Saturday 13th Feb started out differently than most of my other days at Samburu it was cloudy and very softly raining after the rain that had occurred that night. When it rains apparently a great deal of the animals in the reserve move out as there is not the great need for them to be close to the big sources of water, as they can find puddles spotted about the place. It’s supposed to be terrible for spotting elephant. So Jerenimo, Zeituna and I set out on a mammal census on Buffalo Springs East route. However luckily along the Isolo River we came across the Hardwood family. They were trying to have a mid day snooze among the trees. This was difficult for a select number of females for the group as there were two young bulls amongst the family that should a great deal of interest in them. The young bulls were unfamiliar to the STE team so we took ID photos so as to be able to identify them in the future.
Though some younger members of the family were able to get some R&R in. One calf here has a flopping ear, apparently this condition is quite common and the ear will generally re-adjust itself with time.