Western Sahara 2016

Western Sahara 2016

Friday 17 May 2013

Two years of blogging comes to a close....

For those of you that follow my blog, you may have noticed that blog posts have been a little thin on the ground recently. I originally set my blog up to keep a record of my travels during my belated “gap year”. As you know, my travels led me to Kenya where I have spent the best part of the last 18 months working at a safari lodge on Lewa Downs in northern Kenya. How time flies when you are having fun. I’ve now decided to stay a little longer – frankly the economic situation in the UK, not to mention the atrocious weather is a little off putting – so for the foreseeable future I will be taking on the job of lodge manager.

Part of my new job has been to set up and run the Facebook page for the lodge – uploading photos and details of events that have occurred and raising awareness of what an amazing lodge Lewa Wilderness Trails is. With that in mind, I now think it is time to bring my own blog to a close. For those that still want a snapshot of my daily life on Lewa, then check out www.facebook.com/LewaWilderness and like us on Facebook!

I had always planned to include in my final blog a list of some of the top experiences and places visited over the past two years, so – in no particular order - here goes….

-          Swimming with whale sharks in Mozambique

-          Snorkelling with manta rays in Coral Bay, Western Australia

-          Getting crazily close to rhinos whilst walking on Lewa

-          Riding with lions on Lewa

-          White water rafting the White Nile, Uganda

-          Seeing mountain gorillas in Uganda

-          Horse riding in Lake Malawi

-          The White Desert, Egypt

-          Visiting the mountain kingdom of Lesotho via the Sani Pass

-          Bunji jumping off Bloukrans Bridge, South Africa

-          The Taj Mahal, India

-          The holy city of Varanasi on the River Ganges, India

-          Sky diving over Abel Tasman National Park, New Zealand

-          Hiking the Routeburn Track, New Zealand

-          Flying in the biplane over Lewa and Samburu

-          Galloping along the Wilderness airstrip at sunrise with the biplane flying alongside

-          Awesome Odyssey times with great people (Odyssey is the company I did my Cairo to Cape Town trip with)

-          Seeing cheetah cubs

-          Spotting wild dog

-          Staying at Rutundu, Mount Kenya (where Wills and Kate got engaged!

And there are many many more besides. All in all, when I reflect on the past two years, life has been pretty damn good. So goodbye for now, thanks for reading – don’t forget to check out Facebook – and I will blog again next time I go on my travels. Not sure when that will be, but – given my wanderlust - the chances are it will happen again sometime…

Monday 22 April 2013

Rainy season

Well, the photos I've just posted of the horses were taken a couple of months ago before the rains. The grass on Lewa is now a beautiful emerald green after a massive deluge of rain just over a week ago. It literally rained for four days and nights which is very unusual. Roads were impassable and previously dry rivers were in full flow. The mud was something else and I was not out of wellington boots for about a week! It reminded me somewhat of living in Britain except here no one complains about the rain.

Back to normality now and sunshine and blue skies. We had a very naughty elephant come into camp a couple of nights ago. He decided to take a walk through the stable yard taking down fences en route and then destroying a large yellow fever acacia tree that overlooks the yard! He tried to come back last night but after a few rounds of gunfire (not at him obviously - just into the sky to scare him off), he thought better of it and has hopefully learnt he is not welcome.

Went for a lovely walk the other morning, along the river and then up into the hills. Saw a crocodile basking on the river bank. Having seen signs of a buffalo, we were then tentatively walking up the hill through scrubby bushland when Rakita (the guide) grabs my arm and beckons me to follow him quickly. My heart stopped for a moment as I feared we had happened upon the buffalo - probably the most aggressive and dangerous animal on Lewa. To my relief, I did not need to scramble up a tree, Rakita's excitement was due to him having spotted two bushpigs which are incredibly elusive and hard to spot. Fortunately, we never did see the buffalo, but had an amazing time watching elephant and rhino, especially a mother and three month old white rhino lazing in the sunshine below us as we sat on a rock above them.

Sad times as horse numbers have now been reduced by one. 27 year old Lester reached the end of the road after many years of service as a fantastic guest horse. He has been slowly retiring for sometime, only coming out to provide much pleasure to small children as he takes them safely through the bush in the number two spot right behind the lead guide horse. Even some of the syces were sad to see him go. It was the only kind thing to do though as old age and arthritis were getting the better of him and he could no longer keep up with the herd. Lester was affectionately known as "mzee" which literally means old man in Swahili but is very much a term of respect. What was most endearing was that Finn (another mzee of the yard) always stayed with Lester close to home whilst the rest of the herd went further afield. I hope he is not missing his old friend too much.

