Madaraka Celebration @ Tsavo

June 1st was a public holiday in Kenya. Madaraka day which celebrates the day Kenya attained self rule from the UK. So what happens when a holiday falls on a Friday? You guessed it right! Tsavo it is! This trip was rather interesting. Kamran’s family along with family friends of Kamran and of course myself. Friday morning began our trip to Tsavo. We entered the Bachuma gate late morning and was on our way to Ashnil. From the gate to Ashnil its around an hours drive. For the past nine times to Tsavo, this road has been rather a lack luster drive. You will see the usual herbivores such as Elephants, Impala, Zebra, etc. Never I had I come across a big cat. As usual, Kamran was leading the way and there it was by the side of the road! A lioness crossed our path and walked in to the wilderness!

What a sighting it was! No a bad start to our journey. After lunch and a rest off we went to pipeline area. As we were on our way we saw many elephants, zebra and buffalo. Tsavo by now has gradually began to dry up but there was plenty water to go around mainly due to the heavy rains that arrived couple of months back.

As we approached pipeline, we were not disappointed. There was a lioness taking an evening snooze. We watched her for nearly an hour until she went into the bush, most likely to find the rest of her pride.

I was rather disappointed since we saw only one lioness. Pipeline area has a resident pride and seeing only one member……. I guess we were not that lucky! On our way back we saw a hyena! This was my second sighting of a Hyena in Tsavo.

When we got back to Ashnil, that I realized how extremely lucky we had been! And here I was complaining of seeing only one lion! No one that day had seen a lion except us! We ended our day on a high. Next day we went for an early morning drive but we didn’t see anything exciting except for the usual grass eaters.

After breakfast we decided to head towards crocodile point and luggard falls near the galana river. This was about an hours drive from Ashnil but the road was quite bad. But when you reach the galana river, there is a spectacular view. We saw a couple of hippo and crocodiles in the river.

As we left galana river and headed towards Ashnil for lunch we passed through narrow roads, dried up river beds and plenty of elephants! What an adrenaline pumping drive it was back to Ashnil. After lunch, Kamran decided to stay back. But the ladies decided to join me for the evening drive and we heard that there were a couple of lions near the pipeline area. We rushed over there and it was getting very late. We say two lionesses but the they were quite far.

But we saw a huge heard of buffalo and elephants in the area. One more part of the trip I liked the most was the variety of birds that had become abundant. I was extremely happy to see the situation in Tsavo.

Another aspect of Tsavo is the view to the horizon and the sunset. When you stop you car and gaze towards the fading light the quietness and the cool air blowing across your face….. how I wish I can re-live that moment every single day!

Again what a long long day! After dinner we called it a day. Next day morning we went for an early morning drive, but no luck in seeing big cats. The grass was still too tall and you have to be extremely lucky to see one. And I guess we were lucky! Again thanks to first timers luck another Tsavo visit is complete with at least one lion sighting! So far my Tsavo East hit rate is at 100% in seeing at least one big cat. But what I liked about this trip was spending time friends!

It was a family trip for Kamran and I met another fantastic family,  Shouquot and his wife Khona who are teachers by profession just like Kamran’s wife Anuradha. The kids had a great time and it was quality time spent. But the best part of the trip was that  I felt like I was part of a family. A feeling, I miss every single day.  A feeling when I close my eyes in the night and I imagine the faces of my wife and son smiling at me……….