Samburu Day 2 Morning

Samburu Day 2 AM

The winds really came up at night, so the tent flaps were quite loud at times. I woke up just before 6:00am to see the orang glow of the sun rising over the riverbank. The wind has died down and it is quite peaceful. Our coffee arrives at 6:30, and we enjoy a peaceful time on the veranda. The monkeys k ow what’s up, of course, and they cluster nearby. They are quite cute, but they are indeed wild and a bite would be nasty, so Barney shoos them off. We bring the tray inside as we start to get ready. Suddenly there is a clatter, and we see a Vervet monkey on top of the amp desk, sipping the milk. Barney yells at him again and he spills the milk on the floor and dashes out the unzipped front. Now we k ow how clever these little guys are.

Off to a lovely breakfast and a quick update from Joel, and at 8:30 we leave for Sam iru village, tone followed by more wildlife viewing. Within sight of the perimeter fence, we see a herd of impala, and males with magnificent twisted horns circling each other. They poke each other a bit, and we think they’re practice fighting, and then bam! They start in on one another in  earnest, clashing horns and rolling in the dirt. Our guide Felix tells us that when males fight like this, the winner gets the whole harem of females, and the loser is driven off. He says that if the harem gets too large, the male can get exhausted, making it easier for a single male to fight and win, thus diversifying the gene pool. The winning male starts herding his females, grunting at them.

We arrive at the Samburu village, where we’ll learn more about local culture. We are welcomed by Simon, who is 40 years old. He tells us that the Smaburu are nomadic, and move with heir flocks about every three months. He tells us that the men get married at about 28 or when they have 10 cows, and the women at about age 16-18.

Boys are circumcised at age 15, and they must stay still during the procedure or they will be stoned. Girls are not circumcised anymore, and we all cheer at that. The unmarried men are highly decorated with beads and necklaces, while the married men are undecorated. The women, both married and unmarried, wear many layers of necklaces and earrings. First the unmarried men did a welcome dance which involved some competitive jumping and singing, then the women did heir own welcome dance and song.The women then come to take the hands of the women in our group, to teach us how to do the dance with extending the neck and chin to make the necklaces bounce. The unmarried men take the women from our group by the hand in a sort of promenade around the Samburu women. Then in another dance, women would come forward in pairs toward our group and said “sopa” which is their hello. Simon tells us that there are about 200 people in the village, 25 families. The village is encircled by a wall of acacia thorns, and there is one “gate” or opening in the wall for each family.

We then enter through a gate, and the women from our group again join the other women in a circle dance which is done when a woman is getting married, welcoming her to a new status. We then divide up into three groups to visit a home. Traditionally, the homes are made of branches and cowhides, but they have lost so many cattle to the drought that they now use cardboard, plastic, even old clothing, to line the walls and roof. We go inside one home, where there are about three small rooms, one for cooking, one for the parents, and one for the rest of the family. The house is about 8’x12’ overall, with a small door, and very dark. People live a lot of their lives outdoors, so indoor space is not the priority. When the village moves, they can dismantle the home and roll everything up, rather like the tipis of Native Americans on the plains. Newly married couple have homes in the middle of the village, and then once they have a child, they move further out toward the periphery.

From age 4-6, the children stay in the village and learn ABCs and 1-20, which a group of small children recites for us. At age 6, they would start attending the permanent school, and they stay there year-round through 8th grade. Some will go onto high school, and others will come back to the village to manage the herds. Others will stay in towns and cities, attend university, and come back every so often and bring money back. The entry fee is shared among the whole village. We see a demonstration of how they start fires with two notched sticks and some elephant or goat dung used as kindling. They use special sticks which are called sandpaper wood. At the end of our tour, we come to the cloths laid out on the ground with a dazzling array of jewelry, carvings, and home items. We buy a two necklaces, a bracelet for Barney, and a fly switch for Larry. As we leave, I ask for the word for chief, like Joel, which is: Laigwanani.

We leave the Samburu village and re-enter the park, headed toward the river. We see a herd of bachelor Impala (all with horns), just hanging out. In the river, a group of zebras are in the water, drinking. We see a group of female elephants and babies, and learn that they are pregnant for 22 months, and nurse their babies for about 4 years., and then go into season again so they can get pregnant. We see a mother and young one whose tusks are just sprouting, so he will be weaned soon. We hear the elephants crunching the trees, and notice that the hair on their tails is divided in two, and the elephants switch their tails frequently as they munch on branches. We see another young female, about 8-10 years. We learn that elephants only digest about 60% of what they eat, so heir dung will still have thorns in it, and running over elephant dung can actually puncture the tires on a truck. We come around a corner and see a Martial Eagle just finishing a meal of Dik-Dik. They catch their prey by diving down and picking up small animals, and then they tear their kill apart and eat them alive; the animal dies of bleeding to death and shock, as the eagle cannot actually kill it. He is mostly gray, with black and white spotted legs which are large and powerful, and piercing chartreuse eyes. He has one leg on top of his kill, ready to take off with his prey. He keeps a close eye on us as we watch him.

We return to the tent cabins for a quick lunch, and a pool visit or nap before the afternoon. It is very hot and dry here, so this will be a nice break.