Byebye Naboisho – hello Diani Beach

It’s time for a last game drive and then time to say goodbye to my beloved Masai Mara.

Olormorijo pride
OK, show’s over…
Lilac breasted roller
Succling

A special thank you goes to all the staff of Basecamp Explorer Eagle View which made my stay in the Mara so memorable. And another one to the man who is responsible for all the amazing food we got to enjoy here.

Chef Benson proudly with some of his books which I will take home as souvenirs for some friends

Chef Benson, an amazing cook with a very inspiring story which he allowed me to share. Benson is a Massai as all staff here and has grown up in the region. His career in tourism started of as an Askari (security man), but his interest onto cooking brought him into kitchen, first for cleaning duties, then peeling and cutting vegetables but son started to cook himself. By now this successful Maasai has become a fully educated chef and has been trained in Italy, Zürich and Oslo. His food is great but moreso is his intention to give something back to the community. To do so he’s written a cook book and all proceeds from the sale go into education of young Maasai who get a chance to attend an 18 month training to become a chef themselfs. Benson has become a dear friend and I very much admire his self made success and his intention to give other people a chance to do the same by investing into their education.

Breakfast with a view and home made granola❤️. Benson, I need this recipe!
Chicken in coconut
Fresh salad, all grown in the garden next to Eagle View
Vegetable fritata, honestly one of the best dishes I’ve ever eaten at Eagle View, everyone around was crazy about it
Lovely decorated soup

A long 2.5 hours flight brought me down to the coast.

Typical Airstrip in the Mara with safari vehicles waiting for their arriving or leaving guests
Wetlands in Amboselli

Naboisho Conservancy – Day 2 on safari

My second day in Naboisho started with another beautiful sunrise but also with fog in the dells, this time all alone on the safari vehicle.

There is hardly anything as magic as the sun rising over the African Savannah
Mist over the landscape

First sighting were two male lions from Molibany pride, majestic.

Still a bit tired…
What a hearty yawn
OK, end of the show, I go into the bushes, hiding
The second male of the pride

We spent the rest of the morning game drive taking ourself time to watch elephants and giraffes.

Crashing the bushes…
Feeding on this all to thorny acacia trees, unbelievable
Fighting or cuddling?
Hey!!! This naughty zebra photobombed my giraffe picture
OK, I admit I adore this cute a bit to hm… chubby striped animals

.. And some more…

Cute or ugly? Officially they belong to the ugly five, I think they are cute…
Impalas running
Grants Gazelle
Grants Gazelle not to confuse with the much smaller
Thomson Gazelle
Thomson Gazelle
Female Thommy
Thomson Gazelle
OK, to much cuteness isn’t good, let’s see one of the ugly five, the Gnu
Gnu or also Wildebeest
Hyenas
Cute or ugly? Officially the belong to the ugly five but I think they’re cute…
Well, maybe not cute in any pose…
Tawny eagle, majestic – no doubt here…
Bat eared foxes, defenitly cute, the first time I’ve seen them during daylight

Visitors at lunch time…

This cute rock hyrax lives in Eagle View Camp, they still try to convince me, it’s closely related to the elephant… Hm…?
OK I admit, this was our breakfast table not luch

For the afternoon I unfortunately got to say goodbye to my guide Edward who took some time off to visit his family, therefore we got a new guide Dickson and three more people on the vehicle. All of then for the first time on safari for which I really envy them. Safari is always exciting but the very first one is just magic and newbies tend to appreciate any sighting not only the very special and rare ones. The downside was that our new guide drove me almost crazy with giving information I’ve already heard dozens of times. I wouldn’t mind so much, cuz information is important, if he hadn’t chosen a spot just outside of the camp with no wildlife around, why not stop in a place with one of these beautifully mixed herds of zebras, gnus, Thompsons and Impalas and lecture us there for this half an hour?

Anyway, we got quickly lucky and found a schakal which was feeding on a baby impala, a fascinating sighting but also a bit sad because the mother was still nearby looking for her young.

The rest of the afternoon was rather quiet with a long drive trough Whistleblow thorn bushes with no wildlife around at all.

