December 2023

In December 2023 our humans were going on a safari in Kenya, and we were invited to join them. This was a great chance to explore new parts of the African contingent. From the capital Nairobi, we had flown to Nanyuki to visit Laikipia. Now, it was time to fly to Maasai Mara for a second safari. Later, we would finish off at the Diani Beach south of Mombasa.

Check out the map here to see all the airports and airstrips we landed at.

Click each photo to enlarge

Sadly - and much too soon - it was time to say goodbye to Peter and the Kicheche Camp at Laikipia.

From Nanyuki Airstrip we went north east in a Twin Otter, landed in both Lewa and Loisaba to let off passengers and pick up new ones. Then we went south and finally touched down at Mara North, just north of the great Maasai Mara. Here we are at Lewa Airstrip near the Mount Kenya Volcano.

We arrived the Mara North Airstrip. It was a small airstrip... literally. The terminal area had one shed - the rest rooms - and a shelter. What impressed McBear was that two clerks were at work; one cleaning the shelter and scrubbing the floor, one girl with a walkie talkie, presumeably to maintain contact with aircraft or camp sites.
"Oh boy, it's really hot here" Tom said. "I hope they have a cool bar at the camp site..."

Kicheche Mara Camp, December 2023

We were going to stay at the Kicheche Mara Camp. On the drive to the camp site, we spotted a group of baboons crossing the road.
"Are we at risk of being kidnapped for ransome?" Roger asked our humans.
"High risk", was the first answer.
"Very chatty bears are at much lower risk," was the next answer. Roger pondered.
"Am I a very chatty bear?" he asked McBear and Tom.
"Well, eh..." McBear said.
"Well, eh..." Tom said.

To enter the camp, we had to walk across a small river on a bridge. The welcome sign made us feel very welcome, especially when we were welcomed by a group of staffers waving their hands.

We were going to stay in a huge tent like the one we stayed in at the Kicheche Camp in the Ol Pejeta Conservancy. "Should we set up our own tent?" asked Roger.
"Yeah, that's a splendid idea," Tom applauded.
"There are elephants and even the risk of lions sneaking around at night," McBear pointed out.
We quickly abandoned the idea of staying in our own tent...

Soon after arriving, we were heading out on a drive in the area. Hardly had we left the camp site, before we encountered a group of elephants. Right in front of the Landcruiser, wow.

The elephants were amazing creatures, and it was great to see them roaming freely. The young elephants behaved almost like human kids: they where playing and fighting and learning to get about.

Mara North Conservancy, December 2023

Later in the day, our guide heard over the radio that a cheetah had been spotted. He changed direction and went across the fields until he stopped a short distance from this cheetah. It was hungry and spotting prey. We witnessed it sprinting across the fields chasing a couple of Thomson gaezelles.

We joined our humans at dinner in a large camp site tent. Like the chefs at the Kicheche Laikipia camp, the chefs at Mara North Camp did wonders. At bedtime, we were escorted back to our tent by a guard. It was pitch dark around us. The guard had a torch and he pointed the light beam towards something... a young elephant! It was chewing grass only 30 meters away, wow! During the night we heard many sounds we were not used to. It was very exciting.

The next morning we got up at 5 am! It took us a while to get McBear fully awaken. This day our guide, Dickson, took us down to the Mara River. Here, we spotted a large colony of hippopotamuses. On the other river bank a crocodile was resting.

A couple of male hippos had an argument - probably about dominance in the river.
"That sounds familiar - we experience issues regularly at home between our humans..." McBear said to the others.

We stopped at a small river to set up the breakfast. There were hippo foot prints down to the water and from other animals. But it was a safe place.

Here's our guide, Dickson. He was dressed in his classic Maasai clothes with his machete on the side of his hip. It wasn't a piece of decoration; it was a tool to cut branches or the likes, and lastly it could be used as a weapon in case of threats. Roger said, he was now considering putting a machete on his wish list for next Christmas.

The path led us back to the airstrip. Here, a gang of lions were eating, and the male lion was dominant - like Simba in Akuna Matata - The Lion King.

Dickson had parked the Landcruiser at the end of the runway. Shortly after, an aircraft was at the other end of the runway - taking off and a hyena had started to run away. Our photographer got all excited.
"Camera... NOW!" we could hear him saying as he reached for the camera and pointed the lense towards the airstrip.

When we left the area around the airstrip, we suddenly came across a head sticking up high among the bushes. A giraf!
"What a friendly fellow," said Tom, "by greeting us like that."
"I believe the giraf wanted to say hello to the Travelling Bears," Roger pointed out.

In the evening, Dickon took us on another game drive. This time he got intelligence about the whereabouts of a group of lionesses with cubs. Dickson found the group and we had the opportunity to study alot of cubs playing.

We also got a chance to see a lion couple enjoying each others' company as the sun was setting over the plains.

Then it was time to say good bye. We thanked the employees at the camp site for such a great stay. Dickson took us to the Mara North Airstrip and we said goodbye to each other.