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Kenya
Visa
Requirements, Things To Do, When
To Go Masai mara,
What To Wear, mombasa, Lamu, Masai
Mara safari, Amboseli, Balloon Safaris, Mount
kenya Climbing, Mara Wildlife mara Climate weather |
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Kenya
wildlife
Once the country's wildlife could be found everywhere from monkeys in
the backyard to leopards on the neighbours farm, today however much of
Kenya;s wildlife is found within its parks.
On an arranged safari a visitor should have little difficulty in
recording between 30 and 40 species of mammals and at least 150 bird
species. From the reptile family he is certain to see crocodile and
quite a few lizards large and small but he will have to search hard to
find a snake although there are 169 recorded venomous snakes in East
Africa!
Much of the land in game reserves is savannah; rich pasture shaded with
trees and it is here that the antelope herds are mainly found. A
remarkable harmony where several species can graze the same land, each
eating different grasses and herbs and no one species so numerous as to
interfere with the domain of others. Antelopes come large and small;
the largest - the eland - weighs in at around 600 kg, a hundred times
the weight of the dainty dikdik. Wildebeest, among the most numerous of
antelopes, share their grazing with zebra and are naturally gregarious
but the smaller antelopes such as the suni, oribi and duiker are rarely
found in any numbers; indeed they are almost always solitary or in
pairs. These are the antelopes which inhabit patches of thick cover
found in the savannah and some of them, like the duiker, have evolved
with shorter forelimbs thereby making the dive for cover easier.
'Duiker' means diver in Afrikaans.
Where there are antelopes there are also carnivores - lion, leopard,
cheetah, wild dog, and hyena, the latter as much a hunter in his own
right as the more familiar tag of a scavenger. Lion and leopard are
rarely found making a kill in daylight. Not so the cheetah, who needs
to be able to see to use his principal weapon, speed. Visitors will see
a range of the smaller carnivores - serval cat, genet and jackal are
examples. Jackals are also predators particularly the beautiful
golden-backed (or oriental) species which, again contrary to popular
concept, rarely scavenges. Even the most common jackal, the
black-backed, finds only one third of its food from scavenging. But of
the predators the average visitors first seeks out the lion. He is
unlikely to be disappointed for they are quite common in most of the
parks and reserves but nowhere more numerous nor more splendid than in
the Masai Mara. Lions spend a good deal of the day sleeping or dozing
becoming alert in the early evening especially when the need to feed
exists. Lions are remarkably catholic in their tastes. On the whole
they kill antelope and zebra, but warthog, baboon, ostrich and jackals
are all killed and eaten. A lion eats around 20-25 kg at a meal,
sometimes more.
Elephant range across a wide spectrum of habitats from the hot
coastlands to the cold moorlands of the Aberdares and Mount Kenya at
3600m. Very few other animals have this range. Elephants are found in
most of the parks, herds of 100 or more can be found in Meru, Amboseli
and sometimes in Samburu. Despite their great size elephants are
remarkably pacific when left to their own devices. The need to maintain
its vast bulk (some 150-200 kg of forage a day) keeps an elephant on
the move and constantly active - even at night the incessant search for
food continues. It is this restlessness which makes elephant watching
so rewarding.
The wanton destruction of the rhino, throughout the whole of Africa,
has severely reduced the rhino population, to the point where it has
become necessary to relocate most of the remaining few into safe
sanctuaries. Nairobi National Park, Lake Nakuru National Park and Tsavo
all now hold many rhino although in the Mara and in the forests of the
Aberdares and Mount Kenya it is still possible to find rhino which have
not been translocated. Few visitors leave Kenya without sight of these
shambling, unpredictable monsters. The best time to see them is in the
early morning for in the heat of the day they return to thick bush as
their heat absorption capacity is poor.
Giraffe, too, roam the savannah with little competition for the tender
leaves of the acacia trees which are their principal food. The
reticulated species, found north of the equator, must be one of Kenya's
most striking animals. The lakes, swamps, rivers and riverine forest
support their own specialised wildlife.
Hippo, of course, irritable and cantankerous, share their habitat with
the little loved crocodile. The largest concentration of crocodile,
anywhere, is to be found in Lake Turkana - and at Sibiloi Park the
numbers are especially great with as many as 50-60 crocodiles per
kilometre of beach. Crocodile feed mostly on fish of which our rivers
and lakes hold a considerable variety; the nile perch found in Lakes
Victoria and Turkana is a notable species reaching enormous proportions
- 50 kg specimens are quite common.
The cape (or African) buffalo, judged by most hunters to be the most
dangerous of big game, inhabits grassland where there is preferably
thick cover and swamp in which to lie up, but like the elephant it is
also adapted to life in dense and cold forest. Yet ferocity is clearly
not the mark of buffalo in groups. Their herds, which can be numbered
in many hundreds, are quite timid. This is not the place to describe
the wealth of wildlife in any detail. Suffice to glimpse this great
pageant in anticipation of a visit. The chart opposite gives an
indication of which parks and reserves contain which species but on the
other hand can give no indication of the abundance or otherwise. A
glance will show that the major parks (Tsavo, Amboseli, Masai Mara,
Samburu and Meru) all feature not less than 50 species but there are
other areas, such as Maralal and the Tana River Primate Reserve where
there are as many species but less abundance.
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Walking safaris are a great way to experience and get close to the
wildlife.
 
Amboseli National park is a great place to watch birds .
Mount Kenya National park has pristine wilderness, lakes, tarns,
glaciers and peaks of great beauty, geological variety, forest, mineral
springs, rare and endangered species of animals, High altitude adapted
plains game, Unique montane and alpine vegetation with 11 species of
endemic plants.
Some of Kenya's finest attractions lie at the Mount
Kenya Safari Club's doorstep.
At Elsa
Kopje you can enjoy game drives in open 4x4 vehicles and
nature walks accompanied by knowledgeable driver-guides, fishing, night
drives and rafting on the Tana River. In between safari activities you
can enjoy the additional activities such as taking a dip in the pool,
unwinding with a massage or browsing the library and on-site gift shop.
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