Sojourn at Soysambu

It’s like we entered the Garden of Eden. Thousands of European white storks litter the grassy plains near the shores of Lake Elementeita.

“They are here because of the abundance of insects after the rains,” says Narinder Heyer a nature enthusiast with the Kenya Museum Society.

“These are migratory birds that fly in from Europe and Asia,” she adds.

It’s no surprise then that Lake Elementeita has been declared a RAMSAR site since 2005, meaning a wetland of international importance that is important for biodiversity conservation and for us humans too.

“Somebody recently reported in the media that there were 400,000 white storks,” remarks Sarah Omusla the young education officer at Soysambu Conservancy under whose portfolio the education docket falls.

She, herself, grew up on the conservancy and points to the school on the hills where she went. After her graduation in wildlife management, the young lass applied for a job at the conservancy and was successful.

Estimates are that there are 4,000 European white storks but for me, they could well pass for four million. These large storks with black flight feathers against a white body ride the warm air thermals and are usually here to pass the European winter months.

Suddenly a splash of vibrant orange wearing a crown on its head forces the car to a halt. Flitting on the path is a gorgeous African hoopoe in no hurry to let us pass – talk about attitude!

The white storks are everywhere and lift off the ground as we approach. A herd of maybe 20 or 30 waterbucks with their white-patched bottoms against the brown hides run across the road and into the forest of yellow barked acacias – we’re totally awed by the sheer number of the herd.

Not far are the elands – the world’s largest antelopes on the green glades.

Further down the road, a herd of buffaloes glares at us. We stop a respectable distance from the lakeshore, to watch the pink birds of Africa grace the shallow soda waters as they sieve their favourite watery mess of algae through their beaks – this is what keeps them coming back to our lakes in the Great Rift Valley.

We enjoy a short stroll careful not to get too close to the water’s edge as we don’t want to disturb the birds. Incidences of fatalities when the flamingoes go into a stampede when people approach them too close have been reported.

Getting back to the road, our buffalo herd is not too happy to see us and actually charge. Someone spots the colobus monkeys on the high branches.

They were translocated from Gilgil after the forest was cleared for farming. These arboreal monkeys are of the old world, adapted to life on the high trees and not the ground.

“There’s a flock of Abdims storks,” points out Narinder. Again, they are well in their hundreds, another healthy congregation.

Smaller than the European white storks, with a black and white plumage, it’s an intra-Africa migrant and, again, like most big birds takes advantage of the thermals to soar long distances.

“We’ll drive to the spot where the pelicans breed,” says Sarah.

“However, you won’t see any now because they haven’t come in this year.”

We drive up the lookout for viewing the pelicans. Instead of the great white birds with their enormous yellow bills, there’s another flock of the white storks and the Abdims and in the distance, the pretty pink birds.

Lake Elementeita’s islands are the only breeding grounds of the Great White Pelican in East Africa.

A pair of bat-eared foxes suns on the last rays of the afternoon sun and a little distance away, a pair of silver-backed jackals scurry across the plains.

“We will hopefully be reintroducing the cheetah here soon,” says Sarah as we drive to the grove of forested acacias to see the Rothschild giraffes that were once on the verge of extinction in the wild. Now, from the original herd from Soi in western Kenya, the Rothschild giraffe have found safe homes in places like Soysambu, AFEW’s Giraffe Centre in Nairobi and other national parks.

In a secluded glade under the watch of a wizened euphorbia tree, Sarah shows us to the graves of old man Delamere, his wife and daughter.

Lord Delamere settled on Soysambu in 1906 and was a pioneer farmer and a prominent figure in colonial times, playing host to Winston Churchill on Elementeita in 1908. Many other famous figures have graced Soysambu which means ‘place of the brindled rock’ in Kimaasai.

“We don’t have lions but we do have leopards,” continues Sarah who is eager to show us the ultra-white diatomite caves carpeted with metre-thick layers of iguana from thousands of bats nesting in the pitch black tunneled interiors.

It’s too late now but we stop at a beautiful camp site and mark it on our list for a next-time visit to explore the diversity of Soysambu on Elementeita’s shores.