Nairobi to London 2012, Air Photos

Ragged mountain range on the east bank of Nile River 

We took EgyptAir from Nairobi to London with a change of airplanes in Cairo. The flight left Nairobi at nearly 5 am and the sky was still dark and we couldn't see anything on the ground. It took a long time to cool start the GPS, and I was glad that finally it worked. We start to see the featureless desert when we were near Khartoum. Gradually, the view became clearer as we flew close to the Nile River near Dongola. As we continued to fly north, the view of the river was then blocked by a rugged mountain range on the east bank of the river near Ambigol West. We saw the large inlet on the west bank of Lake Nasser south of Naj Kibdi, and then flew across the lake near Abu Simbil.

Agriculture activity in the desert

As we continued northward, we flew over a large feature on the ground about 5 km east of Toshka Lake. It was a series of many large circular, half a km in diameter, running in north-south direction. It appeared to be agricultural land development in the desert. Large multi-stories housing complexes started to appear in the desert as we were closer to Cairo. They looked like the discarded toys in a sand box. It must be hard to live in that environment.

Cairo

Cairo has a large and modern airport. I wondered if it was trying to be a major hub for the area. When the aircraft was taxing on the tarmac, I saw a dust storm was blowing at the edge of the airport. It must be a serious hazard for the jet engines with all the fine dust. We only had a short time for changing airplane, and by the time we boarded, most passengers were already in. The GPS stopped to work normally when we were near Cairo, and didn't work at all after leaving Cairo. I started to take photo of the airplane position broadcasted in the flight information. This helped me to locate the locations where I took my photos.

White caps in the Mediterranean Sea

There were full of white caps in the Mediterranean Sea indicating the sea condition was very bad. We flew over the island of Crete south-west of Sitia. There were some clouds and I couldn't see the ground clearly. The conditions didn't improve much after we were over Greek, but I did see most of the high mountains on the western Greek were covered with snow.

Kepi i Rodonit in Romania

We flew over the land and entered the air space of Adriatic Sea south of Kepi i Rodonit, a cap on a peninsula in Romania. And we continued flying north along the east coast of the sea. The mountain ranges were all covered with snow. We passed the coast of Romania, Montenegro and Croatia. And on the study of the flight path, I came to know that the territory of the almost land-locked Bosnia and Herzegovina was extended to the coast of Adriatic Sea by a tiny neck of land, 24.5 km wide, at Neum. This narrow piece of land severed the southern part of the mainland coastal area of Croatia into two parts. The view along the coast of Croatia was particularly pretty with its many island chains and beaches.

Rhine River valley

We flew over Venice but I didn't see the city due to the cloud cover. The snow covered Alps was under us, and I was surprised that the land north of the mountains was bared of any snow. Soon we saw the Rhine River valley as the river entered Lake Constance at far distant north. The flight path was 50 km south of the lake, and soon we were over Lake Walen and saw the high and steep cliff on the north bank of the lake. And we saw the small town of Waseen on its western end and the Linth Canal connecting Lake Walen and Lake Zurich.

 Gösgen nuclear power plant at Däniken

We could see clearly Zurich at the norther tip of the lake. And the steam puffing out from the Gösgen Nuclear Power Plant at Däniken 50 km west of Zurich made it very easy to find from an airplane. There was very little snow on the ground. The flight path took us close to Basel, and we could see the city and its surrounding very clearly. Unfortunately, the view further west was completely blocked by the heavy cloud cover. and it started to clear out when we flew over the English Channel.

Dungeness nuclear power plant

We flew over west of the barren Dungeness Point, and saw another nuclear power plant right next to the southern beach of the point. and further inland on the flight path, there was a wind farm with 26 wind power generator turning. The cloud cover increased as we approached London, and the only feature I saw was the street clouds formation.

We left London at 14:30 and my seat was on the port side facing the bright winter sun. And my seat was at the trailing edge of the wing and prevent me to have any good view from the small aircraft window for the remaining part of the journey.

