9-29 First visit to Samburu

Up at the crack of dawn to leave for our first game drive of the day. Grabbed a quick bite at the restaurant and met Lemaron at 6:30. Again over that bone shaking road we went, drove a bit on the main road, then into Samburu Game Reserve. After checking in at the guard house we made our way over more very bumpy roads to find game. Our first find was a group of Grevey’s zebra. The difference between them and their common cousins is the width of the stripes. We found a group of about 15 individuals and watched them graze. It seems that the guides pride themselves on finding as many different species as possible to give their guests the best experience. Lemaron is a real champion at it. We saw impalas, oryx, dik diks (so cute and tiny!), gazelles, reticulated giraffes. He really wanted to find a big cat so we criss-crossed the park, with no luck until suddenly we stopped and he said, “See that termite mound? Look at the bottom.” Lying against the base of the mound was a cheetah. Lemaron said she looked like she was hungry, so maybe we’d see a chase. After a short while, she got up and started walking – and then, plopped down under a tree. Okay, no chase for us. We headed down to the spring to see what we could find. As we rounded the bend, we saw a group of elephants feeding and taking water. One of the juveniles had an injured leg or foot and was having to hop around on one front leg to get around. It seemed to be doing alright, but I’ve seen my share of nature documentaries and he’d better hope hungry lions don’t see him. We sat watching them for quite a while. Those that weren’t at the stream were eating trees and palms. What a sound it makes when they rip a branch off a tree!

Around the bend from the elephants was a bunch of baboons having a lazy morning, except for the little ones who were running around play fighting. We watched them groom each other and witnessed a standoff as one baboon tried to grab a baby away from its mother. There was some shouting, but the mother moved away to end the standoff. Off again.

Every time we passed another vehicle Lemaron would stop and confer with the driver. The guides share information about location of game and help each other out whenever needed. They seem to have a real sense of community. I asked Lemaron about it and he said that being part of the tourist industry is very important to all the guides. They all have to meet educational and training requirements. The Ministry of Tourism is very powerful and can shut down a tour business if it finds it’s operating in a way that reflects badly on Kenya. In the past there were fraudulent companies that sold safaris to foreigners who would arrive and find no one at the airport to greet them, then find that it was a shell company and they were out their money and out of luck. This obviously reflects badly on both the tourism industry on which the country depends and on Kenya in general. So the guides look out for each other because they want all tourists to have a great experience.

We spotted a couple of water buffalo, water bucks, and the elusive gerenuk. In the bird department we spotted a martial eagle, ostriches and guinea fowl, which have the most gorgeous cobalt blue breasts. Later in the morning, just before we were to head back to the lodge, we saw a herd of elephants having a siesta. They were all gathered under a tree. Most were standing but the smallest baby was lying down. Another juvenile joined her while we watched. We sat there, about 10 feet from the matriarch, and just took in the sounds and sights of this moment. Some rocked back and forth, a couple dug a little trench in the sand in which to rest the end of their trunks. I can’t really find adequate words to describe sharing this intimate moment. I could have sat there all day, but we were now 5 hours into the drive and needed to get back. On the way, Lemaron took a detour and brought us to a spring fed swimming hole at Buffalo Springs. He had told us to bring our bathing suits but we thought he was kidding. He was not! We said thanks, but no thanks and stood there looking at the crystal clear water. Finally Bruce said, “What the hell” and jumped in in his shorts. Pretty cool to be able to say that you swan in a game reserve in Kenya, huh? That having been accomplished, down the oh-so-bumpy road we went to the lodge.

I checked my camera to see how my photos turned out and discovered that there had been some sort of mishap and ended up with only 9 photos. I had videos and a few photos on my phone, thank goodness, but the rest were lost. That was sad, but the memory of what I experienced will stay with me, photos or not.

I’ll put photos in a separate post at some point. The wifi here is extraordinarily slow, so downloading a photo takes about 3 minutes. Please be patient.