Day 9, 12th October 1996

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Start at 06:00. I actually see a white-browed coucal, so far I've only heard them around camp. I'm with Bill in the Land-Rover. We see a dik-dik very close to the camp. First of all we investigate the area near to the camp between one of the main tracks through the reserve and the river. This is thickly forested in places and we weave amongst the vegetation.

We see at first hand the battering the trees near the river take from the elephants. We drive right amongst them whilst they're eating. Apart from the noise of splintering wood they are absolutely silent as they move around us. They are very adept at grabbing a luscious piece of grass with their trunk and then deftly nudging it with a forefoot to rip it out by the roots. For trees its a more brute force approach of grabbing it by a branch and then hauling away until something breaks, which in some cases appears to have been the entire tree. Chris says that last trip they came right into camp.

There are a large number of game loops which meander through the landscape and give excellent opportunities for seeing the wildlife without causing too much impact on the land. A very prominent feature of the scenery are the rocky hills dotted about. Roughly in the centre is Koitogorr which rises to 1245m and forms a good reference point. It has sharp ridges and looks excellent territory for leopards. Far away in the North outside the reserve we can see the massive red coloured Mount Olokwe. We see magnificent beisa oryx with their menacing looking straight horns. It is thought that these animals may have been the origin of the legend of the unicorn as when seen side on they could be mistaken for having a single horn. As with many larger animals they are often seen with their attendant oxpecker. We spot the smallest African bird of prey which is the pygmy falcon. It looks like it would have trouble mugging a sparrow.

As the sun climbs ever higher the animals seek the shade of bushes, as is the case with this five legged zebra. During this time we see fewer animals but the ground squirrels are always to be found rushing between one safe spot and another as are the big flocks of helmeted guineafowl. Another bird much in evidence is the yellow necked spurfowl.

These are the strange long necked gerenuk who stand upright on their hind legs to get at the foliage missed by shorter antelope.

If there is any activity to be found it's likely to be by the river. At some time during the day most animals must come here to drink. We didn't see crocodiles in any number but did spy this individual hauled out mid stream. Brian Freeman who usually leads the safaris takes his clients swimming in the river but Chris reckons he's absolutely mad to try it. The last occasion Chris was here they had to go to the rescue of a Samburu man who was crossing the river at night and got caught by a croc.

We watch the reticulated giraffes as they browse on the acacia trees. They use their infeasibly long tongue to strip the leaves off the branches which are covered with the most vicious thorns.

Val, John and Kenneth in the Land-Rover also see:

	Dwarf mongooses
	Red hornbills
	An elephant with a broken leg and another with only half a trunk
	Superb starling
	Geese fighting
	Somali bee-eater
	Secretary bird
	Eland at river
	Waterbuck
	Impala
	Tawny eagle
	Baboons
	Warthog
	Lions (8)
	Cheetah

In the very distance we can see mount Kenya peeping up above the clouds. We have brunch back at the camp and then a siesta. Lying down in my tent with the flaps open to allow what breeze there is to cool me down, I don't manage much sleep but become very aware of the deafening sound the insects are making. It varies quite a lot but around midday it really seemed to reach a crescendo. There's tea and coffee at the tables overlooking the river and I sit down here with my binoculars watching the birds. We see some Samburu women and children down by the river collecting water. They make a hole in the sand bar out in the stream and scoop out the clear water that wells up into big plastic drums. They're also looking after their goat herds which drink from the river. The opposite bank is outside of the park. A young child refuses to stop playing in the river and there's a lot of shouting about it. There are vervet monkeys in the trees nearby, the males being most prominent with their turquoise coloured battery packs. Hornbills abound including the red-billed and Von Der Decken's varieties.

We go out for a drive about 16:00 when it's cooled down a bit and there should be a bit more activity. Sure enough we soon come on a cheetah who hasn't long killed an impala. The cheetah takes a long time to get his breath back, just sitting over the body and nervously looking about.

When the herbivores come down to the river to drink, the carnivores come down to look for the herbivores. This is a youngish male lion who is among a group of four who are clearly up to no good.

They're the first lions we've seen actually doing anything remotely active. Our two vehicles (and some from the lodges) follow them as they slowly walk eastwards near to the main track.

They start to stalk a group of giraffes but are spotted and the lions loose interest. They move on a bit further and decide to have a rest right in the middle of the road.

I'm in the Discovery with Bill and eventually the lions are all arranged around us!

The lions here seem to be much more lightly coloured than those we saw in the Mara.

The Land-Rover moves off but we are happy to stay and watch the lions, who spot something and head off along the bed of a dried up stream. Sitting up out of the sunroofs in the Discovery we can see that they are trying to sneak up on a solitary Cape buffalo.

It's getting towards sunset but we stay with them and see them leap up out of the lugga and make for the buffalo. They surround him making lunges from each side but he circles around and the lions are wary of getting too close to those horns.

Eventually it looks like an impasse as the lions flop down around the buffalo. We ask Barissa what will happen. He coolly replies "They will kill him". It's now so dark that we put our cameras aside as we are too far for any chance of a photograph even with a flashgun. We move position to get nearer them on the other side of the lugga. It looks like they're going to take their time about it. Then with no obvious explanation the eldest looking lioness walks away and the others follow her. By the time we get to camp it's getting pretty dark and Val and Kenneth were starting to wonder where we'd got to.

The showers which had been perfectly judged in the Mara get a bit too hot for comfort here. We shout out "more cold" to the guys trundling the water about.

As we have a drink before dinner bats flit around the campfire attracted by the insects. The cicadas are attracted by the light of the fire and a few misjudge things and land right in it. They give a loud squeak and emit a puff of steam as they get cooked. After our meal we hear a lot of splashing from the river as we sit having a drink. We shine the torches out over the water and see a Samburu man crossing. There's a conversation between him and Chris in Swahili. It turns out that he's as drunk as a lord.

Today's driving totalled approximately 55 miles.

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