24th February 2008 : There are squirrels in our tractor, what are we gonna do?
Sunday, February 24, 2008 at 08:58PM It’s not often you open up your tractor and find a maternity wing inside…but then again, Tsavo is always full of surprises.
The other day we had our great friend Nick staying (who was also Best Man at our wedding), when he and Ian decided to take the tractor for a spin - so to speak, for the tractor is a cumbersome beast. When they returned, they wanted to give the tractor a once-over, and opened up the air filter to clean it out. What they found inside took them aback, for never before has the air filter been so clogged up with debris…They started to pull out an intertwined, dried mass of vegetation when they suddenly realized that there was something inside it…and on closer inspection, right in the middle of the grassy, woody bundle, they found two tiny baby Tree Squirrels, just a day or two old, if that.
How on earth they had survived the drive, I don’t know, but they were both still breathing…
Click any image to enlarge
So what to do now? Should we take them inside, nurse them with milk from a syringe, and raise them to adulthood? Should we replace them in the tractor, and hope that the mother would return despite all the disruption – in other words, let nature take its course?
When you live amongst wild animals, you learn that though these decisions can sometimes be tough, letting nature take its course is usually the best option; so Ian and Nick wrapped the diminutive squirrels back up in their nest, and replaced them inside the tractor, hoping for the best.
Replacing the nest in the tractor
Click any image to enlarge
In this case, there was a happy ending to the story, for the next morning when we returned to check on the babies, the nest was empty. Being hidden inside the tractor’s air filter, with such a narrow convoluted entrance, this could only mean that the mother squirrel (as opposed to a predator) had returned and moved her offspring to somewhere quieter and safer, and we were happy to know that. After surviving a drive around Kulafumbi stuck inside our tractor’s air filter, those little mites certainly deserved a second chance at life.
I guess we now know where this nesting material was headed!
View more images of Squirrels and other 'small fry' around our Kulafumbi home...
Reader Comments (27)
I was so afraid that this blog entry would have a gruesome ending. What a relief that the mother must have taken the little ones to a safer place!
Tanya:
Thanks for visiting my blog. I have been remiss as well. What a cute tale of the squirrels.And what great shots of the hornets nest!
I also see many award things for your blog. Congratulations and well deserved!
Kinsey & Koty
That story is too cute. A sad ending would have ruined my day. It's amazing the incredible activity that goes on around us in the animal kingdom that we are unaware of. Thanks for visiting my blog.
I know - all too often these stories end in a tragedy - nature can be so harsh - nice to report a happy ending for a change!
Thanks to you all for stopping by and taking the time to comment... :)
That's an awesome story. I've seen squirrels in a park in London and they are the cuttest little animals.
Yes, Manictastic, they're very cute...
We get two types of squirrel here: the Unstriped Ground Squirrel and the smaller Tree Squirrel (which these little fellows are.) Tree squirrels like to shred your carpets, towels and blankets and they also chew through anything and everything in the kitchen - it's amazing what you can get away with when you look that cute!
Hi Tanya -
I've only just found your blog (I think through that ExPat Women site?) but you're already bookmarked. Kenya is such a spectacular place and reading about it keeps me going :) Counting down the weeks 'til I'm back.
Congratulations on your recent wedding...
Hi Imogen - Thanks for dropping by...sounds like you're a bit of a "Kenya nut" too...nice to see you here...do you live here or just visit regularly? I read on your blog that your parents are here, but got the impression you live elsewhere at the moment?
Hey there from a South African now based in the US. I've been looking for blogs from Africa, but unfortunately they are few and far between. I am looking forward to reading your blog and reading about all your adventures!!
Welcome, Owlman - it's nice to see you here... :)
Hi Tanya, and Ian, I'm sitting at Java house with your dad, discussing our website www.Wildlifedirect.org which I'd really like you guys to join to raise funds for the African Environmental Film foundation because we want to raise funds for and have access to those films for our projects across Africa. Message from Simon "Please bring Wanted Dead or Alive multi language DVD" ...that's for me. Congratulations on a great blog and I hope your readers find Wildlifedirect through this too. Hugs, Paula xxx
Hi Tanya - My parents are out there and I went to school there... so Kenya is kind of "home". I'm based in London at the moment, working. Sadly, I don't think I'll ever come back out to Kenya full time - there just aren't any jobs and I have the feeling that eventually, I might miss the English countryside. I can't win!
