Kijabe Trip 2012: Man-Eaters

The beds at Kilaguni were much nicer than the ones at our house in Kijabe, so we woke up Tuesday morning refreshed and ready for our first morning game drive. While Joe was showering I stood on the porch looking out as the morning moon set over Africa. I was suddenly interrupted as a pair of baboons tore across the railing in front of me screaming and smacking at each other. A rude interruption to the peaceful morning calm, but funny to watch nonetheless.

The early monkey gets to punch the other early monkey.

Tsavo not 30 minutes later... The sunlight makes a big difference.

We headed over to the main office to meet with Antony. Antony was like our personal guide in Tsavo, and would go on all the game drives to tell us about the area and spot animals (his eyes are phenomenal).

The main office looking out into the wilderness.

Our British friends also tagged along on the morning drive, and the gentleman among them, a fascinating former military ex-pat named Harry, started it off right by asking Antony: "So it's a cat hunt this morning, then, is it?" A cat hunt, indeed. We were to go looking for a Tsavo lion. It's an eerie time to be out driving for a dangerous creature, but very exciting. We ended up driving a long way out into the wilderness and up into the grassy highlands, and even followed a large set of fresh lion pug-marks for a bit. Everything was deathly silent during that part of the hunt, indicating that a big cat was around, but we were unable to spot him. We ended up with a few animal shots and some great scenery shots, but no photos of cats. Here's the photos we got:

Noisy baboons on the road up to the highlands.

The hill is one of five hills known as "The Sisters"

A lonely, tasty-looking gazelle.

Could the lion be behind us?

A black-backed jackal. They always exist in pairs.

Eerie tall-grass.

Looks more like a painting than a picture.

The European Roller.

Following the cat-prints.

Zoom in for the Fringe-Eared Oryx.

More crazy baboons.

Mists over Tsavo. My new desktop background.

Driving away from the grassy highlands (hills in the distance).

After returning, we headed over to the restaurant area for another gourmet breakfast. The watering hole was teeming with buffalo as we filled up with food and juice.

Buffalo Soldiers... In the Heart of Tsavo...

After breakfast, we spelled out our plan for the day. We were to go to Mzima Springs, then to Patterson's Bridge before coming back for a final game drive. It promised to be a full day. Mzima Springs is pretty close by, and is a natural (and large) springs that flows out of a series of rocks, forms a few large pools, then goes back underground. It is thought to originate from under the Chyulu Hills, and no one knows where it flows to after it disappears under a lava flow. The upper pool for the springs rarely has hippos or crocs anymore (they like the lower pool), but there is an underwater viewing area for the upper springs, and the myriad of fish are pretty interesting to see. Here's our photos from the springs:

A Vervet Monkey outside of the springs.

These are the rocks at the beginning of the springs.

The sign would be a joke at a zoo, but here it's a serious reminder.

Most visitors need an armed guard on the grounds.

The upper pool.

The underwater viewing area.

Joe spotted an eel.

Hippo-vision.

An armed guard. Told you so...

This was taken as we walked back to the parking lot.

It's one of my favorite pictures from the trip, and it

shows how oblivious we usually are to the wildlife.

Mzima Springs closes at dark because that's when the hippos come out of the water (there's no danger from hippos during the day because they stay in the water to protect their sensitive skin from the sun). It's a really neat place, and it was great to get there early before it started to get a little crowded. We got back to the car and began the long drive to Patterson's Bridge (on the Mombasa-Uganda Highway between Tsavo East and West). It took a few hours on very bumpy roads to get there, but it was a scenic drive:

The Chaimu lava hill.

Around Chaimu. Here the lava turns the red soil of Tsavo black.

Admiring the scenery.

Mountains on the way to East Tsavo.

Antony somehow spotted a Puff Adder under

this rock as we drove full-speed towards the bridge.

Joe's got a great picture of him out trying to get

the Puff Adder to re-appear (for some reason).

We finally got to the bridge area and parked. It's pretty clear that not many people request to go to the bridge area, since our guides were taking as many pictures as we were. The original bridge was destroyed by the germans in WW1, but has been rebuilt (though I couldn't find out if it was in the same spot or not). Either way, we walked along the current railway bridge over the Tsavo river and took many photos of the surrounding area where the attacks occurred.

