We arrived in Kenya after dark, and I desperately tried to make out something, anything through the windows of our vehicle, but was unable to see much. We did see some birds roosting, what I learned in the morning was that they were Marabou Storks and some of the trees they were roosting in were Jacaranda trees. Both will be in upcoming posts, in the dark, I had no idea what I was looking at. (As a teaser, Marabou storks are enormous gnarly birds that look like they should be in a cartoon, and the Jacaranda is covered with gorgeous purple blooms). We spent the night at the famous Norfolk Hotel, the earliest hotel in Nairobi and full of history, you felt guilty not ordering a gin and tonic.
Our first stop was Samburu National Reserve, and within moments of entering the park saw a Beisa Oryx, and although none of us had ever even heard of the animal before the excitement was truly palpable. A reticulated giraffe came next which took our breath away, and as the road sign pointed towards ‘Elephant Bedroom’ there was a herd of elephants. Quite appropriate. Truly breathtaking. At the entrance gate there were masses of swallow nests in the ceiling so the birds were constantly coming and going flying right over your head into their nests... way cool... the start of the video are those swallows...
(as a note, please let this slideshow load before trying to watch it, I think I put too many video clips in it and it's a little frustrating if you don't give it time!!!)
I was amazed by everything, felt I could barely breathe most of the time out of the sheer joy of being in the most beautiful place I’ve truly ever been. One of the (many) things I was astounded by was the Weaver bird nests. They hung from the trees like ornaments on a Christmas tree. As days went on, I learned more and more fascinating facts about these bright and beautiful birds, the entrances to their nests always face west, so if you’re lost out in the midst of Africa and you still have the presence of mind to look at nests at least you’ll know which way is west. (I’d think you’d have a few more issues that may concern you at that point though!) The male weaver bird makes the intricate nests, which are fairly large, and then awaits the approval of his mate, she can decide whether or not she approves of his creation, if yes, I guess they move in and make the weaver babes, if not she tears it down and he has to start all over again. Slightly rough. Totally fascinating. Guess it’s mostly working out okay in Samburu for those weaver boys because the trees are covered with all of these magnificent creations.
Our first evening we had a lecture on the Samburu tribe by a young Samburu warrior whose name is 34 letters long, and means ‘doesn’t like horned animals’. You could call him his shortened native name, Tilas meaning ‘proud one’ or Steve, but I’m totally not sure why one would call a Samburu warrior Steve. Seems slightly disrespectful to me. I went with the shortened version. He shared so much information about how the tribe is trying to retain its culture and tradition while still keeping the younger members invested and involved in the tribe. Seems a very fine line, but if Tilas is any indication of the health of the tribe, I think they will be just fine.
We spent a couple of days exploring the 164 square km Samburu National Reserve, hunting for a lion, finding only his enormous, very fresh footprints teasing us. The area is one of the places where the Adamson’s raised Elsa of Born Free fame and delighted us with both its beauty and variety of animals. One day an elephant crossed in between our vehicles, as he got right in front of us he wagged his ears, as if saying, thanks! Outstanding!!!
The special five animals in Samburu are the Beisa Oryx (which greeted us), the Gerenuk or Giraffe Necked Antelope which stands on its hind legs to reach higher branches, the Reticulated Giraffe of which we saw many, the Somali Ostrich we saw the male and female with their family of little chicks, and the Grevy’s Zebra which is endangered. There are only 2500 left in the world. How amazing to see one happily grazing with not a care really in the world.
Our lodge was the Samburu Intrepids a gorgeous eco lodge with luxury tents that were so fabulous. When we went to our tents we were shown where everything was, how to work varying things like the shower, and then told to make sure we secure the tent in exactly the way they showed us so that the monkeys don’t get in. I’m sorry, the what? So the what don’t get in? Well, of course, my roommate and I were the only tent lucky enough to have the monkeys try to break in, in the dark while the generator was off and we were sleeping, and it was pitch black, I thought I was being awoken to tell me the elephants were passing by, or it was our morning wakeup call and my coffee and cookies had arrived, but no, seems there was a monkey trying to get in. We screamed and yelled and told him to leave us alone, and then secured our tent the way we’d been told. From then on we called it ‘monkeying up’ the tent!!! Did you monkey up the tent? If you try, sure you sing it as we did to the Bob Marley tune, ‘Lively Up Yourself’. Those little vervet monkeys look so sweet, but boy they’re cheeky little suckers.
I walked around the lodge with one of the guards, a delightful man named Hussein who shared many aspects of the lodge and its eco friendliness with me as we explored. He also told me stories of the elephants that visited at night searching for a favorite plant of theirs which grows along the banks of the river in front of our tents (the ones I was hoping were visiting when it was actually a crazed monkey looking for a little sugar). He and I had the most amazing experience together, while looking at this fantastically coloured lizard, we startled him so he went to find shelter under a bush. He was paying no attention other than running from us though, to his detriment as it turned out, because as he ran at top speed to get away from us he failed to notice the bush cat watching the entire thing unfold and literally ran right into him. The cat swallowed more than half of him in one fell swoop. We were both amazed. Jaw dropping in the literal sense! Hussein pulled my leg that I wasn’t fast enough to photograph it (the entire thing was over in less than 2 seconds) but I told him it was okay as I had a witness! Totally National Geographic right in front of our eyes.
That night, Tilas gave a program on the animals of Samburu as well as a star gazing program. The stars were among one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen in my entire life. We were out in the utter darkness no ambient light from anywhere for hundreds of miles looking at this sky that just held so many stars it didn’t seem real. The Milky Way was so bright it seemed as if it had been painted on the sky with a big, wide brush. A shooting star made its way across the sky as if to say, yes this is stunning, let me make it even better for you. I literally had tears in my eyes as I gazed upon the beauty of my first African sky. We had a break in our program for dinner, and when we went back for the continuation, Hussein spoke quickly and seriously in Swahili to Tilas. I looked at them, and said, “oh no, we can’t go back out to finish the star viewing because the elephants are around over where we’re going?” They both looked at me in amazement, “You speak Swahili?” I was asked incredulously. I had to laugh (if you know me, you know that’s a fairly common response from me) as I told them I’d just deduced it from my earlier stories from Hussein about the elephants and the seriousness of the conversation. Not totally sure they believed me! So we weren’t able to be out in total darkness, or sadly take the photos I'd been planning on, but stayed in the camp to view the Southern Cross the highlight we’d been too early for at the first session. Inspiring. I never want to see the stars anywhere else, and wished my telescope had made the journey with me!
Jambo Kenya, nakupenda already. I think it was about day 2 I started telling everyone I wasn’t going home, ever. Don't go anywhere, there's more...
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