Whether flowered or feathered, it's time to hawk your wares
Monday, March 15, 2010 at 03:41PM We keep getting a little bit of drizzle here and there, and oddly fluctuating days between stifling heat and haze, cloudy cold mornings and muggy hot afternoons…a strange time indeed for the weather.
Nevertheless the flowers seem to be enjoying the conditions, and many are starting to flower, including the ‘cups and saucers’ (carphalea glaucescens) and the lovely white flower (above) that grows along the rick edge near our Crocodile Falls on the Mtito River. There are plenty of other colours too, from shocking pink to powder blue…
'Cups and Saucers' (carphalea glaucescens)
Down near our well, the undergrowth resembles tropical jungle – a far cry from a few months back:
On the 12th March, I photographed the Crocodile Falls. Now that the flood has subsided, the Mtito River is flowing clear again – in marked contrast to the Athi, which is still muddy and red. You can see the difference in the water where the small river meets the large one:
A Yellow-billed Stork stands at the confluence of the muddy Athi River and the clear Mtito River
The Crocodile Falls were looking pretty as ever, even with the sun directly behind and not great for photographing them (morning is better). There was a large crocodile lurking beneath one of the falls, but nothing as dramatic as what I photographed back in December 2007:
Almost impossible to spot, a crocodile lurks beneath the falls, only the top of its head showing
The Acacia tree which had played host to weaver bird nests and many confrontations between the Diederiks Cuckoos and the weavers has died. I don’t know whether this is because of lack of water – these days, due to excessive damming upstream combined with decreasing rainfall, the Mtito only flows a few days each year.
The birds are courting and displaying now. The Egyptian Geese have turned belligerent and highly territorial again (see the male attacking a trespasser, above). On 12th March our resident pair were mating so perhaps it won’t be long before we see another brood of goslings. The sunbirds, doves, kingfishers, starlings and hornbills are all hard at it too.
If you had all the paints in the world, it would still be difficult to create anything quite as beautiful as what Nature has already created in the Grey-headed Kingfisher, seen here displaying to its mate by splaying its tail and opening its wings.
The African Grey Hornbills, with their distinctive whistling cry, display to each other by throwing their heads back, calling and flapping their wings
Not to be outdone, the Glossy Starlings are also chortling away and trying to get noticed
We watched this serrated hinged terrapin cross the river below the house. It reminded me of a sea turtle heading back out into the ocean as it made its way towards the deeper part of the river and disappeared:
A Southern Long-tailed Lizard made a pretty picture dashing around in the dappled undergrowth, catching ants (by the look of its movements):
Another welcome visitor was a lovely bull elephant, who came down to the river yesterday lunchtime, and spent a long while drinking and splashing and generally cooling off in the searing heat of midday. On Saturday, we had seen a lovely herd of elephants on the other side of the Mtito River in the park. Not being very used to cars and unfortunately often being disturbed by illegal charcoal burners in this area of the park, the elephants were very nervous and one in particular was a bit “hot under the collar”.
And very exciting news: last night, Ian saw a baby genet cat outside our bedroom door, catching bugs attracted by the lights. It must be the offspring of one of “our” genets who have brought it into the house. Call us soft-hearted, but we decided to leave the lights on all night, to help it out. (And yes, I am ever so slightly envious of Ian having seen the little thing, but hopefully it will keep coming, and I will get a look at it too.)
Ian returned from Nairobi with his new (actually very old) bush car – it’s his 28 year old Range Rover which he has had cut down to the bare minimum. The car will be useful for all sorts of jobs around our land here, from ferrying water pumps to taking our guys out on de-snaring operations.
The drive down from Nairobi in this open car with no windscreen must have been breezy to say the least, and Ian arrived looking rather “windswept and interesting”!
Reader Comments (15)
What lovely photos of the kingfisher - I've never seen such colours on one before!
Yes, the pictures of the kingfisher and teh hornbill are amazing. Ian looks like he has been wrestling with a hairdryer for hours !
Nice to see a photo of Ian. That kingfisher is spectacular and so are your photos.
I have found your Diary through Safaritalk. What a wonderful place to live. Your photographs are stunning and the entire diary is fascinating. I wish you and yours all the luck in the world - enjoy your life in Africa you are so lucky.
such stunning photos, you are ever so lucky to have all that on your doorstep...
Gill in Canada
i've been reading your blog for quite sometime and am so happy to see you are posting again fairly regularly (I have to say that Dinky nearly broke my heart!). Your photos are beautiful as always!
Great posting indeed!
Lovely images! It is incredible how influencial beautiful images can be!
I just saw that National Geograph and Kenya have teamed up to offer this.
www.naturalkenya.com/competition
I reached this blog by accident, but I found very interesting. Greetings to all visitors to this page.
Tanya, what fantastic photos. The pictures of the kingfisher are just amazing. Great to read about your doings - makes me miss Kenya even more than usual. Best wishes to you all, John.
Jambo Habari Gani,Just found the blog and it is SOOOO wonderful. Brought tears to my eyes! I too was so very lucky to have had my younger years in Kenya in Tigoni. Sadly we left in 81 and every day of my life I long to be in Africa again. I have also traveled the globe but nothing beats Africa and for me Kenya. Though I have not lived there for many years for me it was, is and always will be home. We would move there tomorrow if we knew how we could sustain a life there, but hey even if it takes me until I am in a casket I will return! It calls me from the very core of my soul and it is where I belong.
My all time favorite movie is OUT OF AFRICA, watch it every 6 months or so and it was so fantastic when I took my husband for the first time and I returned to Kenya for the first time in 25 years in Aug 2006 to see where some of it was filmed on Cresent Island.
We have just given up the buy buy Dubai life after 18 years and are currently living in Cyprus, getting closer to the African continent.
Thank you so much for sharing the tales of your child hood and now showing us this beauttiful but challenging life that you and your hubby lead.
Good on you for not accepting the mindane and living the life.
Asante Sana!!!!!!
These are all the very beautiful views and eye-catching surroundings as well. The entire destination is very attractive and the visit is very pleasurable where you can see different kinds of birds and animals and praise to almighty for these beautiful creations for sure.
Muy buenas tomas , enhorabuena
Nice photos! i like it , so interesting...Thank you for sharing it.
lovely photos, i get fascinated with that , good luck !!
Thank you for all your kind comments. I so enjoy writing and photographing, but sadly do not have enough time in each day to spend as much time on this diary as I would like....that's why entries are somewhat sporadic!