Samburu Preschool

Monday, March 20, 2017

Today was our last day at Sasaab, we fly out to Solio Lodge later on this morning.  Before we headed off to the airport we were able to visit the local pre-school.  These kids were adorable, the ages varied from the youngest, 2 years old, to the oldest, 6.  Not all children attend school.  It is up to the parents whether they would like to send them or keep them at home to herd the goats.

This is Scott and Nicki, the managers at Sasaab.  Really really nice people and Scott has the most infectious laugh!!

The kids starting running to us when they saw us pull up

Two new naughty students in the back...

So cute!

Searching for the Samburu Seven.....

Saturday, March 18, 2017

**Sorry, between being totally exhausted and the internet being spotty I was unable to blog for the rest of the trip....I'm gonna try to catch up now!

Today was our first game drive.  Besides the obvious lion, elephant and zebra, there are the 'Samburu Special Five':  The Beisa oryx, reticulated giraffe, Grevy's zebra, Gerenuk antelope and the Somali ostrich.  You can only find these in Samburu.  Once you find those, you go for the last two, the African warthog and the Vulturing guniea fowl, to make up the seven special animals to find in Samburu.  We woke up very early for a 5:30 am start to a 7 hour game drive.  It's best to get out at sunrise to get the best pictures (the lighting is amazing!) and more animals are up and about when the weather is cooler.

**UPDATE:  Grevy zebra...check!  That was the zebra on yesterday's post

You may think these are just wild dogs, but these are the African painted wolf.  They say that they are the most successful large predators in Africa.  They move quickly in packs so we were told that it was very rare for us to witness them.  According to wikipedia, "The African wild dog is a highly successful hunter.  Nearly 80% of all wild dogs hunts end in a kill; for comparison, the success rate of lions, often viewed as ultimate predators, is only 10%"

Guinea fowl...check!

Don't ask me about the birds, I have no idea.  I can't remember.  I ordered a book on Amazon about East African animals, hopefully it will help me remember!

Reticulated giraffe...check!

Beisa Oryx...check!

Gerenuk...check!  These guys are really cute.  They can stand up on two legs to reach up the trees for food.

Just a few impala...

By now it was almost time for breakfast.  It was about 8:15 and we were starting to get hungry.  We planned on stopping for breakfast at 8:30.  But then...we saw a bunch of cars in the distance and Daniel said there must be a lion over there.  Sure enough when we got there our other jeep with Susie and Evam were already there...

It was Nala!

But then we got another radio call telling us that there was also a leopard in the area.  This all happened in less than a minute...we spotted the leopard...

But then all of a sudden he got spooked and darted off!!

We turned around to see what spooked him and look what came around the corner....

Holy crap!  We were expecting a chase but the leopard got away too quickly so the lion gave up.  We went hunting for the leopard but he was no where to be found.  We didn't get to eat until almost 10:00.  Lion trumps breakfast.