It's just six weeks before David and I will hopefully be going to Kenya again. We're staying first of all at Meru where Joy Adamson set up camp to rehabilitate Elsa the lion and George tried, or was told, to keep away from them. Joy, like a lot of the Kenyan pioneers from the U.K. in the 1930's (although she was Austrian) lived a colourful life, in fact an often-violent life, and she was extremely unpleasant to her staff. She did a massive amount for conservation through the proceeds of her books, but she was a controversial figure, apt to seducing any white man who came near her, and her methods - and particularly George's - of reintroducing orphan and domestic-bred big cats were not always appreciated. Both George and Joy Adamson were eventually murdered in separate incidents, and Joy was laid to rest in Meru.
Meru National Park occupies 215,000 acres and more diversity of species than any other park in East Africa. The lodge itself was designed by Stefano Cheli (the chap whose house we stay in in Loisaba where we go next) and was opened by Dr. Richard Leakey (Director of Kenyan Wildlife Service at that time and a fascinating character himself) and Virginia McKenna of Born Free fame. Like Loisaba, it is now owned by Elewana.
For obvious reasons I cannot wait, and certainly cannot wait to see my camels again and all of my friends of course. I shall try to expand my Swahili which I have learned mainly by reading and writing.
Five cheetah cubs have been born recently at Loisaba and Peter Ekidor very kindly gave me permission to use his photograph; the guides at all of the camps have a university-level of knowledge about all of the animals.
