In the Langata Forest, in the west of the Park, live very difficult to see dwarf antelope, called suni, which most observers think are dikdik.Now I have never seen a dikdik in the Park, but only in the Silole Sanctuary, where there is no forest & no sunis.
A curious phenomenon is that the Park baboons seem to hunt (or find?) suni, which the males at any rate, seem to obviously enjoy eating. I have twice seen an adult baboon withe remains of a suni, most recently yesterday, where a large male could be seen consuming parts of the tiny antelope with evident relish. No surprise that baboons eat meat, being, like humans, quintessential omnivores. What is more surprising is to see the symbiotic association of bushbuck with troops of foraging baboons, surely a case of dangerous company in the light of their carnivorous proclivities?
Friday, September 12, 2008
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Cheetah Conundrum
Nairobi National Park is in great shape at the moment:it has always been a "dry-season" habitat, where the migratory species of ungulates (zebra,eland,gnu & kongoni) came when there was no grazing or, in the past, water, out in the dispersal area of the Athi-Kapiti plains. Of course everything has changed. Water is much more available as dams etc. have been dug out in the Maasai rangelands & the dispersal area in an increasingly humanised landscape unsuitable for free-ranging ungulates. Thus the drop in wildebeeste numbers from thousands in the past to just 150 in & around the park today.....
Nevertheless there are plenty of pluses in the present: all the 'introduced' species which make the park so interesting even when the migrant are 'out' -black rhino & buffalo, as well as the rapidly increasing giraffe population (which have much less roaming space than they used to...) are flourishing.
The controlled (& uncontrolled) burns by KWS in the Park last Xmas was the best thing to have happened to the Park in ages & as it is so dry, most of the biomass in the ecosystem has been in the park for most of the year, including the Grants & Thompsons gazelles which used to be such a feature of the Park but which moved out to the overgrazed rangeland in the dispersal area as the park became increasingly dominated by rank grassland & thicket in the abscence of the annual gnu migration (or managed burning).
The end result of all this has meant no food for CHEETAHS & for all of this year we have had just one male cheetah resident in the Park. We saw him last sunday, but this last tuesday, taking the children to school in the city, we saw another single cheetah. It is most likely to be the single male again, but the children,with the keen observation of childhood & with the training of many years gamespotting in the Park, said that it was a different individual; paler....
Let us hope it IS a different cheetah: a female & that with the new & better conditions for cheetah in the Park, we may have a return of these stunning creatures to the Nairobi Park....
Nevertheless there are plenty of pluses in the present: all the 'introduced' species which make the park so interesting even when the migrant are 'out' -black rhino & buffalo, as well as the rapidly increasing giraffe population (which have much less roaming space than they used to...) are flourishing.
The controlled (& uncontrolled) burns by KWS in the Park last Xmas was the best thing to have happened to the Park in ages & as it is so dry, most of the biomass in the ecosystem has been in the park for most of the year, including the Grants & Thompsons gazelles which used to be such a feature of the Park but which moved out to the overgrazed rangeland in the dispersal area as the park became increasingly dominated by rank grassland & thicket in the abscence of the annual gnu migration (or managed burning).
The end result of all this has meant no food for CHEETAHS & for all of this year we have had just one male cheetah resident in the Park. We saw him last sunday, but this last tuesday, taking the children to school in the city, we saw another single cheetah. It is most likely to be the single male again, but the children,with the keen observation of childhood & with the training of many years gamespotting in the Park, said that it was a different individual; paler....
Let us hope it IS a different cheetah: a female & that with the new & better conditions for cheetah in the Park, we may have a return of these stunning creatures to the Nairobi Park....
Thursday, September 4, 2008
WELCOME TO SILOLE SANCTUARY
September is traditionally a cold,dry month & today is no exception. This morning was crystal clear (& chilly!) & I could clearly see the jagged peak of Mount Kenya to the north-east & the Aberdare mountain Kinangop behind the dawn outline of the city due north of the Sanctuary.
The morning was spent with KWS taking tour operators on a tour of the park, which is full of game, with columns of zebra moving up from the dryness of the Athi Plains up to the top plains, where the dams are drying up in the ongoing dry season......
In the top plains, where the Sanctuary is situated, we had an inch (26mm) of rain on Tuesday, so there is a flush of green.
Welcome to this page, which will give you up to date information on what is happening in the Silole Sanctuary www.silolesanctuary.com
The morning was spent with KWS taking tour operators on a tour of the park, which is full of game, with columns of zebra moving up from the dryness of the Athi Plains up to the top plains, where the dams are drying up in the ongoing dry season......
In the top plains, where the Sanctuary is situated, we had an inch (26mm) of rain on Tuesday, so there is a flush of green.
Welcome to this page, which will give you up to date information on what is happening in the Silole Sanctuary www.silolesanctuary.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)