Hard Work on Lake Naivasha

Most mornings I wake to the sound of the fish eagles, such a great sound! I walk to the lake among all the animals across the riparian. Each day is different. Some days I walk among the giraffe and zebras, other days waterbuck and impalas are awfully close, but always… the animated wildbeest, running every which way. At the lakeshore, you birders would be in heaven, kingfishers (three different kinds), gulls, stilts, plovers, ibis (2 different kinds), herons, egrets, coots and the fish eagles, all within touching distance (almost). You can usually find me on the lake before 7 doing behavioral observation on a pair of fish eagles until 12 or 1...the things I’ve seen! Fishing, territorial fighting, nest building, mating and helping fisherman make a living. Within binocular vision I have counted nearly 20 eagles at one time, scattered around the lake in trees, on the edge of the water and flying overhead.

For 3,000 schillings (that’s about $40), you can take a one hour boat ride to see the hippos, the birds, walk the riparian area and watch the eagles catch fish. The fisherman whistle and throw fish in front of the boats (these are small fishing boats). If all goes according to plan and the eagles are willing, they fly from their trees where they’ve been perching watching all this, and grab the fish. Sometimes they ignore the whistling and the fish, other times they are flying before the fish has hit the water. I have mixed feelings about it, as I am sure many people do. Lake Boringo estimates that because of the fish eagle fish tossing, they have made $150,000.

I’ve also been helping Tecla with her research, we spent all day Saturday and Sunday on the fishing boat collecting data. We collected water, soil and fish samples from 7 different spots around the lake to be analyzed for heavy metals. We took temperatures and looked at water visibility. Since the eagle is an indicator species, she is trying to determine the effect the lake is having on the eagles. I am very interested to see the data. At the same time, I was locating fish eagles at the sites, using the GPS to note their location and observing behavior over about an hour. In the two days we saw 26 eagles, I had expected to see many, many more. However, they are very territorial, so perhaps we were in specific territories. After the long days, we went to the lab to dissect fish and remove the liver and muscle tissue, this after weighing and measuring the length of each carp (700-900grams). We also took the pH of the water and the conductivity. Last night we left the lab about 11:30pm…after waking up at 6 and working all day. I’m sure I’m forgetting something…oh yeah, we ate the fish afterwards! Yum, good thing I love fish. It was great spending time with Tecla and her cousin, brother and friends. Now if I only knew Swahili… although, it was mentioned a few times that a few times I responded to someone who was speaking Swahili, so maybe I’ve picked up more than I thought.

In the evenings, when I am at the caravan, I walk out to the lake and spend some time with the animals and watching the sun set, it’s a magical time of day…sunrise and sunset are spectacular. In the morning the mist rises over the lake and at night, the sunset is gorgeous, sometimes the colors are incredible, other times, the clouds make it magical.

Lake Naivasha

Lake Naivasha…home to water buffalo, zebra, giraffe, waterbuck, wildebeest, dik dik, impala, gazelle, more than 1,200 hippos, and hundreds of species of birds including crowned cranes, the Goliath heron and over 150 African fish eagles…heaven? I would say so.

The last few weeks here have been very interesting, fish eagles seem to be everywhere, no complaining on my part. My home is a metal caravan with the main room and a sleeping room. If I stretch out my arms, they touch each wall. My kitchen is just a short walk to a building much, much bigger than the caravan with a wood burning stove (Note to self: must work on starting fire). My very own bathrooms are across a field that is for the hippos to graze on at night. It’s worth it…at night I am surrounded by waterbuck and hippos. You can’t miss the hippos, they come to mow the lawn and it is very loud, the way they rip the grass up. I tried to get photos, but you don’t want to get too close to a hippo, they are HUGE and a little intimidating at night :)

The family that is so kind to let me stay in the caravan is Sarah and Mike. Sarah is an animal buff, she has id’d and told me all about each animal and bird I’ve seen here, its awesome. She also rescues all sorts of animals, right now she has all raptors, they help injured animals and she specializes in owls. The barn owls she keeps have released many young into the wild. Right now there are a pair of eagle owls that have two young that are almost ready to fledge (fly the coop, be free). The female was deprived of adequate nutrition when she was young, so her beak grows in crooked and its very, very long. I brought a dremmel and we’ve been working on making it look better, at least now the bottom looks great and the top will once we shorten it more.

