Many people do not consider work as fun, but I do! Travelling for the first time to Samburu on 12th July 2012 with four of my other stuff members from Save the Elephants, I thought of what the Samburu ‘Camp’ was like. Seated behind Siana who was on the co-driver’s seat I would picture Samburu STE Camp; tents with only tiny mattresses, a poorly built toilet, eating undercooked game meat, water scarcity, hot weather with nowhere to shelter apart from the tents which are hot inside, no power and undefined camp area. Thinking about this made me wonder if at all my survival skills are up to these standards!
On arrival, all the thoughts were proven wrong and it felt like home! A semi-modern latrine, beautiful tents with beds inside and a comfortable mattress, power, a modern office deep into the African wilderness; everything was the opposite of what I was thinking.
The wounded Cheetah: On the arrival day I joined Mr. Gilbert Sabinga and some Samburu Rangers in locating a wounded Cheetah. After one hour search through the Samburu Reserve we finally located it, our objective was to get it some meat, but since it was in a stable condition to hunt, we let it do so.
Long time monitoring: On the second day, Friday, Sara, Siana, Shifra and I went for a Long time monitoring of elephants which is Shifra’s project, I got the opportunity of accompanying her to the field and learn more about her project. This was a scary but perfect day that I learnt a lot. I was able to move at a close distance to a real elephant that I got so scared and screamed but only to realize they didn’t have any business with to do with me. I also realized that elephants have different ear pattern that one can use to differentiate between them. Also it was the first time I saw a herd of elephant from a close distance and studied their behavior.
The painting of Ngare Mara Primary School on Sunday of the 15th was also an event that I enjoyed although slept very tired. A group of students from the UK and the STE stuff joined hands in the painting of the school. After the painting some of the students from the UK, students from Ngare Mara and the STE stuff joined together for a football game.
Travelling back to Nairobi on the 16th Monday, I wished that my time in Samburu would not come to an end. It was a work trip, but I felt as if I was on a holiday in the African Wilderness ‘Samburu’.