Sunday 2 October 2011

Day Eight - Welcome to Tsavo West

We had a leisurely morning at Ngutuni lodge, photographing Warthogs, Zebra and the courting antics of Yellow-Necked Spurfowl. We got some lovely reflection shots on the waterhole and Karen got a lovely photo of a bird we need to identify. If any of our Kenyan bird-watching friends would like to identify this bird, please do.

A Dazzle of Zebra with reflections at the Ngutuni waterhole

A very randy Yellow-Necked Spurfowl with his more than a little concerned intended

Dave and Jason shooting wildlife at the Ngutuni waterhole from the restaurant terrace

We couldn't fit our book in the luggage, so please help identify this gorgeous bird


We then left Ngutuni to head for Voi to pick up supplies before heading to Tsavo West National Park. At the Voi Gate of Tsavo East National Park, we tried to load a Safari Card so that we could enter Tsavo West via the closer, Tsavo River Gate but the system was down and could not write the data to the Safari Card. The lady advised us that we could still pay at the Tsavo River Gate but when we got there, we found that we could only pay by Visa, as cash payments can only be made at the main gate. As none of us had a Visa card with sufficient credit to pay for all of us for four nights, we had no option but to head for the main Gate at Mtito Andei. We spent some time (and a reasonable sum of money) in the gift shop and photographed a delightful Unstriped Ground Squirrel.

The speedy little Unstriped Ground Squirrel


We then headed into the reserve towards the Ngulia Bandas (or Rhino Valley Bandas). Along the way, we photographed some very attractive Masai Giraffe at close range and were delighted to be greeted by two young Lesser kudu at the entrance to the bandas.  We also photographed several lizard species too.  Karen cooked us all a very nice meal of fried chicken with pasta, sweetcorn and peas, followed by pineapple and pear fruit salad, whilst we photographed the spectacular view from the bandas, including a lone elephant at the waterhole below. We were serenaded by the sound of frogs from the waterhole in the evening.

Part of the view from our balcony (click to view slightly larger)


We are here for four days and tomorrow we are looking forward to the Ngulia Rhino Sanctuary and Mzima Springs.


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5 comments:

  1. The name of the bird you are looking for is the "Scarlet-chested Sunbird"

    Neil D

    ReplyDelete
  2. DonDavidson is just my username, as in Aberdeen FC being "The Dons" and my last name being Davidson haha, but no worries, Hope all is going well!

    Neil.

    ReplyDelete
  3. ha ha Neil, you got us with that one. I guess you had a look in our book then?

    ReplyDelete
  4. No im just a highly evolved and intelligent being!

    and by that, i mean i used wikipedia.

    ReplyDelete