Sarara Lodge, Namunyak

We spent 3 wonderful nights at Sarara Lodge in Namunyak, home to the Samburu and a truly beautiful landscape. Unusually this time the rains had been late and the whole are was green and lush.

Sarara is the home to Saiwa the Springer Spaniel, Sessia the Lesser Kudu, Ivan the Hornbill + many more amazing little birds/creatures who have been hand reared. A number of baby Guinea fowl were found and were being cared for whilst we were there.

Sessia comes in at night to a stable to keep her safe from the leopard who is after Saiwa the dog. Sessia likes to join us for meals and likes cake, she also enjoyed my passion fruit juice, a bowl of sugar and loves fresh fruit. She has no hesitation in sneaking up and leaning over your shoulder to see what you have on your plate. I have never met such a amazing animal. She is delightful and now at over one year old they are hoping she may find a male kudu and breed. She was very excited to see a male at the water hole and went to pay him a visit!

Ivan the Hornbill likes to eat from your hand, he seemed to enjoy my cheese and was very delicate taking it from me despite having a very large beak. Sadly no photos!



Enjoy this short slideshow.

Lai

Oh WOW, blown away by that slide show Lai and I loved the music too.
Saiwa is so lovely and the pictures of her diving into the pool are fantastic, I hope she is indoors at night away from the Leopard too. Sessia is beautiful, she has such a sweet face and you can kind of tell she has a nice nature, I wonder if its because she is around people so much she eats what she does or whether they would eat those things in the wild if they came across them.
The little spotted bird with the red head, I have never seen one before I believe, unless I am being dumb and missed them but what is it Lai, it's a fascinating looking bird.
The Wild Dog pictures are lovely and I love the action shots etc but I do like the one of the male disappearing into the bushes, a bit like, "nope, your not taking my picture"
There are so many wonderful photos and it really does look a wonderful place to visit and I know for sure I will be looking at that slide show again, it truely is lovely.
Thank you

littlewid-x-

Terrific stories Lai and slideshow. I really like this Sessia, the lesser kudu. The pictures of it are incredible. And that is a really cutesy one of the squirrel looking at the little birdie (2:55)

Plus leopards and elephants. What an awesome trip!

I can see that you really like the wild dogs!

Littlewid and Giraffey Boy.

Yes Saiwa is leopard prey and the leopards can smell him so are always on the prowl. Saiwa is kept on a lead at night in the camp and then sleeps on Jeremy and Katie's bed (their house is open to the elements and wildlife) They are thinking of tenting the inside for a bit of protection as the leopard came in the other night

Sessia would probably graze on berries and leaves normally and I guess has developed a taste for fruit and other delights. She eats all the lovely fruits left over after breakfast including limes which surprised me

Spot on for the new bird Littlewid. I've never seen it before and it's a Nubian Woodpecker. Outside our tent we had a bird feeder as you saw and we were given food to feed them so me being me was outside once the sun rose putting food out to see who visited. We had such a great selection of visitors and I sat and watch them with my early morning tea. I thought he was so handsome and watching him interact with the glossy starlings was fun.

The little squirrel wasn't going to give up GR he kept coming back and amazingly everyone seemed to get fed!

Glad you enjoyed it. Now going to add the mystery clip and then on to new thread for Joy's Camp.



Any ideas?


Lai

Mystery clip indeedy. Where is the creature?

All I can see is the dark knight

But I have a new line to use on my dates now.

I am your leopard and you are my sessia.

That is amazing that the leopard entered the premises one night. I think this would be my dream way to die actually, because I would be so happy and excited to see a leopard that it would kind of be a good way to go out!

It's wonderful of how close up you got to so many marvellous creatures

Great slideshow Lai; it always amazes me how certain animals that are normally very shy will adapt to camp life and become very approachable. The Lesser Kudu is often quite skittish and its lovely to see one happily mingling with humans. At Offbeat's Meru Camp there is also a Lesser Kudu male called Kevin!! who has been around camp for the last 2 years as well as a bushbuck who this year has just brought her tiny baby into camp to show it off. It is good that they feel comfortable in the presence of humans but I also worry that it might give them a false sense of security and that they become too trusting. We should always remember that they are WILD animals and treat them as such!!
I am not sure about the mystery video, there is not enough of it to give a positive id. but it could be a mongoose.

Safariman

Thanks for the possible ID Safariman, it was so frustrating to almost see it, the other clip was even worse! It shall remain a mystery and next time I will be sure to try again.

I agree re WILD animals - Sessia is under no obligation to stay during the day but at night for her own safety is kept out of harms way from the leopard. I didnt like to add that the male who was a few months older had recently been taken by a leopard. The guinea fowl chicks were going to released asap and Ivan is just a rather keen Hornbill who enjoys sharing your food!

Nice to know that Offbeat have some friendly visitors to the camp.

GR - love that new line you have

I am your leopard and you are my sessia.

We heard a few other leopardy tales - a tad scary I thought

Lai

Lovely slideshow Lai thanks. It's great to see all the different wildlife, and I loved the music. Its nice that Sessia comes into camp, but like Safariman it can be worrying that they are so used to humans that anyone with evil intentions can approach them easily. Loved the leopard going through the rocks. I certainly woud put a tented area inside if Saiwa's sleeping in there, and the Leopard comes in preferbly made of steel . Could be Mongoose as Safariman says it looks the right size, and coat, but it's just to short a clip to be certain
WS

WS. I know the clip was rubbish but we were so chuffed at getting something considering where we left it, on top of the flat rocks overlooking a stunning vista and on the home patch of the Wild dogs. It had great potential, I wish we could have left if for a couple of days ............... next time for sure.

Lai

WOW, having your house open to the wildlife and elements at night is pretty freaky, epsecially when there is a Leopard around, I wouldn't like to wake up to see him staring in my face I would surely tent the inside, oh yes.
Good to know that Sessia & saiwa are safe at night but the Leopard could still get Saiwa even though he is on their bed and on a lead

I thought the bird looked like a Woodpecker but again thought "it can't be" but it so resembled one. I think its a stunning bird and a great capture Lai and not a Woodpecker I have heard of.

With your clip I would also say Mongoose, it runs like one and although its a rear end view it so resembles one, another thought would be Meerkat but I thought it looked a little too big bottomed to be a Meerkat.

littlewid-x-

for you Littlewid - Woodpecker it is (you're a natural birder )

I think you are both right re the Mongoose, I'm going to look them up and see what types are around up in Namunyak.

Lai

Doogs. I've stuck with the same format this time to make is easier. Next time I'll experiment a bit more.

Saiwa loves to play and endlessly finds stick for you to throw, even if you don't to swim you normally end up in the pool so Pete was doing his bit! I've just been sent these 2 photos of me with Saiwa and Sessia and thought they were worth sharing.





Lai