Day 6

This morning we were up at 6.30 with the hot water, but still no water in the loo. Breakfast with a reticent Becky who had special local porridge and maize pancakes. We wished her a good flight to see the chimpanzees at Gombi, as we took off with Kim at 7.30 with picnic boxes. He has spoken to the Ronjo camp people about the loo. There was obviously a total misunderstanding. On the road out of the camp we saw a little turtle crossing the road.
There had been a kill in the night. Although we only heard gnu grunting, Kim had heard the hyena. We saw eight or so hyena in the distance as we left camp - probably over where they had made their kill. The wildebeest had moved on and more herds would follow. On the other side of the road we saw two jackals and a vulture. Maybe they had been at the kill. We turned out onto the road seeing our usual gazelle, zebra, and impala. We made for a pool where we saw some vervet monkeys playing in the trees, and down on the bank was a small croc. A huge 'Explore' bus came up behind us - the first big vehicle we have seen. Off we set and stopped to watch a pair of brown parrots in a dead tree. These are anything but brown, being dusky headed with yellow highlights and a green body! On again to see a pair of dikdik hiding in a bush. They are so small and mate for life, living in a 10msq territory. A couple of vans passed us, so we followed and came up to where there were some parked cars ahead of us and as we approached we could see a pair of lions just at the side of the road. Kim suggested that this was a mating pair - the female from the area we were in as she was totally unconcerned even though the vans were close to them. The male was completely opposite, showing that he came from the interior of the park where there are no vans. When one moved he was very upset growling and threatening it. He tried to settle down again, but wasn't happy. As we left, it was all too much and he persuaded the female that it was time to move a little further away. This female is quite a character and is not above using parked vans as cover when hunting. Kim had a little film of her behaviour on his mobile phone!
Now we drove along a road by some marshy land. Just before we turned in, we spotted a small furry creature, which turned out to be a dwarf mongoose. It’s very small compared with the other mongoose we have seen. This new road was good for birds and we saw a pair of Verreaux's Eagle Owl in a tree. They have amazing pink eyelids and are very large indeed. Moving on, something was in the grass and we thought it was a serval, but Kim said it was a wild cat - much smaller. Our next spot was a Bateleur Eagle circling overhead and further on an African Marsh Harrier had us baffled for a while, perched in the shade of a tree, looking a bit like a black kite. It seemed to have the wrong coloured legs, but it was in the shade. On the other side there was a Nubian or Lappet -faced vulture, another very big bird. An African Hoopoe flitted about in the shorter grass for a while. Moving on into some longer grass, we spotted a serval, again hunting rodents. It moved parallel to the van and then crossed the road in front of us. We had a very clear view. We drove around the top of the marsh and then followed a road that took us around several kopjes, looking for a leopard with a cub, but apart from the hyrax and the outline of some lizards, we saw nothing. There were a few gazelle about, but it was very quiet.
Kim heard on his radio there was a leopard in a tree, so we set off to find it. No problem as plenty of vans had turned up. The leopard was hanging out over a branch, and we got a pretty good view, although it wasn't that close. Suddenly it decided to move up higher, and that was that. It was almost invisible. We drove away and soon came to a river. On the opposite bank was a pair of sacred ibis with a heron, then a third ibis walked along fishing in the water. It was a very peaceful scene. We were now on our way to picnic lunch at park headquarters, so driving with some purpose, when Kim stopped. He had spotted a lioness way over by some trees. With difficulty we also found her as well as another tail wafting in some long grass. She got up and wandered over to where we had seen the tail and disappeared into the grass. The other van that stopped by us had moved on then stopped again, so we drove across to it and there was another lioness lying flat out under a tree, nearly hidden in grass. She was so at ease that she was rolling on to her back, paws in the air. Another van had spotted a third/fourth lioness in a thicket on the other side of the road. They were positioned ready for an ambush when the next wave of migrating animals came through. So we have seen six lions, altogether. Now straight to park headquarters where we were to have our picnic. There is a garden with concrete tables and benches under baristi roofs. It is also frequented by hyrax, dwarf mongoose, mice and many, many birds! We walked over to where Kim had set out the picnic, but were distracted by a dwarf mongoose running down the road beside the area. He was obviously the vanguard who told the others that the food had arrived, as quickly there were many little mongooses running around with the hyrax. The mice kept to the hedge, but the barbets, grey headed social weavers, etc. were very cheeky, even landing on tables to pinch food. I dropped my mince sandwich filling bit by bit and the little mongooses scrabbled about in the gravel floor to eat it all up. One mongoose got a terrible shock as a French woman smoking a cigarette held it down and away from the table. The mongoose thought it was being fed, and both she and it got such a shock as it jumped up to grab the ciggie.
We finished lunch, then walked around the little interpretation trail with its lovely painted illustrations and lots of information. African art metal sculptures of various animals were strategically placed, and part of the way we were accompanied by hyrax. And so we came back to the van at about 3pm. As we left the area we stopped to take a picture of the red lilyball flowers as there were so many of them together. Then we started to make our way back to Ronjo. Our first spot were some topi at the side of the road with a really young one. Then a bit further on Kim pointed out two yellow blobs out on the plain. He stopped the van and we go the binos out on to the pair of lions we had seen this morning. They were both flat out in the middle of a grassy area. Obviously the male was a lot happier there away from the smelly, annoying vans. There were plenty of birds flying around them, but no mammals! Time to move on and we were all looking out for animals, when another serval appeared quite nearby in the grass. We watched it prowling along until it disappeared in the longer, thicker undergrowth. A couple in another van were quite excited, calling it a baby cheetah despite their guide informing them what it was! The husband was taking a video of it, giving a running commentary about the baby cheetah!
So we turned for home and the sun was still shining. No rain tonight by all accounts. Kim will meet us early tomorrow for a pre-breakfast drive. There is almost a full house tonight with 20 people staying. The fire is lit and some of the deckchairs are in use. We have some sociable people to share dinner with, which is great. Heather and Frank, Americans, have just climbed Kili. Although they took a different route, we have been chatting about how it was for them. It is apparently pretty tough on the last day to the summit; but we expected that.