OL PEJETA REVISITED PART TWO.

[PHALANX]

The sun broke over Mt Kenya, it's warm rays dispersing the cold night air. I sat outside my tent with a mug of hot coffee enjoying the peace & quite.

The sweet dewy smell of the night still hung in the air, it was good to be back.

Ol Pejeta, and especially Sweetwaters have become a second home for me, and I have spent 18 weeks of my life at Sweetwaters over the years.

The morning was warming up, and after breakfast as I made my way back to my tent I met an old friend who informed me that

"Ol Pejeta had lost one of it's stars". It had happened the week before I had arrived.

The sadness I felt at this news was in stark contrast to the beautiful morning I had received it in. I needed time to make sense of it.

I returned to my tent, picked up my binoculars and went for a walk around the camp.

The birdlife around Sweetwaters is prolific, and it was a welcome distraction and lifted my mood.

In my first thirty six hours at Sweetwaters I had seen seventy eight different species.

The revival of my spirits was completed In the afternoon when one of Ol Pejeta' stars arrived at the waterhole.

​Ol Pejeta was very dry, though there was plenty of water on the conservancy, but it was the grasses & bush which desperately needed the rains life giving elixir.

The waterhole was generally quite during my stay, but this was not unusual for October, but every now & then it would burst into life.

Occasionally large herds of Eland would grace us with their stately presence. They came not just for the water,

but for the minerals found in the salt lick to the right of the waterhole.

The biggest surprise at the waterhole was the visit of four Jackson' Hartebeest, who rarely ever visit the waterhole.

Despite the very dry conditions and the limited amount of vegetation available, the game was in good condition.

For those of you who know Sweetwaters, you will be aware of the close proximity of the waterhole to the camp.

So when the Rothchild's Giraffe arrive there is always a lot of excitement, by tourist and staff alike,

as these congenial giants come so close affording wonderful photo opportunities.

Elephants had been visiting the waterhole during the day prior to my arrival, but not regularly, so it was a little disappointing that they did not afford me this pleasure during my stay, but they made up for it by coming to the waterhole on several occasions in the evening, and this is just as special as they appear out of the darkness like enormous grey ghosts. The whole atmosphere at night is one I really love, the silence, broken only by the chorus of cicadas and the occasional cry of the Hyrax, the stillness and the whole atmosphere which changes so completely from the day.

So to have it blessed with elephants is truly what dreams are made of.

 

In part three I explore the conservancy.

Edited November 12, 2016 by PHALANX