Happy horses

The herd grazing contentedly on Lewa with Mount Kenya in the background
Being let out of the stables in the morning

Tuesday 9 April 2013

Peaceful times on Lewa

For the first time ever, I am spending the rainy season on Lewa. The last guests left on 4th April – after a thankfully rain free couple of days. The rain started with a vengeance before the end of March so some of the last guests of the season had their holidays somewhat interrupted by the rain. Probably a bit annoying when you can’t even fly into Lewa because of the weather. I quite like the rain here. It doesn’t do that British thing of raining all day every day. It usually rains very heavily for a couple of hours and then stops and the sun comes out. I’m less keen on the muddy stable yard and leaking stables but at least they too dry out quickly.

Now that the lodge has closed and the family are away, I have moved into the main house. I admit it – I don’t fancy the dark walk to my normal home at the end of the garden. Too much game comes wondering through the grounds when the lodge is closed and quiet, and the generator isn’t on as often. I don’t want to meet a lion en route to my room! Also, my house has a lot of leaks which isn’t great in a rainstorm. I have to strategically position all items so that they are not underneath one of the leaks. More to the point, I have the novelty of TV to watch each evening if I live in the main house – a luxury indeed…

So my current day goes something like this. Rise at 6.30am, head straight to stables, check and treat any sick horses, ride the polo ponies (which is equivalent to a morning workout in itself now that they’ve started canter work). Organise what jobs need doing at the stables that morning and then have a lovely peaceful leisurely breakfast on the verandah about 9am. No requirement for polite conversation with any guests – it’s just me and the dogs and a stunning vista to enjoy – may be with some giraffes or elephants to watch on the hillside.

Post breakfast, check the syces are actually doing the tasks they’ve been set, update any horse records, spend some time on the internet, read, swim, sunbathe – it’s a hard life… Then lunch (enjoyed in a similar vein to breakfast), followed by a siesta before afternoon stables at 4pm. Horses safely tucked up in their stables, happy, groomed and fed, it’s time for a bath and dinner in front of the TV. Although a lot of the staff go on leave during the closed season, there is still a cook, waitress, room steward, gardeners, maintenance teams, mechanics, night guard, etc. I am getting so used to being looked after, I sometimes wonder if I will actually be able to remember how to cook and clean for myself….

And finally, just a little snake story. I was sat in the office yesterday (as indeed I am now) when a snake falls out of the roof and lands on the floor next to me. I almost had a heart attack – it narrowly missed me!! It was a revolting, small, thin, bright green snake – yuck. I had to enlist the help of others to remove it. Even if it isn’t poisonous (which it wasn’t), I do not wish to share my office with it.

Thursday 21 March 2013

Ndonyo Wasin and Rutundu

Back at work after a lovely few days off. First stop was a trip up north camping out in the wilds of Samburu land. Kate and I took the tarmac road two hours north to the town of Sereolipi, before heading an hour into the bush to the village of Ndonyo Wasin. Home to the Thorntree project which sets up schools for Samburu children, we stayed in a very basic camp just outside of the village. Loved camping out in mosquito net tents and sleeping under the stars. We helped out in the school a bit, helping the kids with their reading, and filming videos to send to the sponsors. We also did some walking and visited the “singing wells”. As Samburu is such a dry area, water is a huge problem. In times of drought, the Samburu operate these singing wells in order to get water for their cattle. Teams of Samburu warriors (some of the wells are seven men deep) form a human chain to haul water up from deep in the ground, singing as they work.

Then it was back to Lewa for the night and a much needed shower, before heading up Mount Kenya to Rutundu. Major climate contrast from hot, dry, dusty Samburu to the freezing cold mountain climate. To get to Rutundu, you drive for about three hours from Lewa, through the fertile farmland on the lower slopes, then into the forest, before emerging onto the moorland. It is one seriously bumpy road! The accommodation at Rutundu is two log cabins set above a lake. This is the place to go if you want complete seclusion from the world. There is no electricity, no mobile phone reception, and no other human habitation for miles. Rutundu is in fact the very place that William proposed to Kate – well, if it’s good enough for royalty then it’s good enough for me…. It is a beautiful spot. There is nothing to do apart from enjoy the splendid isolation, walk and fish. The lake is well stocked with trout – it must be because even I caught a small one! I had intended to put it back but I think it sustained serious head injuries when I dropped it so we ate it that night – at least it didn’t die in vain. I was trying to get a Chris and Ben style photo of me and my fish but I underestimated how slippery these fish are, hence it landed on its head in the bottom of the boat!! By the way, whilst catching a fish was quite exciting, I still don’t see the attraction of fishing – far too much sitting around waiting and getting cold for me…
 

Saturday 2 March 2013

One of my favourite mornings on Lewa ever...

