Kooijman Family Experience, Samburu

Melissa Kooijman is a travel agent from Safari Studio in Canada who visits Africa almost every year. She stayed at Samburu Intrepids Camp with her mum and sons, and spent time at Kiltamany primary school where they donated note books, pens, pencils, rulers, art and craft papers, toys and crayons to take care of the whole school with 153 pupils.

Melissa’s two sons, Ethan and Joshua, also interacted with the school children - it was their first time to Africa. The boys brought with them 63 letters from their school - and more school supplies. In the same vein, the Kiltamany children also wrote letters to Lavington school in Canada where Melissa’s boys study. They also learned how to make bow and arrows and fire with sticks. At night, we gathered around the fire to roast pope corns.

     Tilas at Kiltamany School showing the pupils how to write letters to the students in Canada

During my visit, I drew the above animals to give pupils hints on what to draw. On the same note, I discussed with the teachers about Melissa’s visit.

    Boys and girls ready to take a turn to draw on the blackboard

Fire making is part of the games we teach young adventures using the sand paper bush branches.

On the night of 3rd March, we used the fire from the twilling sticks to make a fire which we used for roasting pop corns.  After, we did had a session on stargazing.

The next morning, we visited Kiltamany village. We were welcomed by Samburu women.
Melissa visited the village for her young boys to learn about the unique Samburu culture.
  

Melissa and her sons in the village. Stephenie is in the back ground dancing with the ladies.

It is only by visiting people that one can learn about other cultures, especially our traditional literature which is not written on paper but is passed on by word of mouth.

The young boy Joshua is dancing with one of the ladies in the village. The video below is his Samburu/Africa trip. Enjoy. 

Steven Tilas, Resident Naturalist, Samburu Intrepids Camp ©Heritage Hotels Ltd

Kiltamany School Girls Boarding Gets Helping Hand

Five years ago, Heritage Hotels embarked on a school project at Kiltamany Girls School. It was to furnish the school dormitory for the local Samburu girls. The dormitory was opened on 25^th January by the Honorable Moses Lenolkulal, the governor of Samburu County.

Heritage Hotels and the school are grateful to KathleenPeddicord and her family who were guests at Samburu Intrepids Camp in July 2013 for helping with the furnishing.

On the safari, the young son, Master Jackson Peddicord was intrigued by the Samburu community. He wanted to see how the Samburu men drew blood from the livestock. Mixed with milk and herbs, the concoction is drunk by the men.

I organized a treat for the family to visit Kiltamany in Westgate Conservancy bordering Samburu National Reserve.

We left the Camp early morning and after a 15-minute drive we were at Kiltamany village. Jackson the adventurer joined the Samburu boys partaking in the morning activities. The Samburu lads taught Jackson how to make fire using sticks. He was also invited to take part in drawing blood from a goat – which is done by shooting a small arrow in the jugular vein of the animal. It is a shallow depression which is sealed after the blood has been let out and the animal is not harmed. Jackson also helped the Samburu women to milk goats.

The family was impressed by the community that welcomed them at Kiltamany. After a walk-around the village and a visit to the community school, Kathleen’s family donated the mattresses to the girls’ boarding school so that the girls do not have to walk miles to school – or sometimes miss school when the wild animals are in the way.

The first group of girls – 30 very excited boarders – was admitted on 25^th February. The next project is to have a boys’ boarding school.

We thank Kathleen and her family for the donation. 

Steven Tilas, Resident Naturalist, Samburu Intrepids Camp ©Heritage Hotels Ltd

Beneath The Acacia Trees Of Samburu

By Kathleen Peddicord

“Kait, please stand there, beneath that acacia tree,” Tilas instructed.

“Jackson, you must stand over there, beneath that acacia tree,” he continued.

“Kathleen, go there and stand beneath the shade of that little tree…and, Harry, stand here, under this tree.”

Not sure what was to come, we followed Tilas’ instructions and dispersed to our four trees. When I turned to face back toward where Tilas had been standing, he was gone.

Jackson family after the walk.

I looked around at Kaitlin, Jackson, and Harry, all positioned dutifully beneath their trees, even young Jackson standing still, staring straight ahead patiently. What is Tilas up to, I wondered…

We remained in our spots for what seemed a long time, not sure why but not wanting to move or even to speak.

Then, some minutes later, Tilas reappeared, in a flash, from the bush. He motioned with his arm that we should come over to him.

“Now, you must tell me, Jackson,” Tilas began when he’d gotten us all back together, “what did you think about standing beneath your own tree? What did you see? What did you hear?”
Tilas the naturalist and Jackson’s family

Tilas the naturalist and Jackson’s family

“I was trying to get the bitter taste from my mouth,” Jackson replied.

“Ah, the taste of the gum I made for you from the carnivoora incisa tree,” Tilas remembered. “You still have that flavor in your mouth?”

“Yes,” Jack said. “I spit and spit, but it won’t go away.”

Tilas, still chewing his gum from the same tree, laughed.

“Harry, now you must tell me. What did you think standing beneath your own tree?”

