East African Safari

We were up at 7.00am and sure enough we found the means to make tea outside on the terrace. Afterwards we had a long walk along the beach before breakfast. Breakfast was Chef Special, fish cakes and they were very good too. At 10’oclock we left with a resident taxi called John. He took us to Gedi to look at the ruins of an ancient Arab town 14-15th century. In the 17th century the town was abandoned, it is thought possibly because the sea had receded. Some of the buildings one could imagine how they used to look and there were some interesting things like a bathroom with washbasins and bidets, double toilets and in the Sultan’s Palace a bath that was filled through a hole from outside. The temple had no roof but had some walls. More than 50 years ago when John last visited this site there were Arab tombstones with Chinese porcelain set into them. It has all be removed and looted.

We then drove to a place that John called the Blue Lagoon and when the tide is out the small islands look like mushrooms. There we met some good natured Africans who thought it absolutely hilarious because John could still speak some Swahili. John and Joe Emmett camped here when they both worked for the Rice Irrigation Scheme more than half a century earlier.

Dinner tonight is to be a barbecue by the poolside. All the tables from the dining room were taken down there and arranged for various size parties. The hotel is called Driftwood Beach Club and the members can use the facilities whenever they want to. A lot of Europeans from long ago have retired to Malindi so tonight they have come to dinner and to meet with friends. Yesterday John noticed a gentleman and his wife having a drink before lunch, they then left, John was convinced he had been a District Officer and so it proved to be the case. After dinner we went and sat with them at the bar and talked to them for some time. When John told him that he had to go to England to live because of recurring malaria he was told that he hadn’t looked after himself had he? A full moon tonight.

On the opposite side of the road from the hotel was a large building I noticed yesterday with a flat rooftop. I had seen an African hanging out the washing and later a woman wearing a sari collecting it in. Now I realise it is a school for Indian or Asians only. Cars were arriving and an African girl stepped forward and collected each child then took them inside to a courtyard. The children arrived in all forms of transport including the back of a utility from where three of them were lifted out. I felt sorry for one mother who had walked her child to school, to then have a screaming child clinging to her removed. At 9.00am the children all gathered into a circle, holding hands they began to sing My Darling Clementine. It amused me as it was unexpected and because the children were very small.

We went down to the First Floor for breakfast and then John arranged for some washing to be done. As prearranged the taxi driver came for us at 10.20am. Our first port of call was Forex in order to change some money. We then headed out on the Malindi road to visit Haller Park. There has been a cement works in this area for years and as the works move on an unsightly scar is left on the landscape. The Cement Works funded Dr. Haller, a Swiss, to give nature a helping hand and introduce plants and animals. Firstly quick growing pines were planted and other species of trees and flora later. There are now lakes due to excavations down to below the water table. The first animals we saw were three Waterbuck standing in a lake chomping the water lilies, swimming around were varying sizes of Talapia and Catfish. In a compound, being viewed by a school party of small people with their teachers, were giraffe, oryx and eland. There were giant tortoises wandering around, for commerce there are large fish tanks containing Talapia, which are sold to the local people and restaurants for cash. In pits live 500 crocodiles of varying sizes from very small to very large. The eggs are incubated to control the sexes, 30ºC produces males and 28ºC females. Now the numbers are high enough to enable them to be sold for meat and skins for shoes and handbags. There are segregated snakes and their own accommodation with quite a few varieties. Living there also are three hippos, one a pair the other solitary as its partner died. The park is quiet and lush with many varieties of birds.

Afterwards, stopping on our return journey we called in to a place for a drink, inviting the taxi driver to have one also. Quite near the hotel we noticed that there were many people in a small park listening to a Speaker. On asking out driver what it was all about, he replied, “They are hearing about God”. We then had a small lunch that turned out to be a substantial lunch. It is always assumed, it seems that Europeans have enormous appetites. We then spent the rest of the afternoon reading. On going up to dinner we saw that Katherine was there again and already had a beer. Afterwards we sat out by the pool under the stars before retiring to bed.

