The 2021 Africa Journals, Chapter 30: In Which We Arrive at Our Next and Final Camp

 

 Chapter 30:

In Which We Arrive at Our Next and Final Camp

 

"Change is not about doing without, but about doing something else."--Unk.

 

A camp staffer woke me up right on schedule with a tray of tea and cookies that he set on the end table outside my tent flap.  This was the last morning I would wake to such luxury at Enkewa Camp.   Today we were moving to a private conservancy north of the Maasai Mara and a brand new camp.

With that came all the familiar feelings:   Would it measure up?   Would we like the staff and guides?    The food?    The accommodations?   The density of wildlife?

What if I didn't want to go?   What if I preferred to stay right here where I was comfortable?   What if I really liked the cashews and macadameia but snacks in late afternoon?    What about the Chocolate Mug and the tomato sauce-less lasagna that I loved?

It's always like that for me, that reluctance to move from the familiar to the unknown.   Every camp; every change.   What it all boiled down to was that every change brought me closer to the end of my trip.   That, and I was still pining for the rustic tent at Selinda Explorer's Camp in the Okavango Delta.   Really, really pining because, to me, that was the ideal combination of luxury and tenting.    Many of the tent camps are going so ultra-modern,  I might as well stay in a hotel  room.

Nonetheless, we are to have a shortened game drive this morning before leaving for our next camp, so it was out of bed, drink the tea, and head for the Land Rovers. 

Before the sun was up and the light was still iffy, we came across a hyena being challenged by vultures over a carcass.

That was solved when the hyena grabbed a large bone and leaving the rest of the carcass to the birds.

We found a lioness with three cubs as the light of dawn cleared the hills and bathed them in gold.

It also turned out to be a good morning for photographing birds.

Pretty little bird called a stout cistacola.

Red-necked spurfowl.

Golden spotted longclaw.

This was a treat.   Two bird species in one tree.   Gray-backed fiscals on the left and a Nubian woodpecker on the right.

 

Close up of that Nubian woodpecker.

 

I knew these were swallows, but not what kind.   So I posted the photo on a Facebook page called Birding Kenya.   The answers I got were rufous-breasted swallow (correct) , red-rumped swallow, and rufous-rumped swallow.    See how hard it is the ID birds?

 

 Two things to note in the photo below:   The elephant, and that the second row passenger door has been removed to allow a photographer to get low for a shot.   That means there is no sidewall protection for the photographer.

 

Sweet little reedbok resting on the grass.

An eland, the largest antelope species in Africa, and zebra.

Africans pronounce zebra as "ZEHB-rah."

Helmeted guineafowl.

Back to camp we went for breakfast, a final packing, and off we went to the Naboisho Conservancy.

The gate.   And, a gaggle of persistent hawkers inside and out of the gate.

Eventually, we arrived at our camp.    When the driver parked to unload us and our luggage, we could not see any signs of camp facilities.   We followed the staff on the trail to the right, down a switch-backed trail into a valley.   Right away, I began to dread this ascent and descent in the heat four times a day while carrying our cameras and camera bags.

The photo below does an excellent job of telling the story of our arrival.  Marg is in white at right, talking with Minnie, the camp manager.   There is a housing problem.   There are not enough tents.

There are six in our group.   Four of us have paid extra for single accommodations--tents without a roommate.  We had been told that two of us might have to double up for one night and then we would have private tents the next night.    Rather a bother for someone to have to move when we are only here three nights total, but not an insurmountable problem.

Laura and I were chosen to double up that first night.   Fine by me.

And we followed staff and our luggage  to our tent at Kicheche Valley Camp.

That big red duffle is not mine.   The gray bag is my camera bag, though.  We use duffles when traveling in Africa because they fit in luggage compartments of small planes better.

 

 

 

And here it is.   The most modern of all the tents I have been in.    King bed and twin bed.    Leaf decor on the sheets and small gifts.

A little sack with a face mask.

More than sufficient room for luggage.

A water stand.

Huge bathroom with shower in the canvas stall.

 

 Still yearning for my perfect tent at Great PLains Selina Explorer Camp:

 

 

So, here we were.   Laminate flooring which seems to be popular in the newer camps.  Laura told me she would move when another tent was available, so I moved in and unpacked as much as I needed.   We would be off on an afternoon game drive at four o'clock, after lunch and a rest.

 

 Naboisho Conservancy is in light green.

 

 

NEXT:  Naboisho Conservancy, first game drive.