Over the weekend, Paul, Jabez , James and I decided to pay the Grevy Zebras and Samburu Giraffe a visit at Ol Pejeta Conservancy, during the Great Grevy Zebra Rally. After, having our breakfast in a ‘Kibandasky’ (a local hotel,) in Nanyuki town, we set out for the journey that took us approximately fifteen minutes. The rangers at the gate checked our belongings to make sure we were not planning anything mischievous, but really, we had cameras and the maasai shuka in the bag.
The first animals we met were the tall men and women in the Wild Life Kingdom. It was hard to take a photo of the Giraffes that were around six in number, because they were all facing the left side, and taking pictures during the rally we had to go with the rule ‘right is always right’. I think the Giraffes were pulling some attitude on us and I highly suspect that it was because I am also tall. Who likes competition anyway? “Let’s go, we can come back later, after all giraffes are all over this place”, suggested James. We heeded to his advice and drove off.
After about a three kilometer drive, we got to a place known as Morani. We meet one of the wildlife caretakers called Peter. He is one of those guys that are so passionate about wildlife you would feel the wildlife love vibes from the words that came from his mouth. Let me share with you the wildlife love vibes Peter shared with us, Grevy Zebras spent their times mostly here at the Morani. Let me call it their chill site. It is important to note that these Zebras are endangered species and they are very shy unlike the Plain Zebras.
We waited for a while for them to come back so that we could have our photo session. Thirty minutes later, they hadn’t arrived. Perhaps they were still catching up on the events of yester night being a Saturday morning. I can imagine that animals too have a TGIF and perhaps they also go raving and do the walk of shame staggering all the way home.
Or they could be good girls and boys who were taking their morning bath. Or, the Samburu giraffes had passed a message of our presence they deliberately decided to run away whichever the reason, we didn’t get to see them and we drove off, again, no pictures. Not before we had set out to go look for the Samburu Giraffe, Jabez spotted four Grevy Zebras, and our joy was uplifted. Each one of us took our cameras to take the best shot. Like I had mentioned, these Zebras are shy and thus, after seeing us, they started running away from us.
Well that was sad. But we still took photos of them running away from us and off we continued with our journey. Within the Grevy Zebra chill spot, we also meet a down to earth dude the late last male northern white rhino called Sudan and the two females Fatu and Najin. Sudan was not only the last male northern rhino but also the grandpa to Najin.
We spent some time with the northern white rhinos what a great feeling being the first time to be close to a rhino. Also, Ol Pejeta is the largest black rhino sanctuary in the East African region. The funny thing with being in the park is that times flies that you even forget to eat, on checking our watches, it was already four in the evening and we had not yet spotted the Girrafes again.
So we decided to spend the remaining hours looking for the tall animals. It may surprise you they we searched and searched and we didn’t see them again. That got me thinking, could the giraffes be imperiled animals as well? With much concentration we have put on the tusks, we might be shocked when we turn our heads and not meet the giraffes someday.
The late evenings in Ol Pejeta, are breathe taking. The cool calm winds coming from the Mt Kenya and the Abedares pier in a cold embrace, whereas the golden sun rays bid goodnight to the blue serenity. This is a perfect reminder of the approaching night in the animal kingdom. The sounds of the birds, the laughter of the hyenas and the creaks from the crickets create a magical ambiance that reminds one that they are deep down in the heart of Africa. Lazily, the animals take a slow walk back to their ‘houses’ perhaps to catch up on the day’s activities.
The giggles and the laughs of the hyenas and the horn-bills fill the cool atmosphere whilst visitors like us bubble with much excitement that we have captured beautiful memories with us.
About the Entry
- Blogger name | Anthony Ochieng Onyango
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