Lake Naivasha with Simon

After a few days camping in cold, misty mountains of central Kenya we found ourselves next to one of the largest lakes in Kenya, Lake Naivasha. This is where we found our friend Simon, who has been working with birds of prey here in Africa for longer than I can remember. Growing up in Kenya clearly gives you a way with the wild which can be seen quickly once meeting Simon for the first time. Some people fly falcons...which is think is pretty cool, Simon flies eagles, of the African variety.

Imagine my surprise when Simon asked if I wanted to fly one of the tawny eagles. I had seen falconry shows before where someone wears the glove and has a lure to draw the falcon back...but this bird is a lot bigger than a falcon. I have to admit when she was flying right at me I cringed back a bit. Maybe sensing this she hit my hand holding the food and kept flying the first time. The second time she and I had a much better connection. And you can see how ecstatic I was!

The area surrounding his place is very green and filled with animals that are not fenced in. Hippos come and mow people lawn during the night. Zebras, wildebeest, impala, and waterbuck can all be seen from the backyard. And fishing eagles call from all angles around the lake.

The fishing eagle looks alot like our bald eagle back in the states. It stands out clearly on the green trees surrounding the lake waiting to swoop in and snatch a fish with its huge talons. Simon and his partner are catching the fish eagles and taking blood samples to check for accumulation of pesticides from all of the nearby flower greenhouses.

We went out with Simon one morning in a motor boat built like the pangas in Mexico, long and slender. We motored on the calm lake up to other boats that were fishing, trying to get some fresh fish to bait the birds out of their trees. We finally found one the right size and headed off, weaving away from surfacing hippos who could tip the boat no problem, until we spotted a pair of eagles in the trees nearby. Simon tied an array of slip knot loops thru the fish and finished off by tieing the fish off to a floating piece of wood. The hope being that the fish eagle would swoop in, talon the fish, and in the process get caught up in the loops.

The first eagle dove in soon after putting out the bait and bam! hit the fish and got caught in the loops so he couldn't fly off. We motored over to him and gingerly lifted him out of the water being very careful of his talons. They were clean through the fish as you can see in one of the pictures. Simon said imagine that being you hand or wrist! It definitely gave me a new respect for birds of prey. We took some blood samples, weighed, and measured the eagle before releasing him back to the air.

We tried several more fish eagles before catching another. After another successful catch and release we headed back. It was an amazing morning that we could have never had without the help of Simon. It was very impressive and such a wild experience. Now we are on our way to Uganda. First stop, the source of the Nile, Lake Victoria. And what better way to experience the Nile than to white water raft it! I am looking at a picture here at the rafting place of the raftpitchpoling (head over heels) thru a rapid. Hell yeah.