Masai Mara 2012, Safari 5

This was our last safari on this trip. When we were asked by the guide what we wanted to see today, we all said that we wanted to see a rhino. In the previous safari, we had gone east and west of the Olkiombo Airstrip, and this morning Rafael first drove us to cross the tributary of Talek River. On the road, we saw a giraffe lying on the grasses with its long neck sticking out like a pole. Before, we always saw it standing up. We saw Egyptian geese in the tributary.

After crossing, we had a good view of the plain under the early morning sun. The top of the grass field seemed had been painted by a great artist with all tones and hues of gold and deep orange. It was really gorgeous. After driving for about 5 km, we reached a large plain with many animals. Warthogs were quite commonly seen animal everywhere in the park, but they were very nervous, and it was very difficult to catch a photo of them. I was glad that I got one this time. We had seen topis, zebras and gazelles in other places of the park, but here there were more of them in number. For the first time we saw vultures nesting on top of a lonely tree, and a sick or injured lion lying on the grasses. And the grasses around it were tainted with blood. A lonely hippo was also found in the plain, and it was over a kilo metre from the river. Two hyena were cooling in a temporary dents on the road side. They were watching very closely of the animals around them and waiting for some easy meals.

We are now about one kilo metre from the northern boundary of the park. We saw some cars were grouping in front and went to join them. They were watching a lioness with four sub-adult young lions on the grasses. We watched them for a while, and they started to get up and took a march to inspect the animals in their surrounding. The zebras and others were standing  frozen and staring at them as they passed by. A description and photos of the lions marching were given in a separate blog and album.

We turned back after watching the lions, and saw a crown eagle proudly perching high on top of a tall acacia tree. Its intense eye watched closely of its territory. A group of four ostrich were strolling on the trail. They were disturbed by our car, and started to run to the grasses on the side of the trail.


As we started crossing the tributary of Talek River, we saw a group of elephants foraging in the woods on the eastern bank of the tributary. They went deeper inside the woods as we passed them. And this concluded our safari in Masai Mara.


In summary, we saw the lion, elephant, leopard, cheetah, hyena, crocodile, hippo, buffalo, eland, giraffe, topi, impala, grant gazelle, Thompson gazelle, did-dik, baboon, ostrich, fish eagle, crown eagle, vulture, goliath heron, secretary bird, Hartlaub's bustard,  bushstrike grey-headed, Ruppell's robin chat, Egyptian goose, grey crown crane, guineafowl, and Ruppell's longtail starling. We didn't see any rhino.


The tour package included 3 safari each day, and we had only 5 safari. We could have booked a later flight leaving Masai Mara in early afternoon, carried a packed breakfast, and combined the 5th and the 6th safari together to go farther to look for the rhino. The extra cost would be the expensive lunch of US$50 for each person if we wanted to have it at the end of the safari.


More photos can be seen by searching "lku99999, photo" in Google.

Masai Mara 2012, Safari 4

We followed the trails that we had traveled in the previous safari. We went west along the south side of the airstrip and then turned north at its western end, and crossed the tributary of Talek River. When we were still in the area of the airstrip, we saw at a distance a combination of the rain clouds and smokes. It was spectacular. Right before we crossed the tributary, a troop of baboons were eating on the grasses next to a heavily wooded area. An antelope looked like a grant gazelle was feeding in the woods close to the baboons. I saw a beautiful secretary bird in the open field. It didn't fly away when we passed.

After we crossed the tributary, we continued going north-west on the same trail as we did in the previous few safari. And at less than half kilo metre after the crossing, we maintained the same direction instead of going west. In a kilo metre, we saw a large herd of buffaloes. Rafael said that lions would not dare to attack such a large herd, and the buffaloes in a large group were safe from predators. In the same area, we also saw a pair of ostriches.

We continued driving on the same trail, and after 4 km we saw a family of guineafowls with some chicks on a wetland. After another kilo metre, we were in a large plain with many animals. we first saw some gopis, Thompson gazelles, grant gazelles, zebra, eland and marabou storks. And the best of all, we saw a pair of beautiful grey crown crane in a distance.

