Kenya 2023: Chapter 10 – The Two Boys
One of the Tano Bora from 2019.
On our first trip, we were treated to a sighting of the famous cheetah coalition called the Fast Five (Tano Bora). It was a band of cheetah brothers that hunted together to bring down larger prey. Three of the brothers have been killed since we were there, two by territorial disputes and the other by herdsmen near Talek (allegedly). The remaining two boys, Winda and Olonyok, had taken down a Topi antelope and we raced to see them.
We headed north toward the Talek river. Along the way, we passed a truck stuck in the mud on the side of the road. Recent rain turned the roads into something resembling chocolate melting in the sun. While Lenny talked to the driver, we talked to the three passengers, some young 20-somethings from Colorado and California.
The guy in the front seat, seeing my d750 and the 24-70 mm lens: “Wow, that’s a really nice camera.”
Me: “Thanks”
Greg: *pulls out the d6 and 600 mm to flex*
The guy: “Pffffffffffffttttttttt, holy shit that’s huge.”
We came upon the two cheetah boys with a line of trucks parked up next to them. Two hyenas had hijacked their kill and were reaping the benefits. Vultures were waiting in the wings (pun intended). One of the boys attempted to get back in for a taste of his efforts and was immediately chased away. A black-backed jackal attempted the same and the hyena chased him off too. With clear victors standing over the spoils, the herd of trucks broke up with us included.
An African white-backed vulture comes in for a landing.
A black-backed jackal attempts to steal from the hyenas.
One of the boys is chased off.
This little jackal was successful.
The afternoon wore on and we snagged some random animals: a black-backed jackal chewing on a hip and spine, a warthog, some crested cranes with chicks. Lenny heard about a leopard that had a kill in a tree and we headed east to see if we could find it. The kill was there in the lower limbs of a sausage tree, but there was no sign of a leopard since they are elusive cats. We agreed to come back first thing in the morning to see if we could see this young male.
Crested cranes
Before we reached Keekorok, we were treated to a gorgeous sunset. We spent the evening backing up the photos from the d6, repacking our gear for the field, and finally getting a solid night of sleep.
