We had about 30 mins downtime before meeting again for lunch. Just after we got to the main area the most almighty rainstorm blew through.
On the far side of the restaurant area the rain was blowing in horizontally and so the staff had to frantically move all the tables (all ready set for lunch). It was a well practised operation so I'm guessing storms like this are a frequent occurrence - I'm just glad we weren't caught in the open when it started.
Somewhat delayed, but still a delicious lunch, during which Olly told us that as he and the others were walking back to their rooms earlier he'd spotted a Nightjar fast asleep in the undergrowth just near our building and would we like him to show us - you bet. So we headed off only to find that it had moved - of course it had. Just as we were about to turn away Olly suddenly noticed it had hopped up onto a nearby branch - wow, what an opportunity!
Apparently Olly hot footed it back to his room but by the time he returned with his camera the Nightjar had moved and despite searching the leaf litter (their favourite place) he couldn't find it.
Back out in the truck and on our way for a boat trip on Lake Mburo and a couple of shots en route.
African Grey Hornbill
Topi or Blue Jeans as it's nicknamed in Kenya.
Defassa Waterbuck f.
Olly had told us about the practically tame family of warthogs near the boat mooring and sure enough there was a large sounder (the collective term) digging up tubers etc. In fact I got so close and took so many shots I could almost do a Warthog Special.
I love the way they kneel down to eat because of their long legs and relatively short necks.
The little ones were very cute.
This older one was having a lovely wallow.
And getting out was quite an effort.
Finally we boarded the boat which sadly was quite large and so we knew immediately that we weren't going to get up close to anything.
Pied Kingfisher
There were loads of hippos around but getting good photos is so hard, just as I focus the wretched things go under water, walk on the lake bed and then pop up in a completely different position!
There were also several pairs of African Fish Eagles - very handsome birds.
Light levels were very low, not much to see and all in all a pretty boring couple of hours.
Back at the lodge we set about packing ready for leaving the next day and enjoyed another lovely dinner and bottle of nicely priced wine.