{"id":20317,"date":"2022-09-13T07:00:33","date_gmt":"2022-09-13T11:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=20317"},"modified":"2022-11-07T21:08:05","modified_gmt":"2022-11-08T02:08:05","slug":"waiting-for-warthogs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=20317","title":{"rendered":"Waiting for Warthogs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Linda Lou Burton posting from Sweetwaters Serena Camp, Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Nanyuki, Kenya <\/em>\u2013 My eyes were as blurry as the camera lens in the pre-dawn light. I\u2019d been up since 4:30, had my cup of tea, made one for Rick. No point in trying to sleep, it was way too noisy here. Snoring, yes. Wind flapping against the tent, yes. Animals gathering at the water hole, oh yes! Besides all those sleep deterrents, I was wide-awake excited.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Rick was way ahead of me on the \u201canimal count;\u201d he\u2019d seen elephants and buffalo and all kinds of wildlife on yesterday\u2019s afternoon game drive while I was taking a nap. Including ugly-tusked, grunting warthogs. Now, here we sat on our porch, waiting for the sun to come up, trying to spot which animals were right in front of us.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I zoomed the camera across the distance to the dining hall, all lit up; breakfast preparations underway; guides and drivers gathering to get vehicles ready, routes planned out. Was that the shadow of an impala I saw, silhouetted against the window\u2019s light? It moved, a slow-gaited walk, neck swaying, much too long for an impala\u2019s neck. A giraffe, perhaps? My perspective was skewed, the animal was at the water hole, the dining room way beyond that.<\/p>\n

Sweetwaters Serena Camp is laid out around a large \u201cwater hole,\u201d with dining room, lounge, and offices overlooking the view; Mt Kenya and its neighboring peaks the perfect backdrop. The 56 tents curve around the water hole on either side. Which means \u2013 wherever you are, you can watch the animals as they come to get a drink, and socialize.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The animals can watch the people too. Now we can see a row of gentle grazers at the fence line, looking at us. \u201cHow many people start their day like this?\u201d we wondered, back and forth, barely believing it ourselves. Just then someone stepped around the corner of our porch. It was Abdi, followed by my early-morning wheelchair driver. \u201cJambo! Good morning! Are you ready for a game drive today?\u201d Abdi asked.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cI am indeed,\u201d I answered, climbing into the wheelchair. That\u2019s my foot you see, I’m shining the flashlight ahead as I\u2019m being pushed along the bumpy path towards the dining room, and breakfast, and a day full of animal sightings — elephants, buffalo, and yes, even warthogs, I hope. That\u2019s Abdi and Rick ahead, early-morning talk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Linda Lou Burton posting from Sweetwaters Serena Camp, Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Nanyuki, Kenya \u2013 My eyes were as blurry as the camera lens in the pre-dawn light. I\u2019d been up since 4:30, had my cup of tea, made one for Rick. No point in trying to sleep, it was way too noisy here. Snoring, yes. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4318,4319],"tags":[4417,1542,4405,4431,4432],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20317"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20317"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20648,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20317\/revisions\/20648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}