Nairobi National Park

By Will Knocker:

“And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these……..”

So says the Good Book & this year’s rains in Nairobi National Park has brought out the wild flowers in all their glorious profusion:

Wild harebells:Cyphia glandulifera…..

Pentanesia ouranogune

Ipomoea jaegeri

Hypoxis obtusa

The glorious, scented Gladiolus candidus….

The ubiquitous Heliotropum, one of the commonest wildflower geni in Kenya:

The word “heliotropium” is the Latin name for an ancient plant which had
the unique habit of turning to face the sun at all times. The plant’s name is
derived from two Greek words: helio, meaning “sun,” and tropos, meaning “turn.”

Pentas parvifolia

One for you Flower Fundis out there…..

Come on, readers….what have we got here?

Below, Commelina reptans….

Commelinia ecklonia ssp. nairobiensis

Bauhinia sp..

The aptly named Gloriosa superba…

By Will Knocker:

Malachite kingfisher…

A mating bull hippo: don’t you love the look on his face? (The cow is completely submerged!)

Male waterbuck…

Recently it has been very dry in the Park…

“Don’t mess with me,buddy!”

Elegant strider of the plains…the Secretary Bird. There are several breeding pairs in NNP…

Assemblage of waterfowl at Empakasi dam…

Bohor reedbuck..

Downtown Nairobi…..how lucky is this city?

By Will Knocker:

In the current dry spell, bustards are more visible as the long grass dissipates.

NNP is a haven for at least 4 sp. of bustard (see Bustards category on the menu on the left for more stories.)

This is a male White-bellied bustard..

And the female (White-bellied)….the loud braying ventriloquial calls of this sp. are a typical sound of the plains.

Cryptic in her colouring & blending perfectly into her grassland habitat…

A  male Black-bellied bustard…

????

By Will Knocker (Photos by Gareth Jones):

A dikdik (this is Kirk’s as different to Guenther’s which inhabits the arid North of Kenya) in the Park: an unusual sight although they are common in the abutting Silole Sanctuary area…..

Gareth, was this pic taken in Silole, or the Park? In game counts, Suni (see below) are often described as ‘dikdik’….

The Suni, below (from ‘esuuni’: a small antelope in Maa) is a dwarf antelope inhabiting forest areas: it is a completely different animal to the dikdik, which likes semi-arid localities….

Do let me know of your sightings of these 2 species of small buck & has anyone seen a Red Forest duiker (reportedly present in Langata forest), Steinbuck or Oribi recently? The Park is a haven of course for so many species of antelope….

By Will Knocker:

I was woken up by this Variable Sunbird (male of course) fighting with himself in my bedroom window…..

And at Main Gate, my guest Jess & I got caught up in the early morning circus: 2 male lions rubbing themselves in a buffalo pat!

The 2 males: looking thin: c’mon guys, you are supposed to be Super Predators & the Park is full of Prey!

A Blacksmith plover….

Kanga……Guinea-fowl have done well this year, with many grown chicks evident….

Chandler’s Mountain reedbuck in the Sosian valley….

A Yellowneck spurfowl with a runny beak….

And 2 African spoonbills………spoooning…….

Athi Dam megacroc getting some dirty looks…..

Lone bushbuck……(called Abu Naba in Arabic…any Arabic speakers out there?)

As Jess said “wall-to-wall” zebras in the Athi Basin, where wildlike is concentrated at present….

Upupa epops, the African hoopoe…what a lovely bird!

And to end a splendid day in the incomparable NNP: a monitor lizard at Nangolomon Dam (it should be Narok Omom): “Black Head” in Maa, referring to the Langata forest…..

By Will Knocker:

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:

Throughout the plains of Southern Kenya, where Maasai ostrich such as these occur, courtship takes place from August, after the Long Rains, when health is at it’s peak.

Mating happens & by the end of September, egg incubation having been completed, the first chicks appear….

Sadly, nothing is as tastey to predators as an easily caught ostrich chick & mortality is very high….

The last survivor….

Sometimes, ostrich pairs team up with another, with masses of chicks. Others abandon their offspring altogether…

Whatever the case, this year has been very good for ostrich reproduction in Nairobi National Park & did you know that NNP holds (it is said) the densest population of wild ostrich in the world!

By Will Knocker:

Yesterday I found these two magnificent male lions not far from home….looking intently into the distance & roaring softly to themselves:they were agitated…..

Soon they trotted off through the grass…..

Where THIS male was awaiting them….

And his young buddy (Micheal Mbithi please ID)…….

Males mark territory……

And wait for the Opposition….

The cause of the Rumpus: a female on heat….

But she is otherwise engaged….

With the Current Lion king (dig the mohawk!)

By Will Knocker:

The Grey Crowned Crane is one of Africa’s iconic birds…

In NNP, we are lucky to have many of these fabulous birds..

Each wetland -& there are may dams, swamps & seasonal pans in the park, is a potential breeding spot for a pair of cranes….

This is a gravel-pit dug by KWS as part of road maintenance in the park, now part of NNP’s many & varied habitats….

In these days when so many fabulous forms of life are endangered because they have NOWHERE TO LIVE, NNP remains an oasis……..

In the wet season, cranes pair up, but in the dry they can be found in quite large flocks on the plains…..

A young bird: this years exceptionally good rains has meant that many pairs of cranes have raised 2 chicks each!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Crowned_Crane