CLOSE-UP WITH WILDLIFE IN NAIROBI, KENYA: Part 1,Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage, Guest Post by Humberto Gutierrez Rivas

Young elephants at the Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage Center, Nairobi, Kenya

With many thanks to Humberto Gutierrez Rivas for his report and terrific photos of his family's trip to Kenya last January. His post about their wildlife experiences near Nairobi is in three parts, the first appearing today, and parts 2 and 3 in the following weeks.

This past January our family had the trip of a lifetime to Kenya for 12 days to visit friends in Nairobi, go on safari, and visit the island of Lamu.  There were many highlights of this trip, and one that got it started happened right there in the city of Nairobi.  

Less than 8 hours after our arrival, we were met at the front door of our friends’ house by Amos, our guide, and his safari van.  Our friends had coordinated a day expedition for us to Nairobi’s National Park, the Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage center, and Giraffe Center.

Amos drove us from the north to the south part of the city to get us to the park, so we also got to see the early morning activities of people walking to bus stops, walking to work, and opening shops along the road.

Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage

Our first stop was The Elephant Orphanage, operated by the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and located within Nairobi National Park. Every day, for just one hour, they open the doors of the orphanage center for people to meet rescued elephants and rhinos.

Young elephants get fed two bottles of special formula milk every 3 hours day and night. 

You can’t miss the caretakers, they all wear green coats.  Each orphan has its own stall where they sleep with their caretakers. The elephants come running to the showing area when they are called, and people gather around this area. There are no metallic fences or bars between you and the animals, just a rope, so it’s close and personal.

Orphan stall.

This is the place they retire in the evening where they rest with their caretakers.  They rotate caretakers each night so the animals don’t get attached to any one person.

Caretakers carry big milk bottles with them and some kids and adults feed the elephants tree branches from behind the ropes. 

Elephants come to the showing area each day to become part of the story and mission of the orphanage. 

While one of the caretakers tells the story of why animals end up at the center, and the different parts of the country animals come from, the elephants push and play with each other. 

We heard about the mission of the organization, and we decided to contribute by adopting an elephant for Caroline Arnold.  Her name is Nyambeni. The hour went very fast. 

Sheldrick Wildlife truck at the entrance of the orphanage center.

The Baby Elephant Fostering Program

Adoption certificate for Nyambeni and painting by Angela Sheldrick.

Nyambeni

Gender:    Female

Date born: 1st February 2022

Area found: Meru Region, Imenti Forest

Age on arrival:  3 months old

Comments on place found: Found all alone, stuck in a muddy ditch.

Reasons for being orphaned:  Stuck in a ditch.

The baby elephant fostering program includes a description of the circumstances in which the adopted baby elephant was found, a monthly highlight via email of events at the sanctuary along with a direct link to the Keeper's Diary with notes on particular elephants, and a monthly watercolor painting by Angela Sheldrick.

ANIMALS OF HWANGE NATIONAL PARK, ZIMBABWE by Karen Minkowski at The Intrepid Tourist

52 Places to Go: Week 10

Impala at Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe

My friend Karen Minkowski spent several months in Africa in 2018-2019 and sent me some of her wonderful photos taken on a trip to Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. Karen and I were on the same memorable trip to East Africa in 1971 that I wrote about in my post on May 16, 2011. Karen has been back to Africa many times since then, both for work and for pleasure. I thank her for sharing her terrific photos and observations of African wildlife with The Intrepid Tourist.

I've been coming to Zimbabwe almost yearly since 2009, and at the end of 2018 I returned, hoping to spend six months volunteering for a foundation, while also seeing as much wildlife and birds as possible. Not long after arriving, an unexpected opportunity came up to spend four nights at a wonderful lodge in Hwange National Park at a special "rainy season" rate. Here are some of the highlights of this visit.

Young eland

The rainy season is birthing time for many antelope and gazelle  – here are some young eland from a herd of about 200, the largest eland group I've ever seen. Below, a bull, with his velvety coat.

Bull (male) eland

Hwange has one of the largest elephant populations in Africa, between 49 and 60 thousand.  In the dry season elephants concentrate in and around water holes. With the rains they disperse widely, as water is everywhere, and we saw elephants only once. This young teenager mock-charged our vehicle several times before rubbing his rear on a dead tree stump. As we started to drive away, he approached our vehicle, raised his trunk and trumpeted at us, convinced he was chasing us away.

Young elephant

When I go to Hwange I am accustomed to joining a walking safari. I love this way of seeing wildlife, following the tracker as he picks up the spoor of a lion or rhino. There's nothing between me and the wildlife, and ... I get to walk. On this safari we viewed everything from a vehicle, but I did appreciate that we were able to approach wildlife more closely without disturbing them and saw many more animals than when on foot.

