SLEEPING WARRIOR – in search of the elusive aardvark
After leaving our Island home, we head for Kenya’s Great Rift Valley. Our home for tonight will be Sleeping Warrior Safari Camp which has views over the Soysambu Conservancy. It is also situated in the UNESCO World Heritage site of Lake Elmeenteita.
This is the Sleeping Warrior – an extinct volcano that was so named as it resembled a sleeping Maasai Warrior. We will not be here for long so we are looking forward to the night drive to see if we can spot the very mysterious and elusive aardvark. Chris has never seen one of these – yes, incredible but true – which makes me think ‘do they really exist?’ Maybe they are just the typical Natgeo figments of our imagination. In all his years of wildlife pursuit (and there has been many) this one animal has not been very forthcoming although Jess has seen one (?), which in turn does not make for a happy event and a contest will develop between the jeeps tonight for sure.
As we sit sipping our cool alcoholic drinks on the verandah which overlooks the valley there are a few animals that come into range – – some more photos and then some relax time before dinner and our night drive.
Some of our brave souls have decided to venture up the volcano this afternoon, a short couple of hours trek – ha not me, not on your Nelly! Not even the thought of going by jeep to the base will not entice me to drag my tootsies up that hill – I will continue to sit and sip and wait for the adventure stories.
I drag out the laptop and hard drives and cards – a De Mille production for sure. Somewhere along the line after I have downloaded everything – my laptop chucks a hissy fit. With the thought of doing without this for another week (the photos are OK as I have backed them up onto two portable hard drives) I continue to thump and curse which did no one, especially the laptop, any good.
Ah ha! The return of the adventurers looking a little bit worse for wear. Giving Chris time to settle down and as we sit around drinking yet again I ask him about my sick laptop, he looks up something on his iphone, presses a couple of keys on my laptop quite a few times and shazaam everything is back to normal. I am most beholden Mr Bray.
So now time to dine – doesn’t the table look lovely? Flamingo serviettes and white linen. It is a wonderful experience but oh dear – too much food. I am not a big eater and I am telling you that what is served to me tonight could have lasted me the 14 days on safari. Two pieces of steak and don’t get me wrong – it was delicious. Cooked to perfection to melt in my mouth and veggies that were nice and crisp – not the usual mush you get served at the local RSL back home. But I digress – –
Everything is so quiet as we sit – it is wonderfully relaxing but soon it is time to grab cameras, head torches etc and move into the unknown. There are no lights here – it is pitch black except for the jeep headlights and the ever searching beam of light from the torches.
Great excitement – an aardvark has been spotted. What an interesting little creature and we have to be quick as he does not want to hang around. Just enough time to get our cameras up and running and Chris is beside himself. He has a smile wider than Luna Park.
Manual focus is needed for this and I am really busy trying to get the blessed thing in the shot – most of my photos are blurry but I do manage a snap or two and you can get the idea of what he looks like.
Mission accomplished – and when he disappears into the bushes it’s time to see what else we can spy. Unfortunately nothing much so back to our camp for another night of blissful sleep. I just love these quiet nights.
Unfortunately no bum shots here –
Highlight of Part 2 – ‘arry the aardvark for sure!