Wildlife’s Garden of Eden
2020 was originally planned to be a special travel year for our silver wedding anniversary. We had many plans including India, Gabon, and Australia but, like many of you out there too, each one had to be cancelled due to Covid. By November we were starting to get a bit antsy and longing to get away and experience more of our beautiful earth. We researched the remaining countries open for us to travel to in this situation and decided on Kenya’s northern parks.
We arrived in Nairobi on Christmas day and had arranged for a transfer to the Lewa Wilderness Conservancy. It being Christmas, the roads leading out of Nairobi were chockablock and instead of an approx. 4 hour drive it took us just over 7 hours to reach the beautiful Lewa Wilderness Lodge. Despite the long trip, including the flight, it was definitely worth it and we’d do it again!
This conservancy just north of the country’s highest mountain (Mt Kenya - 5199m) used to be a cattle station. In 1983, when there were only a few hundred Northern Black Rhinos left in Kenya, the conservancy owners decided to create a fenced-in and guard-protected rhino sanctuary. To this sanctuary they added some South African Southern White Rhinos who were, at that time on the brink of extinction. By 1995 the whole ranch was converted into a wildlife conservancy and today is one of the most successful wildlife protection projects in Africa.
The things we experienced and learnt about during our 4 day stay was brilliant with highlight after highlight. There are over 100 White and Black Rhinos grazing the protected Lewa Borana landscape – an area of 380 square km. As with Ol Pejeta, this UNESCO World Heritage Site proved to be another fantastic place to see these amazing rhinos in the wild. Over the last 3 years their numbers have increased by 25% and 13% of all the Kenyan rhinos actually live here.
White Rhinos are very sociable animals and are normally found in small groups. It’s truly amazing to observe them - we spent a lot of time just sitting quietly watching and photographing them. It is incomprehensible how humans can kill these historic animals for something that is made of the same material as our fingernails!
Black Rhinos on the other hand are territorial and more solitary. This is one of the reasons why it’s harder to increase their numbers compared to the White Rhinos. The males roam around, spraying their territory and will attack competition if need be. They could even attack a car so one has to be careful when approaching them.
The mothers stay with their youngsters for about 2 to 3 years. In this photo you would think that there are black, brown and grey rhinos... But the funny thing is, the title ‘white’ or ‘black’ doesn’t have anything to do with their colour! It’s the shape of their mouths that gave them their names: the White Rhinos have a wide mouth. The word ‘wide’ was misunderstood as ‘white’ when the animals were first discovered. The Black Rhinos have a pointed mouth and the name ‘black’ was only given to them as an easy choice to differentiate them 😊.
As the increase in numbers of endangered wildlife at the Lewa Wilderness Conservancy flourished, Lewa initiated the creation of the Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT). Today, this organisation supports 39 communities in running their own conservancies by helping locals with their education, farmland, health care and tourism, therefore creating more jobs. Lewa alone has hired over 300 Masai people from nearby villages. The Lewa Impact Report is a good read about their amazing concept and set-up in order to give Kenyan’s wildlife a brighter future on our planet.
Elephants are another highlight and there was a lot to learn about them at Lewa. In order for these beautiful animals to survive along with the human communities – Lewa Conservancy has built special fences to stop elephants and rhinos destroying crops and too many trees. The forests are also a big source of life for other animals like monkeys and of course birds.
Ellys also need to migrate to the greener vegetation of the Mt Kenya National Park especially in times of drought. On the map you can see there’s a gap between the conservancies in the north and Mt Kenya in the south. This is an elephant corridor with two tunnels below the main road. In 2020 they counted over a thousand ellys using these tunnels! On one clear morning we had this great view of Mt Kenya in the background.
One of our many highlights was watching a large herd of ellys ambling to the river for a drink. Once again, we had all the time we wanted to just observe and enjoy these beautiful animals and it was another unforgettable experience. They can suck up to 10 liters of water with their trunks and release it then into their mouths. An elephant’s trunk really is a natural wonder: they use it as a snorkel when swimming, can smell water from miles away and there are two ‘fingers’ at the end with which they use to clutch their food. There are no bones in these trunks but they do have 40’000 muscles - we humans have around 600 muscles in our bodies!
Across the plains and surrounding hills we saw many ellys, usually with many cute babies and youngsters which were great to see too! There are now over 400 migrating elephants in Lewa and thanks to the exceptional work done by the wildlife conservancies, the population in Northern Kenya has increased by 12% over the last 5 years.
Other animals in need of protection and enough land to graze upon, are zebras and the giraffes. North of the equator are the endangered Reticulated Giraffe and the Grevy’s Zebra. Compared to the Common Zebras – at Lewa you can see both types – the Grevy’s are a bit taller, have larger ears, finer stripes and their stripes don’t go all the way around their stomachs. 11% of the global population of these ones can be found at Lewa and this conservancy has recently started to relocate some of them to other conservancies in the north in order to bolster the gene pool and ensure their survival.
The Grevy’s Zebra can live without water for up to 5 days which helps them to survive in dry environments. Zebra’s stripes are a good camouflage and helpful in protecting them from predators such as the big cats. When there’s a big group of zebras together the predator can’t make out a singular animal because it is optically confused by the stripes. This is why a group of zebras is called a dazzle.
