I can remember those long weekdays at home, waiting impatiently for the weekend to arrive. And the disappointment felt with every Saturday I was required to work at one of many mundane jobs I endured in my quest to save enough money for my current African adventure. Here in Samburu, where every day (weekends included) I’m working on my research project and helping with whatever needs to be done in the field, my only complaint is that the days are passing by a little too quickly for my liking. And today was just one example of the experiences I would miss out on if my dislike for working Saturdays had not been left behind in Australia.

For the past week, the sky has been complementing the dramatic landscape with dark, threatening clouds, occasionally coming good with the promise of long-awaited rain. Today, as per my usual morning routine, I was sitting at my computer by about 7:30am (I barely know what this time of morning looks like on a weekend at home). I looked out the window at the river and wondered just how much rain it would take for the river to flow. Fifteen minutes later I looked up again - to the sight of muddy, brown water gushing past. I almost thought my malaria tablets were exhibiting their hallucinogenic properties! Gilbert and I rushed to the car, and drove quickly to the bridge where the water had not yet reached. I had always imagined a river to fill up slowly, raising its height bit by bit over multiple days. Not so. We watched as the dry, sandy river bed was consumed by water, flowing around the bends and under the bridge as far as my eyes could see -all within two or three minutes.

By 8am I was feeling content that I’d attained my quota of excitement and new experiences for the day but there was more to come. After breakfast Chris, Gilbert, Benjamin and I went out for long-term monitoring. We found the American Indians roaming around, a lone bull and a few members of the Butterflies family, so recorded GPS locations and took some identification pictures. We saw some other elephants hanging out with some rather large crocodiles that looked very happy with the new abundance of water. We searched for hippos (a close competitor for favorite status in my world of animals) but to no avail. And then as we were slowly heading back to camp, Shivani and Lauren called to say there was a pack of wild dogs near the Isiolo river, resting under the acacias. I have been fascinated by wild dogs since reading about them prior to my first African trip almost three years ago, but had never seen them in the wild. So not only did I see the transformation of a completely dry river bed into a fully flowing river this morning – I also had my first wild dog sighting!

And to make sure the afternoon had something to offer, four young kudu obliged by feeding outside the office window as I was arranging my photos into files of those suitable for the elephant identification portfolio. It’s always a privilege when the wildlife comes to visit us at camp – especially the dainty and beautiful kudu.

I definitely have no objection to working Saturdays in Samburu!