Sarah and Mike have been very kind, introducing me to everyone they know and even taking me up in their plane…ok, so it wasn’t specifically for me, it was for a white stork we took to another town to release… I carried it on the plane, he was great and didn’t poop on me once!

Photos from the top of Africa!

Photos from Kilimanjaro

I hope you enjoy these photos, just a few of my experience on top of the world, the glaciers are truly incredible, however they are melting quickly.
The select few that made it! We were exhausted and exhilarated all at the same time.

The area that we were walking was completely covered in glaciers 10 years ago according to our guides, now its just scree and hard dirt. In fact, many are guessing that by the year 2015, the glacier will be gone. Not only is that a beautiful image that I'd hate for you to miss seeing for yourselves, but it is terrible for everyone living on, below and near the mountain as the mountain is their water source. What does that mean for them?


Regardless of the future, it was so beautiful to see for miles, what a view! Worth every minute!

Lewa, Il Nygwesi, Somburu...

I've spent the better part of an hour trying to upload pictures of the glaciers on the roof of Africa without any luck, internet isn't the best, so you'll have to wait til next time, but its worth the wait, trust me. I hope everyone is doing great, time is flying here and I am trying to make the most of every moment...they are all amazing thus far. Here's a synopsis of the safari, pictures also to come, but I couldn't wait any longer.

Lewa...

If ever you have a chance to travel to Kenya, even if you’ve already been, you should make it a point to go to Lewa Conservancy. We are talking about a little piece of heaven. Not only did we see more animals than I thought possible, but we were treated like royalty, fed like kings and I was even able to build on the Swahili I had learned on Kili.

Most days started with a morning game drive at 6:30, followed by breakfast in the bush or back at the ranch. Fresh fruit was the order, mango, papaya, pineapple, passion fruit, bananas, watermelon, all fresh and picked at just the right time. Eggs were always made to order along with tomatoes and mushrooms (and beans and bacon for you as well). Lunches were also buffet style with a huge variety of main courses, but always lots of salads as well (yes, still my favorite) and fresh cheeses and fruit. Dinner was sit down and we were given soup, main courses and dessert each night. Drinks were always readily available, I’m pretty sure I’ve gained weight because the food has been so good.

Oops, I didn’t travel all the way to Africa for the food, back to the animals and the people. Our guides were local men who were from different tribes, it was so nice to learn about other cultures, family is incredibly important, most of the people worked and lived at Lewa and then every once in a while had a few days off to go home to their families. They also were very knowledgeable. They all seemed to know the answer to all our questions, no matter how challenging or stupid it was...our guides (and drivers) Joel, Johnson and Michael could spot and animal a mile away.

Ok, so, what we saw...are you ready? Reticulated Giraffe, Elephants (yes Aaron, lots and lots and lots of Elephants…young, old, male, female, even tiny babies), Zebra, both Common and Grevy’s (endangered), Black and White Rhino (also endangered), Waterbuck, Warthogs, Water Buffalo (huge!), Elan, Cheetah (the three brothers) on three separate occasions. Secretary birds, Ostrich, Bustards, Storks, Harriers, Eagles, little tiny birds like bee eaters and starlings and swallows, waterfowl, termite mounds, impala, gaezelle, Crowned cranes, the tip tops of two hippos in the middle of a pond and Lions.

We went on afternoon and night drives as well and saw amazing sights at night…Lions hunting (sort of), Cheetahs feasting on a baby Elan (although we had seen them eating before the sun went down as well), bushbabies, nightjars, thicknees, storks at the tops of trees, crowned cranes as well as all the above animals at night,.

I’ve just barely scraped the surface, the list goes on and on and on. We found pride rock (the movie Lion King).

While watching all those animals and taking a few pictures…just a few J we learned all about Lewa. If you’ve never heard of Lewa, go to www.lewa.org, their mission just to give you a taste of what they are all about…”The Lewa Wildlife Conservancey works as a catalyst for the convservation of wildlife and its habitat. It does this through the protection and management of species, the initiation and support of community conservation and development programmes, and the education of neighboring areas in the value of wildlife.” We visited one of the schools that Lewa supports and the medical clinic at the same location and met the students, many who came even though the teachers were on strike and there was no school. We gave them lots of supplies, games, toys and candy.

One day we went up north to another reserve called Somburu (the movie Born Free?), where we saw Gerenuk, Dik Dik and two Lions hanging out all day long in the same place and more elephants than I’ve ever seen before. It was hot, hot, hot and very dry, the river bed was completely dried out, much of Kenya is in a drought. Hopefully the rainy season will bring a lot of rain this year, they need it.

