On the 11th of July, I was driving to camp from Samburu National Reserve when I noticed dark clouds form and surround us. I drove quickly to camp to consult with the guys to see what they thought. Joseph, camp manager and cook, said that if it rained it would come from the direction of the reserve and not Wamba. This reassured me slightly.
However, with time it became clear that it would rain soon as we were surrounded by black clouds. We made quick plans to remove all the things that would need to be protected. The mobile film unit equipment, food boxes, solar panel, battery, etc were packed quickly into Gypsy. We put on our rain jackets and waited as it thundered all around.
Prepared for rain
Rain on the way
The wind picked up and some of the chairs and solar panel boxes started flying away. We frantically ran around picking things up. We huddled together under the kitchen tarp, which was sagging under the weight of a growing puddle of rainwater. It then came pouring down and our little kitchen succumbed to the heavy rain. One of the dead tree branches that served as a wall got blown over, bringing down the tarp.
There was little we could do except sit and get soaked. We managed to cook some food and eat in the rain. At 9pm, we ran into our leaking tents and tried to get some sleep. It eventually stopped raining late at night.
We woke early the following day to assess the damage. The bathroom, loo and kitchen had collapsed from the weight of the water on the hessian material. Everything was soaking wet and our camp looked like a bush laundromat as we hung everything out to dry. My tent and Lekuraiyo’s were ok, however the other 2 tents were soaked. One of the food boxes had leaked and water had got into the ugali.
We’re rebuilding Echo Lima camp, but we could use your help and donations to improve camp to survive any more rain.
The rains were completely unexpected and unusual for this time of year (hence my camp wasn’t built to be waterproof). I can’t help but think this is a sign of global climate change.
The upside to this mess is that I saw the Kipsing River flow into the Ewaso Nyiro. It was beautiful. The brief shower brought relief to the dry parched landscape, with new growth and it was good to see the Ewaso Nyiro flow once again.
Pools of water on top of Ndonyo Nanyeke
Kipsing flowing into Ewaso Nyiro
