Life on the Ark

Staying in the Ark in Aberdare National Park is an adventure in itself, and the only way to really appreciate the wildlife inside the reserve.

Special buses trundle between the Aberdare Country Club and the specially designed lodge (which is 90% wood), perched on the edge of a waterhole and muddy salt-lick – it does look a bit like the Noah’s Ark of popular imagination, with a boat-shaped bow, long body and flat ‘stern’. 

Rooms are compact but cosy, and the four levels all have views of the waterhole – and heaps of animals that root around in the mud looking for salt.

When we arrived there were five long-tusked elephants, a herd of buffalo and a handful of warthogs and bush bucks, while a sleek-looking mongoose ran through the rocks.

At 5pm we strolled out to the wooden catwalk while the staff piled bread and fruit onto two hanging bird tables; because of the cooler, misty weather, only a few species turned up to the feast, while three tiny Suni – Africa’s smallest antelope – played on the forested ground beneath us.

Our feathered visitors included the yellow breasted common bulbul, the long, willowy tailed speckled mousebird, and the tiny streaky seed-eater.

Most of the action happens at night here; the hotel uses a buzzer system to wake up guests when animals approach:

One ring = elephants

Two rings = rhinos

Three rings = leopards

Four is for any other ‘unusual’ animals

We only got to see elephants, but that was a truly magical experience.

Birds of the savannah

It’s not just big animals on the grasslands of the Masai Mara, all sorts of muliti-coloured birds make their home here too. 

 

The most striking (and one of the biggest) is the crowned crane, with long skinny legs, blue and white body and long neck, ‘crowned’ with a feathery headdress.

Lilac-breasted rollers are much smaller but just as vividly marked, with a bright blue body and violet breast. 

Another huge bird on the plains is the marabou stork, while the tiny red-billed ox-picker, as the name suggests, could be seen perched on the back of buffalo, feasting on ticks!

See previous posts on the ostrich and vulture.

Funny looking birds - Ostrich

I’ve always thought that the ostrich was an odd-looking creature, an oversized bird with wings that can’t fly. In the wild they look even stranger, ambling around the savannah, usually alone or in small groups, their long, bendy necks poking above the grass and large, fat, feathery bodies hovering below.

The males are black with white tails, while the females are a duller grey colour. How they evade lions and leopards I’ve no idea – they look so out of place and ungainly.

Warning: Vultures in action

We came across this group of nasty-looking white-backed vultures on the side of the track, pecking over the remains of a wildebeest. It was a grim but fascinating scene; the vultures are HUGE, with curved, ugly looking beaks and razor-sharp talons. As they ripped at the rotting flesh, they snapped and hissed at each other – a greedy and nasty bunch!