We also went to the equator and did some shopping. Shopping is a sport in Kenya. Oh my.

After a great 10 days, we were off to Il Nygwesi for three nights, where we were able to see a Boma and spend an evening with the community. Here, we did game drives on foot, hiked a mountain and watched the sunset in the most serene location. The facilities were all open air, the loos with a view, the outdoor showers so you could gaze at the stars while showering, the watering hole where nearly 20 elephants at a time frequented and the heat meant a lot of relaxation near the pool.

I’ve just barely scratched the surface and can’t wait to tell you more, but hopefully that was enough (and hopefully not tooooo much) to get you excited about visiting Kenya. Until next time, lala salama (good night).

Kibo Hut to the summit

10:45pm wake up call, tea and cookies and some aspirin. At about 11:30 we start the steepest and most demanding part of the climb, by headlight, in a line, under the stars, very, very slowly. poli, poli. Almost the entire 6 hours we are either scrambling over large rocks or we are trying to walk through loose volcanic scree on switchbacks. It seemed there was no air to breathe and I wanted to stop every 10 steps to rest. The first third, I really didn't think I would make it, I was so tired and mentally I was thinking too much, trying to analyze every step. Fijnally, I put on my ipod and started to listen to my workout playlist with Eye of the Tiger and the Rocky theme music and all of a sudden I felt better. Williams Point at 5000m was our first stop, then the hans meyer cave at 5150m, we kept walking over Jamaica rocks at 5500m and then we were at Gilman's Point, 5686m. I'm not sure how I got there, but I did and then I got this tiny spark of adrenaline. After hours and hours of watching tiny little light going up the mountain, we had made it... almost. What's even better is that all nine of us made it to Gilman's Point. The sun was just beginning to rise and it was a spectacular sight. It was 5:30am and now there were decisions to be made, to continue to Uhuru Peak or not. I may have looked like death, but I was roaring to go. So six of us continued the trek around the crater to the peak, watching the sun rise in the sky to reveal the beautiful glaciers all around us. Only 200 meters more to go and two hours and we'd be there! It wasn't so bad really, after all we had already done, we got to Stella's point and then it seemed the climb was on and was just going on and on and on and on. The headache I had had on the way up went away at Gilman's point. AT 7:40am we reached Uhuru peak! At this point we had 10-15 minutes to celebrate, take pictures, enjoy the scenery, the accomplishment, the emotion. At 19,340 feet, the air was so thin, we were told it was dangerous to stay too long. So....after all that, we hiked down....What took 8 hours to go up would take less than half that to get down, we were cruising. At Gilman's Point, I started getting a terrible headache, unlike anything I had experienced before. We were given some hot water, did I mention how cold it was on the mountain? Very cold. I had ski pants on with two layers of long underwear on undernneath, I had feet warmers in my boots and too many layers to count on top with my winter coat. We began going down the scree and it was fun! Its screeing...like skiing, except with little rocks and lots of dust. Straight down the mountain, I wish I had thought to video tape it.

After a short rest which wasn't so restful for me as it felt like someone had taken an ax to my head, we were given food for the first time in 24 hours. Ok, not completely true, I had subsisted on goo and chocolate and water until that point. I couldn't eat a thing so they had me start walking right away. Yes, you read correctly, we had to get to lower elevation, so it was back across the saddle, another 4.5hours from Kibo Hut to Horombo, 3720 meters. The habitat changed remarkably - from nothing but bolders to smaller rocks and shrub plants, a little river, then big bushy, green plants and trees. Sure enough, I hadn't believed Samuel, but by the time we got to Horombo at 12,204 feet, my headache was gone and I was able to eat dinner and fall asleep by about 7:30pm.

The next morning, our last on the mountain involved thanking all the porters and guides for getting us to the top, tipping, singing and laughing together, it was really moving. In 5 hours, we were at the National park Gate, signing for the last time and reliving the last 7 days together.

I'll post a bunch of pictures of the glaciers, they are remarkable.

Kikelelwa Cave and up and up and ....

