Titchfield Haven & Farlington Marsh

Sunday 23rd October I drag Mr F from his bed. I feel guilty as he is very tired but we have an RSPB walk today. The weather is going to be very good and the promise of some different waterfowl about. Anyway it's another day at the seaside. Goody.

We get to Titchfieldhaven (near Portsmouth) just after nine. The wind is very strong, not good news for birding. A pretty average day for birds nothing remarkable about. We had a good time, despite the wind. We had to park our car right on the seafront and when we came back it was caked in salt as the spray was so strong off the sea. Later on we moved to Langstone Harbour, neither of us had been there before it's a good walk and lots of wading birds about.  We were however glad to see the car as we were in need of a sit down after all that walking. Farlington looks like a really good place and there is certainly a lot more to see than we managed to do in the few hours that we were there.

Brighton revisited

Saturday 15th October. We are seriously led astray by Mr & Mrs Scott and instead of spending the weekend doing jobs around the house, we decamp to sunny Brighton. It is a beautiful warm & sunny weekend. We do all the usual things,the pier, the Lanes, the fish & chips, drink wine and generally soak up the atmosphere. We stayed overnight in the Mercure hotel which was very good. It was so sunny we had our breakfast outside just off the beach, people were playing volley ball in just their shorts, it is the middle of October. A great time was had by all. We were all a bit tired on the Monday when we had to go back to work though!

The Floodys in East Africa and Zanzibar

Well folks here it is. I hope you find it interesting and amusing reading. Again I would remind you that this is my diary & written in my usual fashion. I make every apology for bad grammar and spelling,it has taken me ages to refine this. I really need an editor as it is almost impossible to edit your own work. There is so much more to tell than I have managed to get down here, we had such a fabulous and exciting time we really want to go back & sample some more. I have yet to see Kilimanjaro, flew past it twice in the dark, but saw nothing. Something else eludes us but you had better read onto find that out.

Heathrow to Maasai Mara via Nairobi

BA00065 10.20 from Heathrow on 13/09/2011 was slightly delayed taking off. Not to worry re- in forced with a cooked breakfast and celebratory glass of that renowned sparkly stuff and some films to watch we are both in holiday mood. This was a holiday that had been on my list for as long as I can remember. Seriously a school girls dream and one that I never thought would come true.
We landed in Nairobi shortly after 9pm, we could see nothing of the city as we came in to land in the pitch black. Slight panic set in when our bags were the last to appear on the belt - through immigration with no problems and met by our greeter and driver Paul. We were soon driving through the quite deserted, unlit and unmade roads, quite a shock as we were in a city. Our base for tonight is the traditional colonial starting place for a safari the Norfolk hotel.

I had quite a sleepless night although Ian was already in Rip van Winkle mode, despite his legs twitching constantly & main reason for me not sleeping. Another early start 6.30 as we are going to catch a flight from a local airport into the Maasai Mara. Another fab breakfast, shame we are only here for one night in this lovely hotel, & we are soon on our way. The traffic in Nairobi is horrendous, no surprise as there are few road markings, lots of vehicles, animals, people and a lot of dust!

Nairobi City is full of birds, on this short drive in the depths of the city we see Marabou storks, hundreds of them up in the trees, hopping about on the roadside & perched on buildings. They are large birds & quite dirty & menacing in appearance. We also see Hummingbirds ( on reflection probably Sunbirds), Weavers, Bee eaters, Pied Crows and a possible black Kite. Whilst waiting to board the plane a Crane flies overhead - too fast & I am too busy to make out any distinctive markings. All this & we are not even trying and for that matter know what we are looking for or might have seen.