We then turned south-west toward the Mara River, and we saw a hyena squatting on the trail. It would not move when the car passed it. Its forelegs were extending forward, but unlike other quadruplets, its hind legs were extended backward when it squatted. And the padded paws of it hind legs were facing upward under its tail. The number of animals increased as we went farther. At a distance, we saw a pair of lions on their honeymoon. The lower part of the manes of the lion was black. Rafael was not eager to pursue the lions as he had already had a plan in his mind.

He continued to drive us toward the river. We saw a fish eagle perching on a dead tree. It turned its head several times like a model to let us take its photos. And we saw a large goliath heron standing on top of a boulder in the river. It bent its long neck to be close to its body. Farther upstream were an outcrop of rocks in the river, and with the help of a power zoom lenses and telescope, we could see a crocodile among the rock in the water. We were now about 2 km north of Serena airstrip. We then turned around, and saw large crocodiles sun bathing on the bank. 

As Rafael had anticipated, we found the pair of lions who were on their honeymoon more or less in the same area as we had spotted them before. It was half a kilo metre east of where we had saw them. Rafael stopped the car only 4 metre in front of them. An explanation and photos of the lion mating were given in a separate blog and album.

We left the lions and followed the same trail to go back to our lodge. We saw a Hartlaub's bustard standing on a mound on the road side. 







More photos can be seen by searching "lku99999, photo" in Google.

Masai Mara 2012, Safari 3

We continued our safari after finishing our breakfast. We took the same trail as Safari 1 going east on the south side of the airstrip, and after passing the end of the airstrip, we made a U-turn and traveled westward along the north side of the airstrip. We crossed the tributary of Talek River, and followed the same trail as in Safari 2 early this morning. 

After travelling westward for less than 1 km, we turned south and saw a group of 4 giraffe in a bushes of low shrubs. They were nibbling on the leaves on top of the shrub which was not higher than its shoulder. We continued on the same trail and passed the location where we saw a dik-dik early this morning. Immediately after we passed a bend of the tributary, Rafael saw a car stopping near a shrub not far from the trail. We turned toward the car and stopped behind it. Rafael whispered that there was a leopard under the shrub. First we saw only the bloody remains of the upper abdomen of its prey, then gradually, we saw the whole of the animal. It continued eating its meal and ignored us. More cars were coming, and it felt not comfortable to have too many spectators. It open its mouth widely and clenched its teeth on the throat of the carcass of an antelope. It stood up and dragged the carcass still held to the skin rather clumsily deeper into the bushes. A more detail description and photos had been given in a separate blog and album.

We then saw a hippo walking on the grass. As it was only 200 m from the hippo pole that we had seen this morning, it must belong to the same group.

We turned back on the same trail, and saw a pair of giraffes at the location where we saw a dik-dik this morning. There were a few taller trees in the area. I didn't know if they were the same giraffe that we had seen previously on this trail. The female giraffe was only about 2/3 of the size of the male, and its fur was lighter in colour.


Half a kilo metre before we crossed the tributary, we saw two hartebeests at a distance.


More photos can be seen by searching "lku99999, photo" in Google.

Masai Mara 2012, Safari 2

We got up early to catch the early morning safari that started at 6:30. Not long after we left the lodge, we saw a herd of water-bucks. The male seemed relax and was resting on the ground rather than supervising its harem. Not far from them was a family of guinea fowls and then a large herd of impala. The male was tense, and constantly guiding its harem not to stray too far from the group. He was grassing alone far away from the group, and looked like he was leading a marching band.

We turned north and crossed a tributary of Talek River. There was very little water in the tributay, and the bedrock on the river bed was exposed. Rafael said that in the time of the animal migration, the water level in the tributary was much higher and created a hazard for the animal that wanted to cross.


It was early in the morning and the sun was low. The westward view of the plain was gorgeous. The colour of the plain changed from light gold to dark bronze with the dark green colour of the woods in between. 

