Our last morning and sadly Ian's stomach is still giving him problems so he's decided to give it a miss.
I find it hard to believe that a bird so large as a Secretary Bird actually roosts in a tree, or flies come to that!
My narrative for this phone is that the sole cub at the back is being bullied by the others and has been "sent to Coventry".
We were treated to a few more displays of handbags = mock fighting = dominance testing.
I don't think it was anything more than "handbags" but it sill looks painful to me.
It looked like this poor lioness was feeding the whole pride; there must have been at least 10 cubs around her and she only has 4 teats.
We'd been following the females/cubs for a while over some difficult territory including a dried up river crossing. They then headed back towards it and decided to sit down in the middle of the track which was great for us as it blocked any other truck from joining us.
They're not daft, are they!
Back out on the plain and this truck had got itself well and truly stuck. We were the only others around to help and Esther had to be very careful the route she picked to get nearer otherwise we would get stuck too.
Excuse the angle of the camera, I was half hanging out of the truck.
Esther was very impressive, she simply gave the other truck and nudge and off it went.
Rüppell's Starling
Google identifies this as a Montagu Harrier but I've never seen one before so I don't know if that's correct.
White-backed Vulture
Just look at the ears on the right - grumpy or what!
Esther then took a call over the radio and asked us if we'd like to go and see some hippos which apparently were on land and fighting. I must admit I thought it a little strange given hippos reputations for aggression but of course if there was a shot to be had I was up for it. It was a ruse, a picnic breakfast had been set up for us and she even sweetly offered to drive back to camp to collect Ian.
After we'd finished breakfast I asked if it was OK for us to walk about 30m to the river bank which it was but as with everywhere in the bush, we had to be accompanied.
But you can totally understand why when you see what's on the far river bank just to the right of the tree.
And a little further along the river there really were some hippos.
This zebra was having a jolly good scratch on the tree trunk.
You can almost see the bliss in his expression.
Not far from camp we made a short detour to visit this small herd of elephant.
And that was our final morning. Back in camp Ian was feeling a whole lot better and ready for the long journey home. Lunch was pizza made to order which actually was probably one of the best meals we've had all trip. We said our goodbyes to Esther and gave Minnie an envelope for the camp staff as we always do and it's something that although isn't compulsory somehow we've always found it was expected. Her reaction was totally different; she was thrilled that we'd bothered and thanked us profusely even though she didn't know how much we given (yes it was more than £5!).
Our trip back to Wilson was uneventful and Frances was waiting to collect us. As before he took us to the Sheraton Hotel which is actually on the International Airport Complex and because we were well aware of the security requirements it was all very easy. We had quite a few hours to kill and I noticed that they had a roof restaurant and bar and so we went up there. Knowing we were going to eat in the lounge we asked if it was OK to just share a bottle of wine and kill a couple of hours - the lovely staff were more than happy. Inevitably though before long Ian got peckish and so we ordered "just a bowl of chips".
Except it came with loads of dips and sauces and was massive so I had to help out!
The airport was a haven of calm compared to the last time we were there (just after lockdown and the lounge was being refurbished) and rest of the journey was uneventful although we both wished we had the lie flat beds we'd had on the layout - next time for sure.
After two rather disappointing holidays for many different reasons, we'd be slightly apprehensive about this trip but Kenya delivered as it always has done. Some sad elements and some bits less than perfect but the animal sightings were fantastic and I thoroughly enjoyed the new camera as is evident from the number (and I hope quality) of photos in this blog.