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An African adventure part 5 : Kicheche Maasai Mara bush camp

Secretary bird
On October 7th we took the short flight from Lodia house to Kicheche Maasai Mara bush camp close to the Tanzanian border where we were met by our new driver and guide for the next 3 days, Vinnie, a member of the famous Maasai tribe. 

The Maasai are an indigenous ethnic group of nomadic people known for their tall stature, distinct customs, dress and traditions. One of their core beliefs is that land and nature are sacred and belong to no one. Being nomadic they traditionally moved with the seasons and hence came into conflict with colonial settlers when they returned to land to find it claimed and settled, yet another example of the sins of our ( great great grand) fathers I’m afraid!

We were met and welcomed at the camp by the managers, the lovely Emma and Darren. The camp followed the same general format as our previous bush camp with six luxurious tents in the bush and no barriers between you and the wildlife. We were shown to our tent by Darren who gleefully pointed out the desiccated leg of an antelope hanging in a tree a few meters from our tent; the remains of a kill curtesy of a local female leopard called Figlet. Leopards are exceptional good climbers and take their kill into trees to keep them safe from other hungry animals. At night time we regularly heard lions and leopards moving around very close to our tent.

The unique secretary bird was at the top of my wish list of birds to see in Kenya and we were very lucky to have a close encounter of the third kind with them during one of our first bush drives. Opinions vary as to the origins of the name secretary bird (Sagittarius serpentarius). One opinion states that its quill-like head feathers that give them the appearance of a secretary with quill pens tucked behind their ears. Another opinion states that they look like secretaries typing when they stamp on the ground to disturb their main food source, reptiles. They are somewhat surprisingly considered to be birds of prey but are clearly morphologically set apart from other members of that family by their very long legs and terrestrial hunting habits.



Secretary Bird

Yellow-throated Longclaw

Grey-backed Fiscal
Black-backed jackals were again very much in evidence during our drives. They are very fox like in nature with their disproportionaly large pointed ears. They always seemed very restless and always on the lookout for an easy meal.


Black-backed Jackals
Vinnie took us to see the stunningly beautiful little dik dik, one of Africa’s smallest antelopes. They pair for life and are normally found hiding in the bush.Their strange name arises from the females dik dik alarm call. 

Dik Dik

On one of our drives we happened upon a mating pair of lions – not a particular romantic event I have to say but I guess there is little time for romance in the African bush!





We were alerted to a recent kill by a swam of vultures descending in the distance and drove off to investigate. On arrival we found vultures, jackals and hyenas squabbling over a recently abandoned kill. It was pretty gory stuff and the vultures in particular looked like something from a horror movie being covered in blood and gore! All three of the commoner Kenyan vultures were present African White-backed, Lappet-faced and Ruppell’s Griffon. Given their macabre eating habits I guess it is not surprising that many vultures have dispensed with head feathers.

Ruppell's Griffon Vulture

Ruppel's Griffon Vulture

Lappet-faced Vulture

We found Figlets mum, Fig, resting in a tree. Other guides present informed us that she had been chased up the tree by unwelcoming lions with cubs. I was really stuck by how comfortable she was in this environment, just dozing flopped over a branch apparently without a care in the world.


A throughly chilled-out fig
The most uncomfortable viewing of the whole trip occurred when we stumbled upon some hyenas that had just taken down an unfortunate elderly antelope who presumably did not have the speed to escape with the rest of its heard. I’m very much afraid to say that it was still very much alive as the hyenas tucked into it. A hard lesson to us soft European tourists of the hash every day nature of life and death in the bush.

On a somewhat more joyful and upbeat note we spent many hours watching the various families of lion cubs playing. There is, of course, again a serious side to their youthful frolics as they prepared for the challenges of adult life in the bush.




We finished our afternoon drives with a gin and tonic sundowner while watching the beautiful African sunsets; what a great way to end an amazing day!!



To be continued ..





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