Nairobi National Park

By Will Knocker:

The NNP gnus calve in March & this year is no exception..

Usually they drop their calves in the Sheep & Goat land, but this year they have calved in the Park proper, perhaps owing to lack of grazing outside as a result of a very hot January/February..

There are only about one hundred & fifty wildebeest in NNP, so let’s hope it is now that figure + +

Once one of the most numerous herbivores in the ecosystem, wildebeest numbers are much reduced.

Let’s hope that trend  reverses with these new additions to the population..

By Will Knocker:

C. t. albojubatus (Eastern White-bearded Wildebeest), of which species the IUCN says: “ However, recent population estimates suggest that the future prospect of some subpopulations or subspecies is of some concern, particularly that of the Eastern White-bearded Wildebeest (which, it seems, may have undergone a precipitous decline in numbers).”

Hope for the future? A yearling (born March 2012)……

This species was once one of the most numerous herbivores wandering the vast high plains of the Athi Kapiti Ecosystem of which NNP is the last remaining pristine corner: it has been estimated that there were 100,000 at the beginning of the Twentieth century.

Now: ”Eastern White-bearded Wildebeest, 94,000 (with about two-thirds in and around protected areas)”, of which we in NNP have about one hundred & fifty individuals (144 counted in February game count).

‘Our’ gnus tend to live on the rapidly dwindling Sheep & Goat Land between the park & the ever-burgeoning New Town of Kitengela south of the Park, which is heavily grazed short-grass plain habitat. The question must be: will they move into the Park once this last stronghold goes the way of the rest of the ecosystem?

The majority of the gnus in the Athi Kapiti live south of the Athi-Namanga highway, which they cannot cross to get to the Park. These will find it difficult to survive in an increasingly humanised & truncated ecosystem .

Cows & yearlings in the Athi Basin yesterday…

Our last few Eastern White-bearded gnus, for whom the Nairobi National Park is their last refuge…..

For more info on on-going research: http://www.nrel.colostate.edu/projects/gnu/nnp.php

By Will Knocker:

After months of greenery & long grass, the Park has turned tawny & the migratory herds are back: eland do not go far: across the Empakasi into the Sheep & Goat land. This is one of Kenya’s significant populations..

The NNP kongoni (Coke’s hartebeest) population is a conundrum: it used to consist of 2 populations, resident & migratory. As the migratory population has been confined to the Park (the remaining dispersal area is short grass plain-unsuitable for this sp. which is adapted to long grass areas) the population has shot up, in spite of record numbers of lions, for whom kongoni are a favourite prey sp.  …

The Plains zebra are back! In a year of good rain such as this, our population of up to 4000 roam as far as they can in the remaining dispersal areas. However it seems that even these remarkably adaptive creatures, able to deal with the suburban conditions (fences, people, dogs) outside the park have had to overcome their fears about lions & have come back in small family groups & some bigger migratory mobs consisting of hundreds of animals…the lions will be happy!

Up until the turn of the century, such sights would have included thousands of wildebeeste, but alas the last few hundred like the short grass plain of the Sheep & Goat land & only venture into the park if pressed by drought conditions….

NNP remains the last pristine corner of the Athi Kapiti Ecosystem, now a truncated shadow of what it once was. It is so encouraging to see the herds of migratory species come back to the park safe & sound after the Rains…..

Photos & Story by Will Knocker:

The dispersal area is severely overgrazed by livestock, partly owing to rangeland loss to development.

The Last Wildebeest? The Athi-Kapiti Ecosystem, of which the Park & dispersal area are the northern park, was once one of the world’s richest grassland ecosystems: it is estimated to provide a home for 100,000 wildebeest. We counted 2 bulls out on the plains at Sholingei..

Looking east down the Kitengela river valley; a major ‘mlango’ for wilflife to move to Top Plains at Sholingei; this is a humanised landscape not suitable even for passage by large grazers.

Heliotrope flowers in bloom where grass no longer grows….

Roads gouged out of the good earth by the stone trucks serving the quarries that take up the river valleys in the dispersal area, ceaselessly removing tons of blocks of stone with which to build the city of Nairobi & particularly the fast growing dormitory towns of Ongata Rongai & Kitengela (in picture.)

“Community Land”? This is government land: the old livestock holding ground for Athi River. It is now used for grazing by local herders, but permanent settlements there (of which there are quite a few) are illegal. At least the herders stop the area from being built over by the fast-growing Kitengela township…….& pastoralism is of course very compatible with wildlife as far as land-use is concerned.

When the park lions venture onto the ‘Sheep & Goat Land’ as this essential bit of the dispersal area is called, it is a very different story: if they kill livestock, there is a major conflict of interest & they will be killed in retribution……

New (built last year) temporary (there is no one living there now) homestead designed to hold livestock to illegally graze in the park during dry spells.

Giraffe in the block of the Park across the Empakasi, adjacent to Sheep & Goat Land

The breeding herd of eland across the river: the instincts of this highly migratory species tell them to move out of the Park; but they have nowhere to go…….

If we do not take the Sheep & Goat land seriously, we might lose the last few gnu we have in NNP…..

The amazing Athi Basin, where all “the migrants” go to after rain…..thankfully, sp. such as kongoni now stay in the Park & their population is increasing by leaps & bounds: elsewhere in Africa, all hartebeest are in steep decline wherever there are cattle (with whom they compete) & therefore overgrazed rangelands, which is not hartebeest habitat…

The dispersal area across the river is vital to NNP & ESPECIALLY TO WILDEBEEST: this is where they live & calve…..

