Knockers Diary
by: Richard Knocker on 11/03/2008 (nduara loliondo)
Dear all
Just back from a turbocharged few days in Piyaya - phew! We started off with 4 nights in Nduara Loliondo, in its beautiful temporary location in the eastern part of Piyaya. Things have been rather more exciting than usual of late, in that there has been jostling for position among the different stakeholders in the area - far too boring to go into. The long and the short of it however, is that, for the first time ever, it looks as if there is official recognition for the importance of eco-tourism ventures in village lands surrounding National Parks. This is a major breakthrough.
Anyway, the highlight of our Nduara stay was undoubtedly the spectacle of Ol Donyo Lengai, regularly vomiting great grey gouts of ash 20,000' into the sky, some 40 kms to the East. The camp looks straight down a long valley towards the volcano, so we had awesome views every day. There was a layer of ash over most surfaces each morning, and some of us suffered from minor eye irritations, but this was a small price to pay for an amazing show.
Other highlights: a fine evening's fossiling in a nearby river valley. The plain is part of the Olduvai system, so there is an abundance of fossils here. Of particular interest was John's find of a fossilized elephant vertebra perfectly preserved in a tower of eroded volcanic stuff, with an assortment of teeth and bone fragments nearby. Oh, and we spent a morning scaling Nasera Arok, the granite monolith in the Gol Mountains, an adrenalin rush that was rewarded in this instance by a pair of lanner falcons cruising on the gusting winds at the summit.
Breakfast calling. Lekima, our Maasai companion, called us up the kopje to watch an elephant feeding not far away, so it was decided that, after eating, we would leave the car and walk over to get a closer look. Easier said than achieved, as it turns out. Approaching the spot where we thought the elephant to be, we nearly tripped over a couple of old bull buffalo snoozing under a bush. Cue comic scenes of frantic hand signals and elaborate slow-mo high stepping as everyone got a good view before backing quietly out so as not to wake the sleeping beauties. Everyone agreed that it was a good adrenalin blast to kick off with.
A couple of minutes later, there were 3 lion on a nearby kopje. This posed the interesting conundrum, having a had a good view, of how to back out WITHOUT tripping over the aforementioned buffalo. Luckily, the lions spotted us and melted away into the bush, thus sparing our efforts. Next was a huge herd of elephant - and I mean huge. There were at least 150 animals in the bush on the far side of the gulley. As we got close, there was much peering over shoulders, to ensure that we kept our exit clear. Quite enough for one morning, so we turned and headed for home.
Le...le... leopard!, just as the cat flowed down from its perch. I missed it sadly, but several in our party got a glimpse. Lunch was heaven - we perched on a flat kopje, with bedrolls in the shade nearby so we could sleep off the excitement. Our mobile camp, meanwhile, had been set up in a short way to the west. It was in a fabulously wild and woolly location, and even better we had it all to ourselves. Next morning saw us on foot again, walking along the Lamanaa River(the Maa word for 'Meander').It was much less of an adrenalin walk than the day before, although we did get close again to a dozy bull buffalo. We also had a fleeting view of a crocodile, my first ever in Piyaya, as well as a python fast asleep on a branch. Plus the usual birds and immense variety of turds of course.
And then the grand finale: we thought a sundowner would be a fitting end to our Piyaya stay, so we duly set off for a favourite kopje that evening. On the way, we spotted a herd of elephant, so hopped out and snuck up for a closer view of these peacefully feeding pachyderms. Exhilarated, we found we still had time for our sundowner, so off and up the rock we went, for a stiff G&T, several groups of elephant, a herd of buffalo feeding peacefully down to the river, and a pair of hunting lion. What a sight. I mean, who needs fireworks?
See you on safari,
Cheers Richard