Amazing animals!

Another good night’s sleep, enhanced by the kindly provided hot water bottle ( after all it’s only about 12 degrees at night!!!) and we were up bright and early to set off for the first of two game drives. On the way to breakfast we noticed that we could see the peak of Mount Kenya and then there was a glorious sunrise.

The very first thing we came across was a pair of black rhino – a mother and her daughter – ambling gently through the bushes and going through their ablutions. We had been pleased to see white rhino, knowing there to be more of them, but have been surprised at the number of blacks we’ve seen. This evening there was one at the water hole adjoining the hotel. It’s hard to believe we’ve spent a large part of the day enjoying one of the world’s most endangered species and learning about the origins of the names and the differences between them. It was at Ol Pejeta that Sudan, the last Northern White male rhino lived until his death last year. Apparently his sperm has been harvested and there is the hope of an IVF conception before too long. The surrogate mother will be a Southern White but the eggs have been taken from one of the older Northen White females. Amazing!

Then there were elephants feeding and playing in the dust, gathering up minerals for their nutrition, gazelles grooming one another at the start of the day and giraffes standing proud on the horizon. And all this before 10am!

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We were staggered to see two huge herds of cows, with attendant flies, in the conservancy. They looked as if they were the traditional Indian cow crossed with Jerseys, thus being resilient to the heat but also producing good quality milk.

And then there were zebra and warthogs and more of everything before a lunch break – almost time for a nap! – while in the afternoon we visited the Rhino Conservancy and found lions, though, in my book, yesterday’s were better.

There was rain during our afternoon drive so I guess any sensible animal was staying dry somewhere. we did catch a fleeting glimpse of four or five lion cubs whose mother’s call to them we had witnessed as she sat in the long grass grooming herself and watching out for them.

And so ended our second day in Ol Pejeta: a location I would certainly recommend. ( But maybe you also need our guide!)