After a week of fulfilling work with the Meru schools and significant time set aside for cataloging our footage the group left Meru saturday morning for a safari to the Samburu National Reserve roughly two hours from the city. The climate was much warmer than the usual over-casted mornings and cool breeze at the reserve and provided a plethora of culture and wildlife apart from any we had yet experienced. When we first arrived on the reserve via our safari van we toured the area seeing several species of birds, elephants, gazelles and baboons, giraffes, and then took a quick detour out of the park to visit the native Samburu people.
The Samburu live in the rural area surrounding the reserve and quickly welcomed us into their village where we joined in Samburu dance and song, and even were allowed to enter their homes for a closer look into their way of life. This was a cultural exchange of a lifetime to say the least.
After our time in the village we returned to the reserve and checked into The Simba Lodge which is seated right on the reserve itself. We then partook in an evening outing and were blessed to see virtually all the wildlife we could have hoped for, even a leopard in the middle of the evening hunt; according to the locals this is an extremely rare sight as these specific cats are highly seclusive and usually remain out of sight.
In the morning we arose promptly for our final wildlife sightseeing at 6:30 AM and then hit the road to return for Meru. We exited with a sense of awe and connection to the land and people in one of the most unique experiences of our lives.
We are now enter the last few days of our fully assembled team as Lou, Autumn and Lisa are set to leave Wednesday. The upcoming week still has much in store for the team as we will we planning and editing tomorrow at Fred's Academy with Jon and the staff and then touring more schools later in the week.
The Samburu live in the rural area surrounding the reserve and quickly welcomed us into their village where we joined in Samburu dance and song, and even were allowed to enter their homes for a closer look into their way of life. This was a cultural exchange of a lifetime to say the least.
Wow! What phenomenal experiences the FTP team are having. Love the giraffes! All the pictures are amazing, and we are looking forward to seeing more.
ReplyDeleteIncredible photos! And I'm sure the videos will be even more incredible! One question though, why did the camel cross the road??
ReplyDeleteThe words that keep coming to mind are 'awe' and 'wonder'. It all comes together as a remarkable bundle of culture, real sharing with the people, and natural beauties of the environment. Life inspiring, life changing!
ReplyDeleteThe shot that got away.
ReplyDeleteSometimes a camera is a job, other times you don't have one when you need it and other times you just have to say "Let it be."
After arriving at the Samburu Simba lodge, we wanted to shake of the dust of our long day on Safari and take advantage of the infinity pool overlooking the beautiful Savannah. As we were splashing around I looked over my shoulder mystified. There I saw 5 baboons...yes Baboons. They were 20 ft. away watching us. I felt at peace not ever afraid and I thought they were going to join us for a swim but alas they just hung out then left.. At this moment I realized that none of the sun drenched bathing beauties that would make up our team would be able to capture this on film and just as well. This one was just for us! The shot that got away would now be a memory that would be as individual as our own quiet moment, our personal Safari.
Asante sana,
Tricia Mentor ;)