It is hot & sunny as we wait with a lot of other people at Wilson airport. There are several flights going out this morning & this is only one of the flight companies that operate out of Nairobi so this is big business, in small planes. We board a 25 seater and soon are heading South Westish. From the air we soon spot zebra, elephants and gazelles. After 35 minutes we land on a red dirt track in the bush. I thought I would be terrified of the flight but I love it. Ian & I are given a piece of paper with a number on it & told to get on the plane with that number, er - OK then. Grabbing our bags we get on a 10 seater plane & within 5 minutes we are off again.

Jambo

This time we land at an even more remote & smaller airstrip, Siana. Here waiting for our arrival are several Maasai tribesmen. They call to us in Swahili “Jambo, Jambo” Hello, Hello, Karibu - Welcome. Hi there says one with the whitest teeth & the darkest skin, so smooth you automatically wanted to reach out & touch it. (Easy tiger). My name is .. wait for it .. Jimmy he says. Bit of a let down. We also have Alfred, Dominic & Mikel. Not met a Duane or Shane yet thank Goodness. Despite the western names they all wear the traditional and very colorful Maasai dress called shuka. This is not a tourist thing it is the way they live. Our bags are loaded on to a land cruiser and we are taken on a drive to the camp. It is all nearly off road, mud track, most of it has been washed away. There has been an unusual amount of rain here for this time of year. Strangely the Mara is very green. We rock back & forth over cavernous ruts, clinging on for dear life as Jimmy battles through. I am fearing an overturned vehicle and becoming a lions dinner before the adventure has hardly begun. Little did I know then there was more to come later in the week, but by that time I was so blasé, it was not scary at all. We are accompanied by Barbe & Stan from Colorado, they were to be our companions during our stay in Kenya and we rubbed along just fine.

Jimmy soon spots a herd of giraffe & elephant so off we go headlong into the bush. We get extremely close. The male elephant is absolutely huge. I do not remember them being so big in the Kruger. There are some cute baby ones as well.
I see a Goshawk and a Grey Fiscal Shrike, I see so many birds that I cannot keep up with them or identify some.
Porini camp is a private reserve in a conservancy area it is run by and in conjunction with the Maasai. I am writing this on the deck of our tent and I can see a zebra out of the corner of my eye. (Just thought I would let you know).

About Porini Camps

Extract from Porini Camps brochure.
The Porini Camps, situated inside the Conservancies, are exclusive small eco-friendly tented camps that accommodate a maximum of 20 guests. The camps consists of 6 to 10 spacious tents situated under acacia trees, comfortably furnished, lighted with solar power, with water-saving safari showers and flush toilets. Porini Camps are owned and run by Gamewatchers Safaris, a well established Kenyan safari company, which leases each conservancy, paying a monthly rental that increases annually, and which is also responsible for paying entry fees to the community for all visitors entering the conservancy. The income from the camps is used to manage and improve the conservancies, pay the lease and tourist entry fees and pay salaries of the camp staff and the conservancy rangers and workers. There are over 500 Maasai families who are directly benefiting as a result of the conservancies.The Mara eco-system where Ol Kinyei and Olare Orok Conservancies are located is under serious threat of being degraded and fragmented as land is being divided into individually owned plots. Tracts of wildlife habitat are being permanently lost with this subdivision of the community ranches. Many small individual landowners are now selling their plots to the highest bidders, who are setting up non-sustainable mass market concrete lodges or becoming involved in intensive farming and fencing of their small holdings. Snaring of herbivores and poisoning of big cats has increased and wildlife is being driven out.
So if you go to Kenya please ensure you go to somewhere that puts back into the community and not a big Lodge!! Please Mrs F

