After Lake Nakuru National Park I moved next door to the SoySambu Conservancy which abutts Nakuru via a narrow corridor of land. The Conservancy is relatively new, having been established in 2007, and is relatively small at 48,000 acres. The focal point of this Conservancy is Lake Elementeita, another Rift Valley alkaline lake and, like the others, hosts a “flamboyance” of flamingos, numbering over a million at times and nearly covering the surface of the lake. The bulk of the flamingos left Elementeita about a month ago and, as we witnessed, have relocated to Lake Bogoria for the time being. However, the Lake still hosts thousands of flamingos and probably an equal number of pelicans, along with a variety of other water birds.
The uplands are a mosaic of grassland plains on rolling hills, acacia woodlands along the lakeshore and streams, and some rocky hills and ridges. Overall, it is a nice mosaic of habitats but due to its small size and insular nature it doesn’t support a lot of the megafauna found in the larger parks and reserves. The dominant large mammal is plains zebra – they are everywhere here – but there is a smattering of several other species as well such as buffalo and eland. Like other Conservancies, SoySambu is a “working” landscape. They have several cattle herds, a mining operation, and tourism as sources of revenue and employ many of the local natives. Here are few photos of the landscape:
My special campsite was called Lakeview and, as the name implies, it was on the lakeshore with a nice view of one of the bays. One nice feature of this campsite was that the Conservancy set up a water tank, pit toilet and bucket shower for my stay, so I had everything I needed. Here are some photos:
The only exciting thing to report about my brief two-night stay here was the driving adventure brought on by the intensive rainstorm on my first night. It rained hard for a couple of hours, amounting to a couple of inches based on my wash basin, as it has been doing most evenings for the past 2 weeks. I headed out for my usual morning drive to see the landscape and wildlife and I chose a section of the Conservancy that looked interesting based on the terrain. To get to this section I had to pass through a manned gate and the ranger at the gate advised on a route through the hills and valleys. Trust the ranger, right? Well, after I had driven some distance and was commited to this route, I ended up driving through a muddy mess and almost got stuck twice. It was too late to turn around. Once I even slid into a deep water hole with the front end of the Green Dragon because the wheels were caked up with mud and I was slipping and sliding all over the place giving me very little control of the vehicle. Check out this photo of what the “Green” Dragon looked like after this little adventure.
Now I know what this guy below feels like every time he takes a mud bath, only he loves it:
After getting through this mud bath I was able to reflect back on the experience and admire how well the Green Dragon handled the soft mud and water. I was really glad I was in a Land Cruiser Troopie; otherwise, I might still be there right now!
I also had some nice encounters with some of the Conservancy locals, as shown in these two photos:
I’m off to Mount Longonot National Park to hike the rim of a volcanic caldera. See you there.
Nice pictures. Still having a great time i see. Have fun on your hike.
Will do!
Sorry we missed you here but soon enough we will rendezvous again at Mount Suswa.
I wanted to come by but it was such a muddy mess to drive I figured I would stay put and let things dry out a bit. I got 2 inches of rain my first evening!
Wow Kevin, just keeps getting better! My passion with animals is ethology, so I really enjoyed your long (83min.) video from a few posts back. You captured such amazing animal behaviors, between same species and mixed. And yes, really loved the “ friendly” warthogs that seemed quite curious about you ( looking for treats??). And did that lion ever finally decide a good spot for that gnu carcass to continue his dining on? Rather amusing.
And I wonder what caused the demise of the intact gnu (wildebeest) the birds were pecking at. Didn’t look like a predator killing. Hummm.
The enormous fig trees are awesome! Remind me of some of the huge, gnarly based trees I saw in Australia! And those flamingos… WOW! A bit overwhelming!
At first I thought the log bee hive was a sort of rest bench… glad I didn’t offer any goofy guess. Lol!
Count down for your return! Can’t thank you enough for sharing your amazing trip with all of us!! It’s been a blast joining you on this journey! Safe travels home, we’ll be anxious to hear more of your experiences … in person!
Many hugs and lots of cheer!!
It was hard not to do a long video for some of those Parks as there was so much going on. Glad you stuck with the full length video. Not sure about the lion as my patience ran out. I guess the dead wildebeest without evidence of predation was just one of the animals that die of other natural causes?? Yes, the fig trees were really cool, not just because they are huge but their twisted trunks give them so much character. Flamingos were totally amazing! See you soon! Cheers.
Glad the green dragon kept you safe. Sounds like you were close to getting stuck.
We enjoyed the slideshow of trail very much. We didn’t see any animals on that one. Bet you were happy to do some hiking! I like those little privacy tents for your shower and toilet.
The Green Dragon performed admirably. Glad you like the slideshow. It’s a fun way to show a hike. No animals, just scenery. My legs felt like rubber most of the time as I have been on my ass for 4 months. See you soon I think?