There are only 3 cheetahs they know of at Lewa and we were very lucky to spot one of them stalking a gazelle. In the end though, the gazelle spotted this male cheetah and was able to disappear.
Jackals survive on smaller animals and they are also scavengers. They’re related to dogs and wolves. The black-backed jackal can be seen at Lewa and is the smallest but most aggressive type of jackal. Similar in size to a fox, with its reddish-brown coat and a black saddle-like marking is a common sight in Kenya.
There are two lion prides on the Lewa plains. Our Masai guide told us one of them usually moves around the southern side of the park but we didn’t have any luck spotting them. So instead, we zigzagged through a forest looking for the elusive leopard, when suddenly our guide pointed his finger and said ‘lions’! We drove around the trees towards them and when we got there we could hardly believe our eyes. At first we saw a male and a female lying on tree stump.
After about 10 minutes another female with three cubs came up out of the blue from just behind our vehicle! Soon after, yet another buddy and his brother followed and lay down right next to our vehicle – we could almost touch them and it was just amazing to sit there with them!
Here is a little video for you to see too 😊. Magical moments!
The light had started to fade and the temperature had dropped considerably. We weren’t fully aware of Lewa being at an altitude of around 1700m above sea level and didn’t expect it to be so cold once the sun had set. Fortunately, the guides and lodge are very well equipped with these warm ponchos for the guests. So each morning they would bring us coffee to our bungalow and each morning Aaron would open the door to them in true Masai-Style in this lovely poncho 😊!
The next day, our guide took us on yet a different tour. We drove over the top of the hill and descended down into this spectacular valley to the west of the Lodge in another search for a leopard. Again, we didn’t spot any leopards but just as the light turned golden, there was this huge herd of buffaloes. We’d never seen so many in one place!
These yellow-billed oxpeckers like sitting on the backs of these buffaloes (and rhinos) as they are a great food source - they love picking off the ticks from their hosts. The other birds that walk with the buffaloes on the ground like to catch the insects such as grasshoppers that jump up out of the bush and grass when their large companions walk. Nature just works amazingly and all things have their purpose!
Some birds like to spend their nights on their host animals. It makes them feel more secure and they enjoy the body heat of other animals. This Reticulated Giraffe seems to be this particular bird’s favourite resting place 😊!
It is imaginable that a lonesome male buffalo who has been pushed out of his herd could be pretty dangerous. And you also wouldn’t want a too close encounter with a female elephant and her baby – as Mums can be very protective. We definitely wanted to do a walking safari during our stay so our guide decided to take us down to the little river just below the lodge and then loop back.
We didn’t think we would see much and it was more that we wanted to just ‘be close with nature’ and have a change from being in the vehicle. When we got to the river our guide reckoned we could cross it and walk up the hill and maybe get a bit closer to some big male ellys. This we did – and it was beautiful! After that, back down again and just as we wanted to cross back over the river we were surprised by the sight of an elephant Mum with her baby! Brilliant! But we had to be careful. By following our guide and him making sure we were always downwind of these animals so they didn’t get our scent, we were able to watch them silently without them having to worry about us.
As we continued on we saw the rest of the big herd on the other side of the river. So we couldn’t really cross over again and took a detour. Coming up to a big rock where our guide wanted to turn back towards the lodge, he suddenly stopped us and signaled for us to move back slowly and quietly… Just around that rock there was an old lonesome male buffalo! This was very exciting and we weren’t sure of his mood, but the look in his eyes spoke volumes…
So again we changed our route. Suddenly there was a loud cry of a bird. Our guide stopped and told us that this was a sign of either a predator or a snake being around… Careful, careful…This was definitely a walk to remember - beautiful scenery, exciting moments, and with a guide who we trusted and who certainly knows his country!
The next morning we’d arranged for a horse-ride in the wild! Yes, Lewa does offer this too and the Wilderness Lodge has some beautiful horses and they are all really well looked after and loved! Another highlight this turned out to be – horse-riding through the African bush seeing zebras and giraffes up close and from a different perspective – truly magical!
Another very special highlight was watching an ostrich dance for his chosen female. The way he moved his feathers in beautiful sweeps was fantastic and finally, she too was happy with his performance and they mated, ahhh how lovely! There was quite a bit of movement but all we could see were loads of feathers spread in all directions – then, as soon as he was done, he took off at full speed 😊!
Lewa is also a bird lover’s paradise where there are around 450 different species. So many beautiful birds and colours to see – this photo is of Grey Crowned Cranes - the national bird of Uganda, and a beautiful Long-Crested Eagle we found very special.
Lewa is definitely a beautiful and extraordinary place. We stayed for four nights and were rewarded with amazing game drives, a density of endangered animals some of which we’d never seen before, a walking safari, a horse-ride, and the most lovely, friendly and fantastic staff. Thank you Lewa Wilderness Lodge and Lewa Wildlife Conservancy!
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Our other African blogs so far:
"One crowded hour of glorious life is worth an age without a name"
(The Call - Thomas Osbert Morsdaunt, 1730-1809)
Travel blog and travel guide by Aaron Matzinger & Clare Walker
© 2021 by Aaron Matzinger & Clare Walker
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