The journey to visit all NRT schools has begun. Before recommending an education program for the NRT it is necessary to get into the field and see what is actually in place. So, I designed a school assessment survey, hired a consultant to help, and started visiting every school, ECDE (pre-school), primary, and secondary in the conservancies. Paul Leringato, the consultant, and I are gathering information about the students, teachers, existing infrastructure, and NGO’s which are currently helping the schools.
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Hang around safari guides and you quickly learn that witnessing a big cat bring down its prey is the homerun of wildlife viewing. Nature in action; raw, fast and final. Tourists pay big tips for such a memory and the accompanying photographs.

The sun was sinking toward the Borana Hills as Susie, Lynn and I headed home after a fairly successful game drive. We’d seen giraffe, rhino, oryx and the usual assortment of swala (hooved animals of the antelope variety). A family of elephants grazing in a swamp twenty feet from the road held us entranced for a good fifteen minutes. Lynn had spotted a large tortoise heading into the grass and we added a new species to our ever growing list.

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Guest post by Lynn Pownell

I am now back in snowy freezing North Carolina and missing the warm sunshine of Kenya. Susie and I headed for home two days after new guests arrived. The overlap was fun, highlighted by an invitation to share in a sundowner dinner party. Rehema and Wamuyu cooked all afternoon, we packed the car, crowded into the back seat and, after a slight delay in route to wait for a group of elephants to finish their dinner with a typical teen not willing to give up the tender grasses in the middle of the road until he was good and ready, we arrived at a special place. As we made new acquaintances, sipped cocktails, and ate wonderful food, the sun slipped away from the expansive landscape and the brilliant moon took its place.

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On Monday, January 13, 2014, Paul Leringato and I climbed into my Toyota Land Cruiser and headed to the Naibunga Conservancy, one of NRT’s more remote conservancies. Loaded with a change of clothing, computer, school survey forms, power bars, and a couple of bedrolls (just in case we found ourselves stuck overnight under an acacia tree), we were going to visit the schools in the conservancy and assess their teachers, students and infrastructure. Four five-liter bottles of water, toilet paper, and a few biscuits (cookies) from the Nakumat in Nanyuki completed our provisioning.

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Tim Quigley is visiting and he is a birder. With his help we have added a bird page to the blog. As we photograph new birds we will post them there. We will identify them if we can. If you think we are mistaken or in cases where we don’t manage an identification please leave a comment with your thoughts.

While Tim is here I think we will do okay on the identifications. After he leaves all bets are off.

To reach the Bird page click “Bird” on the masthead.

I know I’ve been remiss in writing, but sometimes there is so much going on that there is no time for reflection. My habit has been to get up when the rumble of the generator penetrates my consciousness at 6 am. I plug in the electric kettle, brew a pot of coffee and then take my mug, pad and pen to a comfortable perch on the couch. There I watch the sunlight creep over the hill across the valley, look for wildlife and write. An hour later, Rehema knocks gently on the door and enters with “Good morning, how was your night?” Then the bustle of the day begins. John and I head to the office between 9:00 and 9:30.

For the past ten days, since returning from the U.S., this routine has been interrupted by jetlag, early morning work requirements and, happily, our guests – Susie and Lynn – who often show up before 7 am with binoculars and cameras in hand ready for a morning game drive. When this happens, we quickly fortify ourselves with caffeine, grab the car keys and head out into the bush. I am transformed from neophyte Kenyan to experienced tour guide.
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We arrived back in Kenya at 8:30 pm, Monday, January 6th, our friends Susie and Lynn in tow. All of us were tired, but glad to be missing the polar vortex sweeping through the USA (-20 F. degree temperatures in Minneapolis). Nelson, one of the NRT drivers, greeted us with a cell phone call saying he was waiting outside the international arrivals building.

Passage through immigration, customs, and baggage was uneventful as usual and Nelson, 5’ 10”, solidly built, wearing green fatigues, a beret and a large smile met us at the door. Grabbing Anne’s suitcase he hustled us to the waiting Nissan Patrol and we were soon on the super highway (which means crosswalks and speed bumps only every few miles) heading into Nairobi and the Fairview Hotel to spend the night before the four to five hour drive to Lewa on Tuesday.

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