Memorable Moments in Kenya

Living on the foothills of Mount Kenya in a rhino sanctuary for three months gave me many memorable moments. My three month stay was a result of my volunteer conservation efforts, and as research for my Masters degree in Environmental Science. For the first two months, I lived in a large army style tent at the "research camp". The research camp was a location with three of these army style tents, a small one-room brick building which served as our kitchen, shower, research lab, and dry cellar to keep our food (refrigeration was not an option!), and a newly renovated home converted into Lewa Conservancy's Conservation Center. The research camp was ideally located near the center of the sanctuary (thus I had a lot of friends stopping by to make sure I was comfortable), and next to the Lewa Swamp which kept us in constant view of wildlife traveling to and from the swamp.

The evenings were crisp and cool at an altitude of 6,000 feet, and the days research, hiking, and chores gave us reason to go to bed at an early 9:00 p.m. most evenings. When we retired from the campfire, we nestled into our warm sleeping bags (after checking them for animal life with the light from our kerosene lantern!) As we fell asleep, we could hear zebra and impala having skirmishes, hyenas battling over a "kill" and waterbuck chewing on grasses along the tents. One night, while fast asleep, we were startled awake by an Elephant sneeze! Six bull elephants were within 50 feet of our now seemingly small tent, casting looming shadows over the tent as they fed quietly. Elephants only sleep for a few minutes at a time all day and night so we were likely to have encounters with them at any time. I was often delayed on my hikes or game drives by elephants in the road. "Elephant in the road" was actually a good excuse to be late for a meeting.

Many evenings, the managers of the sanctuary and their families would invite us atop Tim's hill to have a "sun-downer." Tim's hill was a mountain near the center of the 65,000 acre sanctuary which gave us a beautiful view of the sanctuary, the bordering mountains and valleys to the north, and Mount Kenya to our east. We would sit atop the mountain in awe of the wildlife and beautiful scenery while the sun would set, listening to stories detailing dangerous encounters with Cape buffalo, elephants, and leopards, and discussions on sanctuary management, community development, tourism, and game hunting. The children, which will someday run the sanctuary, laughed and played like all other children, hiding their impressive knowledge of their surroundings and the wildlife until they had something to point out to you. These families have dedicated their lives to saving the wildlife and ecosystems they live in, and their love of the land gave me goose-bumps. Not only have they dedicated their lives to this effort, but they have also turned the land they owned into a Wildlife Conservancy, which means it can only be used for wildlife preservation...forever!

I attended a meeting with representatives of the communities surrounding the Sanctuary discussing conservation issues. We flew into a dusty dirt runway in the middle of the African bush. Samburu tribesmen, with braided hair and faces dyed red with clay, were our escorts up the mountain to a thatched roof, open air shelter where our meeting took place. As the Samburu neared the entrance of the hut, they all placed their spears into a common bush, making it look like a colorful porcupine. The Kenya Wildlife Service, private land owners, myself, and nearly 100 Samburu tribesmen attended the 3 hour meeting (I was one of the very few women present, as this is mans business in Africa!) The meeting was mainly held in Swahili, so I understood little of the discussion but knew the goal of this meeting - the 65,000 acre Lewa Downs Conservancy is surrounded by 145,000 acres of common wildlife area. Although this common wildlife area is not fenced and guarded as is Lewa, it will be protected from poachers by the Samburu who will be trained in anti-poaching tactics. One of the most essential aspect of conservation is the participation of the surrounding communities by making conservation a means of employment and livelihood. Lewa Wildlife Conservancy has done this since its inception. The meeting ended with a lunch of goat stew from the very goat that had been paraded past us and presented to the hosts of the meeting just a few hours earlier. Needless to say, I went hungry on a few occasions.

I was able to view wildlife from the air, from a Land Rover, on foot (sometimes alone for hours) but my most memorable view of wildlife was on horseback. On several occasions, I had the joy of riding horseback through the sanctuary in the late afternoon with only the sounds of wildlife and the wind to break the peaceful silence. On horseback, the wildlife saw humans as just another animal so we were able to casually walk right past elephant, giraffe, warthogs, zebra,baboon and the rarely seen, elusive dik dik and black - backed jackal. As the sun set, I rode back to camp passing animals quietly sleeping, grazing and playing in the protected safe haven of Lewa Wildlife Conservancy. It is a great feeling to be a part of this success story as are all participants of the Bowling For Rhinos Fund raiser which supports LWC.