Soysambu Conservancy

Category: Habitat Preservation, Wildlife | Date: Oct 16 2009 | By: Soysambu guest blogger

I am Carolyn German (McDonald), an American wildlife artist who has just returned, with my husband, Clint, from an unforgetable visit to Soysambu, a gorgeous conservancy, complete with a volcanic crater and increditible views in every direction. I was priviledged to be graciously invited by Kat Combes to come experience, visit, sketch and photo.

Imagine - the majestic Rothschild giraffe nibbling on the top of an acacia tree, a big male cape buffalo barely visible in the thick bush, flamingo in flight on the soda lake, and zebra from every angle. All the wildlife have a healthy curiousity.

Along with Kat, the conservancy staff share a desire to benefit the community while preserving the area. We were pleased to take Safaricare bags to help the two schools on the conservancy.

Like the pelicans that rise on the thermals, my heart smiles when I return in my thoughts to Soysambu Conservancy - it must be protected - a rare jewel in this hectic world.

Carolyn is an artist and above is an image of a Grey Crowned Crane (Balearica regulorum) which she painted whilst at Soysambu.

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Category: 1 | Date: Oct 16 2009 | By: Soysambu guest blogger

If you feel city – jaded, work –stressed and in need of revitalisation, there is a quick – fix solution; you will find it just two hours (134 kms, 84miles) from Nairobi and barely two minutes up off the Nairobi/Nakuru Highway at Sunbird Lodge, which opened in 2008. It is situated high enough up for you to get a panoramic view of Lake Elmentaita and the surrounding, varied landscape. Sitting under a large shady umbrella, on the spacious verandah, you can relax watching the view, which constantly changes, depending on the time of day.

As the sun slowly disappears try a gentle walk down the winding path that leads you past the ten luxuriously appointed cottages and the swimming pool. Then make your way to the scenic ‘Sundowner Viewpoint’, which is a small group of rocks situated just above the shoreline. Once there, you will be served with your drink of choice, as you see yet another facet of nature in this amazing, changing landscape – this time a stunning, blazing sunset!

If you would like to experience the indigenous wildlife, Lake Nakuru National Park is only 20 minutes away and The Soysambu Conservancy is right on the doorstep. The Conservancy includes most of Lake Elmentaita, which, due to its alkaline content, is home to thousands of the spectacularly pink flamingoes and the lovably ugly pelicans. These two species both need to be seen ‘up close and personal’. I recommend this as an antidote for ‘Workitis’.

If you still need something more, I suggest getting a ‘bird’s eye’ view of the area, from a balloon, as Gunter and Othmar, the owners of Sunbird Lodge, who also happen to be balloonists, can also arrange this with Go Ballooning Kenya. This would be the perfect end to your, relaxing, away-from-it-all break.

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Category: 1, Conservation, Great White Pelican, Rothschild Giraffe, Wildlife, black rhino | Date: Oct 11 2009 | By: Soysambu guest blogger

My name is Jenny and I recently had the privilege of spending two weeks at Soysambu Conservancy in Kenya. Soysambu, geographically nestled in the Great Rift Valley, is home to a teeming abundance of beautiful wildlife. While I was there I came to realize just how special this place was. It’s not often that people get to experience these animals in their natural habitat. Most of these animals are only viewed in Zoo’s or National Parks.

In Soysambu, animals are free to come and go as they please. It is a credit to the Conservancy that even with their freedom these animals choose to make their homes on Conservancy land. While I was there I saw Cape Buffalo, Impala, Thomson’s Gazelles, Grant’s Gazelles, Rothschild’s Giraffe, Waterbuck, Dik Dik, Burchell’s Zebra, Eland, Flamingos, Pelicans, and numerous African birds. I also was fortunate to be able to participate in a bi-annual Wildlife Census for the Conservancy. After gathering the data is it clear that wildlife is prospering there. Great things are in store for Soysambu in the future. Kat Combes, of Soysambu Conservancy told me her dreams of bringing the once present Black Rhino back onto Conservancy land. To see this dream come to fruition will be a wondrous site. It might take many years of fundraising and planning but I have no doubt that she will reach her dream. She certainly gives her whole heart to this Conservancy. After observing her over the two weeks it is clear that Soysambu is her heaven on earth.