Hwange has a great diversity of ungulates (hoofed mammals.)

Resting waterbuck

 

Sable

The sable is one of the most beautiful of all antelopes. We saw them in woodlands and grasslands.

Impala

Impala are one of Africa's most common gazelles, but I never tire of seeing these elegant, graceful animals. One afternoon we watched in amazement as a group of young impala raced round and round in large circles, seemingly for the pure joy of running and kicking their legs high in the air...they continued for quite a while.

Zebras are very affectionate!

In this season of abundant food and water, the animals seemed more relaxed than during the dry months – the need to be vigilant for predators is always present, but there's also time for fun and play and socializing. Meanwhile, the black-backed jackal (below) often hangs around on the grasslands, awaiting perhaps a lion kill? The jackal scavenges and preys opportunisticly.

Jackal

While parked late one afternoon to enjoy drinks and watch the sunset. A lion begin to roar from perhaps 1/2 a mile away; soon he came into view, about 100 meters from us, still roaring. It is the best sound in the universe, soothing and comforting when you know you are in a safe place.

Lion

We continued watching as he roared his way towards one of Africa's spectacular sunsets...

 

For more about Hwange National Park, see Karen's post The Birds of Hwange National Park from March 4, 2019.

 

All text and photos copyright Caroline Arnold at The Intrepid Tourist
www.theintrepidtourist.blogspot.com

ZIMBABWE, Animals of Hwange National Park, Guest Post by Karen Minkowski

Impala at Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe

My friend Karen Minkowski is spending several months in Africa and sent me some of her wonderful photos taken on a trip to Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. Karen and I were on the same memorable trip to East Africa in 1971 that I wrote about in my post on May 16, 2011. Karen has been back to Africa many times since then, both for work and for pleasure. I thank her for sharing her terrific photos and observations of African wildlife with The Intrepid Tourist.

I've been coming to Zimbabwe almost yearly since 2009, and at the end of 2018 I returned, this time hoping to spend six months volunteering for a foundation, while also seeing as much wildlife and birds as I can. Not long after arriving, an unexpected opportunity came up to spend four nights at a wonderful lodge in Hwange National Park at a very special rate. Here are some of the highlights.

Young eland

The rainy season is birthing time for many antelope and gazelle  – here are some young eland from a herd of about 200, the largest eland group I've ever seen. Below, a bull; I love his velvety appearance.

Bull (male) eland

Hwange has one of the largest elephant populations in Africa, between 49 and 60 thousand.  In the dry season elephants concentrate in and around water holes. With the rains they disperse widely, as water is everywhere, and we saw elephants only once. This young teenager mock-charged our vehicle several times before rubbing his rear on a dead tree stump. As we started to drive away, he approached our vehicle, raised his trunk and trumpeted at us, convinced he was chasing us away.

Young elephant

When I go to Hwange I am accustomed to joining a walking safari. I love this way of seeing wildlife, following the tracker as he picks up the spoor of a lion or rhino. There's nothing between me and the wildlife, and ... I get to walk. On this safari we viewed everything from a vehicle, but I did appreciate that we were able to approach wildlife much closer without disturbing them and we saw more animals.

Hwange has a great diversity of ungulates (hoofed mammals.)

Resting waterbuck

 

Sable

The sable is one of the most beautiful of all antelopes. We saw them in the forests and on the open grasslands.

Impala

Impala are one of Africa's most common gazelles, but I never tire of seeing these elegant, graceful animals. One afternoon we watched in amazement as a group of young impala raced round and round in large circles, seemingly for the pure joy of running and kicking their legs high in the air...they continued for quite a while.

Zebras are very affectionate!

In this season of abundant food and water, the animals seemed more relaxed than during the dry months – the need to be vigilant for predators is always present, but there's also time for fun and play and socializing. Meanwhile, the black-backed jackal (below) often hangs around on the grasslands, awaiting perhaps a lion kill? The jackal scavenges but is also a predator.

Jackal

While parked one very late afternoon to enjoy drinks at sundown, we heard a lion begin to roar from perhaps 1/2 a mile away; he continued and soon came into view, about 100 meters from us, roaring as he walked...it is the best sound in the universe, soothing and comforting when you know you are in a safe place.

Lion

We watched as he roared his way towards one of Africa's spectacular sunsets...

