21 Sep 2014 - Another wonderful day on safari

We were woken at 05:30 by Daniel, our personal something-or-other, with coffee, tea, and cookies. Now THAT’S the way I like to wake up in the morning! We were in the van by 06:30 and seeing the most amazing birds. Africa certainly has the fancy-dancy animals but it is also a bird lovers paradise. Again, I will need to buy a book to identify all the golden, iridescent, tufted, hooded, etc. birds I saw in a couple of hours this morning.

There is the regular ‘Big 5’ and the Samburu has the ‘Special 5’. We’ve seen them all but one and perhaps we’ll see that on our afternoon drive.  It’s so wonderfully cool  during the morning drive and so wretchedly hot during the afternoon drive but I’m too afraid of missing something not to go.

This morning we had a herd of Zebras go by and saw some beautiful  Oryk.  We are still waiting to see Lions and I suspect we’ll see them this afternoon as we witnessed on of nature’s tragedies this morning.

We had seen a big giraffe on our side of the river and headed down that way to get a better view. As we got closer we saw another smaller giraffe starting to cross the river, seemingly to meet his friend on the other side. He got to a small sandbar and stopped. As he stood there it was clear he was sinking into the mud. I commented that if he didn’t soon move, he wouldn’t get out. The words were hardly out of my mouth before he tried to lift his front feet out and fell onto his side with a thunderous BANG! We all were shocked and waited to see if he would get up. He lay still for quite a while and then made an attempt to rise, but couldn’t. It appeared that his hind legs were still stuck in the mud and our guide, Sam felt that he would never be able to get up. Radio traffic between the guides informed up that he had tried to cross twice before and kept returning because he was unsure. We waited for a few more minutes but he didn’t move again and none of us wanted to watch any more. Sam was upset even though he understands nature is often unfair, but I think he was going to drive back to see if there was any change.

UPDATE: He got out! We went back in the afternoon and he was gone. While we were sitting there discussing the various scenerios, a van pulled up beside us from the African Reticulated Giraffe Project and the researcher informed us that the Giraffe indeed got out and they were looking for it to see which one it was. Each giraffe has unique markings and when he found out we all had photos of the event, he asked if we would e-mail some to him so that he could see which one.  We were all glad it had a happy ending!

It was already starting to get warm when we got back to the lodge at 09:30 but we all tucked into a wonderful breakfast and then headed back to our tent or the lobby to relax and read or (for me) do yesterday’s blog and start this one. A group of Masai came in to perform for the guests and I managed to get two of them to give me a private modelling session for which I paid them fairly. The young girl told me the hours she has put into her beaded collars, which is designed to attract a handsome warrior. Without the tourism industry here, life might be much tougher for them. The photo of the boy above shows the beaded regalia they wear...the girls have even more....but that nice collar he is wearing is now mine!

Colin and I went back to our luxury tent and sat on the porch while the monkeys played on the rafters above our heads or lounged on the railing. They are cute as anything but we have to zip and tie the tent securely or they will get in and destroy the place looking for anything edible. Before we could decide on whether or not a nap was in order, it was time to change batteries and head to the lodge for the afternoon drive. We've seen so many beautiful sights already that it's hard to pick out highlights but I have never seen so many Giraffes in one place at one time in my life. Can you imagine seeing one in the distance and as you get closer you start to see two, then three, then four and on and on. There was a small herd of Oryx, with long straight horns...so lovely. A large herd of Zebras meandered around us and endless bright birds. I'm loving all the weaver birds and the Acatia trees filled with their little woven nests.

It was back to the lodge for a quick shower and then to the lobby to download photos and try to post e-mails etc before dinner is served. We are both in bed and asleep by 09:30 but there is something magical about falling asleep to the sound of the bells around the necks of the small camel herd across the river. The beds in this lodge are a bit hard but it hasn't kept either of us awake for long.

I've hardly been through my photos so I'm just picking a few from the day to post. I think it will be at least a week's worth of looking before anything gets on the website. Until next time, love and hugs to all.