Over the past few weeks I have spent so much time looking for lions and rarely took the opportunity to sit and watch the elephants. It is such a fantastic time to be in Samburu with elephants absolutely everywhere. I had a guest last week and decided to try and show him some of the big bulls who were around. We drove to Wire Bridge in the core area of Samburu and I saw many elephants. As we approached a family, I saw one of the big musth bulls who was also present. We watched for a few minutes and the bull suddenly went close to a female and started to follow her intently. She was in oestrus and with her head held high and tail up, she walked away quickly. He followed her round trees and bushes as we watched. He suddenly mounted her and it was less than 20metres away from us. This is only the third mating that I have seen and quite an incredible sight as you can see from the photo.
Nashipai at last
Sorry for the delay in writing this post! The good news is that Nashipai is finally back! Last week, whilst out lion monitoring, I was in Buffalo Springs when I got a radio message that 3 lionesses had been seen in Samburu hunting an elephant calf (they did not succeed). I drove over to Samburu and as I approached “Lion Highway” (one of the main roads where I see lion tracks and sightings often) I suddenly saw them walking down the road. I stopped the car and waited for them to walk down. I recognized her immediately. Nashipai was back and she was together with Nabo her sister and Uni, the older female in the pride. They walked past me as I had a big grin on my face.
I stayed with the lionesses for a few hours. They settled down at the river and watched everything that came down to drink. Nashipai went down and drank in the river, but jumped back on the riverbank and by noon, all 3 were sleeping in the nearby bushes.
The girls are back, looking healthy and I am thrilled.


