A Safari and and Orphanage

I had a blog written and almost ready to post when it suddenly and mysteriously was mostly deleted, (all but the opening statements).  I have no idea what happened but it is gone and I lost all my momentum and motivation to write it over again....sad days.  So, instead I will tell you about something else, until I can conjure up all that wit and humor that I was infusing in my last post which probably would be, in any other form, boring, ha ha!

Travis and I had the opportunity to join the field-school students for a little safari last week to a game conservancy about an hour away called Ol Pejeda.  It was pretty cool there!  The land was much more open than the land around Mpala (the ranch where the research center that I am staying at is located) and so you could see the animals really well as we drove around and there weren't many trees and bushes for them to hide behind.  There were tons of animals there and it was really fun to drive around and look at them. Elephants, zebra, impala, wart hogs, grants gazelles, water bucks, bush bucks, eland, lots of birds...and more. The two animals I hadn't seen yet were cape buffalo (they are so huge and mean looking) and rhinos (which are just incredibly enormous, crazy animals). I liked seeing the rhinos the best!  

The cute family of Black Rhino's we saw.

A melting pot of East African wildlife

He seems so uncomfortable:)  Another Black Rhino.

Don't mess with this cape buffalo! These guys are some of the
more dangerous ones out here.

Ol Pejeda game preserve is home to the endangered black rhino and southern white rhino.  But it is also home to 4 of the 7 remaining northern white rhinos on the planet.  The are making efforts to save them if they can.  Unfortunately they haven't been successful at fostering any offspring yet....but they still are hoping that it will happen.  Its crazy that we saw over half of the remaining population of this particular rhino left on the earth.  Rhinos have been in such decline due mostly to poaching and probably displacement.  Their horn is highly prized in certain parts of the world (like China) and it is big money for those who can supply (poach) them.  It is crazy to take down such a huge animal just to sell its horn. Unfortunately, these few species of rhino in particular are at risk to be completely annihilated if efforts are not taken to protect them.  They had one rhino on the preserve that is blind, named Baraka, who they keep in an pen because he would otherwise die in the wild.  We were able to pet him and feed him since they keep in fenced it so that he doesn't die.  It was crazy to be that close to one and to be able to touch it!  What a crazy looking and ginormous animal!  

Meet Baraka the Black Rhino

Part of the game preserve had a rehabilitation house for chimpanzees rescued from the animal trade.  I laughed so hard, here, at these chimps; they are so funny and human like...crossing their legs, using a twig as a tooth pick, standing up and walking, shading their eyes,picking their noses, throwing things...yeah, the throwing things was the funniest part.  The group of students was watching all these chimps and all of the sudden a few of them were rushing the fence and hurling dirt or poop or whatever at all of us. Even though there was a fence separating us, it was still startling to have the chimps rush the fence which produced screams from all the girls and then we would all crack up! It was all very funny and I think the chimps found it fun and amusing themselves.

Aw...so cute:)

Pucker up!

Just Chillin'

On another day I had the opportunity to go with the field school students to an animal orphanage.

The day started out kind of rough.  I got to skip out on a day in the field collecting data in exchange for a day of fun.  I went to the gate to meet the students to go about 9am.  I waited and waited and got to chat with the gate guard (called an "Ascari").  After a long delay I found out what happened.  One of the student vans was being driven to fill up with fuel at the center coming from river camp and the driver lost control or something on the super bumpy rough road and tipped the van on it side.  So, they had to get that tipped back up, moved and taken to the shop before the school leaders could find another vehicle to use to take to the orphanage.  I was surprised they still went for it!  The van had minor mechanical damage and was mostly just banged up on one side with a broken out window.  So, at about 11am we finally loaded up in the remaining van and in "kermit" the green landrover to go.  About half way there, kermit broke down. I guess, it was being driven in 4wd on the highway and it seized up.  We waited on the side of the road for about 30 min for help to come.  When help came we discovered the 4wd problem and it was put in 2wd and was able to continue on. So again, we overcame adversity:)

Kermit, broken down on the side of the road.

Anyway, back to the orphanage part....this place is a home to baby animals that have been found orphaned and are fostered to, hopefully, be released back into the wild.  It is also home to a few species of endangered animal that they are trying to breed and boost numbers.  And to be honest, it is also basically a glorified petting zoo for rich tourists.  It was fun to have up-close and personal contact with some cute, exotic animals. The cutest one, in my opinion, was the 5 week old baby giraffe!  It was so tiny by giraffe standards, about my height:)  We were able to feed it some corn kernels and pet it as it ran around the facility.  There were also some monkeys, a giant tortoise, some pygmy hippos, bongos, cheetahs, some other cat species, wart hogs, ostrich, and a bunch of birds.  They also had a zebroid which was really cool looking.  A zebroid is a hybrid of a horse and a zebra (my niece would love one of these).  I thought it turned out to be a really cool mix! Anyway, it ended up to be a fun day even with such a rough start and I am glad I had the opportunity to join!

Bongo

Pygmy hippo

Smile!  Actually more like, "feed me!"

Got to pet "Speedy"

Aw...the cute little baby giraffe (and Kat)

Iris feeding the sweet, little guy

Hanging out the the skunk monkey....actually called a
black and white colobus 

Feeding the bongo

The cool zebroid with the bongos