I feel fortunate to have been able to experience everything that Soysambu has to offer. I have come home feeling well rested and knowing that these majestic animals are being well cared for. I know that in the future if I am having a bad day I will be able to close my eyes and be transported back to a land where the graceful Giraffe are “dining” with their family, and the Gazelles are swishing their tails while frolicking with their friends. All the while the beautiful sound of the African Dove can be heard boasting of what a special place in the world this is.

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Category: Education | Date: Oct 08 2009 | By: Soysambu guest blogger

Soysambu is in a great location for access to Nakuru, Aberdares & Baringo and only 2 hours from Nairobi on good road. We’ve got 2 operational lodges: http://www.atua-enkop.com/nakuru.php and http://www.sleepingwarriorcamp.com/ and balloon safaris available: http://goballooningkenya.com/

And there are another 2 lodges/tented camps being planned. One of them is a luxury Serena tented camp.

Simon Combes gave amateur artists some tuition at a bush studio set up as part of a fly camp for an artists safari on Soysambu (see Facebook photo album: “Art at Soysambu”).

Any artists that comes to Soysambu can, with prior arrangement, come and see where Simon Combes used to work and learn about what inspired him. Also we’re planning to build another studio, and if artists want to come and work with researchers, we’re developing a field study centre that will have accomodation, called CREATE (Centre for Research, Environment and Arts Teaching on Elmenteita)

There are and will be many more activities available at Soysambu, including camel trekking and a proposed Cheetah Sanctuary.

AS SOYSAMBU IS A NOT-FOR-PROFIT ORGANIZATION, WE ARE ALWAYS LOOKING FOR FUNDS TO GET THESE PROJECTS OFF THE GROUND

If you have any ideas about how to achieve this, or are able to include Soysambu in any fundraising efforts you’re involved in, let us know! Our appreciation will be considerable.

I plan to be based on Soysambu for the second half of 2010 and in the future am planning to balance out my time between the US and Kenya. While I’m there I will be available as a guide/driver for professional artists to come and get reference on a one to one basis. Experience has revealed that putting professional artists together on GROUP safaris has its pitfalls: everyone having the same reference; coordinating a group so that all involved are available at the same time; logistics of coordinating a group of artists who want to paint different things; having enough room in vehicles for camera equipment etc; being landed with a driver who doesn’t understand how to position the vehicle with an understanding of light and composition…..the list goes on.

Also it’s much easier to hire one vehicle and accomodate individuals at short notice.

You’re a wildlife artist, you have one or less opportunity a year to get reference in the field and you’re on a limited budget. Do you need: A tent with a chandelier in it? To pay another professional artist to give you tuition when all you want to do is get as many photos/sketches as possible?

Get in touch if this makes sense to you

Thanks

Guy Combes

Tags: art, artists, Simon Combes, Soysambu Conservancy

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Category: 1, Conservation, Rothschild Giraffe, Wildlife, endangered species | Date: Oct 04 2009 | By: Kate Jennings

Twice a year a Game Count is conducted on the entire of the Soysambu Conservancy, to give an idea of animal numbers. It is impossible to get an exact count on most animals, however using particular techniques a general idea can be established!

Rangers, staff, volunteers and residents assembled at the head office at 6am to collect counting sheets, binoculars and vehicles. The property was divided into 11 sections and groups of 3-6 people designated to each section, plus an aerial count of larger animals, like Giraffe and Buffalo, over the entire property.

The count took most groups about 3 hours, but the last group didn’t finish until 11am after scrambling through the dense scrub of the Lake Sanctuary!

