Closely surrounded by a large herd of elephants, our family and two Samburu guides sit silently awed in our parked open-sided safari vehicle.
With just the slightest bit of imagination, one can envision oneself a part of the herd. We are in very close proximity to these gracious, enormous animals. They are fully aware of our presence but are not spoked since the Samburu guides leading us can understand many of their actions and noises and act accordingly, making the elephants completely comfortable with our being there.
One elephant slowly and completely scratches his neck and trunk against a large tree branch. In the silence we hear the rough sound of his skin rubbing along the bark and clearly see his contentment.
Between the legs of the adults we spot a baby elephant peaking out, acting remarkably similar to a human child, playfully pulling on tails, twisting his trunk to rest on his siblings, and finding ways to squeeze in the tight spots between his relatives.
One elephant, only 5 feet from us, looks directly at us and lifts her trunk, scanning the air, gathering information about us. We sit perfectly still. I wonder what information she obtains? Probably a lot considering Zuki has been wearing the same outfit for a week.
Uncontrollable muffled giggles escape from the kids, when one neighboring elephant pees, which in actuality is more like a water main break than a pee, as an elephant can urinate about 42 gallons in one go!
There is a lot of ear flapping. Trunks continually pull down leaves, bringing food to their mouths. They use their front feet to kick and loosen the grass, which they eat. With their trunks they throw mud or dirt all over their body as a form of sun protection, which gives the Samburu elephants a distinct reddish brown color. And in the middle of it all we feel like the luckiest people on Earth. This is what dreams are made of. I have loved Elephants forever and being this close to such friendly elephants in their natural habitat is simply an astounding experience.
There is a lot of ear flapping. Trunks continually pull down leaves, bringing food to their mouths. They use their front feet to kick and loosen the grass, which they eat. With their trunks they throw mud or dirt all over their body as a form of sun protection, which gives the Samburu elephants a distinct reddish brown color. And in the middle of it all we feel like the luckiest people on Earth. This is what dreams are made of. I have loved Elephants forever and being this close to such friendly elephants in their natural habitat is simply an astounding experience.
Remarkably the amazing experience continues even after the game drives. We really scored with our choice in camps, which can be totally attributed to my good college buddy, Jake Norton, who from his own experience at the camp told us we simply had to go to Elephant Watch Camp in Samburu National Reserve . With his letter of introduction to the Douglas-Hamilton family, who are famous for their elephant conservation work and run the luxury camp, we were offered a great friend-of-friend-low-season rate, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity we couldn't pass up.
Elephant Watch Camp is a beautiful luxurious Eco camp designed to allow the guest privacy and comfort while living in the truly wild African bush.
The tents are beautifully decorated and hung under thatched roofs with mud walls semi-enclosing the tent and the private open-air bathrooms. Warm water is filled into the buckets in the bathroom to create a eco-freindly yet luxurious safari shower.-
The tents are beautifully decorated and hung under thatched roofs with mud walls semi-enclosing the tent and the private open-air bathrooms. Warm water is filled into the buckets in the bathroom to create a eco-freindly yet luxurious safari shower.-
The camp has a beautiful location along the river. Originally the kids had one tent and adults a second tent but the stories of wild cats and elephants wandering through camp combined with the unusual animal noises surrounding us, the kids felt more comfortable with one adult/one child tents. One elephant is known to sleep right on the side of the path between our two tents. Anytime we needed to walk to or from our tent in the dark a Samburu warrior magically appeared to protect us should we need it. We did see a serval cat, elephants, and velvet monkeys wandering free in the camp during our stay.
Elephants from the lunch table.
We were the only guests and immensely enjoyed our time with the lovely Saba Douglas-Hamilton and her 3 beautiful children. Saba had an exotic life growing up in East Africa and we sat engrossed over dinner as she shared incredible stories of her childhood. I loved hearing her girls speaking to each other in Swahili and switching effortlessly to English when playing with Zuki and Yoda. What a wonderful childhood to grow up in Kenya learning from the Samburu in such a naturally beautiful environment.
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Most employees are from the local Samburu villages. Samburu are a Nilotic people of north-central Kenya that are related to but distinct from the Maasai. The guides with their training as nature guides and personal experiences as Samburu, are a wealth of information and a pleasure to be with.
Our fearless and fun Samburu guides.
Traditional Samburu huts made of sticks, mud, elephant dung, and scrap cloth or plastic.
And as if herds of elephants weren't enough, there are a lot of other amazing animals around Samburu reserve. It was funny as the days past how we got so accustomed to seeing zebras and giraffes and the kids got apt at identifying animals like water buck, dik-dik, impala, and oryx, which embarrassingly enough, we had never even heard of before arriving in Kenya.
Our last night celebration was one of those events that is so exotic, so powerful, and so full of positive energy that you know at the time that it is a "memory in the making." We hiked up with a group of Samburu tribespeople, one with a gun just incase we needed to scare away any wild animals, about an hour to a small hill will a beautiful view of the undeveloped reserve.
A fire was started from dried elephant dung and two sticks, one of which is rotated quickly between your hands making it "dig" a little hole in the second piece of wood, laid on the ground. The point of intersection of the sticks is where the first embers are created and then passed onto the shredded elephant dung to feed the flame.
With the fire roaring, the Samburu chanting and dancing started in full force and of course we joined in. Our high-jumps looked ridiculously tiny compared to the warriors, but we had a blast. The chants are so deep they penetrate into your body and the repetitive nature allows for easy participation.
The sun set and in the darkness we all loaded into the safari vehicle. The 20 minute ride down to camp in the darkness, squeezed all together, chanting as one was completely spontaneous and simply exhilarating.
Our time at Elephant Watch Camp was a highlight experience of my life. Yup, not just this world trip but of my life, and I have been a bit of an exotic-travel junkie in the past. We were truly lucky that everything aligned and we were able to stay at Elephant Watch for a magical 3 nights. It has been the case numerous times on this trip and I am now a firm believer in things happening when you relax, open your mind, and let the universe guide you a bit .