Picture this. Kate and I riding flat out along the airstrip, clouds of dust billowing behind our horses galloping hooves, the sun coming up, the yellow biplane flying alongside us – what an amazing way to start the day. All in aid of a photo shoot for the new website. The horses (Watamu and McCalli) loved it too. They were so engrossed in racing each other that they weren’t in the slightest bit perturbed by having a noisy biplane flying next to them – what fantastic horses. Obviously, being a photo shoot, we had to repeat the process quite a few times to get the perfect shot and stopping the horses at the end of the airstrip became more and more of a challenge. Aching arms the next day but worth it for the adrenalin buzz of riding flat out!! The two jackals hanging out at the end of the airstrip also seemed to think it was good entertainment to watch.

After breakfast, on to the camels for more photos. A giraffe kindly walked alongside us to create a beautiful shot against the backdrop of a crystal clear Mount Kenya. And we spotted three cheetah lying on a termite mound whilst riding the camels. Then in the afternoon, I saw three lions on a game drive very close up. A lioness and the two biggest male lions I have ever seen. Having recently killed a Grevy zebra, they were so full they could barely move and were not the slightest bit bothered about the car being parked just a few feet from them.

Went on a lovely early evening walk yesterday along the river that flows beneath the lodge. Saw the tail of a scarily large looking crocodile which then slithered off the bank into the water and disappeared from sight. We waited a while, but it never reappeared so we walked cautiously onwards! We then came across a herd of elephants which we got quite close to, ensuring that we stayed downwind so that they didn’t smell us. And then finally we came upon the remains of the zebra carcass from the lion kill. Fascinating, albeit slightly morbid, to see how the stripy skin had been peeled back, the head still completely intact, but just bones left of the main body as every piece of meat had been taken. The remains won’t be there for much longer as the hyenas will be along to take care of the rest of the carcass. Nature’s way of cleaning up.

Tuesday 19 February 2013

A charging elephant, a missing cat and a wedding

In my last blog, I wrote that there are a huge number of elephants on Lewa at the moment. So clearly, it was only a matter of time before a charging incident. We are on a lovely morning ride with some guests heading up the hill when we come round the corner and encounter a herd of elephants. Not on the track blocking our way but close enough that it could be a problem. So we continue walking quietly by trying not to disturb them, but straightaway a young bull elephant starts walking towards us with purpose, flapping his ears and most definitely not happy. We start trotting to try and give the herd the space they want, but that wasn’t enough for this elephant. He starts trumpeting and running, we start cantering up the hill. The elephant is now on the track and running up behind us fast making very loud angry trumpeting sounds. It was fortunate that we had a good track ahead of us because he followed us for quite some time before he gave up the chase. To be honest, it was really fun – the horses loved an excuse to gallop up the hill, the guests loved the adrenalin rush (fortunately they were all experienced riders), and everyone had a good story to tell at breakfast.

Sad times though, my friendly little tortoiseshell cat has now been missing, presumed dead, for a week - probably eaten by a leopard whilst on her night time wanderings. It is not the same now when I go up to the stables each morning. The two cats would always come bounding across the yard to greet me – not because they love me so much, they just want their breakfast! Now I just have one sad little tabby cat who misses her sister desperately… They would sleep curled up together, wash each other, and play and fight together so she really doesn’t know what to do with herself now that she is alone.

