Let me take you back into the Matthews Range in the Northern Frontier District of Kenya… We are on a ’safari’, that means we are on a journey, walking with camels carrying our camping equipment, and food…. We are crossing the Matthews, and on the way the plan was to conquer Matthews peak, the impressive cone shaped summit jutting out on the east side of this extraordinary mountain Range, but it wasn’t to be…I’m afraid
It started raining!!
Camels just have to smell mud, or wet grass and they are already slipping and sliding..Their feet made for the flat desert can not cope.. It became a disaster.. They couldn’t go forwards or backwards, their long lanky legs doing the splits in all directions… They are truly the ’ships of the Sandy desert’!! We had to stop, find a place to camp …
Make a big fire, and have a cup of tea!, and hope tomorrow is going to be better… And by the way it was!, and we managed to get all 29 camels off the very steep mountain safely… 
Its a nightmare I’ve had in my sleep before, but never lived it!!…
In the mean time just a few pictures of the beautiful things in the mountains.. This little ‘ perfect ‘ Aloe is only about 6 inches in width..
Growing out of this rock..
The Matthews are famous for their Butterflies, they were every where.. This was the only one that would sit still!… Look at the blue wash around the white patches… can anyone identify this one??
This Cycad, endemic to the Matthews, and Ndoto ranges… Not only do they live for a long time now, but they also lived at the same time as the Dinosaurs.. Beautiful plants, and this little scene, with the Aloes, the cedars, and the rocks beats any home made garden!
Is this a Speke’s Hinged Tortoise?? He was up high in the mountains! We did not see alot of game, but saw plenty of signs, and heard Elephant, below is a place they come to dig for salt, you can see their tusk marks in the holes, and wallow in the mud.. plenty of Buffalo, bushbuck, many tracks of small cats, mongooses and Hyenas.. 
The Milgis Trust is working hard to keep the area that we cover, nearly 6000 square kms, from The Matthews Range, Ndotos and up to Mt Nyiru and all the areas surrounding these mountains, safe from destruction, and to keep the wildlife safe, and we employ 25 local scouts from the the Samburu tribe, they all have radios and GPS and record and report to base, any people destroying, or burning the forests, or trees or poaching of wildlife… We do not arrest and march the people off we call meetings, and we talk, we call it gentle conservation… We have gained great respect, through out this vast area, and I can see myself that we are winning as we have been doing Camel/walking safaris for 25 years, through this entire area, and I see a very big difference…
Please everyone can we ask you to support our ‘gentle conservation’ in the Northern Frontier of Kenya, to keep this VERY SPECIAL part of the world from being destroyed…
This is one of the Scouts meticulously [ he never went to school ] writing out his findings after a days walking through these special mountains
His name is Lesongo, [Buffalo.. his identification] he worked for KWS for many years, and joined us when he was retired.. The community chose him as their scout for the area, he is highly respected, by every one, and is very serious about his work…































Dec 22nd Anna M USD 115.00