Jumbo from Samburu!
It has been another eventful few days here at camp. We’ve recently had to be wary about going out in to the field as a cattle raid moved through the reserve – thankfully they stayed well away from the STE camp, however. Currently we are hosting a member from the Mara Elephant Project so that she can learn as much as possible about the work that is carried out here, and hopefully take some fresh ideas back with her to their recently-developed project at the Masai Mara.
I’ve been lucky enough to spend a large amount of time in the field with Shifra, helping her with her focal observations. The elephants are so beautiful, I could watch them all day! There are a number of new calves that we regularly come across that are especially entertaining as they explore their new surroundings with their little trunks; playing with sticks, picking at their first patches of grass and roots and testing who they can suckle from.
In addition to the elephants, the diversity and abundance of wildlife at Samburu astounds me. I have been lucky enough to have seen numerous lions, and two leopards! Today the leopard Shifra and I stumbled across was sitting right out in the open, calmly watching as us and the surrounding tourist vehicles as we looked on in amazement.
Yet another great week!