Airborne again. We dip south to see Mt. Kenya, look at the wildlife linkage, and then north, across the plains and forest. Elephant, zebra, rhino—we spot them as we move north. We flew over the Mathews Range, lush volcanic mountains that jut out of the plains. A botanists dream. We land on a tiny airstrip in the middle of nowhere, now, when I say middle of nowhere, I mean it. Fantastic. We are met by a vehicle and drive to a Samburu meeting. The topic is water—an issue everywhere. There is a project to bring water closer to the village. The purpose is two fold, get people water and avoid the elephant/human conflict, which occurs near the water source. Bring the water closer to the village, the elephants keep to their water source and everyone gets along. What is to argue with? They are concerned that this is just another ploy to get their land. There is such remembrance of the land grabs that took place in the past and continue today, trust is hard to build and takes time.
It always amazes me when we are driving through the middle of the bush, round a corner, and there are over 40 Samburu. Obviously, they came by foot, from their villages and manyattas. The Samburu are closely related to the Maasai. They dress in similar red shukas and elaborately in beads. Under the tree we all sit as the meeting starts with a harmonious prayer that puts Paul Simon to shame. The women are tucked away in a corner. Traditionally they are not to attend meetings like this and certainly not to stand and speak. Things are slowly changing. The meeting is in Maa, their local tongue, we have a translator.
After the meeting we bust up the mountain and find the water source and a camp site. The view looking out over the mountains and acacia forest is spectacular. There is no human construct in sight. Fire, stars, beers—what more can you ask for.
We all have individual tents, big enough to fit a bedroll. Mesh, no fly, so you can lay on your back and look at the stars. Awesome—love this tiny little tent. That was until I awoke to elephants in the middle of the night. Now, I have slept in tents near elephants before, and to be honest, it is a great rush. You hear them crackling, eating and in the morning wake to find their dung right outside your tent. But, this was different. This time I was in a tiny tent and they were literally right next to me.
Robert M. Sapolsky, author of A Primate’s Memoir describes it best:
“Elephants at night in camp are quite a spectacle, enough to speed up anyone’s heart. You wake up in a panic—chaos around the tent, crackling, a tree has fallen just missing the tent, someone is eating a bush by the door, the tent lines have been torn loose. You peer out the tent and the tree trunk that wasn’t there when you went to sleep lifts up and comes down—an elephant leg! Now for certain you’ll be crushed to death by some oaf of an elephant dropping a tree on you. And each time, as you lie there in absolute terror waiting for your end at the feet of the elephants, there is a bizarre countercurrent of feelings, this amazement you feel at hearing their stomach sounds. The elephants make monstrous amounts of noise with their stomachs. It is the most perfect sound on earth…you’re lying there in your tent prepared for death and you’re surrounded by this wonderful lulling aura of stomach noise that makes you want to curl up and sleep like a puppy, but you can’t because these are freakin elephants outside that are going to kill you, and invariably, you suddenly find yourself having to go outside the tent to go to the bathroom.”
It always amazes me when we are driving through the middle of the bush, round a corner, and there are over 40 Samburu. Obviously, they came by foot, from their villages and manyattas. The Samburu are closely related to the Maasai. They dress in similar red shukas and elaborately in beads. Under the tree we all sit as the meeting starts with a harmonious prayer that puts Paul Simon to shame. The women are tucked away in a corner. Traditionally they are not to attend meetings like this and certainly not to stand and speak. Things are slowly changing. The meeting is in Maa, their local tongue, we have a translator.
After the meeting we bust up the mountain and find the water source and a camp site. The view looking out over the mountains and acacia forest is spectacular. There is no human construct in sight. Fire, stars, beers—what more can you ask for.
We all have individual tents, big enough to fit a bedroll. Mesh, no fly, so you can lay on your back and look at the stars. Awesome—love this tiny little tent. That was until I awoke to elephants in the middle of the night. Now, I have slept in tents near elephants before, and to be honest, it is a great rush. You hear them crackling, eating and in the morning wake to find their dung right outside your tent. But, this was different. This time I was in a tiny tent and they were literally right next to me.
Robert M. Sapolsky, author of A Primate’s Memoir describes it best:
“Elephants at night in camp are quite a spectacle, enough to speed up anyone’s heart. You wake up in a panic—chaos around the tent, crackling, a tree has fallen just missing the tent, someone is eating a bush by the door, the tent lines have been torn loose. You peer out the tent and the tree trunk that wasn’t there when you went to sleep lifts up and comes down—an elephant leg! Now for certain you’ll be crushed to death by some oaf of an elephant dropping a tree on you. And each time, as you lie there in absolute terror waiting for your end at the feet of the elephants, there is a bizarre countercurrent of feelings, this amazement you feel at hearing their stomach sounds. The elephants make monstrous amounts of noise with their stomachs. It is the most perfect sound on earth…you’re lying there in your tent prepared for death and you’re surrounded by this wonderful lulling aura of stomach noise that makes you want to curl up and sleep like a puppy, but you can’t because these are freakin elephants outside that are going to kill you, and invariably, you suddenly find yourself having to go outside the tent to go to the bathroom.”
