Simon Thomsett

Category: Falcons, cheetah, greater spotted eagle, vultures | Date: Nov 18 2008 | By: Laila Bahaa-el-din

Kina and Gustav, the Swedish overlander couple, stayed with us again at Simon’s house. They intended to stay one night before moving on to the coast. We flew Tim the Lanner in the morning and he is fitter than ever before and his acrobatics are spectacular. He still has his quirky attitude and loves to land on people’s heads. There are a couple of wild Tawny Eagles that have started perching nearby, planning to steal scraps from Tim. As Tim showed off, we noticed a large number of vultures descending fast. We didn’t want to leave Stima, the new young Lanner Falcon, alone at the house as a stray cat roams the area. So we put him in the car between our Swedish friends and off we went to find the kill.

On our way, friends from the ranch, Gray Cullen and Suze, came to check on Stima. They had cameras and decided to join us, too. We got to the spot to find two dead calves covered in vultures and eagles. The vultures took flight and I photographed them as they soared above the car. Then Simon asked me to quickly divert my attention to an eagle that was sitting in a tree just next to the dead calf. I took a couple of photos and we got closer. Simon got very excited and demanded I take as many photographs as possible. He said he thought it was a Greater Spotted Eagle. He only sees them come through once every two-to-three years so it really was special. It cooperated by letting us get quite close and just flying between nearby trees.

Greater Spotted Eagle

Suze and Gray invited us all to lunch and we had a feast. They had bought a football for Tuli, a captive cheetah that lives on the ranch, and were intending to bring it to her that afternoon so we all went along. We all piled into Gray’s car and were driving along when Simon said excitedly “cheetah!” A little further down the road, there she was, beautiful. We stopped the car and spent the following half-hour quietly watching as she stalked impalas and an oryx through the bush. She didn’t catch anything and disappeared into the trees so we continued on our way to see Tuli.

Wild Cheetah facing an Oryx

We arrived to find Tuli lying by the pool. She stood up as we approached and gave Gray an intense look that made him back off a bit. Suze drew Tuli’s attention away from Gray by throwing the ball which she ran after, pounced on, and held it in a lock with her teeth sunk in. She held that pose for at least five minutes, wanting to make sure the ball was dead. We quickly realised that there would be no game unless we got the ball from her but we were all a little nervous to try and take it. I was one of the only people wearing proper shoes and trousers, so I went forward to claim the ball. As I got close, she turned and growled at me, making me jump back. I approached again and managed to slowly draw the ball away with my foot. The game was on! I kicked it into the distance and off she went and everyone joined in.

Football with Tuli

After our long and exciting day, we all crashed out early. I think Gustav and Kina are glad they spent the extra day here and we’re grateful for the amazing luck they brought us.

(For copyright reasons, we can’t post the pictures on the blog that we may want to publish at a later stage.)

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Category: Eagle, camping, cliff, conserve, flamingo, kwenia, vultures | Date: Nov 07 2008 | By: Laila Bahaa-el-din

Staying at Hog Ranch once Simon was released from hospital was great. I had itchy hands as I had no camera with me and wildlife was tame. David Gulden, our host, was scratching a warthog on the nose and called over to me to “come and feel her warts.” A new one for me. I also marveled at a huge bull giraffe that bowed his head down to meet mine, just curious it seemed.

Sandy and Sandy have been endlessly kind to us and have been putting us up in their home. Simon has been progressing really fast and we are almost ready to take on our expedition. Simon’s bad hip is the one he needs for the clutch so I will have to pass my driving test (which embarrassingly I have not yet done) so I can do the driving.

Simon was feeling so well two days ago that with the two Sandys, we decided to go on a camping trip to a cliff site called Kwenia. We made the decision that morning and within a couple of hours were ready with the car packed. We didn’t get too far before the car starting giving us trouble and we had to turn back. That didn’t hold us back for long and we tried again the following day, on Obama Day (Kenya declared a national holiday in honour of Obama winning the American presidency).

It isn’t a pleasant road for the most part, but once we left the main road, we started to see Dikdiks and Kudus. The rain arrived, bringing in the termites which in turn attracted the Hobbies. The scenery got more and more beautiful until we arrived along a huge expanse of cliff faces on one side, mountains on the other and an empty temporary lake in between them, full of golden grass. Sandy and Sandy wowed and we all sat quietly contemplating the beauty of the place. Simon has been talking about Kwenia for a long time and I now understand why. We arrived as night fell, so we started a fire and discussed potential ways in which the place could be protected.

The rain returned and sent us running to the car where we all dozed until the braver of us got out and set up tents. I continued to sleep in the nice dry car. Morning brought light that allowed us to look onto the cliffs and see the real importance of the area: a colony of nesting Rüppell’s Vultures, the largest known in Southern Kenya (at last count, it had more than 200 individuals). We ate breakfast with binoculars glued to our faces as we tried to count them, then watched as they set off to whatever distant locations they may go to. Still so much is unknown about their daily routine but they do travel very large distances. We also had the pleasure of seeing Rock Kestrels and Egyptian Vultures on the cliffs.

Rüppell’s Vultures at Kwenia (How many can you see?)

