Travels to Kenya: First day at Ol Pejeta

After meeting Sarah Vigne (Richard Vigne's wife, he is the CEO of Ol Pejeta) and her children, in a very loaded car to head to Ol Pejeta, we made one pit stop at a shopping centre to pick up Rishi who manages Forsyth Lodge in the Satpura mountains in India (http://www.forsythlodge.com) and then started to four hour journey. We stopped off just by Ol Pejeta at the airstrip, as the girls wanted some milkshakes, and they were delicious!!

We drove through the gates of Ol pejeta, and saw some warthogs and then about five minutes later drove past some lions! Three beautiful lions, young males, you know they are young because they still have some spots and only have little tufts of mane!

We carried on driving, and passed the equator sign, so stopped for a photo.

We arrived at Ol Pejeta research centre, and were shown around the lodge. I spent the evening meeting the people at the lodge.

Today (31st) I woke up early for breakfast, and just by where you eat there is a bird feeder, so got to see some beautiful birds, which I will learn the names of this week! I then went go and meet Richard Vigne, I also met John and Martin who are wildlife managers here, and was given my itinerary, as well as my project. The project, which I will start next week, involves researching all the methods used around the world to prevent rhino poaching, and collaborate them into a newsletter for Kenya wildlife services. I was given an Ol Pejeta email address, and we stopped for lunch.

Rishi and I then joined the rhino patrollers, which meant walking around for three hours looking for rhinos, and within 15 minutes, saw Benja the black rhino (farou in Swahili), a male. It was great because as you zoomed in with the binoculars, you could see really clearly the ear notches, for identification. The idea was we were supposed to take pictures of a list of rhinos we had been given, as people sponsor them and they needed updated photos. Unfortunately, Benja wasn't but we still got some good shots! We then had to creep away quietly, as we got quite close, although they don't have a great sense of sight, they do have good hearing.

After that lucky sighting, we carried on walking, and from afar saw a buffalo, which are actually quite dangerous, so we carried on quietly. When I looked back however, it was closer, peeking out from behind a tree. John the ranger told my jacket was slightly too light in colour, which is why it was following us! Luckily I had a green T shirt underneath, so off came the jacket!