Home sweet home

The Mess Tent

Our Tent

View from the mess tent to our tent

Back to the plot - we are in the Mara camp. It is a little garden of Eden, we are truly in the wild here. When we are in our tent the only means of communication with the Maasai & other “campers” is a whistle which sits by the side of our bed along with a wind up torch. A bit daunting at first, also as you need to be accompanied after dark, as animals are free to roam around the camp. There is no wire, fences or gates anywhere. Birds are calling all around us along with some other strange insect / animal noises. We are served lunch under the shade of an acacia tree, we have a Tusker beer to wet our whistles. It is really hot now, proper safari weather, we have a walk around the camp, there are 6 tents and a communal mess tent. We have all mod cons, flushing toilet (Much to Mr F’s relief), and a safari shower. You need to order your hot water in advance. It is brought down to the tent & poured into a canvas sack which in turn feeds into a shower pipe. This should prove interesting later on tonight. Well I must go and wake up Rip from his afternoon nap as it is time for tiffin (or is that India?) & then our first game drive. Just heard a little plop, Ha ha, nothing to do with the aforementioned flushing toilet but a Pied Kingfisher catching his dinner in the stream by the tent. Beautiful.

Game drive in the conservancy

Josphat & Simon

Our guides introduce themselves Josphat is our naturalist and Simon is our driver. They will accompany the 4 of us for the time we are here. They both wear the traditional shuka, no spears & I notice no guns, what protection from raging animals do we have then - Uh just Simons fast driving. OK but remember the roads are rough which makes for a slow drive. I am thinking a lion will have us before you can say spare tyre. (not that I have seen any lions so far). We all climb aboard the land cruiser, wreathed in cameras and binoculars and full of excitement. We leave the camp in the opposite direction to which we entered it. Tonight we drive in the conservancy; it is hot & sunny at 5pm, some good game & the promise of a G&T for sundowner. The guides have to study and pass exams at various levels. Josphat is a bronze guide and Simon a senior silver. Their knowledge is outstanding and they know the conservancy like the back of their hands. We tell them we would like to see as many birds as possible, Barbe is thrilled to hear this as both her & Stan are birders. Looks like we fell lucky to get paired up together as we are all not just here to see the big 5. We see many birds during the evening, the barefaced go away bird, arrow marked babbler, my favorite the Lilac breasted Roller and a paradise flycatcher. The track that we are on to begin with is extremely bumpy I don't know how we manage to stay upright. They call it the Maasai massage. In fact sometimes we go sideways down ravines and river crossings. Giraffe, buffalo & elephants are scattered around. There are Gazelles everywhere, Thompsons, Grants, Impala, Dik Dik, Topi, Eland & Duikers not to mention Water Buck & Bush Buck. Soon the sun starts to set so we head for a high ridge to sit outside & view the spectacle with the aforementioned G&T. However we have company, on the edge of the ridge sitting looking for prey & just generally keeping an eye out are 2 female lionesses. They are quite sleepy so we park up, just about 8ft away from one. We enjoy the G&T whilst keeping an eye out for the lions, yes we did stay in the jeep. How amazing is that for company. They are so beautiful & to be so close to a lion in the Mara is a dream come true, are we really here? I really did not think we would be able to get anywhere near to the wildlife & all the photo’s would be of things in the distance. How very wrong I was. There are so many animals here 20 - 30 zebra in one go, herds of elephants and lots & lots of wildebeest.