We saw a grand gazelle under a shrub. The dark bronze colour of the grass matched very closely with the colour of its fur. A little further was a cute looking dik-dik, the smallest antelope in Keynia, was also standing under a shrub. 

We continued southward along the west bank of the tributary, and soon we arrived at a river bank. It was at the junction of Talek River and its tributary. We saw probably hundreds of hippos in a pool. They were mostly quiet under water and showed only the top part of their head above the eye and ear and the ridge of their back. Their eyes were all staring at the spectators on the bank. There were some contentions between two large hippos, and they both opened their enormous mouth widely showing their pair of long and sharp canines and incisors. It was just a show and nothing serious happened. A pair was getting affectionate. But the female was not completely under water. A young hippo was having a good time by riding on its mother back. One hippo was feeling hungry and left the pool. It climbed up the river bank to find some foods.

We left the hippo and went west. A secretary bird was disturbed by our coming, and took off. I was lucky to get a photo of it in flight for the first time. Its wings were flipped high almost vertically, and its legs extended only 45 degrees backward instead of full horizontal when it was in full flight.

We were enjoying the beautiful landscape, and saw a lonely buffalo grassing at a distance. It quickly turned its back and ran into the woods. As we continued our journey west, we saw a distinct volcano at the distance. Several safari cars gathered on the plain. We went to join them. And saw a family of 10 lions were targeting a lonely buffalo on a ridge. The buffalo was alerted of the danger and ran away. The lions regrouped on a mound. One of the scout lioness remained on its position. A warthog hiding not far away from the lioness made a fatal move and was immediately detected by the lioness. It became the prey, and all the lions descended from the mound to have a share of the snack. A full story and more photos on the lion hunting appeared on a different blog and album. 

We turned back and arrived at the lodge in less than 20 minutes to have breakfast. We saw some lonely impala on the way and Egyptian geese on river bed of the tributary.


More photos can be seen by searching "lku99999, photo" in Google.

Masai Mara 2012, Safari 1

This was our first safari. The guide and driver was Rafael, and the car was completely open with canvas roof and windows to be used when it was raining. Six of us took up all the passenger seats in the car. And it was 3:30 when we started.


The Mara Intrepids lodge where we stayed was on the bank of Talek River, and it was very close to Olkiombo Airstrip to its north. This morning we took the road west between the river and the airstrip. As the road got close to the woods along the river bank, we saw three male buffaloes. Rafael said that they were kicked out of the herd because of their bad behavior. These buffaloes were the easy target of the lions. 

The road surface was mostly crusted quartz of various sizes. Some sections it were over bare soil, and the road was full of potholes and deep ruts. We saw a group of baboons picking on the grasses as they marched. We drove for 6 km on the flat grassy plain without seeing any animal. We then saw a mother cheetah and her adult offspring resting under the shade of a shrub. We stopped very close to them and they didn't make any move. They looked beautiful and healthy. A big circle of the grasses around the shrub had been mown flat. I forgot to ask Rafael who did it. Father away was a family of 7 elephants with one young one grassing on the golden colour plain. It was gorgeous. Rafael didn't make any attempt to get closer to the elephants.

In only half a kilo metre away, we saw a lioness also resting under the shade of a similar shrub. Its mouth was wide open and breathed heavily due to the hot temperature. The tip on one of its canine was chipped probably from cracking bones.  It must have just finish a big meal. Its nose and face were covered with small black flies. Its prey looked like a gazelle and its remains was piling near the root of the shrub. Its bone had been cracked open. Although we were only a few metres away, it lied, sat and squatted and ignored us.

In another half a kilo metre, we met a smaller group of 4 elephant including a young one. The contrast between the dark colour of the elephants and the golden colour of the grasses was really fascinating.

