Thread filed under #ElephantsAreAwsome

#Ololokwe is a landmark sacred mountain in north #kenya, with forbidding cliff faces & a plateau summit, rising out of the Namunyak Conservancy plains.

#Sabache camp is perched on its flanks and on the elephant corridor to Samburu park

It took me 2 hours to ascend the steep 6km path full of boulders, mangled roots and scrambling basalt surfaces. Elephants had been there 2 - 3 days ago

During the dry season #elephants climb Ololokwe on their bellies and knees to reach a sacred water spring nestled in an enchanted forested patch right at the top of the mountain

The family of 5 was still there when I descended the next morning. First I heard their rustling and then saw their arched grey backs above the canopy. There is a different frisson when you encounter elephants on foot armed with a short plastic broomstick

I asked my guide to take a longer, thorny detour so as not to disturb them. At least no more than the steady stream of tourists, porters, locals and their sizeable cow herds.

All looking for ways to co-exist in this ever-shrinking ever- fragmenting landscape