East Africa

Day 28: Samburu, Kenya (Samburu Simba Lodge)
We slept late, up at 6 a.m. That extra half hour felt like a wonderful luxury.

By 7:30 a.m., our safari jeep was rolling out for a day of wildlife and storytelling. Our guide, Sande (pronounced Sandy), began the morning with a history lesson on the Luo, his tribe, and the Luhya peoples, neighboring tribes who were displaced when the British expropriated their fertile highlands during colonial rule.

The Luo, a Nilotic group, arrived after the Bantu-speaking Luhya had already settled the region. Although there was some friction when the Luo “elbowed” their way into Luhya territory, there were no serious battles, and the two tribes eventually intermarried. Their real rivalry today plays out on soccer fields, where each tribe passionately supports its own team.

As we entered Buffalo Springs National Reserve, female impalas gathered in their “ladies’ clubs,” sandgrouse and Namaqua doves darted across the road, and a male Grant’s gazelle strutted past with grass tangled in his horns. Sande explained that the gazelle’s white underside helps repel flies, a natural defense in a land where insects rule.

Some reach 17 feet high and function like a giant lung. The colony actually lives underground. The mound, made of soil, saliva and dung, acts as a ventilation system, keeping the chambers below at a stable temperature. We all knew termites eat wood, but it was surprising to learn that some species also consume animal bones. The cycle of life at work and the value of creatures that “take out” the garbage.

Fifteen minutes later, we spotted both zebra species that define this region, the familiar plains zebra and the rarer Grevy’s zebra, with thin stripes, white bellies and oversized ears. One startled zebra bolted noisily into the brush, leaving us to wonder what had spooked him. Moments later, we found fresh leopard tracks pressed into the dusty road.

Strangler figs clung to acacia trunks, and weaver nests clustered together where the wind had fused them. We drove past Shaba National Reserve, known as “the Jewel,” where Joy Adamson once raised the famous lioness Elsa.

By 9 a.m., we arrived at a Samburu village, where the culture closely mirrors that of the Maasai. We danced with villagers, browsed and bought handmade jewelry, and stepped inside a six-person hut built of sticks, mud and dung, with a cowhide roof and metal reinforcements along the sides.

Although traditionally nomadic, this community has stayed in one place for five years so children can attend school. A young man who teaches preschool outdoors demonstrated a lesson in numbers and the alphabet. When the children reach primary school age, they walk about 8 kilometers to class.

The tribe lost its cattle during a recent drought and now temporarily relies on goats and craft sales.

Leaving the village, we passed a British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK) site, where soldiers undergo “hardship training.” They are dropped at 3 a.m. with only a GPS and retrieved many hours later. Nearby, locals pointed out a crater left by a long-ago bomb. Today it serves as a swimming hole believed to offer blessings to those who enter.
Birdlife punctuated the drive, including glossy black-feathered drongos, mourning doves and the white-headed buffalo weaver, whose chirps sound like rubber soles squeaking on a basketball court.

After a midday break, we set out again at 4 p.m. Highlights included the white-browed go-away bird, the elegant gerenuk and giraffes delicately stripping acacia leaves. Sande explained the intricate system of glands, orbital, temporal and interdigital, that animals use to mark territory.

By sunset, dik-diks, crocodiles, Somali bee-eaters, elephants and giraffes rounded out the day’s sightings.

The kind of day you never forget and long to return to.

Tamela is a proofreader and book editor; she hosts paint parties for adults, art and drama camp for kids, and is the art teacher at May River Montessori. www.tamelamaxim.com www.artposseproductions.com