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by Winnie So
5 November 2003
A knock on the door. Still groggy, I stumble out of bed to open the door. A woman is standing in front of me with a tray in her hand. “Good morning,” she says cheerily as she comes in to put down the tray of hot chocolate. She leaves. I sit down and poor myself a hot chocolate. As my senses slowly come to with the smell and taste of warm, hot chocolate, I slowly realize that I am waking up so early in the morning to a beautiful sunrise on the horizon and smile.
Quick shower and meet the rest of the gang. First stop -- Star Beds. I had read all about them and they sounded so cool -- sleep on a bed wrapped in a warm, fluffy duvet under the starry skies. Apparently, the Star Beds are great for marriage proposals. Peter, the manager, was telling us that there have been 4 out of 4 successful proposals in the Star Beds. Even Gillian Anderson’s (of X-Files fame) has stayed in one. We arrive at the river bank where the beds are located. You have to cross a rickety bridge, but it’s actually quite secure. You arrive at an open living room. There’s a pit for a campfire. Dinners are served al fresco by the camp fire with a view of the river. Further along the path, are the raised huts with thatched roof covering half of the platform. In each, there is a bathroom with shower and toilet. Hot water can be brought for the showers. In each hut, there is a chair and table as well as a four-poster bed with mosquito netting on wheels. At night, the bed can be rolled out onto the open platform. From the beds, you can hear the running water where hippos bathe, watch elephants grazing, hear hyenas calling. If you’re worried about safety, Peter assures us that there is always a team of Samburu warriors looking after you.
We leave the Star Beds and head down river. Throughout our ride, Peter (who is driving) and Pocket (who is seating in the front seat next to him) entertain us with their teasing of each other. We ask Pocket how he got his name. “Because when we first met him, he was so small he could fit in my pocket,” Peter answers. Pocket lets out a whooping laugh: Aah...ha...ha....and pushes Peter. Suddenly, with a serious face, Pocket says, “I forgot breakfast”. Silence. We were supposed to have coffee, tea and sandwiches packed for our picnic breakfast. Sarah breaks the silence, “It’s OK, we can go back for an early lunch.” We continue our drive. As we head down to the bank, we slowly see a red-and-white check cloth-covered table appear underneath a tree. Around the table are six chairs. We drive closer and we see William and a few others from the lodge. We collectively break into laughter. We get out of the car. The table is already laid out with place settings. There’s hot coffee, tea, fresh fruit salad, pan-grilled toast. Around a few bushes, William and his team are cooking up bacon, scrambled eggs and sausages. It must be said that it is a real luxury to be able to have breakfast like that in the bush. It makes you want to savour the moment. Even the honey tastes sweeter. This is breakfast as it should be eaten; life as it should be lived. Time slows, you notice the details, and you really start to experience everything around you as truly special and extraordinary.
On the way back to the lodge, we see lots of grevy zebra, which are different from your regular zebra. There are only around 2,500 grevy zebra left and they live primarily in northern kenya. In Loisaba, there are around 40 grevy zebra. Throughout the drive, Phil has been explaining the details of each animal’s lifestyle and debunking a lot of urban myths about animals (for example, bulls are colour blind so they don’t actually get excited by red and elephants are not afraid of mice.). We learn that elephants graze for 20 hours a day whereas lions sleep for that amout.
We arrive back at the lodge for lunch and a bit of a rest. Around 3:30pm, we head down to Ewaso Primary School, a school partially supported by the Loisaba Community Trust. After a tour of the school and clinic, we visit a local village where Pocket joins the mating dance. Peter had told us, “Make sure Pocket comes back”. “And No kissing the girls!” he told Pocket. Pocket was having such a good time that we felt bad tearing him away from all the fun. But it was time to go.
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