The Animals of Lake Nakuru National Park

Lake Nakuru National Park is perhaps best known for its astonishing number of flamingos - at some point during the year there are millions of them on Lake Nakuru! These flamingos eat the abundant algae that grows in the warm waters of the alkaline lake. There are two species of flamingo that live here - the Lesser Flamingo and the Greater Flamingo. The Lesser Flamingos are the ones whose numbers are very large.

In addition to flamingos, there are many other species of bird that can be seen in the park, including pelicans, cormorants, and Maribou stork. In total, there are 400 species of birds living in the park! This makes it a great attraction for avid birdwatchers.

There are a number of mammals that can be seen during a game drive. These include baboons, who especially like to hang out near where humans are eating, and the large mammals, such as Cape buffalo (pictured), black and white rhinos, giraffes and zebras.

Black rhinos were introduced to Lake Nakuru National Park to protect them from poachers. They are a highly endangered species, and highly prized to poachers. There are only about 3,600 of these animals left in the world. Currently, there are 25 black rhinos living in the park. They are fenced in, but this is mainly to keep the poachers out, instead of the animals in.

Black rhinos are endangered due to poaching, because their horn is used in traditional Chinese medicine. Between 1970 and 1996, the number of black rhinos was drastically reduced, by almost 96%. Additionally, they face danger due to loss of habitat. The students on the field trip were lucky to get to see some of these highly endangered animals, although they were far away and therefore hard to photograph!

Sagam Primary's First Field Trip

This week, I was lucky to get to go with Sagam Primary on their first-ever field trip. I arrived in Sagam the night before from Kisumu, as I would have to be awake at 4:30 AM to be at the school by 5:00 AM! When I arrived at the school at 5:00 AM, the students and teachers were already there - they had spent the night at the school! The teachers said the students had had trouble sleeping they were so excited - they would quiet down for a few hours, and then the teachers would hear talking again. After everyone had breakfast at the school, we loaded on the bus and headed off on the trip!

There were 10 teachers, 58 Standard Eight students, and myself on the trip. We first drove to Eldoret on our way to the Great Rift Valley. Watching the students' excitement at seeing the airport in Eldoret, and a waterfall along the Rift Valley was great! After we passed through Eldoret, we went to Lake Bogoria. At Lake Bogoria, there are hot springs and geysers. The students were very excited to see the hot springs! They learn about these geologic features in their social studies classes as part of the geography curriculum, so it was exciting for them to get to see them for themselves. Standing near the hot springs, it really was very hot! One of the geysers reaches over 100 degrees Centigrade, just about the boiling point of water. The guide demonstrated how you can cook an egg in the springs - it takes less than 10 minutes.

After our tour at Lake Bogoria, we got back on the bus and headed to Nakuru National Park, where we spent the night. We stayed at a Kenya Wildlife Club hostel, the students in dormitories and the teachers in bandas (like a little house). We cooked dinner with produce we'd bought along the way - cabbage, ugali, and kuku (chicken) - in large metal pots heated with wood that some of the students collected. After dinner, we were all very tired and it was time for bed!

The next morning after a breakfast of chai (tea) and bread and butter, we headed back on the bus for a morning game drive in the national park. We stopped first at Lake Nakuru, where we got out of the bus to get a closer look at the flamingoes. Lake Nakuru is a great place for people who are interested in birdwatching - there were probably thousands of birds on the lake, including flamingoes, pelicans and some species of stork. After we looked at the lake, we headed out to find the animals. The "Big 5" are lions, leopards, rhinos, elephants and Cape buffalo. We found lots of Cape buffalo, and a surprising number of rhinos. Rhinos, especially the black rhino, are very endangered. The students were so excited to see the animals in person.

Then, we left Nakuru and headed back home. Everyone was exhausted, but we had a great trip with lots of good memories! As the Standard Eight students will be taking their exams in November to qualify for Secondary School, their experiences on this trip will help them to apply and really understand what they've learned in the classroom, and ultimately, to be successful in November, and for the rest of their lives!

Catie

Saying Goodbye is HARD!

When the time came to say goodbye, it was an emotional leave-taking for students, Sagam Primary teachers and Bowman staff! It felt a little bit like leaving family behind to get in the van that last day to go home. But now that Bowman teachers are home and have time to write about their experiences, stay tuned to hear some of the "small moment" stories from their trip.

Although teachers' time directly in Kenya was short, we look forward to weekly communication with our sister school as we work to share curricular units, on-going conversations, teaching experiences, and strategies for improving education and student success. Next week the "Standard 8 classes will be going on their field trip to Lake Nakuru and Kericho Tea Plantations thanks to the generousity of our fifth grade class. We look forward to Cate Oldenburg's photos and reporting of this first ever experience for these children!

Blog posts coming soon...
• Dr. Anton's final day in Sagam!
• Kate and the Bull
• The Pied Piper of Dunga (Miss Thompson)
• Teaching about Carbon Dioxide - science labs at Sagam Primary
• Sagam Primary students' first field trip

And a photo gallery -- images of Sagam Primary and the surrounding community!

Bowman Teachers' Final Day at Sagam Primary

On our teachers' final day at Sagam Primary, we were fortunate to be invited to participate in a regional "Education Day". This is a special day in which a number of schools from a local area get together to celebrate educational achievements. At the Education Day there are speeches, special performances, and awards for teachers recognizing teaching excellence. Education Days occur once a term. Schools are closed for the day so that all children may attend the special ceremonies. If the school that is hosting is near by, every child attends. As the school hosting was a long way away, only the "standard 8" students walked the long way to be present.

At Sagam Primary, as this was our Bowman Teachers' last day, all the students arrived at school on their day off at the regular time so that they would have a chance to "say goodbye" to Miss Thompson and Mrs. Glenn. Students brought an array of gifts to thank us for our time with them, including handmade brooms, hand drawn pictures and baskets. We brought them all home to share with Bowman.

Then it was off to Education Day. Traveling for half hour over bumpy roads, we finally entered the compound of the new school and found that we were once again honored guests. First we were introduced by Peter Onyango, Sagam Primary's head teacher, as members of his Sagam Primary staff, and then as Principal of Bowman, I was asked to say a few words about our partnership! And the entertainment began! The entertainment included recitation of poetry, both well-known and student-authored, and music and dancing.



Two Sagam Primary School teachers, Edwin Amollo and Gordon Omondy won awards for excellence in teaching for having the their students score the highest regionally in the most recent examinations. Having had the pleasure of watching these talented teachers teach, it is no wonder that many of our Sagam Primary students were doing well!

At the same time, it is striking how the numbers of girls attending school declines in the upper grades. School attendance for girls is often not as great a priority as it is for boys, and many families lack the funds and motivation to keep girls in school. One of the partnership challenges that both schools agree on is that we want to work together to see if we can come up with creative solutions to help girls stay in school!

And as our standard eight students (the final year at Sagam Primary) prepare for exams in November that will determine admission to secondary school, many of our Sagam Primary students who qualify, will be unable to attend due to lack of tuition. We will be looking to share the profiles of some of these students soon, in the hopes that they may inspire sponsorships. It costs $400.00 USD a year to go to a nearby secondary school. This is about the total yearly salary of a night watchman!