Running With Chimps

Waking up at 6:00am is a lot easier when you are waking up to the sun rising brilliantly over majestic Mt. Kenya and your own personal watering hole scene. Waking up this way set the tone for a whole day of awesome sights.

By 6:30 we were heading out across savannah roads on a second game drive.

The day's amazing moments started with stumbling across a family of elephants feeding along the roadside. We originally only saw three little baby elephants munching away until momma elephant emerged from the bushes and began marching slowly and intensely toward our car, flapping her ears as a not-so-subtle warning to back off.

Other amazing moments:

Taking time to watch a family troupe of baboons as they wrestled, danced around, and groomed each other, eager for picked-tick snacks.
Visiting Kenya's only chimpanzee sanctuary that was started by Jane Goodall herself. We were introduced to a major portion of our hairy genetic relatives by one of their caretakers who explained each chimp's name and often tragic story prior to sanctuary days. We stared at each other through electric fence bars which really drove home the point that these guys are refugees from war, ripped from their home in the Congo due to poaching and logging. The most amazing thing happened, however, when Connor got out of his wheelchair on to the ground in front of the chimps. Two chimps, Poco and Safari, began playing with us, excitedly rising to their back feet, puffing out their chests and running back and forth along the fence with Connor, Matt and Nicole. Even our guide whipped out his camera to take a video, telling us that they never do this with visitors.
Feeding sugar cane to Baraka, a full-grown black rhino who has gone blind from his fighting days. Baraka is Swahili for blessing.
Eating lunch at the Trout Tree, a restaurant that grows, grills, and serves its own trout and is built around the trunk and branches of a tree. This eclectic place is complete with several kinds of monkeys, one of which decided to add to our meal by sending some monkey-poo down through the branches and next to our table.

After a full day of safari and lunch at Trout Tree, we continued on our way back to SACDEP to prepare for our last week at Joytown.