Kenya: Kimana and the Elephant Herd

 

It was one of the most intense moments of our lives. It involved a herd of 24 elephants, a river and five awestruck humans. But more on that later.

We had heard about a place called Kimana, sandwiched between two great national parks: Amboseli at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro and Tsavo, the largest park in Kenya. However our source was notoriously unreliable: the internet. But in true intrepid spirit, we decided to try it out anyway.

And thus it was that the five of us took off on a three hour drive south of Nairobi. We pass by the enticing entrance signs to Tsavo National Park, zip by Amboseli National Park, and finally we come to the gate of the Sanctuary. It's a tiny building with a single table and 2 books. A skinny book where we write our names, and a hefty volume entitled 'The Many Deadly Snakes, with a few Lizards, Scorpions and Poisonous Insects Thrown in for Good Measure, of the Tsavo Region' (it is possible that my recollection of the exact words is not exact, but I believe that conveys the general topic.) I ask the ranger if these snakes are here in Kimana.

"Soooo many!!! All of them in fact!" he answers enthusiastically, possibly misunderstanding why I was asking.

The Kimana Sanctuary is an animal migration corridor. At its narrowest point it is only 275 meters wide. It allows wild animals to migrate from Amboseli to the vastness that is Tsavo, in search of seasonal food. Thus it plays an important part of the wildlife ecosystem. It reduces the friction that builds up between animals and humans trying to occupy the same space. At the same time, at 5,700 acres, it is really small in terms of national parks. By way of comparison, Tsavo East is 3.3 million acres.

A short drive from the gate and we are at the campsite. It is full of animals: warthogs, gazelle, zebra all peacefully (and considerately) keeping the grass under control so we could pitch our tents. There is a small river that winds past the campsite. It is so quiet and peaceful and perfect.

There are lots of birds, so Kennie had a great time watching and naming them. This one is a Lilac Breasted Roller, which to our surprise we discovered is the national bird of Kenya. Apart from that it is an exceptionally pretty bird with a host of pastel colors. It is also one of the few birds that both the male and female have colored plumage.

Another constant feature was this owl, who had its nest in a nearby tree. With a little owlet. Because they fly so quietly, you would look up to where it was perched for the past few hours and find it was gone. Then you look around and find it perched on a totally different branch staring intensely at you. Just a wee bit creepy.

Baby owl on the other hand couldn't fly yet and was stuck in his nest. So he just had to content himself with staring malevolently from the same spot.

The campsite was lovely. They had an interesting shower (which sadly I did not take a picture of). You would get water from the river, heat it in a huge old kettle on the wood fire, then pour it into a canvas bucket with a pulley system that hoisted it into the air, and then you could enjoy a lovely hot shower in the middle of nowhere. Rather ingenious.

Kennie's dishwashing post was rather beautiful! Notice how close we are to the little river that wanders through the campsite.

So after one lovely peaceful night, we were all chilling and lazing around (except for the hyper fit Ben and Shiroh, who took the opportunity to do a workout!) when we saw off in the distance some elephants. We were pretty excited to see them from afar, and as we kept looking we would see occasional glimpses or hear the occasional snort.

But then they kept getting closer and closer. And the occasional glimpse of a possible ear or tusk started to become a full elephant head...and eventually they walked out, led by the matriarch. They kept coming and kept getting closer and closer. Eventually the old matriarch came to a stop at the river maybe 10m from our campsite. She didn't drink but checked us out, smelled us and gave it a few minutes thought. We dared not move a muscle, scared, thrilled and awed all at the same time.

Evidently deciding we were no threat, she gave some hidden signal and all 24, yes 24, elephants walked by. It may be stating the obvious, but elephants are really huge. They stand 3m (10ft) tall and weight about 5-7 tonnes. For comparison my car weighs about a tonne. For all their bulk they move quietly, except for occasional pauses when they casually lean on a stump and it explodes with a crack.

And baby elephants are just toooo cute. They play and fool around just like human children. And the elephant's trunk is so amazing. It can lift 350 kilos or delicately wipe an eye. It can suck in eight litres of water and squirt it into its mouth.

We felt pretty safe because of the little river between us thinking that maybe the elephants would be hesitant to step in the water. After we got back home I did a bit of research and found this picture online.

Yeah, elephants can swim. Apparently they have been known to swim 6 hrs and 40 km without touching the bottom. So good for us that they judged us friendly. I could go on and on - how elephants are right or left-tusked just as we are either left or right handed, how they communicate by seismics over kilometers, their hearing and amazing vocal chords, their spatial memory. These are just incredible creatures.

But suffice to say that this was one of the most lovely moments of our lives, sitting quietly for about an hour as the herd came up and drank and played and then walked off into the sunset. What a perfect day. Until the next day, when the same herd came and did it all again. We could have watched them every day to be honest. Kimana, we will be back again one day!