Some of the notable sightings included a Leopard, 4 Hyena, 4 Bat-Eared Foxes wrestling across the plains, and 3 Ground Horn Bills. 63 Rothschild’s giraffe were counted, including quite a few newborns! There were only 7 Colobus Monkeys seen, which adds to suspicions that the population size has dropped.

Over 200 Eland were seen, and 67 warthog were counted, both numbers having increased since last count in MayThese figures are very encouraging as both these species are targeted heavily by poachers. And last night I saw my first Aardvark on a night drive! Very exciting stuff!

Tags: Soysambu Conservancy

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Category: Conservation, Wildlife, endangered species | Date: Sep 25 2009 | By: Kate Jennings

Last week the Conservancy was home to a traveling lion! Foot prints (pictured below), growls in the night, spooked horses, whispers of 2 Masai cattle being taken in the bordering Ututu forest…

With the help of some Kenya Wildlife Service trackers we followed the footprints from near the main office right across the property to the foot of the Sleeping Warrior, where we lost them. Several days later he was seen near Lake Naivasha passing through several properties (photo below). We can only guess where he is off to, The Mara perhaps- Wildebeest for dinner?

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Category: Conservation, endangered species | Date: Sep 24 2009 | By: Soysambu guest blogger

Paula Kahumbu helped with the relocation of Colobus monkeys to Soysambu back in 1999. Today she recounts the event

The guereza colobus at Soysambu came from the Malewa river – with the original troop size somewhere between 9 and 15. There was one adult male, several females and Juveniles. The monkeys were being killed by farmers as they were raiding the maize - the farmers had chopped every tree except eucalyptus so the colobus were living in the eucalyptus and feeding on maize.

This is not their natural habitat and the conservancy unfortunately only have a rough estimate of the number of monkeys originally introduced to the area. The current total is belived to be around 12. The monkeys are primarily leaf eaters with ruminant like stomachs. This allows them to digest the mature foliage, however, they also consume fruits, flowers and seeds. The colobinae species is generally found in Asia, but the colobus monkey is only found in Africa, and is therefore a rarity. Due to this fact, there is a large problem with poaching of the monkey’s for their skins and fur, which is traditionally used as tribal headgear or alternatively sold abroad or to tourists. It is therefore paramount that projects such as this one take place to help maintain this endangered animal.

We moved them in 1999 with WSPA and they escaped from the holding cage the same night. We feared they’d scatter but they didn’t. Dr Nick D’souza helped with the translocation - we didn’t need to do any darting or anything - just caught them in cages after about 3 months of habituation, then moved the cages to the news site and released the monkeys into a big cage.

When we came back the next morning they were in the acacia watching us as we searched like idiots amongst the bushes for them. It was the first ever translocation of colobus guereza in Kenya and went perfectly!

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Category: Conservation, Education, Habitat Preservation, endangered species | Date: Sep 18 2009 | By: Soysambu guest blogger

Volunteer Shalynn Pack tells of her 4 weeks at Soysambu

Habari!

Hello all, my name is Shalynn Pack and I just returned home to the USA after volunteering in Soysambu. I’ve got one year of university left, studying Zoology and Wildlife Conservation. I came to Kenya this summer to do a 2 month internship with Kenya Wildlife Services at Lake Nakuru National Park. Long story short, that didn’t work out but luckily, I found Soysambu! I moved out here with 4 weeks to spare before my flight home, and I couldn’t have been happier.

The main project I worked on is the monitoring and identification of the Rothschilds giraffe. It’s estimated that there are around 50 giraffe on the Conservancy, but no one knows for sure. To find the total number of giraffe residing on Soysambu, we have to start with identifying individuals and compiling a manual. Honestly, I couldn’t have thought of a better job: watching giraffe all day, getting to know them individually, and thinking up fun names for them. We were able to identify several new giraffe, including 5 adorable new juveniles. With the help of Dr. Julian Fennessy of the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, this research will provide the baseline data for the first long-term study of Rothschilds Giraffe, a species with only 750 individuals remaining worldwide.