For the first time ever on Lewa, I found it necessary to wear a dress. The wedding of Will and Emma’s niece took place last weekend up on the hillside near Pombe Rocks. Kate and I got invited to the evening dinner and dancing and - after stressing greatly about what to wear - had a lovely time and a very late night. It’s all very well wearing a dress during the day but it is freezing once the sun goes down, hence our what to wear dilemma! The trick is to keep dancing so you don’t feel the cold…

Sunday 3 February 2013

A Snake in my Room

For someone who doesn’t like snakes, there is nothing more traumatic than, whilst sitting on the toilet, suddenly seeing a snake dart across your room and catch a lizard!! Squirrels and lizards I can cope with in my room – even squirrels that try and get into my chocolate supplies – but snakes I draw the line at. Guide to the rescue to remove said snake from my room pronto, although they assured me that it wasn’t a poisonous one…

The last week of January has been a quiet one guest wise, so I’ve been on a few excursions. A day trip to the Tana River – not that we ever quite made it to the point we planned to get to due to a lack of passable roads, but we found a river that runs into the Tana. A fun day out and we got a few interesting looks as I don’t think they see too many muzungus (white people) in that area.

Also took a trip up to Borana, the neighbouring ranch to Lewa, to visit a friend. Had a great time riding on Borana as it is great riding country with lots of hills and forests - not as much game as on Lewa but very pretty scenery. After riding, we took a trip by car into the Ngare Ndare Forest and went to the waterfalls. As we were supposedly on a recce to find horse riding routes, we were ill equipped for swimming but the water looked so inviting that we jumped in clothes and all regardless. Icy cold water but most invigorating!

Another great morning out was buggying and quad biking. Some friends have set up a business offering trips by motorised buggies and quad bikes. They are great fun for exploring areas outside the conservancy as long as you are prepared to get seriously dirty and dusty! The buggies, which take one driver and one passenger, are great for off-roading and a lot more comfortable than a car for bumpy African roads.

Lewa seems to be teeming with elephants at the moment. They say elephants are incredibly intelligent so perhaps they know that poaching is on the increase in Kenya and that they are safer inside Lewa than outside (Lewa has never lost an elephant to poachers). However, elephants and horses don’t get along so well and I’ve encountered a few angry eles on rides recently. A lot of ear flapping and rumbling noises if you get too close to them. Quite fun as long as they don’t decide to full on charge you!
 

Tuesday 22 January 2013

Bottle feeding a baby rhino

I got to bottle feed a baby rhino!! Something I imagine that not many people can say they have done. Six month old Nicky is a blind black rhino who was found at two months old with his mother. Although she was no doubt doing her best to care for him, his blindness was making it hard for him to cope in the wild and he had already been attacked by hyenas. One of his ears is rather torn as a result of that attack. As black rhinos are so endangered and his chances of survival were slim if left with his mother, Lewa Wildlife Conservancy decided to bring him in and hand rear him. He lives at the headquarters and has 24 hour care. One of his two keepers is always with him, even sleeping alongside him at night. If his blanket falls off, he jumps on his keeper to get him to tuck him back in again – how sweet!! After a shaky start, Nicky is doing really well and it is looking very hopeful that his eyes can be operated on and his sight restored. Ultimately, he will be able to be released back into the wild which would be wonderful. With rhino poaching escalating at an alarming rate, every single rhino is so vital to ensure these incredible animals don’t become extinct.

Would love to upload a photo of the gorgeous Nicky at this point but the internet is too slow. That said, he is something of an internet sensation. If you google "blind baby rhino", lots of pictures and news articles will come up on him! He has been successfully fundraising for his sight restoring operation by using the fact that Prince William spent his gap year at Lewa.

Tuesday 15 January 2013

Sarara Camp, Samburu land

Animal update first. The cats have been spayed. I really should have got my cats spayed sooner but I’ve never seen any other cats around Lewa so I thought they were safe. So I was not too pleased to one morning see my little female tabby cat following a big black tom cat around!! Whisked them off to the vets to discover she wasn’t pregnant but her tortoiseshell sister was at least 3 weeks pregnant with four kittens so she must have met the tom cat some time ago. Suffice to say they are now both spayed (I feel like a kitten murderer) and back home after an overnight stay at the vets. Rather a traumatic experience for them both as they did not appreciate being bundled into a dog crate and a long car journey to Nanyuki. They are now wearing plastic bucket collars for two weeks so that they can’t pick at their stitches. They are very cross with me as this rather impedes their freedom and they can’t whizz around the stable rafters and hunt rats like they used to because the stupid collars get in their way.

