So, I have just got back to the UK after 1 month in Kenya. I cannot tell you how amazing it felt to escape the doom and gloom of Covid and politics and answer the calling of the African bush. Below I'll let you know about some of the highlights of the trip, but first I have to address the elephant in the room...
Covid-19
Covid-19 restrictions here in the UK have meant a 2 week self-isolation period for me on arrival back to the UK. Kenya and Tanzania both require a negative covid test (PCR) taken within 96 hours of arrival into the country and a passenger locator form that takes 2 minutes to fill in. That is it. From check in at heathrow on cheap, flexible date return tickets (on British Airways) through to arriving in Kenya, everything was very smooth and really easy. In detail, this is what I had to do: Book the flight tickets which are flexible dates as standard meaning you can change the dates at no extra charge with ease if needed. Apply online for Kenyan visa, all pretty straightforward but you can do this on arrival (just having it ahead of time means it's really quick when you get to Kenya). Have a Covid-19 test done within 4 days of when you expect to arrive in Kenya. This is the only possible issue I could see as some flight routes especially from the states can take a while to get you to Kenya. Though now most labs are able to get you results within 24 hours of the test being taken so this is very doable. An email receipt of results is all they want to see, but this will be checked a few times (I was checked 3 times airport-airport) so having it printed out was a good idea. At check-in in London, they gave me a link to an online locator form for Kenya. This took about 2 minutes to fill in and gave you an individual code straight to your phone. The next stage was mandatory mask wearing for the duration of the flight (except for when eating) which is not too bad, and rather that in the interests of self protection. Interestingly there has been a study on the likelihood of catching covid-19 on a flight which you can find here... Getting into Kenya was very quick and efficient. We were let off the plane in small, socially-distanced groups and then just had to produce our covid negative test results, the unique locator code from the online form (on a phone is fine) and then the Kenya visa as normal. Once through the airport you are then either in a private vehicle with the driver wearing a mask or then out into the vast open spaces and fresh air of the African wilderness.
Laikipia
Back to the trip, first stop was to head into central Kenya and an area known as Laikipia just north west of Nanyuki. More specifically Laikipia Wilderness Camp. This is a particularly good area for leopard and wild dog (much more on the dogs later!) as well as elephants and different activities such as walks and bike rides in the bush. On the first night there we were all spoiled with amazing views of a pack of wild dog hunting small antelope. Little did we know the best was yet to come. On the way back to camp after dark we spotted a leopard in the spotlight. Quick as a flash it sprinted after a pair of dik-dik (smallest antelope in Africa) but missed them. I managed to get about two seconds of it on film, but it was so quick it was difficult to tell what was going on. After the failed attempt, we followed him for another 5 minutes through the bush until he flushed an african hare from its hiding place and caught it with lightning quick, cat-like (!) reflexes. It was incredible to see a leopard kill from start to finish, something that has taken me 10 years in the bush to see properly. My luck was in this evening it seems as while he was wandering off, a dik-dik ran from its hiding place across in front of the leopard. Who swiftly took the opportunity to upscale his dinner and set off in a short lived pursuit. The upshot of this was one big male leopard with a pile of options for his dinner. He chose the larger item that was the dik-dik and slunk off into the bush to enjoy it in peace. What a start to the trip and what a way to take my mind of Covid and the various perils it has brought about.
Leopard with dik-dik kill in Laikipia
Meru National Park
Next up was a trip into Meru National Park, home of the famous lioness Elsa back in the 1950's. Meru is much hotter and drier than most of Kenya but it is a very diverse park with open savannah's intersected by rivers and the thicker, taller vegetation that grows along the waterways. There were some amazing bird species seen here with things like golden pipit and ground hornbill being highlights. There is a specific and well secured rhino sanctuary within Meru National Park meaning you are virtually guaranteed great sightings of these rare and iconic animals. We also had some good elephant sightings and saw hippo and crocodiles while fishing for dinner in one of the rivers. Proceed with caution!
Me trying to catch dinner in Meru NP, yes there are crocs and hippos watching!
