After seeing my acacia tree post yesterday, Star innocently asked "Do you have any more Africa pictures?" Does the beach have grains of sand? This was the most incredible trip I have ever taken, and I love to share it with others.

After a night at the Norfolk Hotel in Nairobi -- yes, that Norfolk Hotel, the one that was blown up, and where kings and authors and all kinds of famous people have stayed --we moved on to Sweetwater's Tented Camp. It is a private camp, so we were allowed to do a night drive. Two lionesses and four cubs were hunting. They got right up against the wheels of the Land Rover and used the headlights to help them drive game. First they chased a cape buffalo. He came tearing around the corner of the Land Rover, so close I could have reached out and touched him (if I had very quick reflexes) with a lioness is pursuit. You know how you see it on tv where the cat reaches out to the prey's hind legs and the next thing you know the prey is down?.... well, I saw that instant when she should have reached out, but she didn't. She let the buffalo get away. Then she chased a zebra. She let it get away. By now, the whole park was full of the smell of hunting lions and even the elephants were trumpeting and running away. Finally, the lioness caught a rabbit -- yes, a fluffy bunny. She toyed with it, she paraded it in front of her cubs, but she obviously wasn't hungry. We were pretty certain that she was only teaching her cubs to hunt.
In the morning we were able to watch the animals come to the watering hole. BTW, Animal Kingdom at Disney World does a good job of re-creating this, and the watering hole at Animal Kingdom Lodge looks just like the one at Sweetwater's. Our morning began with the sound of "Jambo!" accompanied by a knock on the tent flap. When I unzipped the flap, there was a woman with a tray holding a pot of coffee.
A cup of hot coffee, the cold air (because it's high elevation) an African sunrise and giraffes drinking right before your eyes -- incredible.

We stopped at Jane Goodall's Chimp Refuge, not the compound where she studied Fifi, Frodo, et al., but a sanctuary for chimps that were neglected and/or abused in captivity. They are all neurotic and several of them have physical ailments as well from being kept in small cages, but they are living out their lives in an area with trees and streams and tall grass -- and a big fence around it to keep out the predators, as they have no survival skills.

This is the lobby of our hotel at the Samburu Game Reserve. The cool, wet washcloths we received when we returned from our game drives, were so welcome to wipe off the dust.
We took two drives a day, leaving right after sunrise and getting back just in time for lunch, and an afternoon drive which got us back just about dark.






There were small monkeys everywhere, apparently very mischievious, because there were signs warning us to keep our cabin door closed. Samburu is in the lowlands, and it was the only place on our whole trip where it was hot. But we kept the door closed, anyway.






We traveled by Land Rover. The animals think they are rocks; they are totally unaware there are humans inside -- or maybe they think we're not worth the effort to kill. These seat 6, and there is room for everyone to stand and take pictures at the same time. [Side note: if you get the chance to go to Africa, you cannot take too much memory for your camera. Trust me on this.] The 1st day we were so awed to see one giraffe, or one elephant -- I even have a picture of elephant dung. After several days in Africa, while you're still snapping pictures constantly, you do develop some discernment.

Samburu has a lot of elephants. Elephants are known for having stong family bonds, and they will even gather around a strange dead elephant and apparently mourn for it, so when this baby was having a hard time scrambling up the river bank, I expected one of the group to come give it some help. But no. That little one had to do it entirely on its own, and it was only when the group started to move off that it got the strength to get onto shore. Who knew that elephants practice tough love?




One male impala, one harem. There is always a group of bachelors nearby, just waiting for their chance to steal some females, or to challenge the top impala to a fight. The female on the left made a run for it. The male first tried to talk her back with a "phffffft" sound. I'm still not sure if that was sweet talk or Woman, get back here!, but whatever it was, it didn't work. So he took off after her. As soon as he left, several others got the idea to run. The male was racing around, trying to herd them all up, and losing more of them with every minute. I just kept thinking, wouldn't this be a whole lot easier if you only had one female? (Oh, such a feminist!)

We visited a Samburu village one morning. They are related to the Masai. The government has turned most of their traditional hunting lands into game preserves, so they have had to find other ways to earn a living. Their chief was educated at Cambridge University (had a beautiful British accent), but returned to his village. He is not trying to change their culture, but he is trying to improve their living standard.
Visitors pay $20 a head to come to the village. The money is being used to build a school and a clinic and to improve sanitation. People here still die of malaria, or from crocodile or lion attacks. The women greet you with songs and dances; later you are invited to dance with them. The women in Africa do everything: build the house, grow the crops, raise the children, fetch the water, cook the food... The men take care of the livestock (until they have a son old enough to do it) and protect the family from lions. Now before you men think, gee, I should move to Africa, let me tell you that they are circumcised at age 10. Ouch, right? Unfortunately, the women are circumcised, too. The government is trying to mount a campaign against it, but the men will not marry an uncircumcised woman, and she has no status unless she's married, so........

The house in the picture is made of sticks. The roof is cow dung. This, to me, was a step up from the Masai, whose entire house is made of cow dung. We went inside this house. It is very dark and they keep a fire smoking all the time for mosquito protection. There was a bed about the size of a crib mattress in one corner. "This is where the man sleeps." In the other corner, maybe 3 steps away, was something the size of a chair. "This is where the woman and her children sleep."

I enjoyed dancing with the women (can you tell?) I didn't buy a necklace, but I did buy one of the headbands and a bunch of bracelets. I also bought a wooden doll, complete with hair and beads, that still smells of wood smoke. They are such beautiful, friendly people.






The children were the best of all. These are the elementary school-age ones; the older ones walk either 3 miles in 5 hours, or 5 miles in 3 hours, I can't remember which, to go to school. These children sang us songs, including one with a verse: "one two, comb hair; three four, brush teeth; five six wash face; seven eight, all clean!"
The boy in the green shirt had a gorgeous voice; he would sing the line and the rest of the children would sing it after him. (I know there's a name for that, but don't know what it is.) There are plans to build a school in the village; that's what the admission fee is for. The two little ones in the front stole our hearts. The baby in pink (it's really hard to tell if they're boys or girls) got shy, started crying, and ran off. The one in black left the group and fetched the other one back. He (maybe she?) held the other one's hand for the rest of the program and was so sweet.

I've typed all I can for now, and if anyone's read this far, you're probably worn out, too. I'll do another installment soon.