I didn't know if Rafael had learned any news from the radio conversation, he drove up a km to a shrubs area on a low hill, and stopped the car in front of a pair of lions lying on the ground side by side under the shade. He whispered that the lions were on their honeymoon. He was a fully mature big lion. Its head was very big and ist long and blond mane covered its neck. The lioness woke up from her nap, raised her head and took a long and big yawn. The lion was alerted all the time holding its big head up and watched her closely. She turned her head and studied the surrounding, and then stood up and walked deeper into the bushes. The lion got the message and followed her closely. In the mean time, several cars had stopped next to us. She was probably shy to do it under the scrutiny eyes, telescopes and cameras of many spectators in the cars. She walked only for 20 seconds, and when she reached an open space, she couldn't resist the urge any longer, and squatted on the ground on her four legs in front of him. He was used to this, and mounted her accordingly. The act lasted only for 6 seconds and it was over. They continued to walk farther into the bush, and we couldn't see them anymore.

We drove for another kilo metre in the open flat plain and started to see some topis. There were probably too many of them in the park, Rafael didn't stop to watch them. In a few minutes, we saw three lioness in an open space. One was gnawing on a carcass of a zebra, and one was lying near it and took a nap, and the other one was squatting on its four legs watching intently at the distance. In the mean time, a herd of zebras were gazing at the lions uneasily.

It was 17:30, and we started to turn back with the satisfaction of what we had seen. In addition to watching the deep potholes and ruts while driving, Rafael was also constantly on the look out for anything special. We were on the road only for 15 minutes, and then he slowed down. We saw a cheetah crowling slowly among the tall grasses. Its neck and tail stretched out. The grasses were taller and were waving by the breeze. We looked into the direction where it was moving, and saw a Thompson gazelle standing. Its eye seemed to see what was coming but its body was frozen still. In a few seconds, the cheetah crawled even lower like a sprinter was kneeling and getting ready for the burst. In 15 seconds, I heard the noise of the struggles and the scream of the gazelle. I didn't have time to adjust my camera and missed the photo opportunity. Rafael quickly moved the car to the killing spot, and we saw the cheetah was clenching its mouth on the throat of the gazelle. It held on for 3 and half minutes before it let its prey to fall down on the ground. Immediately, it sat up holding its head high and looked nervously around for any signs of potential robbers of its prey.

We didn't want to see the horrify scene of the cheetah having its big meal, and continued our journey back to the lodge. On the road, we saw some warthogs, but they were short and nervous, and would quickly disappeared into the tall grasses well before one could snatch a photo. When we were close to the airstrip, we saw a herd of bachelor impalas near the airstrip.

Flags were near the airstrip and red line was the track of safari 1

More photos can be seen by searching "lku99999, photo" in Google.

Masai Mara 2012, Lion Marching

This was our last safari on this trip. When we were asked by the guide what we wanted to see today, we all said that we wanted to see a rhino. In the previous safari, we had gone east and west of the Olkiombo Airstrip, and this morning Rafael drove us to the north. We saw a giraffe resting on the grasses near the airstrip with its long neck sticking out like a pole. Before, we always saw it standing up. 

After driving for about 5 km, we reached a large plain with many animals. We saw warthogs, topis, zebras and gazelles, wilder-beasts, a lonely hippo, and two hyenas. We drove for another 5 km, and saw several safari cars gathering. We went to take a look, and saw a group of 3 young lions were resting and playing by lying on the short grasses, and another one was lying alone farther away. They were being watched by the constant glaze of a lioness at a distant. The young lions looked dirty, and their fur was covered with black earth or dust.

I didn't know how the lioness passed the message to its kids, and suddenly they all stopped playing and resting, and stood up and walked to her. After some cuddling, they started marching. They passed the gazeful eyes of the zebras. When the lions were too close and paused, the zebras turned their back and got ready. They were back to their normal life as the lions marched pass them. The lions inspected another group of animals including Thompson gazelles and wildebeests as they stood still watching the lions. One nervous wilder-beast could not stand up to the test, and ran away. 


We continued to watch this march until they were out of the scope of our cameras and telescopes. It was really an interesting and eye catching event to watch.


More photos can be seen by searching "lku99999, photo" in Google.