When Barb Veale and I started planning our trip to Kenya she let me know that she was mainly interested in the animals. That wasn't a surprise to me as she is a retired veterinarian.
Our base camp is at my son's land in Ngare Ndare within a Masai village. We are separated from Borana Wildlife Conservancy by an electric fence. The next neighbor is Lewa a conservancy for rhinoceroses. Samburu National Park is only two hours north.
Wildlife viewing will not be a problem.
Our experience so far is mainly with the culture and, surprisingly, with domestic animals. But then, the Masai are shepherds.
Our Masai friend and driver, Evans, got a call from a villager asking Evans to use our truck and please drive a pregnant lady, in trouble, to where she would be met at a halfway point, to get to her up to the hospital in Nanyuki.
I feared with the rough roads Evans would have to cope with a delivery. But all went well. As it did at the hospital. We didn't want to disturb the family to find out if it was a boy or girl.
Near our village we met a Masai coming back with a cow and her newly born calf. Momma still had her placenta and baby still had its umbilical cord. They each had a long walk and my thought was it was to protect them from predators. The mom and calf had certainly bonded.
Bonding needed some help high up on a plateau. We were having tea with a Masai wife, Theresa, and a very large herd of sheep were shepherded into the corral.
The tiniest little lamb struggled hard to get onto its feet and I thought that it had a medical condition.
Barb went over and carried it into the nursery corral with Theresa and the ewe. The two new friends, heads together, got baby to take a little from its mom. The newborn was exhausted trying to keep up with a herd and really needed nourishment. It had not yet suckled. They both thought … bottle feed.
We called back a few days later the little lamb was very, very strong.
I had a connection from my first trip to Kenya. Peter, our Masai guide to the Mau Mau Caves was also the the guide that led me up to Point Lenana, at the top of Mt. Kenya 18 years earlier.