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I am sitting in a highly-constructed tent – the epitome of “glamping”: complete bathroom, excellent electricity for charging batteries, tables and chairs, and a hard floor. No key. The receptionist repeated about three times that we zip up and zip down, no key. Beyond this front row of tents is a field roamed by impala, guinea fowl, waterbuck, and lots of little birds. A ditch protects the resort. This is the
Sweetwaters Serena Camp.
We are in
Ol Pejeta Conservancy . The gate is only ten minutes away, but we spent almost two hours driving through the dry grassland capturing photos of animals. Only about 100 metres into the park, we watched a pregnant
Black Rhino stroll across our field of view. Without moving, we caught sight of a few old male
Cape Buffalo . Our wonderous gaze turned to several
impala . A short drive of a couple of minutes revealed a couple of elephants, one of which cooperatively came out of the bushes.
Moments after that, we marvelled at an impala and her 2-week-old fawn. The fawn stayed glued to the mother’s side. Calmed by our silence and stillness, the fawn turned to nurse, wagging its long thin tail ecstatically. Buffalo wandered in and
out of our pictures. They often stare with a seemingly penetrating gaze, but as their nose is on the same level as their eyes, they are actually smelling our scent (probably a confusing smell of petroleum from the vehicle). Leaving one area for another, we saw
Reticulated Giraffe , which are native here; they are brown, with defined white lines and white stockings.
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The animals mixing and inhabiting this plain can do so because they have the same predators, which they help each other avoid. For example, wildebeest which have strong scenting ability and zebras which have good eyesight herd together. Also, most of the different species feed on different plants or different parts of the grasses, minimizing the competition for food.
Cape Buffalo 
Isabel Gibson
non-member comment
That was one day of viewing and photography? I'm impressed. That little rhino is not so little: When I saw it in the video, I didn't realize it was one of the babies. All your shots and video clips are excellent, but I think the male impalas are the most striking of the beasts.