Category Archives: Wildlife

Africa, Kenya, Travel, Wildlife

I Dare You Not to Smile :-)

1 Comment

These days, it’s seems like all of the news is bad. But last week, there was a notable exception. This young Kenyan reporter was doing his best to be professional. But everyone has their limits. Seriously – can you watch this without a smiling, giggling out loud, or feeling a pure moment of joy?

There’s no caveat. I. Love. This.

It’s also a familiar and heartwarming scene, as I visited the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust Orphanage in Nairobi on my first ever trip to Africa. I had anticipated that trip for more than 20 years and it did not disappoint. The Orphanage was on my schedule for the morning after I arrived. I was suffering from severe jet lag but this was the perfect remedy. What a great way to jump into the wonders of Africa!

At the time of my visit, the Orphanage was open at set times on just a few days a week. Visitors were allowed one hour and it was magical. First, the keepers brought the elephants out in groups arranged by age.

Once they arrived in the “arena”, they did what elephants do! They ate, drank, rolled around in the dirt and had fun with their mates.

    In the (many) years since I visited, this amazing non-profit organization has continued to grow, expand, and serve in new and impactful ways. Founded originally as an orphan elephant rescue and rehabilitation program, they now run anti-poaching teams, coordinate mobile veterinary units, have established rehabilitation, reintegration and wildlife recovery areas, and run low-impact tourism ecolodges with proceeds supporting their programs. They have been leaders in social movements and played a crucial role in banning all trade in ivory. The Sheldrick Trust has expanded their international reach and now also operates in the US and UK. Dame Daphne Sheldrick passed away in 2018, but her legacy lives on through this important work. Check out their Facebook page here.

    Even better, plan the trip of your dreams and stop by in person. You won’t be sorry you did. <3

    Africa, Rwanda, Travel, Wildlife

    Sunday on Lake Kivu

    A gorgeous freshwater lake, a calm day, sunshine, blue skies and a boat.  If you ask me, these are a perfect recipe for a relaxing weekend with friends!  Or so it would seem.

    Our group was taking a break from a two week volunteer assignment.  We took a three hour drive from Kigali to Kibuye, one of the beautiful beach towns on Lake Kivu, for the weekend.  From the vantage point of the Bethanie Hotel, we had stunning views of the area.

    Lake Kivu is a freshwater lake that separates Rwanda from the Democratic Republic of Congo.  One of Africa’s Great Lakes (the 6th largest in Africa), Lake Kivu was formed by volcanic activity in the Albertine Rift.  You may also be interested in knowing that Lake Kivu is an “exploding lake”!  Huge amounts of trapped methane and carbon dioxide are suspected to be the cause of lake overturns  (that’s an eruption of dissolved carbon dioxide) about every 1,000 years.  A future overturn would be catastrophic to the 2 million people living in the lake basin.  Strategies to harness and utilize the vast amount of methane gas as a source of energy are continually being investigated.  Here are three interesting articles.

    There are many islands on the lake and one of those – Napoleon Island – was our destination on this perfect Sunday back in December 2016.  We were ready to feel the breeze and set off without many expectations.  Our guide was really helpful but spoke limited English and kept telling us that we would see “a lot of birds”.  OK.  Fine.  Sounds good.

    After a ride of maybe 30 minutes, we arrived on the island.  Our guide points up and says “we will go there”.  Um, what?  Where I come from, that’s a small mountain.  But OK.  We climbed uphill on a dirt path for about 45 minutes – it was hot and this was not how we intended to spend our “relaxing morning” but we trudged on.  And yes, the views from the top made it worthwhile!

    Mind you, we had yet to see any birds…

    After a short rest, we headed down in a different direction into the dense forest.  Our guide followed us and when he started clapping and whistling, we finally understood.  We were here not to see BIRDS but rather BATS.  And LOTS of them!!  You see, Napoleon Island is home to a colony of fruit bats.  🙂

    The racket our guide was making woke them up from their daytime slumber and they started flying everywhere.  I mean hundreds if not thousands of bats.  We stood transfixed as they flew by so close that we could have easily touched them.

    Pictures don’t really do it justice…

    Some continued to hang from their trees, eyeing us as intruders and alternately ignoring us completely.  For all of the noise, they didn’t seem too bothered by us, really.

    I’ve never been in such a strange, unique and unexpected circumstance!  But it was amazing.  We just stood there gawking – with our mouths closed, really, there was a lot of guano flying around.   Not entirely what we had expected from our “relaxing morning on the lake”.  Definitely much better. 🙂

     

    Africa, Nature, Rwanda, Travel, Uganda, Wildlife

    Gorillas and Monkeys and Chimps (oh my!)

    In December I had a chance to combine two of my favorite things – travel and volunteering!  I spent two weeks in Kigali working on the site where the headquarters of Grace Rwanda – a charity promoting literacy and education in Rwanda – are located.  After that, I was lucky enough to take a week long safari to see some of the wildlife of East Africa!

    My first stop was Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda where I joined a small group of hikers in search of Golden Monkeys.  In conservation areas like this, visiting primates is nothing like going to a zoo – these animals are wild!  However, researchers have spent years habituating some of the populations to the presence of humans so it’s safe for small groups of visitors to encounter them in the forest.  The process is highly controlled – the group stays together and follows a guide, and you are allowed to stay in their presence for only 1 hour of each day.  We set off through the village and then encountered the Golden Monkeys first on an unused plot of farming land.  After about 20 minutes, they moved on to the forest and so did we.  You can see how they get their name – they are beautiful!

     

     

    The following day we set out on a LONG drive for Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda.  Bwindi is home to over 300 Mountain Gorillas and has several family groups that are habituated to visitors.  These beautiful animals are endangered due to poaching and live only in Uganda, Rwanda and the DRC – they cannot survive in captivity so if you’ve seen a gorilla in a zoo, it was likely another gorilla species, probably the Lowland Gorilla.  The hike to find our family was no joke (it’s called the “impenetrable” forest for a reason!) but when we got there it was more than worth the effort.  This group has several juvenile members and they were very active during our 1 hour stay!

    The last primates on our itinerary were the Chimpanzees of Kibale National Park, Uganda.  We arrived around 2pm and quickly got ready to go into the forest, hoping to catch the chimps while they were still feeding on the ground.  Once they go into trees for the night we would be out of luck!  We joined our guide and set off on our trek.  It wasn’t overly strenuous, but those chimps move fast!  There were several times when we were running through the forest to keep up. 🙂  These animals share more than 96% of our DNA and we had lots of opportunities to observe them up close, including one elder who clearly likes having his picture taken!

     

    What a great week with our primate cousins.  It’s truly an experience you should not miss!  For action shots, check out my short YouTube videos of Golden Monkeys, Chimps and Gorillas.  Plan your own trip to see them in person soon!