Expeditions, Elephants, and Elections

Expedition #2 is complete.  Last Saturday we left bright and early for Lake Nakuru National Park, which is about eight hours from our camp.  Before we left, we were told to pack plenty of warm clothes and rain clothes.  That request seemed odd because it’s Africa, one would think that it’s always hot especially in Lake Nakuru, which is much closer to the equator than our camp.  However, the short rains have begun in Kenya and I am so glad we were told to pack warm clothes!  I wore pants the entire expedition an at least two layers on top, if not three, which included a t-shirt, sweatshirt, and rain jacket.  After one game drive we were all sitting in a meeting room near a fireplace drinking hot chai or hot chocolate and wrapped in blankets; it looked like we had just gotten back from a day of skiing instead of a safari in Africa!

We didn’t camp in Lake Nakuru, and a lot of people were upset that we weren’t camping but I am so glad we didn’t! We stayed in a hostel in the national park instead.  The hostel had several rooms of 12 bunk beds, a dinning room, and a meeting room.  So we crammed about 18 girls in one room, the rest in the other room, and the four boys got a huge room to themselves.  The hostel was fenced in unlike our campground in the Serengeti, but we still had animals surrounding us.  There were always buffalo and zebra right outside the gate and at night we would hear lions, which I thought were buffalo at first, but I never saw the lions.  I actually only saw one lion the entire expedition, and it was sleeping in a tree. 

Lake Nakuru National Park, as one can probably guess, is situated around a lake and is beautiful.  It is the greenest place I have seen in Africa thus far due to the high amount of rainfall.  There were mountains surrounding the park and forests and grasslands throughout the park.  This park is best known for birds and rhinos.  The wetlands make for a great habitat for birds, much to the excitement of several of my classmates who are avid birders.  The park also became a sanctuary for black and white rhinos in the 1970’s so we saw several rhinos, some right next to our car!  The park doesn’t have a large diversity of species, no big cats other than some lions, the park is home to primarily herbivores.  There is a huge population of buffalo, zebra, waterbuck, impalas, Thomson Gazelles, giraffes, and a few other rare ungulates.  There are no elephants in this park. 

What I found out during this expedition however, you don’t need animals to make a game drive fun.  The best game drive during the expedition was during a torrential downpour and we didn’t see very many animals, but it was so great!  We just drove in the rain and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.  I gave up trying to keep dry so I took the hood of my raincoat off and let myself get soaked.  During this particular game drive, we saw the most beautiful rainbow I have ever witnessed.  The colors were so vivid and we could see the entire rainbow.  We could see where it began and ended.  On top of that, there was a second rainbow, which wasn’t as vivid but nonetheless amazing, a simple reminder of God’s faithfulness and presence. 

I don’t have any crazy animal stories from Lake Nakuru like I did in the Serengeti.  Though, a buffalo briefly chased our car, which was absolutely terrifying.  I was sure it was going to ram our car.  If you have never seen cape buffalo, they are huge and have a very nice set of large antlers on their head. In Swahili cape buffalos are called “nyati” when they are being normal and “bogo” when they are charging.  Cape buffalos have been known to take on lions and win.  Buffalos are not animals you want to get angry.  Sometimes, after all of these safaris I get the idea that animals are so cute and sweet that I forget that these animals are wild and can hurt people. 

We did see a pair of Colobus monkeys, which are the black and white monkeys we have in the Sioux Falls zoo.  They were a nice change from all the baboons and vervet monkeys we see everywhere.  Of course, like I said, we saw rhinos! I wish the Internet here was strong enough to upload a few pictures, but I don’t know if that would work.  I also saw two of the Small Five.  I forget if I have explained the Small Five but they are ant lions, buffalo weavers, elephant shrews, rhinoceros beetle, and leopard tortoise.  I have already seen ant lions and buffalo weavers and at Lake Nakuru, I saw a rhinoceros beetle and leopard tortoise.  If I see an elephant shrew I will have seen both the Big Five and the Small Five!

One of our professors in Kenya, Shem, has worked with Lake Nakuru for twenty some years so he knows the park very well.  He was able to explain all the changes that have happened and answer any question about the park, which added to the experience.  We went on two travelling lectures, one throughout the park to look at the invasive species that have invaded grasslands, and one outside the park to see how the surrounding community affects the structure of the park.  It was really interesting to get the information on the entire ecosystem and be able to see with my own eyes the effects.  I really enjoyed Lake Nakuru.

This summer, my mom and I read a book called Love, Life and Elephants by Daphne Sheldrick who lived in Kenya her entire life, was married to the warden of Tsavo National Park, and started an elephant orphanage outside of Nairobi.  A few other classmates had read the book and wanted to visit the elephant orphanage.  The only problems with visiting is the orphanage is open for one hour on Wednesdays and is in Nairobi so the only time we could visit would be on the way back from our expedition.  We left early yesterday morning and endured insane Nairboi traffic, but we made it!  The orphanage is only open between 11 and 12 on Wednesdays and we got there around 11:30 so we missed part of the tour and the really little baby elephants but we saw the 2-5 year old elephants! The elephants came out and drank bottled milk and ate tree branches while the head keeper introduced each elephant and explained how it’s mother was killed.  Most of the elephants were orphaned due to poaching.  They also have a few baby rhinos at the orphanage and we did see one of them, but it was in its enclosure sleeping.  Once the elephants are old enough, they release them to the wild, but I never heard where they release the elephants.  The orphanage also has several groups, which spend their entire time taking apart snares and foiling poachers.  It was a very neat organization and really cool to see something I read about this summer! 

You may have noticed it was election time in the US these past few days.  Election fever took over Africa as well.  Fortunately we didn’t have to endure the political ads and commercials, but the hostel had a TV and the staff watched the coverage all the time and everywhere we stopped had the TVs switched to the coverage.  It was really fascinating to see the election from a different perspective and witness how the election matters to other countries as well.  Obama was the obvious favorite in Kenya because his father is from Kenya.  I was stopped numerous times yesterday by Kenyans to talk about the election.  Fun fact, one of our staff members, Charles is from the Luo tribe near Lake Victoria and Obama’s father was from the Luo tribe as well.  Charles was telling me how the village Obama’s father is from bought a huge TV and set it up in the village square to watch the coverage.  The village also held a “vote” and I guess Romney got 12 votes while Obama got over 500.  Charles was surprised Romney got so many votes. 

I hope all are doing well in the US.  I’m getting pretty antsy to see everyone and be home.  Just over a month to go, then I can see everyone!  Miss you all.