This year Lets Go Travel were able to facilitate a visit of pupils and staff from Kingsfield School, Bristol, England, to Kalalu Secondary School, near Timau.

The visitors from Kingsfield camped at Kalalu School, where they we able to participate in the schools activities and bond in a friendship that both schools would like to continue in the future.

Two years after his arrival at the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary, 11 year old Gashuhe now holds a somewhat steady social position as a member of the smaller group. Gashuhe arrived at the Sanctuary on the 25th of March 2008, having been rescued from appalling conditions in a road-side garage in Kigali, Rwanda. Aged about 9 years at the time, Gashuhe was started off on the introduction process to the other chimpanzees at the Sanctuary as soon as he arrived.

Hi Paula,

Now we are back home again from our trip to Kenya.

A great thank to you for your help arranging our safari - it was a fantastic week, our expectations were more than honored, and for sure it is not our last safari in Kenya.
It was also very possitive to visit different areas and then also to see the country during our drives.

Our guide Justus has a large share of the credit for this amazing week on safari. It was a pleasure to be with him and his knowledge of animals and nature was quite impressive. Please, greet him from us - he deserves all the praise he can get. We hope it also will be possible to have him as guide next time we will go on safari.

Kindly,
Peter

Hi George,

We loved all the places--it is possible that Sarara was our most favorite (even though we didnt see the singing wells--too much water)--absolutely lovely, the setting, the people, the food, the wildlife was very good. Right behind Sarara was Richards Camp--we had the most unbelievable day of wildlife viewing on the way to the Mara, there, and back--12 hours of nonstop spectacular action. Richards Camp was just perfect for us, wish we could have stayed longer. Lewa House was superb--and we were so happy to go to Il Ngwesi, even though the 2 hours plus brutal drive for one night stay was a lot. We loved the community conservation ethic there, even though the wildlife wasnt so great. I think our least favorite was Manda Bay--half the year the water is full of sediment, and half it is crystal clear, and we were there for the wrong half. But the people and setting are terrific, so we ended up loving even that!

TropicAir was terrific, very personal, love the 206s. But you should have let us know about luggage limits--they made it work but it was an issue because we brought too much. all our flights were on time.

Bottom line: we want to go back to every single place we went!

Thanks again,

Jeannie

"A lot has happened to our four northern white rhinos since our last website update which was written on January 15, 2010. Sudan, Suni, Najin and Fatu have now fully adapted to their new home in Africa. They have explored new homes, new territories and made new friends. Last week, a milestone was achieved when we separated the two females in order to give them a better chance at breeding."

As ever, our very warmest greetings from Sarara.

We have been open and operational since June 1st and the forecast is promising to be our 'best ever' season. The camp is looking crisp and fresh after further upgrades and the surrounding area truly beautiful after the excellent rains, with plenty of good grass cover and copious amounts of crystal clear water flowing down from the mountains.

Culturally, the Singing Wells have been quiet throughout the month of June as a result of the extensive surface water after the rains, but just in the last few days a number of local Samburu families have started to prepare their individual wells ready for the long dry season ahead. We do not expect any further rain until mid October so the action should certainly hot up now.

Our son Jeremy and his girlfriend Katie are helping to manage Sarara at present with the ultimate aim of launching their own 'Sarara Walking Safaris' using a team of camels and a lightweight fly camp to better explore the interior of the Mathews range. Do contact us for details if you are interested in a good walk.

Whilst Sarara will never be a 'quantity' wildlife viewing destination, it is clear that we can always offer a 'quality' and 'varied' viewing experience. We thought that you might enjoy to read a small selection of the game book sightings that our guests have experienced over the past six weeks.

1st June - 10th July .... 55 quality leopard sightings in just 40 days !
2nd June - Aardwolf, wild cat, 35 reticulated giraffe, 25 elephant with very small young
3rd June - 40+ elephant drinking at the Singing Wells at 6.00 p.m., and a leopard watching the action from close by.
7th June - 4 wild dogs trotting along the Sarara camp airstrip 7.00 a.m.
9th June - Aardvark, 3 aardwolves and 3 leopards. One leopard killing a dik dik within a few feet of the car
12th June - 2 striped hyena on an early morning walk from camp
15th June -7 buffalo at the camp water hole
20th June .- Elephant (many), buffalo, leopard, 20 lesser kudu, giraffe (many), 12 gerenuk, impala, klipspringer, baboon, hyena, warthog, dik dik, caracal, porcupine.
23rd June - Two leopards mating at 5.30 p.m. on the track to the manyatta, with another young male leopard observing the action with some interest !
29th June - Somali galago, baby porcupine, civet cat, genet cat
30th June - Large male greater kudu in camp. Impala killed by a leopard at the ponds
4th July - Leopard lying nonchalantly on the bank at the Singing Wells at midday ! Herd of 23 elephant at Dondo hill during a bush breakfast outing
5th July - 70 reticulated giraffe, all together in one group
6th July - 4 wild dogs basking in the early morning sun at Nindia 7.00 a.m.
8th July - Leopard killing a honey badger.
9th July - Leopard hunting and killing two dik dik's simultaneously !

