Koros Camp

Friday, May 16, 2025

While staying at Mogwooni Homestead with Claire and Rod Jones, we learned a lot about them over the days we had together. Besides Rod’s rose business and his interest in lawn bowling, we learned Claire has a cheese business using the milk received from some 40 goats she owns. Her staff manage the goats and make a variety of feta cheeses, which she sells to commercial enterprises. She maintains a large garden for their household use as well as chickens. She hopes to sell the cheese business this year and have more free time. She loves her safari business and plans to keep doing that.

Friends of theirs, Wendy and Rob, came for lunch one day and stayed for the afternoon to play lawn bowling with us. They were delightful company and the six of us had a grand time.

Shrub growing in Claire’s yard at 5000 ft

Sunday, May 18, 2025

Finally, we began the helicopter portion of our Kenya trip. We lifted off from Claire’s Mogwooni home at 7:20 and flew an hour north to a clearing in the forest where a group of Pokot tribal people met us to perform a ceremonial dance. Claire had arranged the performance of a wedding ceremony and about 100 tribe members showed up.

They started with a blessing with everyone seated and shortly thereafter the dancing started and lasted for about an hour.

The dance goes on in a circle that becomes more and more compact

It was a delightful experience as we were the only observers and the dancers performed as if we were not there, which was perfect. We got many photographs. They all seemed pleased to be there and had fun dancing.

We learned that the Pokot are farmers and pastoralists. They have developed skills in pottery and metal work. Tribal elders make all the decisions for the tribe, including marriage. Women have no say in anything and circumcision is common. The Potoc clan is approximately 200 years old and clan history is handed down orally.

By 9:30 we were back in the helicopter and headed for a coffee break on the rim of the Silale crater in the Great Rift Valley. The temperature was heating up but was not yet unbearable.

A large Desert Rose shrub. Has a pretty flower when in bloom

After coffee, we continued up the Seguta Valley along the Seguta River and on up to Koros camp. The camp is about an hour south of Lake Turkana by car, if you are looking at the map.

Andy made a stop on a large sand dune in a dune field that was very interesting to see as it rolled on. The temperature was over 100 degrees and so hot our feet were burning through our shoes. Glad to be back in the AC in the helicopter, we flew over a Samburu village and then on to our next camp, called Koros.

The meadow was full of purple/blue flowers. After an hour we headed further north to the southern edge of Lake Turkana, where we landed on the shore next to Amory and Kaitlin’s boat. They keep it there to use with guests, primarily for fishing Nile perch, and had driven up early to provision it with lunch and drinks. We all jumped on board and Amory headed into the lake at a good clip. The water was rough and unpleasant for me, but he slowed down and Karina ran out two fishing lines. Soon Mark had one but it was too small at 4 kilo. Then he caught another one that was 25 kilo. We agreed to keep that one and have it for dinner. Amory found a pleasant lunch spot on South Island in Lake Turkana, under a shady tree next to a sandy beach. So we all went swimming, trusting there were no crocks nearby, and enjoyed individual chicken pies and drinks. While we fished, Andy relocated the helicopter to our lunch spot so we could fly away after lunch.

Tuesday, May 20, 2025

There are no bugs or mosquitos. In fact, we have seen very few bugs on the whole trip and no snakes, thankfully.

We learned that there are about 310,000 Samburu people, 826,000 Pokot, and 1 million Turkana people living on different tribal lands in northern Kenya. There are 50 million Kenyans in the country. Koros is in the Samburu region. The air is very hot, but the camp is in the trees and pleasant.

We watched birds from the dining area and chatted with the camp managers, Karina and Amory. They have managed this camp for 6 years and are happy living in the wild. They own several quad bikes and have a fishing boat on Lake Turkana, so they can provide activities for guests. There are 7 cabins, but only one party is allowed at a time. So we have the place to ourselves.

Bristle-crowned starling rests near the large bird bath in the camp

Red-billed hornbill and a Ring-necked dove

Late in the afternoon we went on a quad ride to a sundowner in the woods. Amory had us bouncing across dry mud fields at a good clip. It was a fun, but dusty ride.

Karina, Amory, me, Mark and Andy, our pilot share dinner in the main lodge. Notice the Genet in the right rear.

Monday, May 19, 2025

We are in the helicopter at 6:40 for an early start to beat the heat. We headed for a section of rock wall that contains several ancient petroglyphs and get to see a few before the temp hits 100F.

From there we flew to the Lothagam Fault between 2 volcanic ridges. At the north Lothagam Pillar burial site, 42 human remains were found in one site. There are many burial mounds, but most have not been excavated due to cost.

We take several photos of the area and stop to look for fossils. We find several ancient fish bone fossils, but nothing human. The temp is only 98F at 10:30am.

Cocktails poolside in the late afternoon. Andy, Mark and Karina

Tuesday, May 20, 2025

Off again early, we head for Lake Logipi to see the flamingos. And we find a huge number of birds casting about on the lake. The temp was 93F. Somewhat comfortable. We opened the doors on the helicopter to get good photos. (With the door shut we have great AC.) The scene was spectacular, but impossible to capture with photographs, although we tried. Andy dropped onto the dry part of the lake pan and we walked toward the water. The closer we got the wetter the mud became until we could not pull our feet out to make a step. It made for some good laughter, but we had to turn around without getting near the lake. We did see a Golden Jaeckel walking lightly across the mud.

We tried to walk to the lake edge, but …

Our next stop was the top of Mt Nyiru, which is at about 8,500 feet and much cooler. Andy landed on a pretty green meadow at 8,100 feet and we enjoyed a very pleasant coffee break.