Dear Friends,

We have just spent the last week living in tents in two different wildlife conservancies (where there is no internet, and limited electricity). A conservancy is a place where people got together to preserve thousands of acres so that wild animals could go about their daily life in safety.  There are hundreds of impalas, gazelles, zebra, elephants, giraffe, and warthogs living together on the ones we visited. There are also lions, cheetah, hyenas, jackals, and leopards.

First we went to a Kenyan wildlife conservancy called Ol Pejeta, in central Kenya. We stayed at a camp with 7 tents. The tents had beds inside, and battery-operated lights at night that are charged during the day by solar packs.  We had showers that are large buckets hanging on a hook with a shower spout coming out of them. When we wanted a shower, someone heated 2 gallons of water on a fire, then put it in our bucket. If you don’t let the water run too fast, you have a very nice hot shower.  There was a tent where everyone met for meals. We’ve eaten great food, including curry, rice, and even pizza! Every day we have gone out in a jeep to look for wildlife. Although we have seen many of the animals I listed, one of the highlights in this conservancy was seeing the endangered black rhino. There are only a few thousand left in the world, and there are 85 here in Ol Pejeta. We saw one on the first day.

Watching elephants across the river from the camp's dinner tent.

We also visited an area of the conservancy where they have 4 of the remaining 7 northern white rhinos ON THE ENTIRE PLANET. (In case you are wondering, the white and black rhinos are the same color. Their names come from miscommunication between people hundreds of years ago, who were trying to say that some of the rhinos had ‘wide’ mouths, but people thought they were saying ‘white’.) Ol Pejeta conservancy is trying to help the white rhinos have babies so that slowly they can bring the population of northern white rhinos back from near extinction. The ones we visited were very friendly and sweet. Hopefully they will be safe in this conservancy so they can begin to have a family.

"Suni" whose horns were shaved off to prevent poachers from killing her for her horns.

We visited an area they have set up for orphaned chimpanzees. Chimps are not native to Kenya. They are native to countries in Africa that have rainforests. But some of those countries have had wars in them recently, and in those countries chimpanzees were mistreated, or their parents were killed for meat. 42 orphaned chimps have been brought to Ol Pejeta where there is a huge fenced-in area in which they can live safely. We sat and watched them for a while. When you look into their eyes, you feel like you are looking into the eyes of a human, trying to communicate with you.  

The second conservancy we stayed at was in the Mara, which is a very famous wildlife area in southwestern Kenya. We had to cross a suspension bridge to get to our tent camp, and there were always hippos underneath, waiting to see if any of us would fall in. (:  The Mara is amazingly beautiful, filled with lots of the same kinds of wildlife, including some big prides of lions. When you find a group of lions lying around, you can sit in your jeep quietly for an hour, just watching them. As long as you are quiet, and don’t get out of the jeep, they basically ignore you.

One afternoon we visited a village of the native people who have been living in this area for many centuries. They are called the Maasai, and they live by herding cattle. In fact, traditionally they have eaten only cow milk, beef, goat, and sheep. No vegetables! That probably sounds good to some of you.  What was especially interesting was seeing inside their homes, which are made of wood, grass, and mud. They create different rooms and spaces inside by building partition walls and clever nooks and crannies. They have different spaces for family memories to sleep and eat, and it is all very tidy and well organized. 

The conservancy we stayed in at the Mara is originally Maasai families’ land. In fact, the Maasai haven’t really liked the wildlife in the past, because the lions, leopards, hyenas, and cheetah hunt their cattle. Wildlife organizations in Kenyan made a deal with the Maasai. The Maasai agreed that they would give their land to create the conservancy, but the would still get to live on the land and graze their cattle in certain areas. They get paid by the conservancy if one of their cattle is killed by a wild animal. As payment for giving up their land, they also get money each month from the camps like ours who have tourists staying there. The Maasai use that money to improve the schools and other buildings in their communities. So far it seems like the deal is working out OK for everyone.

As I write this, we are waiting at the Nairobi airport, about to fly home. It will take us 21 hours to get to Boston. Although we are very sad that our adventure is ending, we are looking forward to seeing our friends and family, especially Ella!  I hope you have had fun reading the blog so far this summer. It definitely was fun to write on it. See you all in September,

Happy summer to you all,

Elizabeth