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A Born Free pilgrimage of sorts
Sam writes... the final stage of our work with Born Free Kenya was by way of a pilgrimage. The Born Free Foundation draw their inspiration from the work of George and Joy Adamson and their care of Elsa the lioness and other animals. Both George and Joy are now gone, both murdered, and they are buried in the soil of their beloved Kenya alongside Elsa. We'd hoped to get to Kora, in the north, where George's last years had been spent with his dear lions, but a war between Somali tribesmen and KWS teams made that impossible.  

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Instead we headed back to Nairobi via Elsamere at Lake Naivasha, the house where Joy had lived when George was in the bush and where she worked with Pippa the cheetah and Penny the leopard.
 


I think we crossed the Equator three times that day.
 


The Great Rift Valley, a geological fault line stretching from Israel to Mozambique. 
 

George was too much of a wilderness lover to spend much time there, though he had a small house near the main building. Today Elsamere is a museum to George and Joy and their work, maintained by the UK-based Elsa Wild Animal Trust. It is also a field study centre where British and Kenyan children learn the value of conservation. Lake Naivasha, once an idyllic spot, is now ruined by intensive horticulture, but Elsamere was, and is, an oasis of calm and natural beauty.


Equator again!
 


I will never get used to the lovely scenery of East Africa
 

The staff at Elsamere were very welcoming and very helpful, and didn't bat an eyelid when we rolled up, travel-stained and tired from our long days on Mt Kenya. We'd originally meant to camp at Fisherman's Camp on Lake Naivasha but Elsamere has a small number of guest bungalows and it didn't take much persuasion for us to stay there. George Adamson has always been a big hero of mine, and to stay at Elsamere I found a very moving experience, amidst his books, photographs and bush kit, and surrounded by Joy's paintings.


One for the Landy fans back home - Super Britanic evidently make Land Rover spares!
 

Every breakdown truck seems to be an old Series III. I chatted to Peter, the owner of this one, who grinned and said that as long as you stick with Genuine Parts, these old trucks never die.


 Sunset at Elsamere, a view that Joy Adamson loved. Lake Naivasha is the only freshwater Rift Valley Lake... today it is being killed by unrestricted use of pesticides.


George Adamson was a great fan of Land Rovers. This is "The Nightingale", the wagon in which he was murdered in 1989 by Somali poachers whilst going to the aid of a volunteer helper at Kora. The bullet holes from the Kalashnikov fire have been patched, she is taxed and ready, waiting for George to take her to the bush again.

 

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