Day 2 began with a guide waking us up and offering us tea or coffee. They actually delivered the tea to the tent, asked how we were and brought us 'wash wash,' a tub of water. We packed our stuff up, headed to the meal tent and enjoyed a great breakfast of eggs, fruit, bread (and for the meat eaters out there, lots of that too). We began hiking, through moorland, stopping for a hot lunch along the way at 2nd cave. The terrain was pretty steep today, lots of rocks, lots of ups and downs, scenery has changed so much in just two days of hiking. After lunch, it seemed we began heading straight to Mawenzi, one of the three peaks, which nobody climbs, it is too steep and rocky. One of our fellow hikers, Michael, had a GPS with him, so we could see our progress. We had climbed 12.6 kilometers, just under 8 miles, finished the day another 900 meters higher than we began. Flowers were abundant, including two diferent kinds of gladiolas, impatients, many yellow flowers. I saw many birds, mostly Arctic chats and Ravens. In fact, Ravens were even found at the very top of Mt. Kilimanjaro. I saw wild dogs and buffalo...poop. We saw a path where the elephants walk through, chipmunks an even beetles. I was excited to be able to see the clouds below me and above me. We even got just a bit of rain in the afternoon. The next day we traveled for only 3-4 hours, between breakfast and lunch climbing 750 meters to Mawenzi turn. In the afternoon we took a short hike of about an hour climbing another 150metes up and back down, a bit of an acclimitization climb. That day was also very exciting for everyone on the mountain, inaugurtion day. As the day went on, those with iphones were checking to see how the party was progressing, I hear it was incredible, I'd love to hear some stories (hint, hint). Anyhow, the acclimitization walk took us closer to Mawenzi, so beautiful, we got to see just how steep and rocky it really is. About ten minutes later is when the rain and then snow began to fall. As we climbed back down, the snow turned to rain. It was a good excuse to sit in the mess tent and play cards, eat popcorn and chocolate and drink tea.

In the morning, the base of Mawenzi and a beautiful tiny lake were our welcome as we climbed from our tents into the cold, cold, cold. We walked over a ridge, crossed an area of the mountain and then across the kilimanjaro saddle the entire thing, a very gentle climb, in fact I didn't even notice we were climbing at all, it just seemed to go on forever, its what we all imagine walking on the moon would be like, nothing but dirt, craters and big bolders. 370 meters was all the elevation we gained over the course of about six hours.

We made it...to Kibo Hut, the first hurdle at 4700 meters, 15, 419 feet. We were asked to sign in again. We were fed...again and then rested for a few hours until dinner and then rest again, preparation for the midnight start.

Rongai Route

Jambo means hello in Swahili. Isn't that a great word?

I am back in Nairobi after an incredible 12 days on safari. I had such a great time, I'm already trying to figure out how to convince all of you to join me next year :) But first I've got to tell you more about Kilimanjaro.

There are quite a few routes you can take, one of the most popular is the coca cola route, named that way because its so popular and very crowded, with huts you can sleep in and stuff you buy. That is the route we took down, it took us a day and a half to get down.

We took the Rongai Route, only tents and not many people. Going up the mountain we started at the national park gate (Nale moro village, 1950m), where we met our porters, assistant guides, cook and the head honcho, our guide Samuel, who has been climbing the mountain for 30 years! We climbed up 750 meters the first day 'poli poli.' That's one of the secrets. The guides tell us over and over and over and over...poli poli. Slowly, slowly. The slower the better, gives your body time to acclimitize. That and drinking 4-5 liters of water and that PMA (no dad, not PMS, PMA, positive mental attitude). We climb through farm land, mainly corn, on up through the forest to simba camp which is just about at the edge of the moorland zone. We camped at Simba Camp (2700m). Keep in mind that while we are carrying day packs with cameras, rain gear, warm clothes and water, the porters are basically running past us, or so it looks that way, they are so fast AND they have 20kg on their backs or heads! Unbelievable how fit these men and woman are. We walk into camp and to our utter amazement, the tents are up, the loo is up, the porters are just hanging out waiting for us and that's where it all began. We signed in, no turning back now.

I talked with our guide in training. Elli is a very nice guy. He told me that they go to school to be a guide, take a test and then spend 12 days on the mountain. They do everything to make us comfortable and successful, such great people here on the mountain. The food was amazing and we were off to bed early, yes even for me. Georgi and I shared a tent and around midnight we both were awaken to the strangest sounding animal. No, not really, it was just one of our new friends snoring. Don't worry, we totally got used to it, by the end I was wondering if I'd be able to sleep without hearing him snore (turns out it wasn't a problem).