Emerging from our tents, we convened in the car park to set off on an early morning game drive. As we drove out of sweet waters camp, it was still dark and the wildlife were starting to come to life. As the was shining behind Mt Kenya, it cast amazingly crisp silhouette of the peak which was Martin’s muse, snapping a perfect photo on the first go! The remainder of the drive was filled with ‘the usual’ rhinos, elephants and giraffes, the leopard however, still eluded us.
With shooting commencing in just 2 days, it was time to start the first thoughts towards competing. Using the camp’s facilities, a very productive coaches’ session was held which upon completion left everyone feeling motivated. Building on this for the team as a whole, another round of sundowners (this time including, and introducing a few of the Sweetwaters staff to, toasting marshmallows over the fire pit) gave the daily opportunity for team members to catch up, having chosen different activities during the day.
The evenings activities included a trip to the chimpanzee enclosure, the rhino sanctuary and a night game drive. The rhino enclosure being a particular favourite where we were able to feed and pet Baraka a black rhino that helped his species’ number grow 20 years ago. He is now mostly blind and lives peacefully in his own space. The night drive gave the opportunity to see some of the same animals seen during the day (but often much closer up and less elusive as they settled during the night) including a lion with her two cubs on the edge of water, and the commonly nocturnal hyenas (yes, we got to hear them laugh) and mongoose. A guaranteed no-so-early night, but well worth it.
With that, the R&R was largely over and we would be making our way back to Nanyuki the next day to focus in on the shooting part of the tour.