The New Normal - Kenya Fall Break, part 2, Sweetwaters and safaris

sa·fa·ri (səˈfärē/)  noun

1. an expedition to observe animals in their natural habitat, especially in East Africa.
2. 
   

In our safari vehicle; Sandy, Linda, Richard, Judy

Our second day in Kenya started early with delicious muffins.  Our driver, Faraj, picked us up at 7AM and we headed west for Sweetwater's Camp and the Ol Pejata Conservancy with our friends Sandy and Linda.  The drive took over five hours including stops, and was made more pleasant by the beautiful scenery, interesting conversation, and car snacks provided by Sandy.

A market seen on the roadside

5 stars?

 

A town through which we passed

Pastoral scenes,  very common along the road

Some things I learned through conversation and observations on the drive:

• The Kenyan government is working hard to build more public elementary schools so kids won't have to walk so far to attend.
• There are many Christian (private) schools in the country.
• Kenyan children are required to pass a test after elementary school in order to be allowed to proceed to secondary school.  The same holds true when applying to university.
• Only Kenyan citizens can own land.
• Kenyan elections are going on right now (less than a week after our return to Morocco).  We are thankful to have avoided them, as these elections are controversial.  
• Many peaceful demonstrations have occurred, but violent protests have broken out in some areas and some people have died.
• Eight candidate's names appear on the ballot for president; 51% of the vote is required for a win or there will be a run-off.
• Piki pikis (AKA boda boda's) are "transports", like taxis only you ride on the back of a covered three-wheeled motorcycle; and I thought riding in Casa petite cabs was scary!
• Kenya roads have the hugest speed bumps I have ever experienced; cars practically have to stop to get over them, or you risk life and limb, and your undercarriage.
• Speaking of Kenyan roads, did I mention that many of them are extremely bumpy in general.
• Kenyan entrepreneurs sell manufactured items like beds all along the roadside.  I wonder how the wood survives the dampness, not to mention direct rain showers.
• Other items sold on the roadside include bottled water in busy areas, bags of coal, pineapples, and all sorts of plants.
• Farm animals seen throughout the country are similar to those in Morocco; sheep, cows, goats, donkeys, with chickens mostly sticking close to their individual owner's houses
• The pastoral countryside is beautiful and green, thanks to the fact that Kenya actually gets rain.  The dirt is dark and fertile.
• The land became more arid and brown as we approached the savannah.

Our first stop on the way to Sweetwater's was a shop containing typical African items for sale.  Their huge inventory included carvings, wall hangings, and souvenirs of all kinds.  

Carved giraffes in all sizes

Lots 'o stuff

I'll bet this baby would cost a lot to ship (the elephant, not the man!)

The second stop along the road was at the official equator sign.  Naturally, we had to get our picture taken.  We found out later the use of the nearby water containers -- water draining anywhere north of the equator spirals in a clockwise motion (check your drains), and south of the equator counterclockwise.  So, each of the buckets in the picture should flow the opposite of each other, as they are on opposite sides of the equator.  However, this won't really work, but rather is a gimmick, because they are too close together.  Also, technically, if they are sitting right on the equator they should drain straight down.  Who knew!

Judy and Richard standing on the equator

Finally we arrived at fabulous Sweetwater's, a tented safari camp located in the Ol Pejata Conservancy.  The upscale tents are clustered around an animal watering hole, which we could see from our back porch.  A spectacular view of Mount Kenya only added to the peaceful ambience.  The onsite "Rhino Restaurant" was excellent, and we enjoyed breakfast, lunch and dinner buffets.  Talk about turn down service; they even put hot water bottles in our beds at night!

Our tent

The watering hole

African Starling visitor behind our tent

As impressive as the accommodations were, they didn't hold a candle to the main event - - the animals at the conservancy.  Located on 110,000 acres at the foothills of the Aberdare mountain range, we saw many animals at this national park.  All of the "Big Five" game animals in Africa can be seen here:  lion, leopard, rhinoceros (both black and white), elephant and cape buffalo.

