September news
An escapee eland!
King Edward the eland has been galloping around our garden a few times over the last couple of months! We’ve stayed well clear, and been reminded of how huge and majestic these beautiful creatures are. Oserengoni Sanctuary rangers have been working on coaxing him back up to the sanctuary gate where he must have slipped through. We do however have a permanent eland resident on our side of the fence - Queen Elizabeth. You can most often spot her with the herd of cows who she hangs out with for protection and, we like to think, an unusual kind of friendship!
Hyena soundscapes
The hyenas seem to be particularly active recently, with their distinctive whoops being heard close to the house as early as 530pm and as late as 6am. A few nights we’ve heard them laughing right inside the garden which was a real treat!
Fruit for the future
Improving and landscaping the garden was a major project for August which is now complete. The dusty path has been replaced by a lovely stone driveway, a new path links Acacia and the main Olanga House, more solar lights have been added, and we’ve moved the car parking area to a shadier spot on sand - soon to be covered over. The more exciting part of this was choosing new plants and trees for the garden. We now have many more splashes of colour, a lovely herb garden (cooks amongst you get excited now!), and have planted around 30 new trees. Amongst these are Mulberries (it is these trees that attract so many monkeys at Camp Carnelly’s), avocado trees, papaya and plum trees, bottle brush, and citrus trees (lemon, lime, orange). Generations to come are likely to enjoy these more than we do at present, but it’s exciting to be filling the land with other trees complementary to the beautiful Acacia and Leleshwa. And we’ve already seen an increase in our monkey visitors! Needless to say we have protected the saplings from the inquisitive dik-diks who still try their best to have a nibble!
Landrover adventures
We’ve been making small upgrades to our old, beautiful Landrover Defender which was in need of quite a bit of attention. It’s interior still is! - but it now has a new reliable engine and good seatbelts - which after all are the essentials! If guests need a car to potter around in the local area then this can now be an option.
Dog-friendly, always
The biggest and saddest change for Olanga was the loss of our amazing, incredible dog Choma. It is too painful to write much about him here, but we will in the future when we finalise plans for a special spot in the garden to remember him by. In the meantime a beautiful white bottle-brush tree graces the front door area, reminding us of his bushy white tail. Olanga will always be a place where dogs are not just allowed but actively welcomed. We would love nothing more than for other dogs to enjoy the gardens that Choma did for so many years, sniffing around, roaming free, barking at monkeys. Hold them close while you can - take them with you on your adventures. We wish we still could.
