Return to Tsavo

Last month, two days after the visit to Janet’s place, we embarked on a camping adventure in Tsavo East National Park. This second exploration of the park held promise of new animals, new scenes and new dangers. Although, we had very limited time to explore Tsavo on our last trip, we came away with close encounters with elephants (charging), lions (yawning) and a cheetah (sleeping).

We left very early on Day One to maximize our time in the park. The road to the entry gate is a rough dirt road with many pot holes, dips and ruts. We arrived well shaken and stirred at the gate and settled ourselves down by the river. A couple of crocodiles have discovered the benefits of tourism, hanging close to the gate to get an easy feed of goats’ hooves (?) from locals trying to attract a dollar. These Nile crocodiles were smallish (largest was just under 2 meters) but I am sure they could take out a decent chunk if you gave them a chance.

At 8.45 AM the safari began proper. As the road traveled along the river we came across loads of animals coming for a drink. Hartebeest, buffalo, Grant’s gazelle, impala, zebra, waterbuck and elephant were all headed to the river with the same intention before it got too hot.

Any hopes of ambushes by lions, cheetahs or leopards came to naught. We did, however, see a sick elephant lying on its side. We thought it was already dead until it wriggled around a little, and we heard the next day over the radio that it had died (unfortunately for us that meant we were not there to see any vultures, hyenas….). Further up we came across one of the animals I was keen to see, the humble hippo. In fact, we saw them at a number of places bobbing up and down in the river.

As we were heading to our lunch spot we came across a large male lion, lounging in the shade of bush right next to the road. After few minutes, he stood up and I thought it would be fun to have a roaring competition until he started to get a little serious and it was time for us to move on…quickly.

In between roars

We had lunch at Lugards Falls. Here it is reasonably safe to get out of your vehicles. After snacking on some sammies and sodas we wandered down to the edge of the falls. They weren’t too impressive height-wise but the rock formations were cool. And whilst we were admiring the rock, Anna spotted a crocodile waiting in the pools for one of us to get too close to the edge. It was much cooler to see a wild croc that wasn’t just hanging for some hooves.

From there we headed towards Voi to top up on supplies for the rest of our meals. Once loaded with chapatti and sodas, it was time to set up camp. The Ndolo camp site is very basic. No fence, no kitchen, no pool, no games room, no shop – just showers, toilets and two taps. The site was overrun with baboons when we arrived. They were very keen on the contents of our van, so we had to take extra care when windows or doors were open. After setting up camp, we were visited by some of our neighbours – an elephant and giraffe. They were keen on refreshing themselves with our water supply. They frequently tamper with the taps to get at this precious commodity. Thankfully, we had 3 askaris (guards) to shoo them away. In fact, we decided to pay one to keep a fire going near our tents so that the elephants wouldn't get too close. Despite this measure, when Albert (our guide) got up early and was preparing some coffee he saw two elephants walk within 10 meters of tents. We didn’t hear a thing.

Our neighbours.

Our second day bore much fruit. Getting away just after 6 AM meant that we had a good chance of seeing prized creatures before the heat came. After only 5 minutes we spotted a pride of lions striding through the grass by a stream. They strolled right past elephants and gazelles (in the distance) but seemed to only be concerned with getting a drink.

As we raced to a cheetah sighting we came across a large heard of buffalo crossing the road. It was a magnificent sight in the early morning light. Whilst we admired these beasts I spotted out in the back a small pack of bat-eared foxes trying to stay out of their way.

Eagle vs Jackal

We moved on to a lion kill that was being scavenged by an eagle and a pair of jackals (who came out better off with bone in mouth) before we settled in for a long wait with a cheetah. She was lying in the shade of bush some 50 m away, teasing us occasionally with a wave of her tail. Our patience paid off, however, when 40 minutes latter she stood up briefly for a stretch before retreating closer to the bush. As she slept we observed zebra getting too close for comfort before darting off. It got even more interesting when a couple waterbucks decided to inspect the cheetah up close. During the staring match that ensued we ran out of patience and left before any decisive action was taken by either cheetah or buck. However, 6 hours later the cheetah was still hanging out in the shade of the same bush.

We spot you, Cheetah.

Though the baboons in the campsite were more cheeky than threatening, we came across a baboon on the roadside with a bit more aggression. We stopped for a photo but very quickly he started to grunt at us and looked to be eyeing us up – preparing for a full on assault of our van. We took the hint and sped away.

At lunch time we pulled up to Mudanda Rock. Looking through a squinted eye, you could imagine you were looking at the back-face of Pride Rock. From the top you get an amazing view of animals coming to drink in a watering hole against the back drop of the expanse of African plains.

View from the top

To extend our break from the van, we snuck into the Voi Safari Lodge. They have an elephant-hide that you can descend into and watch elephants drink, shower, swim and scratch butt, all within 10 meters from you. Elephants smell somewhat like seals when you get that close.

To avoid the hassle of cooking out in the wilds, we cunningly pre-cooked and froze our dinners. Not only did this help keep our sodas cool during the day, it drastically reduced cooking time on our one kerosene cooker. We did not go hungry – beans and chapattis day one, vege curry and rice the next night. After we had retired to the ‘safety’ of our tents, hyenas and lions were heard calling during the night.

On our final morning we packed up camp and hit the road at 6 AM. We drove through the park heading for the river. Once travelling along the river we bumped into not one but two bunches of lions. The second bunch included a wee cub being brought to the river by Mum and Aunty. And before we knew it we were zooming through the gate at 9:00 AM – some 48 hours latter.

The return to Tsavo East was definitely worth it!

A Secretary Bird - an eagle on stilts