Today was our last full day at Samburu. Our morning and evening game drives (fishing expeditions) targeted a family of lions in the area. Sometimes the bait wins. We didn't find any lions, but we did find a large number of other animals. The morning expedition found us a giraffe fight. In the evening we spotted a leopard tortoise and were almost sandwiched between an elephant mother/baby in front of us, and papa from behind. As the space began to narrow, good driving snuck us out quickly (between mom and baby), which really upset baby.
And there can never be too many giraffes or dik diks.
Between the two drives, we stopped at a Samburu village (similar to, but distinct from Maasai) for a tour. The Samburu are nomadic (though much of this has been curtailed, at least implicitly, by the government - health care requires a permanent address and education of children forces residence to a locale). Houses are made to be temporary. The men are hunters and herders, and diet revolves around meat, blood and milk. Building the house and caring for the kids is done by the women. There was also singing and dancing and discussion of culture, rights of passage and education. There were quite a number of kids, but the whole time i was there, I only heard one of them cry.
Our guide Sampson had some interesting stories. The Samburu families are encouraged to send at least one child to receive upper-level education. Sampson, in his youth, lost a goat and a cow, so his family punished him by sending him to school ("it was a big punishment"). After graduation, he had the option of staying in the city, but Sampson said that cities cost money and is on a schedule. At the village, there are no expenses, and if he needs something, he can trade a goat. If he wants to swim in the river, he swims in the river.
His residence was interesting, in that it was made from sticks and mud and cardboard - but it also had a solar panel. He teaches at the village and sometimes needs light at night for planning lessons. All of the folks had a mix of traditional and modern clothing. A real mix of old and 'new'.
Morning dik dik.
Vulturine guinea fowl with chicks
Hadada ibis on river bank
Giraffe fight, among many giraffes
Ololokwe mountain - a sacred mountain where offerings are given at times of need. There is a pool on top that is used for cleansing.
desert warthogs - when they run, their tails go up like car antennae
A man-eating acacia. All that is left of this person is part of a shirt. It is amazing how many cloth strips are in the acacia trees along the roads in the Samburu Park.
Termite mound smoothed by itchy elephants
Another rare Grevy's zebra - this one has a radio-tracking collar
Spectacular starling
Desert rose - the large tubers are poisonous
Grant's gazelle - the male was giving this female quite some attention. The relationship was one-sided.
Elephants on the riverbank
Elephant dusting
Grouchy leopard tortoise charging the van. We escaped.
Mom and baby ahead of us on road
Daddy behind, and not happy. We escaped.
Samburu village - with some of the residents
Jana dancing with our new friends
Pre-K school kids sang for us, and showed off some of their English skills.
Sampson showing his house
Fire-starting in under one minute without matches.
Samburu house from the outside
Doum palms at nightfall
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