Last of their kind

 15 Jan 2024

I slept reasonably well but woke with a bout of intestinal distress, whether from the anti-malarial or the copious amount of veggies I’ve eaten in the last couple days, I’m not sure.  I feel fine, just gurgly.  I had another shower and started to pack before breakfast, then met Johnson and some of the other folks for a late breakfast at 8.  Most everyone I knew here has left or is leaving, so I’d be lonely if I stayed, but I really don’t want to go.  This camp is lovely, welcoming and more than comfortable.  I could easily take up residence.

I had scrambled eggs, a muffin, mango and pineapple for breakfast, alone with a cup of coffee.  I had a nice chat with one of the camp managers Daniella, who works for Tauck tours when she’s not here.  It is interesting to hear the many stories of a tour manager, and reinforces my hunch that I could never, ever deal with people all the time like that.  She said she loves to travel, except when she’s leading tours.  I kind of figured that.  Keep your happy place your happy place, and don’t make it a job.

Johnson drove me to the gate of this conservancy where I was picked up by someone at Kicheche for the rest of the drive.  It took about an hour to leave the conservancy itself.  When I gave him his tip, I also gave him a 4Ocean beaded bracelet that I’d brought for each guide.  I explained to him that by buying that, it funds the cleanup of a pound of ocean trash, and he was very touched by it and asked me to put it on him.  He was such a nice guy.  I always hate leaving my really good guides, and I will certainly miss the life of luxury at Lewa Wilderness, such an amazing camp.

Peter will be my guide at Kicheche Laikipia.  He is the lead guide here and coincidentally I’d just seen an Instagram post about some great sightings he’s had with guests lately.  We drove the two hours on a highway (40 mph) through Nanyuki, the major town here, and then to Ol Pejeta Conservancy.  I’d been here in 2014 on my first Kenyan safari, but don’t remember much about it since it was my first stop and I was such a newbie.

There wasn’t much to see along the way but some huts masquerading as stores with “God’s Favoured General Store” or “God’s Favoured Nail Salon”.  I did not have time to stop to inquire about how one becomes God’s Favoured anything, but you never know…

Anita is the camp manager here and she greeted me excitedly.  We did the camp walk through and lunch was served quickly thereafter.  My tent is similar to other Kicheche tents and is definitely a far cry from my little chalet in Lewa!!  I’m back to tented walls!

Lunch was a great smorgasbord for vegetarians.  A zucchini boat filled with diced veggies and cheese.  A chick pea salad.  A sweet corn salad.  Bread and cheese.  And a sugary cornet filled with cream stuck into a tree tomato (tastes like kiwi kind of!)

The whole drive here, I was planning to seriously crash and nap after lunch but it turns out that I’m off to meet the last two northern white rhinos on the planet.  Literally the last of their species.  I’ve been looking forward to that, so rally I will!

The trip to the rhinos was of course wonderful.  Not that I celebrate that there are only two northern white rhinos left, but what a wonderful thing the conservancy is doing by talking about it and having the rhinos serve as brand ambassadors for their cause.

We arrived and were met by a ranger who looked very familiar to me.  It was Zacharia, who I recognized from several Ami Vitale interviews and videos I’ve watched.  She is a renown wildlife photographer who has covered the rhinos’ story for years.  Zacharia is the keeper for the rhinos.  I told him I recognized him and how and he said Ami is actually in Kenya now to cover the rhino translocation later this week (moving rhinos from here to another conservancy because they actually have reached the limit here on numbers that are sustainable).

Peter drove us into the rhinos’ enclosure and Zacharia called them over. It is Najin and Fatu and a third rhino, a wild born southern white rhino who was brought here to teach Najin and Fatu how to be a rhino. They’d both been raised in zoos and didn’t know how and were also eating poorly.  Fatu and her southern friend are thick as thieves and tend to bully Najin, so Najin’s horn has been left long and pointy to defend herself against the bullies, whose horns have been trimmed for her safety.

The rhinos were eagerly picking up the snacks pellets that Zacharia had dropped for them to get them close to us.  Once Fatu thought all hers were gone, she came right over to me in the vehicle looking for more!  Zacharia was telling us about their behaviors and how they’re taken care of, and he answered our many questions.

They’ve gathered dozens of embryos from Fatu and are waiting for the right time to implant them in one of six wild-born southern white rhinos who have been brought here to act as surrogates.  What I found extremely interesting is that the scientists will determine which rhino to impregnate by bringing in a sterile male to gauge when the female is in estrus.  When he tries to mount one to mate, the scientists will implant her.  I would have thought that scientists and vets would be closely monitoring hormone levels through blood or urine testing, but apparently this is more accurate!

Once we left the girls, we visited Baraka, the blind black rhino that lives here also.  I’d visited him in 2014 so I knew what to expect, but it’s still fun feeding him and scratching his ears.  He’s taken to breaking out of his enclosure overnight and knocking over trees all over the grounds.  He may be blind but he’s still mischievous!

We left the sanctuary and quickly happened upon a lion pride that was made up of a male, 4 females, 1 sub-adult male (the pride male’s son, very close to being kicked out of the pride as he ages) and 3 tiny 2 month old cubs.  I was smitten.  Any lion encounter is celebrated, but when there are three little ones in the mix, I’m over the moon.  I love to listen to their chirps and contented sighs as they nursed and loved to watch them play just like my cats do.  But what was really weird about this pride was the Dad was actively mating with one of the females (not the cubs’ mom).  Usually lions go off and “honeymoon” away from the pride for 5 days or so.  But not these two.  Every 5 minutes or so they were up and at it.  And the male lion was not in a good move.  The cranky old guy made a couple of swats at the cubs who just wanted to say “hey daddy”.  It was absolutely wonderful to start off my stay like this, even if there was so much going on it was hard to know where to look: cute cubs, grouchy dad, nuzzling sisters, mating lions.  Yikes!

We were the last to leave the lions just as it was nearly completely dark. We drove maybe 10 minutes and suddenly off the right side of the road strolled a leopard.  Yes, for a second night in a row I’m seeing a leopard in the dark!  Peter was so excited, he said he almost never sees them here.  She was absolutely gorgeous and put up with us as we backed up and waited for her to pass us again, over and over.    At one point she was sitting up tall and pretty in the middle of the street, as if she knew she was good looking.  I was ecstatic.

It’s funny, I heard next to nothing in terms of overnight wildlife noise while I was in Lewa, but while typing here tonight, I’ve heard elephants, zebra and hyena.  It may not be the quiet night of sleep I’m hoping for.

Dinner tonight was gnocchi starter, fish and mashed potato croquettes for the entree and vanilla panna cotta for dessert.  It was all so good!

Back for dinner late because of the leopard situation and early to bed.  We’re up and out for 6 am tomorrow.