“I knelt down and looked at the ground,” Harry explained. “The rocks, the branches, the bark, the leaves, the earth. There are so many layers to the ground here.”

“Yes,” Tilas agreed. “All time is layered in this earth.”

“Now, Kait, please, you must tell me. What did you think standing beneath your own tree?”

“I looked around at the shapes, the figures, the textures, of the plants, the bushes, the trees. Everything has a design, and even the dead trees are beautiful.

“And I thought of the stories you’ve been telling us,” Kaitlin continued, “about the uses for all these plants, how your people use them to treat themselves when they are sick or wounded.”

“Yes, we find all the medicine we need here,” Tilas said. “The bark from this tree stops pain, instantly,” he said, pointing to a tree nearby.

“A tea from this bush helps women who have just given birth,” he continued. “And the twigs from this tree are good for cleaning your teeth. We call it the Toothbrush Tree. I have never used toothpaste or a plastic toothbrush,” Tilas explained, “but I have all my teeth, and they are all strong. I am a carnivore, and I can eat all the meat I like,” he assured us proudly, flashing a bright, white smile.

“Now, Kathleen, please. What did you think of standing beneath your own tree?”

“I looked around the landscape, to the far horizon in each direction, and I tried to think how I would write about the great expanse of this place…about how I could relay the feeling of being here, standing here, out in the open plain, with the savannah all around. Feeling, at once, so small and so grand. Feeling a part of all things, of all history. It will be difficult to convey that sensation without sounding corny or cliché.”

Tilas, a member of the Samburu tribe here in the north of Kenya, has been our guide during this visit, our first to this part of the world. Out on the plains where Tilas led us on foot one morning, we have seen dik-dik, gerenuk, and impala. We have watched a lone, sleeping lion. We have been among a pride of lionesses stalking a kill. We have seen families of elephants with as many as five babies among them and a dozen giraffes that passed us by single-file, as though on parade. We have seen a male ostrich raise his tail feathers to impress his partner and a pair of ostriches sitting on their nest. We have seen Nile crocodiles up close and soaring eagles. Zebras, hippos, leopards, jackals, mongooses, baboons…at times, the landscape before us has included dozens of animals at once.

“Your first visit to Africa is a special thing,” a friend in Nairobi told us our first evening in Kenya. “You get this place, or you don’t, and you know instantly one way or the other. If you do get it, once you’ve experienced it, Africa is impossible to resist. She will call you back again and again throughout your lifetime. You will return.”

“Please, you must stay in touch with me,” Tilas told us during our morning walk across the savannah. As he spoke, he reached out and peeled off a piece of the top layer of the bark of the tree before us.

“This is the Paper Tree,” he explained. “You can peel its bark in thin pieces that you can use as paper.”

Then Tilas pulled a pen from his belt, laid out the thin strip of “paper” he’d just pulled off the tree, and began to write.

“There,” he said when he’d finished, handing the small piece of paper to Jackson.

Jackson and his Father at Kiltamany primary school where they donated 40 mattresses this month

“That is my e-mail address,” Tilas said. “Write to me to tell me when you will be returning.”

Indeed, we’ll be back as soon as we’re able.

Compiled by Kathleen Peddicord, 
Pictures by Steven Tilas, Resident Naturalist, Samburu Intrepids Camp ©Heritage Hotels Ltd

Wildlife Thrives In Naivasha

All five zebras at the Great Rift Valley Lodge and Golf Resort are in good shape. They love the golf course and they have to be constantly shooed away for they love to wallow in the bunkers and destroy the greens with their hooves.

Pili, who is 14 months old is the only zebra who is injured. He hurt his right hind leg recently and was treated by KWS vet. He is improving but limping and although he does not suckle anymore, he follows his mother around.

The Migration In Naivasha

The Maasai Mara is famous for wildebeest but now on Crescent Island in Naivasha, there are herds of them and they move on the Island just as they do between Mara and Serengeti.

Crescent Island is also home to many other plains game like impalas, zebras, Grants’ gazelle, Thomson’s gazelle, waterbuck and others. It’s all the more reason to visit it while you’re staying at the Great Rift Valley Lodge and Golf Resort.

Crater Lake

Crater Lake near Lake Naivasha in the Great Rift Valley is home to a diversity of plains game and birds. When they are not nesting at Lake Natron in Tanzania, flocks of flamingos fly in to feed on the rich algae.

The lake is only 18 kilometers from the Great Rift Valley Lodge and ideal for day excursions. It’s great for hiking. A walk around the rim of the crater takes two hours. From the southern part of the crater you can see Lake Naivasha and Lake Oloiden which are just 100 meters apart. This is a game sanctuary that is worth visiting for the panoramic views and wildlife.

Heritage Hotels (Kenya) manages The Great Rift Valley Lodge and Golf Resort in Naivasha, just an hour an a half's drive from Nairobi. The lodge is famous for one the longest holes in Kenya - the par 5 -  17th ‘signature’ at 598 metres (654 yards)!

 ©Heritage Hotels Ltd, Kenya.