We shall be closing camp up again on the 18th October for the rainy season, so please do get in touch soon if you have an urge to visit before then.
Our very best,
Piers, Hilary and All the Team at Sarara.

On June 15th, the Ol Pejeta Conservancy welcomed a new 3.1 year old female black rhino named Lola, bringing the total number of black rhinos on the Conservancy to 86. Lola – who had been hand-reared by the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy staff and recently released in the wild – was fighting with a dominant male black rhino on Lewa and was in serious danger of getting killed. Knowing they had to find her a new home, the Lewa team called Ol Pejeta for help and decided to transfer her into the safety of the northern white rhino enclosure on the Ol Pejeta Conservancy.

I am delighted to tell you that Chui Lodge has won the Good Safari Guide 2010 Traveller’s Choice Award for BEST LODGE IN AFRICA. The Good Safari Guide Awards are the travel professional’s definitive selection of the most professionally run, independently selected and vetted safari camps, lodges and hotels in Africa.

Well, well, from the harsh, dry drought conditions at the end of last year .... to the lush, green and unrecognisable Sarara of today. What a transition in just a few short months. Sarara has now recorded over 700 mm's of rainfall since last October and it seems that there is yet more to come this week.

Sarara has been transformed into a paradise of tall green grass, endless wild flowers, a myriad of butterflies and in February, the best wildlife game viewing ever !

Apart from regular daily sightings of elephants, buffalo and leopard, the undoubted highlight this past few months has been fantastic sightings of 8 different cheetah individuals, plus a group of some 80 giraffe, often all together in one never ending 'reticulated' blur across the landscape ! So encouraging from a long term conservation perspective.

We continue to plug the fact that the 16 guests using Sarara Camp at any one time are absolutely the 'only' visitors in an area of close to a million acres of wilderness now under our conservation umbrella.

The extensive but careful and thoughful refurbishment of the camp last year is already proving it's worth. Camp bookings are showing a remarkable 50% increase over the past two years and 2010 is all set to be our best 'ever'. How fortunate we are and a big 'thank you' to all for your unwavering support.

The latest news is that Sarara / Namunyak could soon to become 'home' once again to a viable breeding population of black rhinos. Historically black rhino were always prolific around the Mathews range. Then in the early '70's the Somali 'shifta' bandits found them and all were gunned down ! Today extensive ecological and environmental surveys have been conducted, data is being processed, and permissions are currently being sought from the Kenya Wildlife Service. If all goes according to plan, we aim to translocate and carefully re-introduce 20 individuals into a fenced sanctuary not too far from Sarara within twelve months.

Initially the rhino will require intensive 24 hour a day security, but in time we hope to be able to take the fence away and to have truly 'wild' rhino living freely once more in our backyard.

What a vision to look forward to !

Breaking News! 100 Rhinos on the Ol Pejeta Conservancy
We are thrilled to announce that on Sunday, March 28, one of our white rhino females named Ariemet gave birth to a very healthy calf. This new birth brings the total number of rhinos on the Ol Pejeta Conservancy to 100, with 84 black rhinos and 12 southern white rhinos and four northern white rhinos.

The Ol Pejeta rhino population is thriving and we have many rhinos which need to be named. We have started a naming contest on our Facebook Fan Page and encourage each and every single one of you to visit it and give your suggestions for names. A small committee on Ol Pejeta will review all the suggestions and will announce the winner next week.

The future of the black and white rhinos is still uncertain. In the last 30 years, they have been driven to near extinction, with the world rhino population falling by more than 90 percent. The only reason for this decline is man's relentless pursuit of the animals' horn. In Kenya alone, the numbers of black rhino dropped from an estimated 20,000 in the early 1970s to less than 300 animals in the 1980s.

The Ol Pejeta Conservancy’s efforts to protect rhinos are critical to the survival of the species. Ol Pejeta is the Largest Black Rhino Sanctuary in East Africa and holds 14% of the confirmed black rhino population in Kenya. The constant population increase we are witnessing on Ol Pejeta is the result of our security efforts. We happily share this news with you.