Back at camp & I need a shower so after a little while we hear footsteps approaching & a voice calls out, “ready for shower”. Lovely hot water, mind you have to be quick & turn it off in between putting on the shampoo, washing etc. No luxury of standing there & letting the water run over you, however it goes a long way & we soon have the washing situation under control. i.e. there is not a lot of it done! No hairdryers, no make up and being windswept were the order of the holiday, it was bliss & you did not give a care to what you looked like.
Dinner - it has been a long day & it is only about 8pm I think! Four other couples are waiting for us around the campfire. Introductions are made & we feel outsiders as the newcomers to the group. We hear all about the day they have had in the Mara. Unfortunately they are not “our cup of tea” kind of people. When we got to the table one of them started to tell us where we could sit, as they had been there last night & had got seats!! I was not amused but soon found out that was the only night we had to endure their company as they moved on the next day. One young couple on their honeymoon (not part of the aforementioned) were going to climb Kilimanjaro we wanted to hear what they had been doing but the conversation was overpowered by the Essex lot, ordering everyone, including the Maasai, and embarrassing not themselves but the rest of us into the bargain. One of them had far too much to drink and fell off her chair and lay like a stone on the floor. We found this a good time to make a hasty retreat and off back to the tent. I did not think that I would be able to sleep very well but went out like a light. Only to woken by guess who battling his way through the curtains to the toilet. I could not get to sleep for ages, kept hearing frogs croaking one sounded like a mobile phone bleeping. There were all sorts of weird noises, nothing like I have heard before or even expected to hear. We had been told that animals came around the tents at night so imagining wildebeest and antelopes just within a few feet of us. I could heat footsteps, or rather hoof-steps at one time just coming down the path behind my head. I thought it must have been a Maasai come to wake us up but it was 4 legged!
Ian was up again. What now I say, rather exasperated. It 6.25 he replies get up. For today we go to the Mara. Excited or what!!! Then a Maasai shouts good morning, unzips the tent and comes in bringing us hot coffee & water for shaving.

Into The Mara

It is about a 45 minute drive to the Mara National park from the conservancy, this is undertaken at high speed on very bumpy & dusty roads. I wonder if I am going to loose my breakfast at one stage. It is a warm sunny start to the day. The Maasai are out on the plains herding the cattle. The bright colour of the Maasai dress stands out vividly against the green plains and is clearly visible for miles around. As we cross a

bridge we see a yellow billed stork fishing in a river, not much else in the way of wildlife. we pass through some Maasai villages, you can smell them before you can see them. It is not a pleasant smell, pungent, but not what you think it might smell like. There are some shops, which are just rough shacks but there is a chemist, pub & hotel.
Soon we are waiting outside as the gates to the National park are unlocked and we are allowed to pass through into Paradise. We are harassed by some young girls desperate to sell us some wares. I am not sure how much of it is actually made here anymore, but it is their only source of income.
Our guides tell us we are not allowed out of the vehicle and they must stick to the roads. No-one is allowed to drive off track. There are a lot of little mini buses with pop up roofs. We are very glad for the comfort & open high sided land cruiser, and only the 4 of us as guests. With our super driver we soon leave the masses behind and start to enjoy the marvel that is the Maasai Mara.

Lazy Cheetah (Duma)

The mass of animals that abound on these plains is impossible to convey in words and we are not sure if the pictures will do it justice. I wont bore you with every animal we see but will set up a separate list if you are interested. Shortly Simon spots a Cheetah resting up. He is just lying out in the sun sleeping - not in the shade near any tree or undergrowth but right out in the open on the plain. This is so he can keep an eye out for predators (a word we are frequently hearing this holiday) and so he can keep an eye out for any likely dinner that might pass his way. He is very, very beautiful and surprise, surprise we are soon off track and not 6ft away from him. He is not bothered by us at all and we spend a while admiring his beauty

A Fisi and a Lilac Breasted roller

The views here are typical Africa, just like 'Wild at Heart' & 'Big Cat Diary'. The Acacia trees are sparse in places and they are called the Mara spot as from the air they look like spots on the plain. Mara means Wild in Swahili. Elephants have destroyed a lot of the trees and scrub. We see many species of birds and lots of the lilac breasted Roller. We come across a hyena (Fisi in Swahili) just resting up like the cheetah was. He looks kind of sticky and fluffy and is much bigger than I had imagined. He soon gets fed up with us, gets up and slopes off, in a sinister manner that only a hyena can do. If a hyena kills or steals a kill, it will eat it all completely bones & all. They have the most powerful crushing jaws, and even the lions are wary of them As a result of all this calcium you can identify hyena poo because it is white. There is a species of tortoise that eats hyena poo, which is where is gets it’s calcium requirement from. Tortoises being herbivores & all that. I wonder if you can truly be classed as a herbivore if you eat hyena shit?