Ol Pejeta!

Not only did we see so many amazing animals in Ol Pejeta, but we learned about all their outreach & conservation that they do there.

Amazingly, the Savannah reminded me so much of eastern Montana. When we were speaking with a man who works with the last of the Northern White Rhinos, he mentioned having been to Montana & how it felt like home. I certainly felt that on our game drives.

Looks like home!

Besides game drives, we first got to learn about the ant-poaching and search dogs. They had bloodhounds for search/anti-poaching and a spaniel for ammunition & gun detection. We got to be involved in a search & rescue simulation. I had hidden for my Mom’s search & rescue dog before so it was fun to see it. Since poachers have become more careful not to leave anything behind, they use the scent their tracks leave behind. Murphy left a track for them and he, Ed, & one of the men from the unit went to hide. We watched Watson, only 18 months old, sniff & track them.

Our next learning opportunity was to stop by the chimpanzee enclosure. It was huge. They have chimpanzees that have been rescued from being pets people abused & from the bushmeat trade. We share 98.6% of our DNA with the chimpanzee. They are amazing. During Covid, the keepers had to stay at the preserve for a year without leaving because the chimpanzees could get Covid. These people are very dedicated.

We got to learn about how the local cattle ranchers run cattle on the preserve with all the wildlife, including lions.

Our last stop in the conservancy was to see the last 2 Northern White Rhinos alive. They are mom & daughter. The conservancy is working with sperm & eggs taken from Northern White Rhinos to try & bring the species back from extinction. Interestingly, white & black rhinoceroses are not white & black. White rhinoceroses have wide mouths spelled wijde, so when the wide mouth rhinos were called white rhinoceroses, by Europeans, they decided the opposite of white is black, so the other must be black rhinoceroses. In fact their differences are in the shape of their mouth & backs.