I lied about one thing: I DID miss good, hot showers. I’m still giddy about having them again. And there was so much electricity this morning that my hair dryer actually worked normally! There were several flavors of fruit juice to choose from for breakfast: red Tree Tomato, Pawpaw, Watermelon, Mango, Orange, Passion Fruit. The Tree Tomato juice was thick and sweet. The Passion Fruit has become my favorite.
As we loaded into the Land Rover we were told that the Elephant Rescue group in Nairobi had been contacted and that a vet was coming to see about the little injured elephant. One of the conservationists had located the elephant and was keeping tabs on it. I was relieved.
The Sykes Monkeys bid their adieu and we saw several Bush Bucks and some Colobus Monkeys as we drove towards our next destination. The scenery was hilly with farms built into the steep slopes. It looked like very hard work to tend those crops.
We stopped when we reached the Equator. Since I had been to the Equator in Uganda, I was less impressed this time, especially since the sign and the demonstration weren’t nearly as well-done as the ones in Uganda. But it was John’s first time to be on the Equator so we watched their water demonstration (to remind you, water flows clockwise north of the Equator, counter-clockwise south of the Equator and straight down when right on the Equator) and we got our picture in front of their sign.When we arrived at the Sweetwater Game Reserve in the heart of the Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Reuben took us on a game drive before taking us to the hotel. We saw the cutest little Wart Hog babies running along with their mother. Reuben explained that Wart Hogs run with their tails pointed towards the sky so that when they are in high grass, the young ones can see the older ones. There’s certainly no shortage of Wart Hogs here!
Upon arrival at the Camp, we were handed hot towels and fresh pineapple juice. The main building houses the Reception, a TV lounge, the dining room and a bar with a very large double-sided fireplace. Our room – or rather, our TENT – was situated across a ditch (and on the opposite side of a fence) from a watering hole. The tent was the coolest thing ever! The bedroom area has twin beds, an armoire, night stands and electric lamps. There’s a zip-up partition between the bedroom and bathroom area. The bathroom has vinyl flooring over the tent floor with complete indoor plumbing. The water is heated by a wood-burning stove behind the tent. And we have a front porch. I felt a little silly about stopping at the Equator when I saw the sign on the property showing that this camp is situated at exactly 0°Latitude.
The temperature is warmer now that we’re down from the mountain, but it’s still only about 60°. So when we were seated for lunch at a table next to a family of 3, all in very short shorts, I couldn’t help but to notice. Then again, it could have been 98° outside and I still would have noticed the husband. He was about 5’8”, thin, mid-30’s, had a mustache… and he was wearing the shortest, tightest shorts I’ve ever seen on a man in real life. He was the spitting image of Lt. Dangle from Comedy Central’s show “Reno 911”! They turned out to be a very nice family from France. And John and I still laugh about our African encounter with “Lt. Dangle”.
John was still trying to adjust to the time difference and I was up much of the night watching the watering hole at the Mountain Lodge, so we napped until our 3:30 excursion to the Chimpanzee Refuge. Oh, those sweet animals! I would have given anything to hug one of them, but the Conservancy does their best to create a wild habitat for them and interaction isn’t allowed. After leaving the Chimp Refuge, we went on a game drive across the Sweetwater Reserve. Today’s sightings included: Mammals:
- Grant’s Gazelles
- Thompson Gazelles
- Impalas
- Wart Hogs
- Plains Zebras
- Baboons
- Rothschild Giraffe
- Cape Buffalo
- Silver-backed Jackals
- Water Bucks
- A lone bull Elephant
- Chimpanzees
- The snout ONLY of a Hippo
- African Hare
Birds
- Superb Starlings and other Starling varieties
- Helmeted Guinea Fowl
- Blacksmith Plover
- Tropical Boubou
- Grosse Starline
- Coucal
- Egyptian Geese
- Yellow-billed Oxpeckers
Back at the Camp, we ‘cozied up’ to the fireplace with some hot tea and chatted with some of the other guests until dinner time. At every hotel, they’ve told us to keep our rooms closed up to keep out the monkeys and baboons. One of the guests told us how the baboons had figured out how to open their tent and then rifled through all of their things today. Oh well!I love the open space of this Reserve. I love seeing all of the animals. And I love being together with John again after so many weeks apart. It’s been an awesome day! The wind is blowing in a soothing way, there are hot water bottles in our beds and sleeping in this tent is going to be great.
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