Cape Buffalo and friends

Waterbucks

Let sleeping lions lie!

Our first safari started at 3:30 the day we arrived.  We boarded our Toyota HiAce, this time with the roof up.  This allowed us to stand, open air blowing in our faces, as we drove through the park.   We enjoyed observing the instinctive behaviors of the animals, and the colors in their natural habitat seemed more vibrant than in animals I have seen in zoos.  We saw guinea fowl, impalas, gazelles, water bucks, cape buffalos, eagles, zebras, wart hogs, critically endangered black and white rhinos, baboons, jackals, hartebeests, male lions (sleeping because it was daytime), and Oryx on our first safari ride.

Although chimpanzees are not native to Kenya, the conservancy contains a chimp sanctuary.  It is one of 18 in Africa and was moved to Kenya when war broke out in Burundi in 1993.  Here lifelong refuge is provided to abused and orphaned chimps.  Many of the more than 35 chimps were removed from unnatural living conditions, nursed back to health, and released into one of the two large groups at the sanctuary.  You will notice fencing in the picture below; a large area of the conservancy is fenced just for the chimps.  They have never learned to protect themselves, so the fencing is to keep predator animals out.  The chimps have set feeding times and then come indoors to sleep, also for their protection.  However, they happily enjoy their days in the open, climbing, socializing and learning about becoming chimps again.  

This chimp was chained and forced to stand for years in a small cage
(chimps don't naturally stand upright); Now, he's so happy being free!

Ewaso Nyiro River divides two halves of the sanctuary; keeps the two groups from intermingling

Rhino at dusk, with Mt. Kenya in the background

Beautiful sunset as we finished our first ride

After dinner, we decided to take a night ride.  The only vehicles allowed in the park at night are the ones associated with Sweetwater's.  These guys are allowed off road, and what a wild ride we had!  In addition to the animal types we saw during the day, we also saw night jar (a very cool nocturnal bird), a hybrid zebra (born sterile of two different breeds of zebras - Plains and Grevy's zebra in this case - the one we saw was large and the alpha of the herd), and some eland (the largest of all the antelopes).  The two highlights of the evening:  tracking two male lions all over the park, and I mean ALL OVER THE PARK; it was crazy!  And, later following 9 female lionesses traveling together.  What a night.  (Unfortunately, my pictures didn't come out that great.)

Stop shining that light in my eyes!

The next morning we met our guide, Faraj, at 6:30AM for our final look at the animals.  On this trip we added an up-close encounter with some gregarious white rhinos, ostriches, golden crested crane, elephants and giraffes to our list of animals sighted the previous day.  The social white rhinos are extant (still in existence, but rare); they're not really white, but look different than the black rhino because of their wide mouth.  

Crack of dawn, Richard ready for another game ride!

We saw lots of zebras, but only one giraffe at Ol Pejeta

  

Picture of lionesses taken with my phone held over binoculars; great idea from our guide

Total number of lions/lionesses seen on the three trips out was an impressive 19.  We ended up seeing 4 of the 5 "Big Five", only missing the leopard.  Leopard sightings are rare, as these animals are shy and often hide.  

Rare white rhinos

Ostrich

So cool to see elephants wandering around

Baraka (means "blessings" in Swahili) was the first black rhino born wild at Ol Pejeta.  Unfortunately, he had a fight with another rhino and lost his sight in one eye.  Later, the other eye developed a crystallized cataract which cannot be repaired, leaving him totally blind.  Since he would not survive in the wild due to his disability, he has a private area in the park.  Baraka is very friendly, and even allows people to feed him sugar cane from a feeding platform.  It was amazing feeling his skin and touching his horn.

Baraka, blind rhino

After an awesome breakfast, we headed back to our home base of Karen.  We again enjoyed watching the Kenyan world go by from our window high up in the van.  From the pineapple fields, community markets, motor cycle repair shops that look more like make-shift sheds, to just watching the people, driving through the Kenyan countryside is fascinating.  And, to top off two spectacular days, we feel asleep to a pouring rainstorm.  ahhhh.