Paula - great to hear from you! Did you see that I had already included a link to Wildlife Direct on my links page here? http://www.wildernessdiary.com/links - what a great place to catch up on wildlife news - you're doing a great job over there...and of course, we'd love to get involved...and we are keen, keen, keen to send out our films to as many of your projects as possible. So, we'll have to talk!
This blog by the way is really my private undertaking, although it does send a lot of traffic over to the Film Foundation site too - where I run another blog about specific Film Foundation news - just click on Latest news from the main page: http://www.aeffonline.org
See you soon....Take care, Tanya
Hi again Imogen - I went to the Banda School - where did you go?
Great story. We had a tree in our garden that needed to be cut down because it was in danger of falling on our roof. I fought a tough battle to only cut the limbs that were really a problem. Thank goodness because a couple of days later, four little baby squirrels popped their heads out of a hole in the tree. We didn't know they were in there. It's been so much fun watching them grow up.
Hi Sandpiper - that's a nice tale too...I'm glad the four little baby squirrels were saved and that they are still doing OK!
Hello Tanya- I followed your link on Owlman's blog. I started reading here and couldn't stop! This is one of the most attractive and interesting blogs I've come across in a long time. I'll be a regular reader.
Welcome, Lynne - it's nice to see you here - and thanks for the compliments!
I'm so happy the squirrels were OK! Great post.
Love your blog! The blogworld is full of birding blogs, esp in the USA, so it's really nice to read about the rest of the natural world. I also appreciate your posting stories rather than just lists of what you saw today. I'd love to share a campfire with you and yours some evening. I have some stories to tell, too.
Do me a favor. Change the name of your RSS feed from "Journal" to "Kulafumbi." That way I will see the "real" blog name when I look at my list of blog feeds over my morning bagel and omlette. Thanks.
Buford
WOW! Fantastic, breathtaking blog!!! I've been hoping someone in East Africa would arrive with a blog like yours. The wait is over! Glad you made it. I am a definite Kenyafile since birth -- but have only been twice: once on a tourist safari and another as a conservation volunteer for Earthwatch in Naivasha and again in Laikipia. Speaking of African film makers; for my tour of duty with Earthwatch we lived with the KWS and based ourselves on the lake out of filmmakers Joan Root's home -- what an incredible lady she was. Her fight for Naivasha was a noble one - and I was greatly saddened to learn shortly after that she was eventually killed because of it. I had no idea at the time this shy and slight woman was famous. Her home and land was a magical menagerie of free-roaming wildlife that used to enchant us in those early morning hours before we would launch our little boats from her papyrus laden banks. Of course "Out of Africa" has long been a favorite film and again since a boy was already familiar with all those old European characters. It was strange to eventually end up working on both Lord Delamere's and Barlkley Cole's family land. Thanks for a such a vivid and colorful blog with which to return to my East African days.
Thanks for all the nice comments and compliments...it's great to see you all here, and to share some of the beauty of this country's wildlife and wild places with you.
You're right, Timothy: Joan Root was an amazing lady - completely dedicated and yet so gentle. We used to spend time with her and her husband Alan at Naivasha when we were children, and they also used to come and spend time with us when they were filming in our "neck of the woods" - it was indeed a huge loss to conservation and to Kenya when we lost her.
I'm hoping to be back blogging in a few days' time - just a little busy for a few days but will be back with more stories and photos very soon...
Until then, take care all -
Tanya
Hey Tanya -
I was a Hillcrest girl myself but I know a lot of people from the Banda (since, as you probably know, pretty much everyone in Kenya knows someone who knows someone you know)
Hope all is well.
I love your Africa safari blog great pictures and clearly you've got a great diary. Thanks for sharing your pictures to.
Karibu and asante, Jerry...