Nairobi National Park

By Will Knocker:

Early morning impala…

White (or Grass) rhinos are doing well in the Park: they were introduced from Nakuru NP

Native Black (or Browse) rhinos in their element…

There are 40+ lions in NNP, amongst which are at least 6 adult males, all of them brothers…

Could this be a Green-winged Pytilia?

Four Black-backed jackals on the remains of a lion-kill in the Athi Basin…

Spot the difference between a Tommy & Grantis…..

There have never been so many bufffaloes in the ParK; helping to naturally manage the grasslands….

The Park is a veritable ocean of long grass interspersed with wild flowers: absolutely beautiful…..

Story & pics by WILL KNOCKER:

On wednesday this week, Ed & Jeremy Hildebrand & I spent all day in the Park in superb weather & saw the best that the constantly surprising NNP has to offer….. first, these rhinos, note the bull on the right marking his territory with a horizontal blast of pee…

Early morning along the Empakasi was like a Vision of Eden…..

Then we came across this nursey herd of eland (calves suckle from any lactating female they find, an adaption to the nomadic way of life of these antelopes, who are constantly on the move.) NNP contains one of the most significant herds of eland in Kenya & the population is rising…

We definitely had a rhino day: we saw several unusual herds of Black (Browse) rhinos at close quarters….

We stopped for coffee at the Athi Dam, where zebra were watering & this kongoni posed for us. The kongoni population in NNP is exploding, bucking the trend in the rest of Kenya, where this sp. is in steep decline..

A spiral of large raptors brought us to this dramatic site: a kill…..

Ant the perpetrator, a stuffed lioness….

A pair of jackals tried to drive off the estimated 80 vultures gathered for the feast: an eland….but were ignored…..

But all soon moved off at the ‘owner’ returned to protect her kill….

There was masses of ’plains game’ in the Athi Basin & on the top plains, where we found these zebra twins….

The Rains have not been good so far & so most biomass is in the park owing to overgrazing in the rangelands where they usually go at this time of year. The return of both Gran’ts & Thomson’s gazelles to the Park after many years of a ‘long grass’ regime is heartening. But where are the cheetah?

Ostriches under a big blue sky….

Proved to be a group with an adolescent chick: the last survivor (there is very heavy mortality amongst young ostriches…)

Then clever Ed spotted no less than six Black backed jackals: a pair of adults & four grown up cubs: great news for these little canids, which are not common in NNP…..

A bull Grass (White) rhino…..was this the individual translocated from the Mara after all his companions were killed?

As usual the Park was A1 for birds……this is a Superb starling, though we also saw the aptly named Hildebrandt’s……

And yet another bull rhino……

This was all BEFORE lunch, when we returned to Silole Cottage, where these piggies were enjoying a cooling wallow.

In the afternoon, yet more (Browse) rhinos…..

And in the Langata forest, Jeremy spotted this pair of magnificent Bateleurs, the only pair in the Park!!

And on our way home, in the distance, a new baby rhino…we couldn’t make out which type….

What a day! What a Park!

By Will Knocker:

Nairobi Park is undoubtedly one of the best places to see the Eastern Black rhinoceros & last weekend was no exception….

There are nearly six hundred of these super large megaherbivores, most of them in specially protected sanctuaries such as NNP

KWS have made increased efforts to keep up surveillance & patrols in the Park to safeguard these iconic animals, priceless to the Tourism Industry. Keep up the great work you do on behalf of our rhinos!

Mostly noctournal & difficult to find, Browse rhinos live in well-defined territories defined by the bulls, seen here pissing horizontally to mark his territory….

On the alert: these animals have to be, unable to live in areas where there are people. This is what makes Kenya’s Protected Areas so vitally important for these animals & many other species & especially large mammals….

For rhino afficianados in Nairobi, you can come out looking for these magnificent animals with me, see http://www.silolesanctuary.com/guidedtour.html  for details

The sadness is that these incredible forms of Life have few areas where they can ‘BE’ rhinos & get on with life undisturbed by people, many of whom want to kill them……

By Will Knocker:

A Black rhino bull browses in Nairobi National Park yesterday at dusk. Blacks, or more accurately Browse rhinos are often most active at night…..

These are our indigenous East African Blacks (Diceros bicornis michealii) of which about 700 remain on the planet, mostly here in Kenya…..

And one of the ‘best’ & safest Sanctuaries has been Nairobi National Park, where the scattered remnants of the rhino population, decimated to less than five hundred in the Seventies, were able to find peace & security…

Since then the population increase enabled many rhinos to be translocated elsewhere, to newer sanctuaries, with varying success….

With the current poaching onslaught (horn is now one of the most valuable commodities on earth thanks to human greed & ignorance) NNP remains the vital core of Kenya’s efforts to conserve these magnificent pachyderms….

In the nineteenth century, there were hundreds of thousands of rhinos in Kenya. Let us ensure that rhinos have the space to be themselves: huge, powerful mega-herbivores, wonderful, inspriring life-forms……

Rhino cow & calf from my sitting room window at www.silolesanctuary.com where you might see them on foot if you are unlucky……

Yet another reason to celebrate our magnificent Nairobi National Park!

“Buzz Off Junior!”

WTF???

Thank Goodness That’s Over!

‘I’m Off!”

IMAGES BY WILL KNOCKER

The Rains this year have been ok, if not dramatically good…….

The waterfall on the Mokoyeti River….

Water gets the cycle of life going at a goodly rate: fungus breaking down black rhino dung…..

An unlikely Wet Season Club at Hyena Dam…

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The Spotted Thick Knees are breeding……

Grantis in the Mood…..

But some of the dams still need water…..

I flew over the ‘Dispersal Area’ today….it looks more like a suburb of Nairobi than a wildlife area….

By Will Knocker:

Yesterday was a super rhino day in NNP: this was the view from my breakfast room in the Silole Sanctuary on the edge of the Park.

Behind the giraffe ‘gardeners’: 4 browse rhinos on the ridge (Somali Ridge) behind…..

Then I found this lone bull a kilometer or so away……

And then this cow on the edge of the Sosian Valley….

And her calf…….

Truly awesome animals, threatened by human ignorance & greed.

4 browse rhinos in the Athi Basin…..

And 2 more on the hill above….

3 pairs of cows & their large calves, I think………

By WILL KNOCKER (who has a new camera):

In NNP we’ve had 100 mm (4 inches) of rain in the last couple of weeks & the Park is looking beautiful…….as usual, at the first sign of rain the grazers head straight out of the park…..

Below, landscape & sky…..

The  last ‘corridor’ remaining out of the Park is in the east of the Park in the glorious Athi Basin, where wildlife is now concentrated. (I shall post on the crossing shortly.)

My favourites-eland (which means moose in Dutch!!) with abundant young.

Zebra, kongoni & eland, as well as the gazelle sp. drop their young beginning December….

There are plenty of giraffe in NNP- 68 in the February count -definitely a MINIMUM number…

???

A solitary gnu in the park, Athi Basin in the background…

And gnu calves & cows on the Sheep & Goat land just outside (but contiguous with) the park. Notice what is behind -to the south -the daily expanding township of Kitengela…..

Buffalo at the Athi Dam, (247 counted in Feb Game Count.) I’m sure there are many more than this……

An Athi River mammal eater with his friends (White faced whistling duck)

NNP surely remains one of the best places in the wild to view Browse rhinos: here are 6 of them in the Athi Basin.

By WILL KNOCKER

Nairobi National Park is one of best places to see  “black’ or Browse rhinos (East African species michealii) ; here is one of them……