Samburu

So in the morning we awoke in Samburu to more mischievous vervets stealing Ashford's mangos! In fact, he said, "they didn't even eat them! They just made little holes in all of them and then threw them away!". Ah, well, I think next time we'll come during the rains and get some great mangos. I hear that's when they are sweetest!

But despite our lack of mango goodness we headed out for an early morning game drive. Soon we were in the midst of tiny dik diks (Anna and I both heard the Spaceballs "Dink dink" song in our heads everytime we saw them), giraffes, oryxes, and more.

In our endeavors to see a cheetah or two we went up to a more rugged road and promptly got stuck! Ashford had to add sticks and grasses under the wheels, I drove on the right side drivers seat/left sided gear shift while Anna played lookout for any lions or other large predators. Ashford taught us that the thing to do if you see a Lion is to yell and make LOUD NOISES!

But, the day really belonged to the elephants. As we went out and about we saw a few small families of pacaderms out in the bush. But as we turned in to the lodge for breakfast we made a swing by the dried up river bed. And there gathering for some kind of elephant conference were about 50 of the giants all standing around.

Some of the elephant village were actually digging for the salts left over by the evaporated water. The little ones (some only 2-3 weeks!) stood there underneath their mothers for shade or chased each other around. The anti-social bachelors seemed to hang around the banks pouting.

It didn't seem like the place for giant animals to be- what with the hot sun, no food, etc. but they must have had some business to attend to, because by the time we headed out in the afternoon they were still there! The next day they were even joined by a giraffe convention!

While we saw lots of great things in Samburu, including ostrich families, giraffes bending down to drink water, etc. I think the giant herd of elephants was the best thing!