the lioness and cubs as well as hippo grazing. Just out side the camp is a lovely old warthog if, you can call them lovely. We try to photograph him - thank goodness for my 300mm lens as he always just manages to run away at the last minute.
Well, we search for the lioness for over an hour, looking and listening. She must have moved on or is right in the thickets and not making a sound. Brian says, “Watch out for the twitching tail and listen for the pant” if not once but a 1000 times! No luck so we move up to the plains seeing a number of Grant’s gazelle as well as a nice herd of oryx who, although wary, let us get close. Near the spring we watch a herd with a very small baby, still covered in hair, slowly potter away from the river in the hills for the night, stopping to eat and allow the baby to rest. I never tire of these lovely animals.
A leisurely drive back into camp tonight with all of us up spotting (or, if the truth be known, just up and enjoying the cool breeze, talking and recapping on another super day) It was all a bit dusty and we are looking forward to that shower and drinks around the fire. As we arrive in camp Barissa meets us as usual to hear our stories as Benson, our tent man, tells us the showers are ready. Quick cup of tea and away to the tents to sort out our kit as well as ourselves.
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A Day in Samburu Park
"We didn't quite know what to expect, but this has set a new standard as far as we
are concerned. If your idea of a perfect holiday is not having to lift a finger,
then this is it. Nothing, repeat nothing was too much trouble. Spacious and comfortable
tents made the going easy, and yes it's absolutely true, the temperature of the shower
was always spot on. How do they do that?! At the end of a good day's safari, teas
and coffees upon arrival in camp were most welcome, and the standard of the meals
easily matched that of many top hotels (and we'd like to see Gordon Ramsay & Jamie
Oliver try it with a charcoal oven!"
Tracy and John