Day Six - Farewell to Tsavo East

Today we said goodbye to Tsavo East. Every time our Tsavo East experience comes to an end we get the feeling that we have unfinished business but that's what makes us keep coming back.

Our KWS Safari Card ran out at 10.30am, so we got up early and packed everything into the Landrover, before heading to the Pipeline Road to see what might come in to the waterholes.

Unfortunately Dave was not feeling too well, so he was not able to fully enjoy the scenes which unfolded before us. We parked up at one of the waterholes, which has one shallow area and steep surroundings, so that we knew which direction the animals would approach from, for us to get the best photographs.

After a while, a dazzle of Burchell's Zebra came in to drink. They were followed shortly afterwards by some very nervous Coke's Hartebeest, which scattered every time another vehicle came by. Eventually they felt confident enough to come into the waterhole and we were able to get some nice images of them drinking.

Family of Hartebeest at the waterhole

Later, another Dazzle of Burchell's Zebra came in and afterwards one of the local guides told us that three lions with cubs had been spotted further along the road by about a kilometre. We searched but could not find the lions and headed back slowly, scanning the landscape. As we reached our original location, we saw a Topi.

This is the first time we have seen a Topi in Tsavo East

This is the first time we have ever seen a Topi in Tsavo East, so we were delighted. Further along, we found a family of Elephants, with two babies, one of them very young, enjoying another waterhole.

Splashing about - one happy baby Elephant

Whilst we were photographing this, behind us a Tawny Eagle was getting very agitated by the presence of a huge flock of Red-Billed Quelea, so we photographed that too.

A very irritated Tawny Eagle

We finished our Tsavo East experience with the largest herd of Buffalo we have yet seen, with over 100 animals.

Dave was still feeling unwell, so we went straight to the Silent Guest Resort, so that he could get a rest. Whilst Dave was resting, the rest of us took a trip along to the Ngutuni Private Reserve. We checked out the Ngutuni Lodge and decided it would be a great bit of luxury to perk Dave up, so we booked for tomorrow night. After that, we shall be heading for Tsavo West.

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