Walking to the bridge. The lady in the background was

tagging along to learn how to be a safari guide. Her dress

is not quite meant for the Tsavo brush.

The bridge, and perhaps the original foundations?

Looking down the Tsavo river. A good

view of the territory of the man-eaters.

Looking upstream.

A label on the bridge. Good color choice, given the area's history.

An old railway beam. The man-eater's story got Antony

excited and he started telling us about how this was a piece

from the original line. He used the fact that it was labeled

with the date 1954 to support this theory. I didn't have the

heart to tell him that he was about half a century off.

A buffalo hip bone. Something still hunts by the Tsavo river.

Walking along the river.

We finished by the river and got in the car to head back to the lodge, but Antony had other plans first. He took us to an old abandoned gas station just down the main highway and began to weave a tale of how this was originally built during the time of the man-eaters, but that it had to be closed because so many of the patrons were being devoured. As a lover of good history and myth-debunking alike, I quite nearly called him on his BS and almost asked why a gas station would be built in Tsavo alongside a steam-powered railway. In the end, I resisted and let him spin his story to avoid conflict for the remainder of our time in Tsavo. This incident did, however, lead me to doubt his affirmation that a flower growing near the station was extremely toxic.

The gas station. Creepy, but not because

of any ties with the man-eating lions.

The sap of the Desert Rose... It actually

is pretty toxic as I later discovered.

Across the road to Tsavo East and our

last look at the land of the lions.

We began the long drive back to the lodge. As we re-entered Tsavo West, we stopped at the gate and talked with the guard about the history of the area. He actually mentioned the possibility of going to see the caves where the lions had stored the bones of their victims. Unfortunately, this would require an armed guard (and none were available) because modern lions often still use the caves. The trip back was just as long, hot, and dusty as the trip over.

Headed back to Tsavo West.

This fella almost lost the right-of-way battle with our vehicle.

A very arid Tsavo.

This little guy (I'm told) is the male anopheles mosquito.

Interestingly, the male and female mosquito are both nectar-

feeders, but only the female also drinks the blood of animals.

The risk of getting malaria from a male mosquito is therefore zero.

When we returned, we enjoyed a late lunch in front of the usual parade of wildlife at the waterholes.

The herd enjoying a drink.

A little mongoose at the right lower base of a beam support.

After lunch, we relaxed for a brief period before heading back out with our British compatriots for an evening game drive. By this time, we realized that we were being referred to as "The Americans" by everyone at Kilaguni. It's crazy to think that there are no other Americans around a popular luxury resort. Indeed, most people at tables near us were speaking italian or german or british, but no american english accents except ours were to be heard. We again drove out hoping to find a lion, and we again had to settle for naught more than a few birds and ungulates. We did follow a new set of tracks for a while, but they eventually disappeared into the thick scrub. Antony recognized the disappointment of not seeing a big cat, and negotiated our free pass into Chyulu National Park, where we spent time on the Shetani lava flow. This massive flow is relatively new (in the last 150 years), and originated from the Chyulu hills. Apparently, the flow displaced or killed many people living in the valley below, and a myth has developed that the devil walks around the lava flow every night rearranging the rocks. Many local people stay away from Shetani for this reason, and it has earned the title of the "Devil's Garden". We then went up to the Shetani cave entrances before heading back home. The two entrances go to two different (but both very large) systems. One goes all the way into Tanzania, and guided tours are available. The entrance to the caves were guarded by large wasps. Here's a few photos from the drive:

The well-hidden bird in the foreground is the Bustard.

It took me awhile to realize that the British pronunciation

isn't meant as an insult.

Another Baobab Tree.

Landscape in Tsavo near the cat prints.

The Shetani Flows with the Chyulu hills in the background.

You can see two flow directions splitting right and left from

the hills, then reuniting below us.

Lava rock.

The Chyulu hills at sunset.

Entrance to one of the caves.

I wouldn't mess with them.

At the gate back into Tsavo West.

Buffalo skulls are a dime a dozen here.

20 of these guys were waiting on our

doorframe at the lodge upon our return.

We got back, cleaned up, and went to dinner. After dinner, we watched the animals stroll by the waterholes for a bit before heading to bed. We would need to be ready for another busy day on Wednesday, when we would be heading to the Mara for the final leg of our trip to Kenya.