We set off and took a little detour to Lake Magadi to see the Lesser Flamingos. Simon and I hoped to see a Fish Eagle swoop down on a Flamingo but it wasn’t to be. We did, however, see what Simon believes to be an Imperial Eagle drinking from a puddle. If it was the Imperial, then it is quite a treat as they are extremely rare migrants from Europe. The scenery is beautiful around that area and we all returned pleased from a great little trip. We really do hope that Kwenia’s importance will soon be realised and that it will be conserved.

Gerenuk in Magadi

Lake Magadi

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Category: Raptor Expedition | Date: Oct 28 2008 | By: Laila Bahaa-el-din

Two days ago, Simon received an e-mail giving him bad news. He was pretty down all day. Evening was falling and we waiting for Tim the lanner to return home when we decide to goof around and get Simon’s spirits back up. We knew we had to get fit for the expedition so we started a work-out routine. I filmed as Simon demonstrated. We were laughing so much as Simon struggled to do three sit-ups.

I instructed Simon to do some pull-ups at which point we walked over to his water tank which is supported on a large metal frame. He pulled himself up and turned to make sure I was filming as he started his “pull-ups” (he was actually pulling himself up with his feet). Within a split-second, the frame collapsed, coming down on Simon and landing the full 1000 litre tank down on him (264 U.S. gallons). I yelled as I came forward to pull the frame off of him.

Simon lay on the ground moaning in pain, sure his leg, or hip, or both, was broken. The evening was setting in and it was getting cold. Simon was unable to move as he lay shivering in the water and mud. He looked as if he might pass out from the pain. I called for the help and ran for the blankets to keep him warm, treated his open wound with antiseptic and kept talking to him to keep him awake. The first few moments were scary as he lay there under the barbed-wire fence. Scarier still, he started to become a little delirious, looking up at the sky for raptors and talking in a softer voice than I had ever heard from him “look at the hobby catching insects.”

Help finally arrived and people got straight to work moving him as he was laying on his bad hip. Diane Bannister, a nurse who lives on the ranch, arrived and was quick to sort us all out. We got Simon out of his wet clothes and he started to be more alert, even joking as we moved him. Diane strapped his legs and a joint effort got him into the back of the car. Unfortunately for Simon, he was put on his bad hip and every bump on the two hour drive to Nairobi Hospital was hell.

We arrived at the hospital and Simon was seen straight away. As I filled out the endless paperwork, he went for x-rays and it was established that his hip was dislocated and that there may be a small fracture on the pelvis. Nothing required emergency surgery and he was given painkillers. Munir showed up with food which was a God-send and, nearing midnight, we took off back to his house where he and his wife kindly put me up for the night.

Two days on, and Simon is still in hospital but in good spirits apart from being terribly bored. He is sitting next to me writing his version of events. We are both disappointed that this is going to hold the expedition back but so grateful that it was not worse.

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Category: Eagle, Rhino, Solio, forest hog, leopard | Date: Oct 24 2008 | By: Laila Bahaa-el-din

We left Aberdare NP late yesterday evening after having had a successful couple of days. Simon has already written about the eight black servals which were stunning. We were disappointed at the few mountain buzzards which were our target species. We arrived back in Solio and were paying for a night of camping when we bumped into Annie Olivecrona again. She invited us to her place for an evening drink.

Annie is setting up an ape sanctuary in Solio which should be up and running in a year. It will mainly cater to chimps but Annie will not turn away gorillas if they show up on her doorstep. It is the bush meat trade and deforestation that have orphaned these apes. Keeping animals in sanctuaries like Annie’s maybe the only hope of hanging on to these species until these devastating activities are curbed.

We arrived at Annie’s to find two more Swedish overlander families camping. There was also the overland couple we had met a few days previously who had given tips on preparing our car (visit their Web site). Overlanders are people who kit up their cars and set off on trips by road. Discussions of car parts and expedition sponsorship continued over a few drinks and Annie insisted we stay for dinner and camp out. It was a lovely evening and great to hear from these people who had been traveling for eight months in their cars across some tough countries with their kids in tow (visit the Web site).

All the overland vehicles (including our 27-year-old Range Rover on the far right)

We were a bit groggy in the morning but we got up with the sun all the same and headed back to Solio Wildlife Sanctuary. It had rained during the night which gave us a much more successful wildlife experience than the previous visit. We saw a few migrants such as Eurasian Hobbies, Steppe Eagles and Harriers. We finally found a juvenile Crowned Eagle as well. We must have seen more than a hundred rhinos. A giant forest hog stood feeding knee-deep in the swamp. This was quite a surprise as this species usually occurs in thick forest.

Giant Forest Hog

Annie had seen a leopard the day before. It had taken a kill up a tree so we believed it would still be there in the morning. Sure enough, we did spot it, though it came down the tree and ran off on seeing us so we didn’t get the photos.

Leopard far away

How different the two experiences in Solio were highlights how difficult it is to come to conclusions about wildlife. We are sometimes too quick to judge. The simple thing of the rain falling changed our whole outlook. We would really need to spend a lot more time in Solio to get a real feel for the raptor situation but from what we saw, it is not doing too badly. We hope to return after the big rains have hit for some final photo opportunities and a data count.

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