New Discoveries: Reticulated Giraffes and a Tree Canopy Walk

We recently discovered the Ngare Ndare Forest.  It has a Tree Canopy Walk that lets people walk 30 feet above the ground and see the forest from the air.  It's just a couple hours from us and we knew we had to check it out!

On the way there, while I was reading a book out loud to the boys and not paying attention to our surroundings, Asa suddenly shouted, "Giraffe!"  Sure enough, there was a group of 4 giraffes right by the road.  Not only that, they were reticulated giraffes, which we'd never seen in the wild!  All the giraffes we've seen in Kenya so far have been maasai giraffes, which have a different pattern on their bodies and live in a different part of the country, so this was a rather exciting find.  Reticulated giraffe numbers are in serious decline and conservationists aren't sure why, but thankfully studies are now being done to try and understand why and to hopefully stop the decline.

What beautiful creatures?  I'm so glad Asa was looking out the window and spotted them!

Soon after, we arrived at the tree canopy walk.  It was a hidden gem.  Set in a beautiful forested area, it was quiet and peaceful with nothing but the sounds of birds and the occasional baboon around us.  We could see for miles and would've seen Mt. Kenya in the distance if the clouds weren't obscuring it.  It was such a wild and lovely place.

The structure was sturdier than I expected and was easy to walk along.  The boys were comfortable managing on their own although Asa wanted to stick close to Mama the whole time.  It was one of those experiences when we realized again how much these boys are growing, in size as well as independence and confidence.  It's so fun to be at a stage of life when we can do things like this now!

The canopy walk ended at a deck with these amazing tree branches hanging down.  The boys could swing on them and loved pretending to be apes swinging in the trees.  Anything that can be climbed on will be climbed on by these three!

On a sidenote, I'm trying to be better at taking pictures of just me and Eli, which I rarely do anymore but which I still want for proof of us making memories together.  And I've recently discovered how relatively easy it can be to snap photos with three boys eager to use my camera!

We had the option to walk back with the ranger on the forest floor, but we couldn't resist the opportunity to walk along the canopy again as we headed back to the car.  It was just too neat to pass up.

On the way back we noticed something below that we hadn't seen before: an elephant skull!  How cool is this?  We knew that elephants live in the area and that sometimes people even see elephants at the river below, but this was such an unexpected and neat discovery.

For anyone with enough energy and stamina afterwards (which our boys did not possess), there's also a ranger-guided 3km hike to a waterfall.  Someday we'll be able to do that, but the tree canopy walk was about all we could handle for now.  We did, however, go a short way down the trail so the ranger could show us this cave.  He said that once while he was showing this spot to tourists a hyena came running out of the cave!  He also said that leopards will take shelter in there sometimes, all of which was enough to convince me to stay away from caves in Kenya for awhile.  The boys, on the other hand, were ready to camp out there with hopes of spotting whatever wildlife might visit.  Oh, the young and the brave!

It was a fun day of exploration and discovery.  I'm so thankful for an adventurous crew that's willing to go new places and try new things!

Poke the Hedgehog

In America we have raccoons, skunks, and foxes that roam around at night.  In Kenya we have mongooses, genets, and hedgehogs.  We hadn't seen any of these nocturnal creatures yet, but recently some friends surprised us by bringing a hedgehog to our house just as the boys were getting into bed.  They had found it right outside their house, near the shamba, busily slurping up termites.

On a sidenote, you know you have good friends when they love your kids enough to run across the compound with a hedgehog because they want to show it to these animal-loving boys before they fall asleep and miss their chance!

The boys affectionately named this cutie "Poke" which we thought was rather appropriate.  It was hard to get a picture with his face since he was completely curled up most of the time, but he once snuck his face out for a peek and I snapped a quick photo.  If you look closely, you can see termites stuck to his quills.  I'm sure they made for a yummy "take and go" snack after we let him go!

To say our boys were excited would be an understatement.  This was the highlight of the week!  This was something we could check off our list of "animals we've seen in Kenya" which we keep track of by putting stars next to entries in our books Mammals of East Africa, Snakes, Other Reptiles and Amphibians of East Africa, Birds of East Africa, and Insects of East Africa.  These boys keep very close tabs on what we've seen and where we've seen them, and there is soooo much excitement whenever there's a new find.

Caleb is in a strong "I want to go on a night safari" phase so a few weeks ago we walked around the compound at night as a family, just in case we'd see something roaming around in the dark.  No such luck.  But his hopes remain high and this hedgehog only increased his hopes of finding more nocturnal creatures.  He's determined to see a mongoose in its natural habitat, or a genet or a civet or some bats.  This boy will not be deterred.  It's that kind of determination that makes a good naturalist, which is what he wants to be when he grows up.  We think he's well on his way!