21 COLLECTIONS at the Los Angeles Public Library: Every Object Has a Story

A life-size elephant made of walnuts dominates the first room of the 21 Collections Exhibit at the Central Branch of the Los Angeles Public Library

From Tom Hanks’ typewriters to a life-size elephant made of walnuts, to bird eggs and photos of men in rows, the 21 Collections exhibit at the Central Library in downtown Los Angeles is an amazing variety of the diverse and surprising things that people collect. If you live in the Los Angeles area, and haven’t seen it, it's worth a trip to the library. Truly, every object has a story. 21 Collections will be on view until Sunday, March 24, 2019. Here is a sample of some of my favorites in the exhibit:

Typewriter, one of many in Tom Hanks typewriter collection. This is the first time the collection has been on public view.

Close-up of walnut elephant. This is a reproduction of the first walnut elephant, made by the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce for the 1893 Chicago World's Fair from 6100 pounds of large walnuts.

Eggs from the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology, home of the world's largest collection of bird eggs and nests.

Anonymous vintage photographs of men in rows.

Artist Karen Collins and one of her dioramas from the African American Museum of Miniatures.

Doll hats collected by Olive Percival.

Straw horse.

Candy wrapper collection.

And these are just samples from the exhibit! They go to show that one can collect just about anything!

SRI LANKA: Pearl of the Indian Ocean, Part I, Guest Post by Gretchen Woelfle

Tea plantations cover the highlands of Sri Lanka

My friend and fellow children's book writer Gretchen Woelfle recently returned from an exciting 16 day cycling trip in Sri Lanka. Here is the first of two installments about her trip. 
 
My latest sixteen-day cycling adventure took me to Sri Lanka, described as “land of spice and splendor” by Intrepid Travel, our Australian tour company.

Lunch time!

Our international group of sixteen took off north from the beach at Negombo and traversed a wide circle of coastline, farmland, mountains, World Heritage Buddhist sites, and national parks, down to the south coast, and ending in Colombo.

Local fishing boats still use an outrigger float for stability in choppy waters

We cycled along pristine beaches, some touristic and others filled with colorful fishing boats. 

Drying fish on the beach in Negombo

Shimmering rice paddies and coconut tree plantations dazzled in the sunlight. Many centuries ago Sri Lankans built huge artificial lakes to irrigate crops and these provide habitat to gorgeous birdlife.

Rice paddies share fields with coconut and banana trees

Traveling on two wheels down quiet lanes through villages, farm fields, and along lakes meant we saw, heard, smelled, and touched the countryside. For taste, Sampath, our superbly informed guide, arranged sumptuous meals for us in private homes and small local restaurants.

A delectable meal of rice and curry

Sri Lankan cuisine is similar to South Indian food, based on rice and curry with many coconut flourishes. Breakfast buffets offered tropical fruits picked ripe: oh-so-sweet pineapple, papayas, bananas and more.

Tea workers weigh their pickings several times a day

European invaders coveting the spice trade arrived in Sri Lanka 1505. First, it was the Portuguese, who were ousted 150 years later by the Dutch. The British took over in 1815, cleared vast areas of jungle, and planted tea. The highlands are blanketed in tea plantations and the leaves are still picked by hand, by women. It’s the lowest paid job on the island.

Mother elephant with sleeping baby

Our cycling days covered 25-45 miles a day, usually completed by lunchtime since we started early. Free-time activities included a train ride into the hills; climbing mountains; visiting a tea factory, raucous urban produce markets, and an elephant orphanage; lazing by hotel pools and swimming in the Indian Ocean.

Man with a cart at the produce market in Colombo

At a lush spice garden I learned the various spices in curry powder (5), garam masala (6), korma (7), vindaloo (8), and phall (9). Cinnamon is native to Sri Lanka, so I bought a goodly amount. An afternoon’s safari in Yala National Park gave us close-up views of a lovely herd of elephants and a sloth bear. A traffic jam of other gawking-tourists’ vans kept us from seeing a leopard.

Sirigiya rock – site of a 5^th century fortress (reached by 1200 stairs)!

What moved me most, however, were the Buddhist temple/monastery complexes – both archaeological and contemporary. Next week I’ll describe some of temples, stupas, and ceremonies we witnessed.

Intrepid Travel offers eight tours of Sri Lanka, from two to fifteen days. https://www.intrepidtravel.com/us/sri-lanka

Book recommendations:

The Rough Guide to Sri Lanka

Romesh Gunesekera, Noontide Toll. A novel of contemporary linked stories of the lingering impact of the civil war.

Romesh Gunesekera, Reef. A compelling coming-of-age novel about a servant boy (1960s-90s).

Leonard Woolf, Growing: An Autobiography of the Years 1904-1911. Before he met Virginia, Woolf spent these seven years as a British bureaucrat in (then) Ceylon.

Leonard Woolf, A Village in the Jungle. This 1913 novel is a powerful but gloomy portrait of village life.