We did manage to find some lions after three days of seeing tracks everywhere including going right past our camp! Though it did take hearing some monkeys alarm calling at a predator to then give us the direction to go and look in. At the end of the search were three lions, a real treat after putting a lot of effort into finding then. Possibly descendants of Elsa, or maybe I'm being a bit nostalgic. Either way, it's always a good day when you end it with a lion sighting!
Masai Mara
On to the world famous Masai Mara. One of my (new) absolute favourite places on Earth! Now I know it is never going to be as quiet as it currently is again in our lifetimes, but wow it was indescribable how amazing the quality of animal viewing and the absolute lack of other vehicles was! If travel is at all in your mind for the near future, I would say grab the opportunity to visit the Masai Mara with no one else there while it exists this one special time. Having spent a week there, I can't even come close to describing all the incredible wildlife sightings. But just to name a few: 4 lion hunts from start to finish, 1 crossing of thousands of wildebeest and zebra dodging crocodiles, 3 different cheetah, more elephants than you can shake a mouse at, a black rhino mother and calf, more hippo, giraffe, zebra, buffalo and even lions than I can count, 1 lion kill where the mum caught a zebra then went back to find her 2-3 month old cubs and brought them back to us, and then to top it all off, an hour with a very relaxed female leopard and her 3 month old cub.
Having headed out early from the lodge, we were specifically looking for leopard and headed straight to the known territory of a female we knew who had a cub. Female leopards have small territories and will stay especially close to one area if they have a small cub. Saying that, if a leopard doesn't want to be found, you won't see it (though you can be sure it will have seen you!). Our luck was in that morning as in the heart of her territory, there she was. With her cub walking along the track and avoiding the long, dew-laden grass next to them. We watched them both for almost an hour, playing with each other, grooming each other, we even had the little cub learning how to stalk some spurfowl (a small, ground-dwelling game bird) though her over-excited tail gave the game away here! I've posted the video on my instagram account, @sam_w_guide . Benja, my local guide, told me a sighting this good of a leopard for so long in a normal year would have attracted a lot more vehicles, which would potentially have changed the dynamic and the leopards may have been more reluctant to come out into the open. But as it was, we topped out at 4 cars. It really was unbelievable!!
The most amazing leopard sighting in the Masai Mara with almost no-one else there.
I have to quickly mention a real stand-out lodge here in the Mara, it has gone right to the top of my list of best lodges in Africa (slightly behind Mwiba where I was Head Guide, of course!) and that is Angama Mara. It is truly spectacular and surpassed the very high expectations I had of it. Have a look and let me know your first thoughts. They are about to launch an exclusive use mobile tented camp which will go into the real quiet and unexplored corners of the Masai Mara. I've seen the tented camp and can say categorically that it looks amazing.
Amboseli
After the most amazing Mara experience it was off to another iconic park in Amboseli in the shadow of mount Kilimanjaro. Amboseli is all about the huge number of elephants that call the park home. It is generally a very flat landscape with the impressive Kilimanjaro looming above you, ever-present (as long as it's not too cloudy) making for some fantastic photographic opportunities. The rules in the park itself are very strict in terms of staying on the road and not being able to go on walks etc. But there are a couple of great private conservancies that border the park that have a lot more freedom in terms of photographic opportunities. I was able to get out of the vehicle and on the ground as a herd of elephants drifted past me and off into the setting sun. Amboseli as a park really is amazing, but for me it's a little bit one dimensional. If you want a fantastic elephant specific experience or the iconic views of Kilimanjaro, then you have to go. But if either of these aren't something you really really want to include, you can get amazing elephant experiences in other places. So, a photographer's dream, but not for everyone.
