Olerai Sanctuary: Biodiversity
The 300-acre sanctuary, located in Lake Naivasha, is paradise to hundreds of birds and grazing animals. Eagles perch on tree limbs, dikdiks rustle in bushes and pelicans fly in the air. You meander among giraffes, zebras, gazelles and water bucks without a care in the world. You are not threats to the animals and they are not threats to you, however, you do avoid the hippopotamus, who decides to come out of the water to munch on grass.
Your guide explains the lumbering animal’s habits to you and it is interesting, but primarily, the thrill is just being there. While you enjoy your leisurely stroll, hotel staff are preparing a picnic feast, platters of meats and vegetables grown on Oria’s farm appear like magic under a grove of umbrella trees, nothing is left to chance, a washing basin and a portable outhouse is set up a short distance away. Inside this 3×3 canvas closet, a hole has been dug and a wooden commode placed over it.
When your tour of Crescent Island is over, this instant environmentally friendly toilet is dismantled and removed and the hole covered with dirt. After the picnic visit Elsamere Conservation Centre, the former home of the late Joy Adamson and Elsa the famous lioness. Through photographs, the home’s small museum depicts the close relationship between Elsa and Joy. Memorabilia from the film “Born Free” is scattered among the pictures and a collection of Adamson’s paintings. Many guests at Elsamere are holiday makers or researchers coming to take part in local projects. It’s a unique opportunity for the lay person with an interest in conservation and a desire to observe wildlife in its natural state.
On return the housekeeper is there to meet you with a drink and a smile, the fluffy towels, fresh flowers and the hot water bottle in bed are good amenities, however, it’s the staff’s genuine friendliness that is refreshing. The following morning Oria walks you to the short forested path to Sirocco House, the art-deco home her parents, Mario and Giselle Rocco built in the 1930′s and where she was born.
Oria’s father had come to Africa to hunt game and her mother had come to sculpt and paint the human shapes of Africa. Once a student of Rodin, Giselle Rocco’s striking African warrior sculptures and paintings add an aura of mystique and power to the house of arched dividers, tall windows and high ceilings. Not surprisingly, Sirocco House and gardens have been locations in movies and used as back drops for fashion shoots.
The November 1996 issue of Architectural Digest featured the house as well. Oria met her zoologist husband Iain Douglas-Hamilton in 1970, at a social gathering at the house. She was fascinated with his love of elephants and his work for the New York Zoological Society in Manyara National Park in Tanzania. Shortly after they married, they built a camp on the river banks and lived among the beasts.
Together, they studied and recorded elephant behavior and raised two daughters, who she describes, “have sunshine in their hearts.” Over time, they built Olerai House and wrote two books. “Among the Elephants” and ” Battle for the Elephants.” Oria and Iain played an important role in the eventual ban on ivory hunting in 1989 and to this day, they continue their involvement in saving the elephant. “Our battle with poachers is never-ending” she says, not willing to give up the fight. “Just when we think we are winning, we hear another elephant has been killed and his tusks removed. “
Iain is a trustee at the nonprofit organization “Friends of Africa /Save the Elephants Project,” with offices in Colorado (1.970.923.2466), London (44.171.242.7000) and Nairobi, Donations to this worthwhile organization are welcome. One of the projects the society is involved in is installing tracking collars on elephants. This exercise enables researchers to monitor the elephants’ activities and needs.
The cost for one GPS radio collar including flying and darting expenses is ,000. Another project underway is green hunting, an alternative to lethal sport hunting. A private nature reserve bordering Kruger National Park in South Africa has agreed to green hunt its yearly quota of four trophy bulls. The elephants will be”shot” with a sat-gun, tranquillized and a foam cast taken of the tusks so the “hunter” can mount his trophy. Iain also helped produce the Imax film “Africa’s Elephant Kingdom” released in 1998 for Discovery Channel Pictures
Tags: acre sanctuary, crescent island, famous lioness, fluffy towels, genuine friendliness, grazing animals, hot water bottle, joy adamson, lake naivasha, washing basin