The contrast between this and the arid planes is remarkable and personally, I much prefer this to the dusty air of Amboseli. Today's drive took about 8 hours in total and we arrived at our camp ground with just enough time to drop our cook off with our stuff and then rush our way toward Sweet Waters Chimpanzee Sanctuary. Our driver Mike drove like a complete maniac trying to get us to this park. When we first arrived we didn't quite understand his urgency as the park didn't seem to be that special. But we later found out its a sanctuary for Chimps that have been rescued from irresponsible humans who thought they'd make good pets, and situations where poachers killed the mothers of these babies, and other situations where their natural habitat simply does not exist anymore due to deforestation. The park exists solely through the donations of generous and concerned people and can house up to 100 chimps, currently there are 52. The great thing about it is that since most of the chimps were held captive by humans, they've grown used to having us around and are therefore not very camera shy at all. 
Sweet Waters is also a Rhino sanctuary and houses both the black and white variety. We did manage to see a couple of white rhinos from a distance and on the other side of an electric fence. The fence is there mostly to keep poachers away, as another precaution from poachers, Sweetwaters Sanctuary also cut the horns off of these beasts (which do eventually grow back). Next Mike starts asking us if we've ever seen one up close or touched one, of course our answer was NO, so he begins to tell us that they've got one in the park that you can feed and touch. We thought he was kidding and that he'd lead us to some stuffed animal or something, but sure enough he was telling the truth! Today we touched and fed a part of wildlife history as this is one of the last remaining Black Rhinos in the world. Not only is it a rare animal but it is also of a rare temperment. The Black rhinos are usually quite aggressive and normally humans are unable to approach them, but this one is blind and has lived in captivity for most of its life. So this big beast is used to having humans around...we took advantage of this truly rare opportunity and snapped several up close and personal pictures with her. In addition to housing this Rhino, we also learned that this park has 4 out of the 8 remaining Northern White Rhinos in the world. Definitely a worthwile stop over, especially since most of our park fees go to the operation and up keep of the grounds and animals. The distinction should however, be made, that this is infact a wildlife preserve and sanctuary which is quite different from the wild park of Amboseli we had just come from. In terms of wildlife, about the only other thing worth mentioning were some vultures feeding on a dead girafe in the swamp, that sure smelt pleasant! mmmm the life cycle in its full glory!!
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| lone tree in the plains |
Today we will spend the better part of the day in the van. As much as I'm not one for road travel, our destination definitely keeps the excitement up. The plan is to drive from Amboseli (bye bye Killi) and head to Mt Kenya via Nairobi. Again, these roads are ATROCIOUS, one minute you're cruising along fine on nice tarmac, the next you're riding in the ditch cause the road disappeared. All of the roads in Nairobi itself seem to be under construction as well, and its not until we're a good 50 km on the other side of the city that the roads improve. All I have to say is I am very grateful that I am not the one behind the wheel. This is where the geography begins to change and the scenery becomes increasingly beautiful...Marlene kept mentioning how much it looked like Colombia, mountainous, fertile and lush! The Kenyan highlands are where they grow everything from sweet bananas and mangos to pineapples, coffee, and tea. I remember my friend Anne telling me one of the things she enjoys most about going back home to Kenya is that the fruit actually tastes like fruit, and now we understand what she means. Neither of us have ever tasted such delicious, mouth watering, fresh, bursting with flavour, fruit in our lives. It really is unbelievable how much stronger, juicier, and flavourful everything is. As we past through the different plantation areas our driver pulled off to the side to purchase the various fruits being sold, which, as he mentioned, had been hand picked that morning.
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| Chimp at Sweatwaters |
The contrast between this and the arid planes is remarkable and personally, I much prefer this to the dusty air of Amboseli. Today's drive took about 8 hours in total and we arrived at our camp ground with just enough time to drop our cook off with our stuff and then rush our way toward Sweet Waters Chimpanzee Sanctuary. Our driver Mike drove like a complete maniac trying to get us to this park. When we first arrived we didn't quite understand his urgency as the park didn't seem to be that special. But we later found out its a sanctuary for Chimps that have been rescued from irresponsible humans who thought they'd make good pets, and situations where poachers killed the mothers of these babies, and other situations where their natural habitat simply does not exist anymore due to deforestation. The park exists solely through the donations of generous and concerned people and can house up to 100 chimps, currently there are 52. The great thing about it is that since most of the chimps were held captive by humans, they've grown used to having us around and are therefore not very camera shy at all.
Sweet Waters is also a Rhino sanctuary and houses both the black and white variety. We did manage to see a couple of white rhinos from a distance and on the other side of an electric fence. The fence is there mostly to keep poachers away, as another precaution from poachers, Sweetwaters Sanctuary also cut the horns off of these beasts (which do eventually grow back). Next Mike starts asking us if we've ever seen one up close or touched one, of course our answer was NO, so he begins to tell us that they've got one in the park that you can feed and touch. We thought he was kidding and that he'd lead us to some stuffed animal or something, but sure enough he was telling the truth! Today we touched and fed a part of wildlife history as this is one of the last remaining Black Rhinos in the world. Not only is it a rare animal but it is also of a rare temperment. The Black rhinos are usually quite aggressive and normally humans are unable to approach them, but this one is blind and has lived in captivity for most of its life. So this big beast is used to having humans around...we took advantage of this truly rare opportunity and snapped several up close and personal pictures with her. In addition to housing this Rhino, we also learned that this park has 4 out of the 8 remaining Northern White Rhinos in the world. Definitely a worthwile stop over, especially since most of our park fees go to the operation and up keep of the grounds and animals. The distinction should however, be made, that this is infact a wildlife preserve and sanctuary which is quite different from the wild park of Amboseli we had just come from. In terms of wildlife, about the only other thing worth mentioning were some vultures feeding on a dead girafe in the swamp, that sure smelt pleasant! mmmm the life cycle in its full glory!! We later returned to our tented camp site for dinner and a camp fire, and then off to bed!
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| The cycle of Life |
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