During the night John heard a hyena howling and they were crashing against the side of the tent even though we had a lantern that was lit all night in front of the tent the washbasins were missing, presumably dragged off by hyena however they were retrieved later. At breakfast I asked Pius, the waiter to imitate the howl of a hyena, then I realised that I had heard it too.

After breakfast we set off with Edward on the whole day safari. Firstly we saw a Colubus monkey and a newly dug Aardvark den, next a group of lions that were moving towards a group of zebra and appeared to be looking for a kill, however nothing came of it, the zebra would live another day. Briefly we glimpsed a leopard walking into some grass then it lay down and all that was visible was the tips of its ears. We then visited the tree where we saw the leopard yesterday evening, it was still there. As the drivers have to stay on the tracks it is very difficult to get close enough to get a photograph of leopards in trees as they don’t show up in the final picture. Last night John made a list of the animals that he would like to see to photograph today. Impala, Thompson Gazelle, Baboon, Kanga, Dieker, Dik Dik, Warthog and leopard, we did see all these animals and thus John was able to take his photographs including Water Buck, not on the list. We drove down to the river to watch, a herd of Zebra drink near them was a crocodile and down river a bit were three hippos and two crocodiles. Driving along a track we spied a large amount of vultures so Edward went to investigate, there under a tree was a cheetah with a kill, a Thompson gazelle. The cheetah had eaten most of the flesh, only the head and entrails were left, it had a stomach like a football. The vultures stood patiently in groups, there were crested eagle, Rupells, white headed hooded Nubian, and Griffen vultures. On the horizon we spotted a loan spotted hyena. Gradually with some speed it went straight towards the cheetah, sized up the situation, circling it and the vultures. The cheetah went for the vultures and the hyena seized the opportunity to chase off the cheetah, grabbed the kill and relocated it at the same time another spotted hyena was coming at speed, it arrived, grabbed part of the Tommy and whilst all this was going on the vultures moved in but all they got was the blood, the cheetah ambled off to find a place to lie down to sleep off the meal. Hyenas have incredible teeth and jaws, the first one was crunching the ribs and ate the head before the second one arrived, we observed the whole cycle of who gets what in the event of a kill. In this way there is no waste and it is rare to see any bones around, the only exception being buffalo horns.

Then it was time for lunch time and we headed off towards the picnic area near the Seronea lodge airstrip. Edward produced picnic boxes brought from the camp, excellent and far too much. There was a building which serves as a customs house and collector of money for parking, permits for companies filming etc. There was a trail round the building leading up to a kopje, where we found a colony of hyrax which smelled very strongly of urine. There were illustrations and information boards all the way around and gave the route followed by the annual wildebeest migration always going in circular motion for pasture to graze, from south to north, from east to west. Then it rained heavily and we were soaked. The Kopjes provide homes for many species of animal including cheetah.

After lunch we set off again and kept coming across groups of male impala. It seems the boys stay together, usually not far from a herd of female impala with one male. Serving a group of females is arduous work and they lose weight and strength and once the loan males have built up their strength they can go and challenges for a herd of females. Late evening we saw a herd of elephant arrive at the river bank to drink they were all sizes the bull being the last to wade in, he proved to be quite destructive. Overhead branches of a tree were hanging over the river the bull reached up with his trunk, tore off a branch and munched it up. Then it was time to return to camp and walking along together were two lionesses, mother and daughter, mum looked quite old, as it was raining they sat down together each taking turns to lick the other, Mum went into hunting mode but we could see nothing in sight. On crossing back over the river we saw a family of baboons who crossed over the bridge and turned right in a purposeful manner one a mother with the baby slung underneath it

On return to camp and after a shower Pius had built a fire and brought out some chairs to sit and have a drink before dinner. We began to talk and found that Pius came from Kilimanjaro and had once worked on a Tanzanite mine as had his father before him. After a time he decided he didn’t like the work too much instead became a porter to climbers, climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. Now he works at the Seonea Lodge and is married, his wife expecting their first child at any minute. He was waiting for the phone call. He also told us that Africans in this area must be tested for HIV before they can get married. Sounds like a good system to me.