Lions and tigers and bears ... part 2

As we drove through the area, John had an HF radio on, and was chatting to other drivers across the reserve. This steered us nicely to



who had terribly haughty looks (shades of F&S’s gnu) but suffered us to stop and take pictures. With that, we had one out of five, and were well on our way. The next thing John heard was that someone had sighted rhino, so we took off at a rate of knots across the reserve to get to the place they had been seen. It shows the power of the radio net (HAC types take note) – the first thing we saw was not the rhino, but



Shortly afterwards, though, we sighted them in the bushes, as they began to make a dash for freedom:



and 2 were in the bag.

Whilst looking for the next target, we saw some stripey beasts. Earlier, I’d seen



And on the area, I then saw



I was a touch confused – stripes on the road, but no animals, stripes on the animals, but not on the road, and not a Boletia beacon in sight – what is the world coming to? In any case, we kept pressing on, and passed this fellow:



John, who is a mine of information, told me that there are 3 types of giraffe – the Mara giraffe, of which this is an example, the Rothschild’s giraffe (don’t they just get everywhere?) and the Reticulated giraffe – and we were expected to see all 3 over the course of the trip. Thus, on this separate count, one down ...

It was beginning to get late, and we were thinking of heading for home, when the trusty radio came to our rescue again:



and three were on the score card – all we needed now was to see a leopard and a lion... so with that, we headed out, after a good day on the range.

Eventually, then, we arrived at the Mara Springs tented camp. I had had to change the dates of travel, so I know the arrangement had been last minute, and I had been fitted in where they could. However, I’d expected a 5 star experience – not because I can’t rough it, but that was how it had been billed. I was just a little surprised, then, to discover the tented camp, although it did have fixed tents, and beds in those tents, had little else by way of amenities, including lights, power, and even towels. The less said about the amenities the better. No great problem in itself- I’ve been known to live rough when wearing a green suit, and even on self inflicted occasions. However, it would have helped if I’d been told in advance, so I could have brought a torch, etc. Anyway, tiredness conquered all, and also the thought of a horribly early start in the morning, so that concludes the report from the first day on safari.