African Diary

The following seven posts on Caves and Hills were written during a recent three week Safari in Africa.

With guides at Richard's Camp, Masai Masai

From Nairobi we flew to Amboseli in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro.  Onto Tsavo by road. The main Mombasa highway was a white knuckle ride as the two lane road was heavy with container traffic from the port of Mombasa. At speed bumps women selling tomatoes clustered around our vans.

Bush Breakfast after Game Drive at Galdessa

In Tsavo we stayed at Galdessa on the banks of the Galena River, then flew to Masai Mara for four nights.  After Masai Mara onto to Laragai flying over infamous Happy
Valley. The pilot, Kathy regailed us with gossipy details.

From Laragai we drove to Lewa Wild Life Conservancy for the last four nights.

Brunch at Borana Ranch

The journey was planned by Linda Dyer Millard who introduced us to her cousins, 4th generation Kenyans, and to Lewa Wildlife Conservancy where, until recently, she was a board member.



Here is my thanks to Linda, read on the last night at a spectacular Bush Dinner in a quarry at Lewa.

Dear Linda, our Oddessy is almost complete

So what can we say of this glorious treat

An inside look at an amazing place

That in your heart has a large space

You’ve guided us through desert, swamp and forest

Always ensuring we see the best

Your enthusiasm is contagious and care unsurpassed

And the breadth of your knowledge of Africa vast

Amboseli was such a good place to begin

In the shadow of Kili we all settled in

Then drove through salt flats where dust devils danced

Watching ellie and hippo, we were entranced

To Galdessa where Mugabe greeted us all

And our first bush breakfast you did call

This lifestyle we took to very fast

Sundowners, bush dinners - the die was cast

At Roberts Camp a suit of armor watched us all

While lion, leopard and cheetah had us in thrall

Onto Laragai and a wonderful change of pace

How we enjoyed that beautiful place

Then Lewa rendezvous so special to you

Created by a dedicated band of a few

Schools, rhino, poaching we have learned so much

And more, Lewa has your unique touch

So thank you dear Linda from the depths of our hearts

For your inspiration, guidance, every part

Kenya now is a sweet memory for us too

we can’t thank you enough - and Steve too

Angela Neal Grove, Lewa, October 3, 2012

Into Battle: Man's Best Friend

Tony, Tiba, Toffee and Tash are a crack K9 patrol of bloodhounds working on the front lines of the poaching battle in Kenya.

With elephant and rhino poaching now in the hands of organized crime the war is high tech.  Drones, helicopters and Google earth are among sophisticated combat tools.  However man’s best friend has a role. There is still a need for paws on the ground.

I visited these professionals on the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy.  I wanted to see them at work.  Before I got out of the Land Rover Tony was on his hind legs with a large soft chestnut-colored paw through the netting of his pen in greeting. These are not attack dogs. The work of Bloodhounds is tracking. It is fun for them and they excel.

With three handlers we set off to track a quarry. A footprint of a poacher is all that is needed. One handler played poacher. A piece of sterile gauze was placed over his footprint, then taken to Tony for him to get the scent and we were off.

Tony was focused and fast. I was trying to take notes and photographs which was a challenge as he raced through the knee-high grass and brush. He did some circles and some back-tracking which enabled me to catch up. Favorite hiding places for poachers are trees and warthog dens. Toby has seen and tracked it all. We were off again, even faster this time.  Then, success.

Tony was on his hind legs with his huge paws on the shoulders of the “poacher” who was hidden in a dense thicket. There was no escape for the quarry. Tony got a treat and let go. He seemed to be smiling.

Of the four blood hounds at Lewa Tony and Tibia are males and Toffee and Tash females.  They live in large grassy pens and are taken in at night to protect them from predators. Their diet is rice and meat.

Bloodhound training begins at 7 months.  They begin work after 9 months and are perfect at 12. They train daily with rotating handlers to learn different scents. They work for 8 to 10 years then retire.

This team at Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in Northern Kenya, close to the lawless Somali border, is sometimes borrowed and deployed by Kenyan police. They are used to track robbers and criminals. In crowded situations they are especially good as they are  friendly and non-threatening.  Its all about nose to the ground and getting the job done.

I was impressed. This quartet of consummate professionals is highly trained and effective.  When I drove out of the compound they all galloped to the end of their pens in a farewell gesture. Man’s (and women’s) best friends to be sure.

There will always be an England

A 16th century suit of armor stands on the verandah of Richard’s Camp in the Masai Mara, Kenya. This is the heart of big-game country where hunters once gathered over sundowners to discuss the day’s trophies.  Today it is the long lens hunters comparing  notes on images of the big five. Silently watchful the suit of armor has witnessed it all and so much more.

What medieval craftsman created this suit?  For which war?  Did it protect its owner from a lance-weilding French horsemen? Was the suit used in the War of the Roses?

The owner was clearly diminutive and it was made to measure, no doubt. The craftsman must have painstakingly hammered the pieces into shape on a wood-fired anvil, knowing that the owner’s life depended on his work.

And what fine craftsmanship. In 2012 the suit still stands ready for action, shipped out from England, along with the ancestral coat of arms. It is a shadowy presence at dusk when a roaring campfire throws off welcome heat for the cluster of sundowner sipping guests. This is when bullfrogs croak, crickets rhythmically clack and hyena’s who-hoop.  Masai escorts with spear and red shawls escort guests to tents through the latern-lit trees. 

This treasured, quintessential piece of family history clearly could not be left behind in England gathering dust or sadly placed, forgotten, in a museum glass case. Here among the lion, elephant, and hippo, which neatly munch and crop the lawn during the night, the suit is right at home, again part of the action. Along with afternoon tea on the verandah, egg and bacon breakfasts, Marmite, and claw foot bath tub in the trees the proper and expected status quo is maintained. To a Brit it is very comforting, however incongruous. Qintessential Keep Calm and Carry On.

TTFN