November; A month of Rain, Motorbikes, Buffalo and Golf!

November is generally a quiet month with the short rains. All this rain is giving another good boost to our ever-expanding vegetable garden. Nothing can beat fresh, over flowing bowls of salad with the sweetest cherry tomatoes on our table everyday! The porcupines are particular fans of these bush treats!

Josh’s sister Carissa got married on Ol Maisor down the road, many of her friends were out from Australia, UK and various other parts of the world so many of them came and spent a few nights with us in camp before and after the wedding, there was more socializing and enjoying the camp rather than game drives, but when we did go out the wildlife was great, lions, buffalo, elephant and many others.

Dusty Helmets stop in to stay with us at Ekorians’sMugie Camp

Mid month we had a group from Dusty Helmets stop in to stay with us at Ekorians’s Mugie Camp, this adventurous group were doing a two week motor bike safari from Nairobi, to Laikipia and down into the harsh Suguta valley. They spent one night with us, leaving their bikes outside the Mugie Sanctuary so as not to disturb the game. The hot, tired, group enjoyed feeding up and having refreshing showers before taking on the hardest part of their safari.

The Suguta valley,although beautiful, has an exceptionally harsh climate where temperatures can easily reach over 50’C. For more information on these exciting safaris check out their website – www.dustyhelmets.com

A family of keen golfers came in for a long weekend, and took advantage of the amazing golf course also giving their young son the chance to have a game.   The course is looking stunning with all the rain; the new greens that were completed earlier in the year are really looking amazing.   We had a few stray balls that kept the caddies busy for a while in the tall grass off the fairways.  This family was very happy just having down time and enjoyed the sights and sounds of Ekorian’sMugie camp.  We had a few drives and saw great wildlife, the two big pride males had killed a warthog down on the shores of the Mugie dam and were eating it amongst the bees who had a hive in the bush they were trying to hide the kill, the Giraffe were also having a good look at the lions as they ate their way through the warthog.

 

We had two guys from Zimbabwe on a mission to find and photograph some big buffalo, one big buffalo in particular that hangs out on the plains behind Ekorian’sMugie camp.  Like many things when you really want to find them they are no where to be found, for three days we searched high and low and saw some amazing bulls, only to find the largest bull in the final hours of the last afternoon which was a great relief for everyone.  The weather was fairly chilly for the days they were in camp with cold misty mornings clearing out into beautiful afternoons.

On the whole they had amazing game viewing, we saw three different groups of cheetah one morning of which two young males were very tame and happy sitting right next to the car while we got great photo’s, over 500 buffalo, lions, elephants, grevy zebra, hartebeest, bat-eared fox’s and many more exciting things.

We have started to clear all the long grass off the big island in the Mugie dam, which is very exciting. We are going to build a simple structure there to be able to get away from the midday sun and enjoy a picnic lunch in the cool of the papyrus thatched roof while waiting for that monster catfish to strike or just simply enjoy a dip in the water, there is nothing quite like this huge swimming pool that you can take a dip in as well as Kayak around and hope to catch the Elephants in the water at the same time.  It’s a great spot for sundowners for those that are willing to take a late paddle back to shore.

All in all November has been fairly busy with little bits and pieces coming through, its been great with weather as its not been to wet, the wildlife has been fantastic and we are looking forward to all those who will be visiting us in December, Welcome all

Please visit our website for more info; http://www.ekorian.com/diary