My first recollections of Samburu National Park are of dryness, heat, and dust. But when I scratch just a little further (and start curating my photos), I realize how glad I am we got two nights and a full day here.
African safaris, or at least tourism, likes its top five lists, and I’ll do a post on the big, the little, and the ugly later. But Samburu crowns itself with the Special Five that can be found abundantly here: 1) the reticulated giraffe (one of 3 types of giraffes and the most beautiful) 2) oryx (thanks to Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, I knew about this antelope before safari) 3) Grevy’s zebra, not the common zebra we saw here and the other camps), 4) the gerenuk, an antelope I had never heard of before, but stands upright to forage, and 5) the Somali ostrich, which has a blue neck and legs, compared to the standard pink.
We did see these five animals, but there were plenty of other reasons to enjoy this spot. First, it was lousy with elephants*. We ran into more elephants here than even rhinos at Ol Pejeta. More groups, bigger groups, single lines that blocked roads– what a feeling to not see other animals because an elephant is blocking your view!
One herd is photobombing my giraffe picture.
The oddest thing about today was finding Buffalo Springs–a large cratered pool CREATED BY A BOMB DURING WWII. Yes, that needs to be shouted, because did anyone know Kenya was bombed by Italians? Ever? Our guide knew it had happened, but couldn’t really tell us the story or seemed concerned, so after internetting** it, here is a better tale than I could tell:
‘It’s a bomb site,’ says our guide. We gape. ‘From World War II,’ he continues. ‘It was 1940 and a squadron of Italian fighter planes were flying back to Ethiopia. They looked down and saw a huge herd of buffalo drinking from this spring. They mistook the buffalo for the tents of the British, who were advancing towards the Ethiopian border, so they dropped a bomb on them’. He regards the huge rocky basin with placid unconcern, ‘and this is what’s left,’ he finishes.
It’s a strange story, but research reveals it to be true. In one of the least-known encounters of the Second World War, Italian Dictator, Benito Mussolini, had declared war on Britain and was attempting to seize what was then British Kenya and Tanganyika for an Italian empire that he declared would be even larger than the Roman Empire. He had 93,000 troops, 232 aircraft and 200 armoured vehicles and tanks. The British had 19,000 troops, six vintage aircraft, with only one serviceable carburettor between them, a couple of homemade armoured cars and no artillery. Surprisingly, the British won. The buffalos, unfortunately, were collateral damage.
As dry as Samburu was, there were underfed rivers that made elephant viewing more fun (here and here) and gave us our first glimpse of crocodiles…and the guineafowl feathers left behind. The rule is, if it looks like a stick and acts like a stick…it’s not a stick.
Not everyone enjoyed the day as much as I did. I think this was during the morning drive, because it seems unlikely that he joined us for the afternoon one.
No matter how great a drive was, it was fun to return to the camp to these guys. There were boys hired to chase off baboons at the camp but the black-face monkeys had free reign. These two were definitely siblings.
They also hung out on the back porches. We were recovering from a hot day of travel on dirt roads, so hanging out as a family in the kids’ tent. Piper and I were alternately reading aloud Klawde: Evil Alien Cat Overlord. The monkeys appeared to enjoy the book nearly as much as we did.
Yep! Samburu may have made bathing simultaneously necessary and useless, but it was a really great place to visit. Special indeed.
*I’ve been holding onto that phrase for a while. I was hoping to alliteratively say “lousy with leopards” but that was never the case. Etymology: lousy, 1840s slang meaning swarming with, actually comes from “infested with [lice/louses]”, which makes lots of sense and is something I learned today.
**bastardized word of the day. Shakespeare doesn’t get to have all the fun.
Needopedia 