MEMORIES and ABERDARE – up hills and down gullies – –

Monday – First up is another ‘I forgot to tell you what happened yesterday’ moment.  On our way home from visiting those cute little Simbas and around 7.30pm, John decides to take the scenic route.  He puts the jeep in whatever gear he thinks will be best and then we take off down this little gully.

All of a sudden we are sliding to the right and heading for the bushes.  Expletives are hurled around the inside of the jeep along with our bodies and we come to rest inside a dirty big bush.  No amount of backwards and forwards is doing the trick so as Jess keeps an eye out for hungry animals John jumps out of the jeep,  whips out his dirty big machete and starts hacking away.  We are finally able to reverse out and up the hill a bit and taking a deep breath we try again this time and as we go sliding to the left we head for a tree, louder expletives and laughter issue forth while we are now sliding sideways and being thrown around, making sure that we are keeping a more than tight grip on our cameras etc and holding on to the seat in front for grim death – easier said than done!

More bush cutting as we think maybe we will be here for the night or maybe we should call the other jeep to get us out – but soon John has achieved the impossible and we are up the other side of the muddy gully and on our way.

OK – back to today.  We are visiting Aberdare National Park – which stretches over a wide variety of terrains because it covers altitudes from about 2,100 metres to 4,300 metres above sea level. Established in May 1950, the Aberdare National Park covers an area of 766 square kilometers and forms part of the Aberdare Mountain Range. The park contains a wide range of landscapes – from the mountain peaks to their deep, v-shaped valleys intersected by streams, rivers, and waterfalls.

Aberdare also houses Treetops Hotel that became famous around the world when the then Princess Elizabeth stayed there at the time of the death of her father King George VI.

The terrain is very bushy and as we come around a corner – this beauty pops out at us.

How exciting! My favourite straight up.  He is just chomping away at the luscious grass and every now and again he lifts his head and looks at us.  Knowing that we are not out to cause trouble he goes back to his breakfast.

Chris tells us as we move on to keep an eye out for leopards in the underbrush.  So between looking for leopards and keeping our cameras poised and being jolted around we are having one exciting time.  What a wonderful park – it is lovely and cool and so different to the heat of the open plains we experienced at Ol Pejeta and Solio.

We now have Colobus monkeys in the overhead branches and they are so beautiful with black and white long fur.  Just as well there is no traffic as we stop and take literally thousands of photos – –

The word “colobus” comes from Greek meaning docked – and is so named because in this genus, the thumb is a stump. Colobuses are herbivorous, eating leaves, fruit, flowers, and twigs. Their habitats include primary and secondary forests, riverine forests, and wooded grasslands; they are found more in higher-density logged forests than in other primary forests.

They live in territorial groups of about nine individuals, based upon a single male with a number of females and their offspring. Newborn are completely white and cases of allomothering are documented, which means members of the troop other than the infant’s biological mother care for it.

Colobuses are important for seed dispersal through their sloppy eating habits, as well as through their digestive systems. They are prey for many forest predators, and are threatened by hunting for the bushmeat trade, logging, and habitat destruction.

Down the trail and there are some hyenas just laying around – what an opportune moment for Chris to get out the GoPro and try his luck.

The hyenas don’t look as if they want to show any interest in anything except resting – but one does make an effort and susses out the car.  Not impressed with the tabasco sauce that has been poured over it to deter unwanted actions – the hyena soon loses interest and flops down in the sun.

Time for morning tea so we head to a high place in the park to get a good view.  Holy moley there are Cape Buffalo there to meet and greet.  Not to be put off by these pretties, the goodies are unpacked and I decide to head to the ladies room.  This is a tiny shack with a hole in the ground – no seat – just a place to put your feet and then go for it.  Well, another experience to say the least and it is just as well I carry hand sanitiser.  Definitely not a place that one would visit unless it was desperation time – and after all the water it certainly was but that is too much information for you eh?

After a nice cuppa and cake it is time for more photos – so moving forward ever so carefully I lie down on the ground to get on an eye to eye level.  As long as I am quiet and don’t make any sudden moves I should be right.

They are quite happy and so am I and then one decides to get up and show me his rear.  Oh great – obviously he has used the toilet shack.

We pack up our gear and continue the journey.

Going around the Buffalo and down the hill we get a chance to look back up at them – here is one just smelling the flowers – at least it looks as if he is.

What a cutie – hard to realise that such a sweet face should be a part of an animal that has a ruthless disposition!

As we get to the bottom of this track there is an opening in the forest – a lovely lush green oasis with some water pools that are currently the centre of attention for the herd of Cape Buffalo (right).  There is also a family of Giant Forest Hogs (left) who take off for the shelter of the forest as soon as we get close.  The buffalo on the other hand, just look at us and continue doing what they are doing seeming not to care one way or the other.

We continue clicking.  Moving up the mountain we still not have been lucky enough to see leopards.  We keep on looking and looking but I feel that unfortunately luck is not to be with us.

Hyena – now that’s a different story.  A small group are laying in the grass – I think they are only young ones.  They do not look very mature or well fed so maybe Mum and Dad are out looking at the menu for tonight, one seems to have a wound of some description on his rump.

Time for a collection of animals that seem to appear out of nowhere as the afternoon gets longer.

An Impala and Zebra – strange they are by themselves – and here’s a Pumba and some more Giant Forest Hogs – this time the whole family by the looks of things.

There are a lot of open places down the bottom of the track and as we come across another there is a family of elephants –

It’s amazing to think that we have driven around this park all day and then all of a sudden these huge beasts just seem to materialise from out of nowhere.

It’s the same with all the animals – looking, looking, looking and seeing nothing and then wham they seem to appear like magic.

It is time to trek back up the mountain and make our way home but there are still some surprises left – as we bump along we are stopped in our tracks by another herd of elephants on both sides of the road.

We are very careful to be quiet and not make any sudden movements but a female in this group seems to be a little bit put out that we have separated them as they are crossing the track especially as there are some younger ones in their numbers.  She gets a bit iffy and we decide that it is not a good idea to stay too long so we get our snaps and are soon on our way.

Looking back at our pleasant pachyderms – things seem to soon get back to normal with the elephants and the herd is reunited on one side of the road. Everyone is happy.

It has been another wonderful day, this time experiencing a totally different landscape of Eastern Africa that we have explored.  Although we did not spy any leopards we made many new friends of the four footed variety and hopefully got some great photos to remind us of this adventure.

Today’s bum shot – OK – it is not the cleanest rear you will ever see – but, after all, that is nature and they do have sweet faces!

Highlight of the day – laying down in the grass and getting close to my Cape Buffalo mates – what an adrenaline rush.