On the subject of neutering animals, Santa has also been castrated. As the vet was coming up to the area, it seemed sensible to get him done as in another few months he will probably start getting interested in mares. I really enjoyed assisting the vet with the operation and it all went very smoothly until it was time for Santa to come round from his anaesthetic. Typical Santa can’t be like any normal horse and just get up, be a bit groggy and recover quietly in his stable. Santa gets up, then falls over, a process he repeats about 20 times, getting increasingly stressed and thrashing around. We eventually got him back into his stable and held him up whilst he spent 10 minutes head butting the stable wall for reasons best known to himself. Luckily there wasn’t any swelling or other post-operative problems so he is now a gelding and has entirely forgotten about the experience.

That’s the animal news. On to more exciting subjects. Jenny, my best friend, is here! She arrived last Friday and I took a couple of days off over the weekend so that we could go off on safari. We drove three hours north of Lewa, up to Samburu land to stay at Sarara Camp (check it out at www.sararacamp.com). Such a magical and beautiful place. It is the only camp in that area so you literally look out on to a million acres of complete wilderness. There are no other tourists or cars. The camp is built into the hillside and the six luxury tents are positioned to give a fantastic view of the flat scrubby Samburu land and the Matthews range of mountains. I can honestly say it is one of the most stunningly beautiful places that I have ever been to. We were very lucky in that (a) they gave us a much cheaper resident rate, and (b) we were the only guests so had the place to ourselves. The camp has a fantastic infinity pool built into the granite rocks fed with natural spring water. Beneath the pool is a watering hole so the animals come into drink, mainly elephants, but we were also treated to a leopard sauntering past one evening as we sat with gin and tonics in hand watching the sun go down. The game is far less plentiful than on Lewa and harder to spot because of the dense bush. However, considering that in the 70s and 80s, all the game was completely poached out, it is wonderful to see that there are now over 4000 elephants living in the area. Sadly, poaching for their ivory still remains a major problem and it is unlikely that rhino could ever be reintroduced to the area unless the land was fenced in and massive security introduced.

Sarara Camp also has a pet kudu (type of antelope) that was found abandoned at 5 days old. She was hand reared and is completely tame, so much so that she wanders about the dining area asking for food! I have to say that it was really fun to be a “guest” for a change rather than working at a lodge. Having wake up tea bought to my room in the morning and sitting on the verandah watching the sun come up rather than going to work – I could get used to that!

Wednesday 2 January 2013

First blog of 2013

Happy New Year everyone!

I had an early Christmas present from one of the horses – a kick in the head. This is the thanks I get for trying to clean a leg wound, although I think she was really just kicking at flies and caught me by mistake. Much drama in the yard as she sent me flying sideways and seeing stars until one of the syces caught me before I hit the ground. Once the blood was cleared up, it turned out not to be so serious – just needed a couple of stitches at the local clinic. The kick was at the side of my head by the hairline so if it scars, it won’t really be visible. It could have been much worse!

And so it was my second Christmas in Kenya. Christmas Day started with a ride before breakfast, then we had a traditional roast turkey lunch, followed by dinner and a campfire in the bush in the evening. Except I ended up missing out on the evening festivities as I was looking after a sick horse, aptly named Santa as he was born last Christmas Day. Poor little Santa did not have a good Christmas, or indeed 1st birthday, but he is much better now.

We got a new polo pony just before Christmas called Dancing Gem. She has come all the way from South Africa which is one very long journey by lorry – more than a week of travelling. She clearly didn’t have the best journey as the horses were fighting and her neck is one mass of bite marks, not to mention all the other cuts and bumps she managed to obtain along the way. Then she arrives on Lewa and all our polo ponies gang up and bully her. Anyway, I think they have largely sorted out their differences now and she is settling in nicely. I took her for her first ride today and she was very calm despite having to contend with seeing five rhinos and lots of other animals that she clearly isn’t used to. Her last owners informed us that she is good in traffic. Not particularly useful to us as we don’t ride our horses on the road. It would be more helpful if she was good with elephants, rhino and giraffe!

New Year passed by in a similar vein to last year. The same family have been coming to Wilderness for the past 10 years and they book out the entire lodge for 10 days. New Year’s Eve was a sit-down dinner for 20+ people out in the bush with a big campfire, roast lamb and Masai dancers. And a few elephants roaming past who thankfully didn’t come and join in, although they were obviously intrigued by events!

Hopefully, 2013 is bringing us all better weather. I actually had to buy a pair of wellington boots because the rain and the mud was so bad. But finally the days are getting hotter and the rain has stayed away for a few days…