Strangely enough our guide was actually looking for a leopard… Luckily we suddenly spotted Molybany pride with its two lionesses and their eight cubs of different ages on a Rocky hill. Unfortunately they were neither in the mood to hunt nor to play and also a bit to far away, whish makes watching lions surprisingly boring.

Yep, not in the mood for hunting or playing…

We therefore proceeded to a safe place to take a sundowner and watch the beautiful sunset.

Just after returning to the camp a fierce thunder storm drove over the savannah and destroid my hopes of a refreshing drink at the camp fire this night.

Naboisho Conservancy – Day 1 on safari means endless lions

After a long night in the airplane with hardly any sleep, an inland flight with a Cessna and a full day on game drives I’ve slept like a baby and honestly getting up before 6 a.m on vacation isn’t my favorite thing to do, but… Yea, there is always a but… This sunrise compensate for the lack of sleep.

And the following drama even more. When the three lioness of the by far to small Enisikiria pride showed up just I nfront of our camp, they looked very hungry and seemed to be on a mission.

However, just closeby was a male lion if the Ilkisiusiu pride feeding on a zebra.

When the three lioness from Enisikiria came closer my guide smelled troubles and we left the anyway to crowed kill in order to see, if there is a territorial fight to be started. And indeed, I swear I’ve never ever heard such a scary lions roaring like when the lionesses from Ilkisiusiu followed the feeling Enisikiria lionesses.

All this before sunrise
With all this drama the zebras had to flee…

Unluckily the ran into three young lions from Sanpanguare pride, meaning more roaring, fighting and running, there was just a bit of action and drama this morning.

Girls from Sanpanguare Pride
Lions chasing each other

After all this excitement we’ve earned ourselfs a nice bush breakfast. Unfortunately my guide sent me back into the vehicle because a to close coming elephant bull made him nervous.

Breakfast table
Red headed lizard
Weaver bird
Marabu Stork
Kingfisher
Egyptian Geese
Water buck

On the way back to the camp for lunch we passed again Ilkisiusiu Pride which interestingwise hadn’t finished off this por zebra. The subadult male lying in the shade of a bush just along the road was to funny to watch he was so bothered by flies that he downright jumped madly around.

View from Eagle View Camp
View from Eagle View Camp
View from Eagle View Camp
Visitor at lunch time

What shall follow after a morning full of lions? Right, more lions. Ilkisiusiu Pride was still feeding when we left the camp.

After this it was time for something else, therefore we welcomed to watch a group of elephants as well as a big heard of buffalos afterwards.

Thomson Gazelle
Topi
Leopard Turtoise

But what’s a sundowner without lions…

After this all to exciting day we managed it just into camp before the storm arrived, literally a storm.

Arriving at Naboisho Conservancy

Well since nowadays I’ve to fly to Kenya to drink a coffee with my mum I’ve decided to combine it with some days at Basecamp Eagle View, my currently favorite safari camp in Eastern Africa. After a rather stressful night flight to Nairobi and a luckily quiet inland flight

Nairobi Wilson Airport

I’ve arrived in Naboisho Conservancy which kind of feels like coming home. Already the drive from the Airstrip to Eagle View was an adventure. First thing that appeared was a giraffe with a one day old baby, to cute to be true.

Well no, that’s not the giraffe…
An no, this one neither…
But this is

Next just along the road was Leteipa a male cheetah laying lazy in the shade.

Eagle View camp with it’s stunning view over the Savanna is as beautiful as ever as well as the warm welcome.

Welcome soup😁
My tent
View from my bed

Afternoon started withe a big elephant bull breaking a big tree.

Afterwards we got to see a part of the over 30 head big Ilkisiusiu Pride with their cubs. Funny enough it was me who spotted them first, tapping proudly my shoulder cuz it’s very rare to spot an animal before you local guide does!

Right next to this sighting were lions feeding on a baby warthog whilst a naughty schakal was sneaking around trying to steal his prey and succeded😂.

Suddenly late in the day even after sunrise we got the chance to see a leopard, Nolari a beautiful female.

Nolari (Spot)
Sundowner with a Leopard and my guides Edward and Dickson

Well, one couldn’t wish more for a day in the Mara, except for a nice dinner, a cold drink, a nice camp fire and a good sleep.

Nashipai, my new Masai name means „Happy“ was given to me by the chef Benson