July 4, 2014
Happy Fourth of July everyone! No fireworks or parades for us today, unfortunately. We awoke to the Ark’s gentle wake-up chimes and enjoyed another great buffet breakfast, this time with pancakes and maple syrup that definitely had never met a maple tree before, but was sweet nonetheless. We had to pack up our bags because at the end of the day today we would be staying at the Ark’s sister hotel, the Aberdare Country Club. At 9:30am, our bags headed to the Country Club and we set out with James and George, our guides from yesterday, for our safari destination today- Solio Ranch.
Solio Ranch is an enormous 100,000 acre cattle ranch owned by the Parfet family. In 1970, the Parfet's decided to carve a section of their ranch out to create a conservancy for endangered rhino. Since that time the population of both black and white rhinos in their conservancy has risen steadily, to the point that they have been able to supply rhinos to other conservancy areas around the country. The terrain of this preserve was completely different from yesterday’s drive through Aberdare National Park. The hundreds of acres in Solio range from wide open savannah to areas with low brush and some swampy wetlands. Good potential for spotting all sorts of wild animals.
We weren’t disappointed- within 15 minutes we had spotted our first rhinos- a group of white rhinos (less endangered than the black rhinos.) They are called ‘white’ not because of their color, but because they have ‘wide’ mouths which people many years ago misheard as ‘white’. Fun fact for the day. They are larger than the black rhino and more mellow. Some of the ones we saw had amazingly long horns, a sign of how old they are. Soon after that we spotted one of the more rare black rhinos. It didn’t like us coming too close, but we got a few pictures before it moseyed off.
Happy Fourth of July everyone! No fireworks or parades for us today, unfortunately. We awoke to the Ark’s gentle wake-up chimes and enjoyed another great buffet breakfast, this time with pancakes and maple syrup that definitely had never met a maple tree before, but was sweet nonetheless. We had to pack up our bags because at the end of the day today we would be staying at the Ark’s sister hotel, the Aberdare Country Club. At 9:30am, our bags headed to the Country Club and we set out with James and George, our guides from yesterday, for our safari destination today- Solio Ranch.
Solio Ranch is an enormous 100,000 acre cattle ranch owned by the Parfet family. In 1970, the Parfet's decided to carve a section of their ranch out to create a conservancy for endangered rhino. Since that time the population of both black and white rhinos in their conservancy has risen steadily, to the point that they have been able to supply rhinos to other conservancy areas around the country. The terrain of this preserve was completely different from yesterday’s drive through Aberdare National Park. The hundreds of acres in Solio range from wide open savannah to areas with low brush and some swampy wetlands. Good potential for spotting all sorts of wild animals.
We weren’t disappointed- within 15 minutes we had spotted our first rhinos- a group of white rhinos (less endangered than the black rhinos.) They are called ‘white’ not because of their color, but because they have ‘wide’ mouths which people many years ago misheard as ‘white’. Fun fact for the day. They are larger than the black rhino and more mellow. Some of the ones we saw had amazingly long horns, a sign of how old they are. Soon after that we spotted one of the more rare black rhinos. It didn’t like us coming too close, but we got a few pictures before it moseyed off.
As we continued on, we were all looking hard for a sign of lions, the last of the “Big Five” that we hadn’t yet seen. Amelia was the one to spot one, a little lion cub. As we moved in a little closer, we saw there was a mother and three little cubs. We had a great chance to see them nestled under the bushes, our jeeps about 20 feet from them. Pretty amazing. Later on in the afternoon a park ranger stopped us to tell our drivers about another group of lions we could see. He lead us to them- a group of seven females who were out hunting. We caught up to them as they were sitting around a fallen tree, and followed them for a little while, catching some great glimpses of one in particular who stopped to rest under a shady bush. Seeing eleven lions was a great way to spend our final safari day. It was even worth the fact that both of our jeeps got stuck in holes while we were following the hunting lionesses, and we weren’t sure if the drivers’ gunning of the engines would get us out. In addition to the lions and the numerous rhinos we ended up seeing, we also saw many impala, zebra, warthogs, giraffe, buffalo, Thomson’s gazelles, etc. We enjoyed a bush lunch sitting on the grass between our jeeps, hoping that the area looked as free from wildlife as we thought it was, and fortunately it was. The ranch was really a remarkable place to spend a day, with many animals spread out over a huge area that seemed full of the plants and resources the animals needed. As we headed out at the end of the day, we got to see an ostrich (spotted by either Ben or Kristen), some more monkeys (it turns out that they, like the ones we saw yesterday, were Vervet’s monkeys, not sykes monkeys- our guides ended up being much better drivers than wildlife guides!) We also stopped and checked out a buffalo skull.
By then we had been in the bush for six hours and we were ready to check into the Country Club.
Luckily we got there in time to enjoy the pool before it closed, then take hot showers and get ready for our final dinner together in Kenya. We hope you are all having a wonderful 4th of July. We can’t wait to see you on Sunday.
Luckily we got there in time to enjoy the pool before it closed, then take hot showers and get ready for our final dinner together in Kenya. We hope you are all having a wonderful 4th of July. We can’t wait to see you on Sunday.