Amboseli elephants cruising into the sunset
Laikipia Take Two
Back up to central Kenya and Laikipia again. The drive from Amboseli and up meant I got to take in Africa's two highest mountains in one day, sunrise over Mount Kilimanjaro and then sunset glinting off a very snow-capped Mount Kenya. I met a few people who have climbed both now, a very intriguing prospect for the future for me. I digress, back to Laikipia and a personal quest for myself of seeing one of the ultra-rare melanistic (black coloured) leopards that inhabit the area. I unfortunately missed out again having visited the area last year, but two separate other groups did see one of the leopards while I was there. I'm very happy for them and not at all jealous. Moving on though onto one of the most incredible wildlife experiences of my life. The pack of wild dogs that regularly hang around Laikipia Wilderness Camp have been followed, filmed and studied for years. They are the last surviving pack from a bad bout of canine distemper that wiped out a lot of dogs in central Kenya back in 2017. So they are a special pack of the rarest large carnivore in Africa that are quite used to people and being watched and because of this, they just get on with whatever they are doing, they don't change their behaviour because of humans. One morning we found them early (though they had already hunted and had full bellies) at a waterhole where they were drinking, playing and generally relaxing after their early morning success. With the backing of Steve the owner knowing my extensive background in guiding in Africa, he dropped us off out of the vehicle across the opposite side of the waterhole and reversed a few metres back. This was so we could lie down on the ground and try for some low angle photographs of the dogs. This is not a regular occurance and was only possible due to where the dogs were and how they were behaving. It was incredible. Soon after they saw these 'new' objects on the ground they came straight over to investigate. They were sniffing around us until, curiosity satisfied, they went back to playing their games all around us. The puppies were playing and the adults were running around, jumping into the waterhole and generally having a lot of fun.
The wild dogs playing around me. There are no recorded attacks on humans.
I was absolutely in my element loving every second. They played around for about 20 minutes before slowly drifting off to find some shade to rest under for the hotter part of the day. There are a couple of photos that I am quite happy with from this experience, though admittedly I still need to go through them all properly. Below is one I am quite happy with and have entered in a couple of wildlife photography competitions. Let me know if you like it as maybe I'm a bit biased? But I do think it's good!
One of the better 'low-angle' shots I got.
Lewa and the Matthews Range
After another unforgettable time in Laikipia, it was time to head further north around the base of Mount Kenya and into a favourite park called Lewa. They are very big on rhino conservation and have been so successful they are needing to extend the park and try and drop some fences into the surrounding conservancies. The game viewing here is always amazing with rhino guaranteed, really good lions, elephant, buffalo etc as well as the special 'northern 5' of Kenya (somali ostrich, beisa oryx, gerenuk, grevy's zebra & reticulated giraffe). All of this is seen with a spectacular backdrop of Mount Kenya from quite close up. Another dream place for some incredible photographic opportunities.
A rhino known as 'Floppy' in Lewa with Mount Kenya in the background.
From Lewa it was on up further north, past Samburu National Reserve, to the barely explored Matthews Range of mountains. These are an incredibly wild and authentic range of mountains with very few people around. The communities that do live around here are the real deal in terms of continuing with their normal traditions and lifestyles. This is where the fabled 'singing wells' are. In the dry season, people dig down, sometimes metres deep into dry river beds to find the water underneath. This is mainly to water their cows and they sing to their cows who are then attracted to the wells hence the singing wells. In addition, there are some really good leopard sightings to be had but also some great elephants around. Better than this is the chance to go and explore, on foot, some really remote and unmapped wilderness areas. This is a real rarity and something I absolutely loved. There is a brand new camp, exquisitely finished, called Kalepo Camp. This really is a special place, off on it's own and with the ability to go and walk up into the mountains, explore and swim in some mountain streams and see the milky way appear over you in a dry river bed while sipping on a G&T with zero light pollution. I really found this to be a very special place.
Me exploring the Matthews range from Kalepo Camp.
Photographing the view from a room at Kalepo. The scenery is stunning.
And now I sit here, back in the UK with grey skies and driving rain thinking about this last adventure and very much looking forward to the next one and more!
I hope you've enjoyed reading a few highlights from my latest trip to Africa. Let me know if you have any questions about some of the places I went to or how I found international travel. I'm always very keen to talk about my passions; safaris, wildlife, photography and Africa. On that note, if you think any of your friends or family might be interested in reading about my adventures, please let them know where to find this. I know how much even just reading about adventures in Africa can lift spirits.