Thank Heavens for the Electric Fence

Fisherman’s Camp, Lake Naivasha

Kenya

July 30, 2024

I hear a snuffling noise close by and get out of the tent to see. A giant bottom stares me in the face. The hippo snoozing centimeters from the fence is startled as well and gets up faster than I thought an animal that size could. I get an eyeful as does he. He wins the staring contest as I back up hastily, thanking heavens for the electric fence.

The Fisherman’s camp is on the shores of Lake Naivasha. The placid gray surface of the lake is ruffled only a little by the breeze. It rained heavily yesterday, and the mist swathes the distant shore like an unfinished watercolor. With lush green grass and picnic tables scattered around, it is a tranquil place to while away a couple of days. There are small wooden cottages but plenty of visitors opt to camp as do I.

Tall trees have nest, both big and small and the day is peppered with birdcall. There are supposedly more than five hundred species of birds that call this lake home. Flurries of fantastic plumage fly past in a blur, too quick for me to photograph most; I only manage a few.

There are other denizens of the trees as well. The mischievous vervet monkeys leap from branches and scurry across the restaurant floor hoping to snatch someone’s food. The same floods that drowned trees around Lake Nakuru, also killed a few here, but not nearly as many. In the bare branches of a tree I see a pair of fish eagles. The fishtail was still flopping when the pair began their banquet.