We also developed a giraffe habitat assessment for Soysambu Conservancy. Since the drought began, the giraffe have been stripping the bark of the yellow fever acacia trees, a habit that has severely damaged the health of the acacia forests. This project is designed to measure and monitor the extent of the damage over time. The assessment entailed creating GPS plots around the lakeshore and collecting data on the height, circumference, browse height, and level of bark stripping within these plots. In conjunction with the giraffe monitoring data, the assessment could ultimately provide insight on the need to reduce the giraffe population via translocation.

Beyond the field research projects, Soysambu gave me so many unique and exciting experiences. I have so many good memories at the Conservancy! We patrolled for snares on camelback, saw the sun rise over Lake Elmenteita in a hot air balloon, watched a leopard kill and drag off an impala, came too close to a fat African Rock Python, and dodged stinging nettles as we watched colobus monkeys leap from tree to tree. Soysambu is truly a unique place, and I feel so lucky to have been a part of it.

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Category: Education | Date: Sep 12 2009 | By: Kate Jennings

July 21^st, a group of sixty-seven students and seven teachers from Highbridges Academy took a day trip to Soysambu Conservancy. The students spent the day exploring the different areas of the Conservancy including Lake Elmenteita with thousands of pink flamingoes and the pelicans nesting out on the black lava island. They had great luck with their game drives, seeing giraffe, buffalo, gazelles and the rare sight of a wart hog family. The students were also taken on a tour of the old Delamere farm house and saw the statue of 3^rd Baron Lord Delamere – who began farming on Soysambu in 1906.

School trips such as this are a great way to teach the next generation of young conservationists about the importance of protecting this beautiful land and wildlife. We hope the experiences the students of Highbridges Academy had whilst visiting us will inspire them to take action in the fight to preserve Kenya’s beautiful forests and wildlife.

Tags: school trip, Soysambu Conservancy

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Category: Community, Education | Date: Sep 11 2009 | By: Soysambu guest blogger

Holly Fagan tells of her experience volunteering at Mbogo Primary, one of the two primary schools on Soysambu Conservancy

Before I arrived in Kenya I spent the last few months raising money for this little school deep in the heart of Africa’s Great Rift Valley. I knew they were in need but I wasn’t prepared for what I saw. The dirt floors are rocky and hazardous, the desks are rotten and splintering, there are almost no chairs – even for the teachers - the doors and shutters are falling off their hinges – if there are any at all - and learning resources are virtually non-existent.

Yet, the children there are some of the most cheerful, delightful and enchanting children I have ever met. When I first arrived they were quite shy around me because they’re not used to visitors, but their curiosity overtook their unease and I soon had the whole school crowded around me with outstretched hands. I’m sure I shook some of those hands three or four times!

I started off helping out in the Nursery class which was great fun – the children have so little they get quite excited about really basic things such as glue! I’ve also been teaching English and Maths and Science to the older students. There is a huge range of abilities and potential in the classes. Some of the students are very bright and eager to learn whereas others barely speak. It must be difficult to teach such a varied class. When I went to the school one of the teachers, Florence, was trying to teach Classes One, Two and Three. That’s pupils aged five to nine. I took Class Three for her and taught them in the morning. The pupils were so enthusiastic and polite and I really enjoyed it.

I find it difficult to explain how it felt but it was a very good feeling; being able to help the children and communicate with them. I felt “lifted” by the experience, like I had done something really important and worthwhile. It was the most gratifying thing I have ever done and I feel very privileged to have had this experience.

The children need exercise books, textbooks, pencils, rubbers, sharpeners, basic school equipment that they just don’t have! They even need clothes and shoes. The money I’ve raised is going towards next term’s feeding programme. For many of the children it is the only hot meal they get a day and it is only a cup of uji, or thin porridge, but I realise now how much more they need, so I will try to continue with my fundraising.

Tags: fundraising, lunch program, Soysambu Conservancy, volunteering

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