3 game drives in Samburu

Day 3, 3 game drives The first game drive was before breakfast, but I was awake even before the sun, again! As the sun was rising, you could hear baboons across the river from my room. An alligator perched himself on the river bank for the evening and the birds were coming waking with cheer.

Our first game drive of the day, started out viewing large cat tracks, unfortunately this cat was no where to be found, but it was very close to the lodge gates. There was a lot of chatter at breakfast about the noises people were hearing throughout the night, some were saying it was a little scary, we haven't even made it to the tent camps yet! We headed off into the brush and came across some more Impalas, 2 that were enjoying a morning sparing session, Gerenuk, Dik Diks, lots of birds and a Vulture covered Giraffe, which also had a Hyaena having its way at it.

As we moved around in the safari bus, we came across several Reticulated Giraffes, having their morning breakfast. At one point, we thought that 2 giraffes were courting each other or showing loving affection, however, it was revealed to us that they were 2 males and they starting knocking heads. Banging their horns against each others heads, necks, and even knees and other sensitive parts before they decided it wasn't worth the fight. We then went back to the lodge for breakfast and a little break before our second drive. While at the lodge, we saw a Nile crocodile resting on the far banks of the river, some Striped Skink (colorful lizard like), a Nile Monitor (looks like a mini comono dragon), and I was pestered by the little Black Faced Vervet Monkey.

Towards the end of the break, a couple of ladies in the group sprinted by my room yelling "Tess, there's elephants in the river", so of course I grabbed the camera and sprinted after them, and it was worth the run! So beautiful to see these giants in the wild. When we headed out on the second drive, we were less then a mile away from the lodge and we were forced to stop since there was a single bull elephant walking swiftly in our direction. So incredible to get photos that close, so far they are my favorite pictures. After that encounter, we went a while before seeing more animals, a few Gerenuks and birds, but then we saw another pack of elephants in another area of the river, with 3 babies, it was amazing! And we continued to encounter more and more elephants, it was great. An additional treat was to see a solo Beisa Oryx!

Another fun thing that was pointed out to us by our guide was a carcass in a tree. Leopards will take there kill into trees as to not be bothered by other animals for the fresh kill. We were taken back for another break, and I sat and watched more elephants playing in the river, just across from my room, what a life! A bunch of the group took advantage of some cool pool time before our final game drive at this lodge. Our final drive was the least eventful, at least for animal sightings! First stop was to watch a few Olive Baboons collect their dinner. I was fun to watch the little baboons play and try to imitate the elders, then hop on their mothers backs as they all left the scene. We didn't see hardly any animal after that, but one of our vehicles got stuck, axel deep in some really loose sand. Thank goodness for a newer Land Cruiser to come by and pull them out, but all the passengers had to evacuate, even though the first rule of a game drive is "never get out of the vehicle". We all had a good laugh about the chances of a lion coming, and it was funny until we had to evacuate our vehicle too, to be sure our bus didn't get stuck too,

that's quiet a vulnerable feeling! Our last sighting was a pregnant Reticulated Giraffe, with a big ole belly, she could have it at any time, it was cool. Back at the lodge for one last night, we ate dinner, debriefed about the next day and retired to our rooms. I was out again at 9:30, the bumping, jarring and hanging on in the safari vehicles really wears you out, I think there'll be some bruising too!