I had the most fantastic day!
I flew into Kamala, and Jelly – my guide from 3 years ago – picked me up. He said it would take about one hour to get to camp. Well, it took two because we saw so much along the way!
I’m in the high desert—at about 4,000 ft above sea level. It reminds me a lot of Arizona.
My first animal was a goat! Ha!
My first wild animal was a dik dik. A cute tiny antelope that reminds me of an Italian Greyhound. It’s about the same size and has tiny thin legs.
We saw a cheetah!
We saw Samburu’s big 5 – these are five animals that only live in Samburu:
- The genernuk — an antelope with a long neck.
- The Somali ostrich which has a blue neck and blue legs
- The Beisa oryx — a very large antelope
- Grevy’s zebra
- The reticulated giraffe
We also saw a herd of about 20 elephants , including two babies which are less than one month old).
The elephants walked right by us — about 6 feet away.
Before I even checked in I had seen a total of 13 different mammal species! After lunch I unpacked. We have to do even more to keep out the monkeys now. We have to hook the tent with a carabiner clip. Then put a mat against it and then a table!
I sat outside and a monkey joined me like she owned the place.
Then when I went in, she started crawling under the tent flap to come in while I was inside!!
I went on an afternoon game drive with Jelly. We saw a leopard! And EIGHT lions! One very fat and full male. He had obviously just eaten. He has blood on his face and paws and a big belly. He was so tired that he laid down on the road.
Then across the road was the rest of the pride. A mom (Nashira—whom I have seen on previous visits), two 4-month old cubs, and get 3 subadult children—about 3 years old. It was getting too dark for my phone to take decent pictures but maybe you can see a cub here lying in front of her mother
We stayed with them awhile. Mom and cubs got up to go down to the river. Finally dad got up and decided to join them. He passed about 10 feet beside the car. The white border at the bottom of the picture is the window sill of the car.
Finally I saw a mammal I have never seen— a genet. They are nocturnal and we came back after dark, so no picture. They look like they are in the raccoon family.
I cannot believe how much I saw in only 6 hours!!!! This place feels like home!
Looking Out Seeing Within 