Suburban wildebeest: the pressure is on for this species, both in the Park & in the rest of the Athi-Kapiti Ecosystem…..(remember there used to be 100,000…….!!!!)

The Dispersal Area is riddled with quarries & the air filled with the blasting of dynamite…..the plains of the Athi-Kapiti are , below a miniscule layer of earth, are in fact solid rock!

Tuala, a typical frontier town where land speculation is the main activity: the plains of the Dispersal Area is being rapidly parcelled out: townships & suburban areas will completely encircle the Park within, I would estimate, 10 years…..

For reference:http://nairobinationalpark.wildlifedirect.org/2011/04/12/sheep-goat-land/

One idea: if a part of the northern bit of the Park is to be excised to make way for the Southern Bypass, as seems likely, can the authorities not look to formalise the Sheep & Goat Land as an integral part of NNP, forever??

Images by Will Knocker:

I am finally back online after numerous setbacks, including kids melting down computer settings, including for this blog, over Xmas. Please excuse abscence!!

A herd of buffalo chewing the cud in the rapidly drying NNP

Kori bustards are doing well in NNP….

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Cape chestnut in flower in the Langata forest after excellent short rains

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Greenvein charaxes (Charaxes candiope) feeding on carnivore faeces

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Many eland are back in the Park, having spent the rainy season in the Athi Basin & Sheep & Goat Land

An old veteran, blind in one eye & deaf…I’m surprised the 40 odd lions in the Park have not eaten him yet…

White bellied go away bird: a species of the dry bush: are they getting more common in NNP (ie is it becoming drier?)

This is the third post on the same theme: new young in NNP. Nothing is as heartening as to observe new forms of life, in whichever ecosystem……

NNP contains one of the largest populations of eland in Kenya.

Young eland show an intense attraction for each other & form nursery herds after the initial lying up period soon after they are born, when they hide. Very rich milk ensures rapid growth & young eland appear to suckle from any lactating female at this stage…

They are very vulnerable now & mortality is high (eg from the feral dog packs at Athi River…..)

Lactating cow on the alert: eland have great sight & hearing & are usually very hard to approach.

As with most sp. in NNP, they have become habituated to vehicles..

Eland used to migrate out of the Park & they still go ‘out’ to the Sheep & Goat Land, but there is too much human activity in the remaining dispersal area & so they now stay in the Park throughout the year. I think one can expect their numbers to go up (count the numbers of calves in these pictures…) as has been the case with Hartebeest, in steep decline elsewhere owing to competition with livestock (lack of habitat.)

Sometimes suckling can be TOO much of a good thing…..

Another  (different) herd in the Eland Hollow valley……this sp. is doing WELL in NNP!

Recent pics of the few wildebeest currently in the park…..

The Last Wildebeest? Gnu are true creatures of the plains, having evolved in the great plains of Africa.

Certainly they have not adapted well to changes in habitat around NNP: fences, human activity, meat-hunting & so on.

It is estimated there could have been at least 100,000 of this sp. in the Athi Kapiti ecosystem, but we are down to the last 500 in NNP: the rest are cut off by the Athi-Namanga Highway….

Gnu on the move. Scientists have been studying how & where they move in the NNP dispersal area:

http://www.nrel.colostate.edu/projects/gnu/track_nairobi2.php

What seems to be very clear is that our last few gnu spend most of their time centred on the Sheep & Goat Land (see previous posts in the category menu to the left…..

Gnu at the Athi Dam.

Surely it must be a priority to look very closely at how to integrate the Sheep & Goat Land more securely to the Park.

Or else we will lose the last of these peculiar but wonderful creatures in one of their main habitats……

4 browse rhinos in the Athi Basin…..

And 2 more on the hill above….

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

Pics by WILL KNOCKER:

I spent Easter at Kilima Kiu near Konza, at the south of the Athi Kapiti Ecosystem of which NNP is a part & drovev the Kapiti (properly Kaputiei) plains to get there…..

The Kaputiei Plains, looking south west…

Many cattle died in the drought of 2009 & sheep do well on the short grass plain (heavily grazed.) Ngong Hills in the bachground.

Tommies, looking west.

The brand new town of Kitengela: Kenya’s Brave New World…….

Looking over the Park: the Empakasi river in the Athi Basin

Story & pics by WILL KNOCKER:

Much effort & debate swirls around the ‘dispersal area’ of the park.

Below: the ‘real’ dispersal area for much of the park’s migratory grazers: the Sheep & Goat land.

This is government owned land (it used to be/still is? a holding ground for livestock going to the slaughterhouse at Athi River.)

It adjoins the block of NNP which lies across the Empakasi River just downstream of the hippo pools….

It is quite large: several thousand acres & heavily grazed by Maasai livestock

Part of NNP across the Empakasi, looking north into the park…….

The Sheep & Goat land is VITAL for the last few gnu in NNP (once there were 100,000 (est.) in the ecosystem. They drop their calves there…..

We now have 1000 (1 % of the above) who have access to the park. The remainder are on the Kapiti plains across the Athi River/Namanga highway….

The Sheep & Goat land is not only of ecological importance to gnus: thousands of grazers (see these current pics) use this area which is or SHOULD BE an INTEGRAL AREA of NNP.

So what steps are being taken by KWS, FONNAP, Wildlife Foundation etc. to conserve & BIND TO THE PARK this essential area: the only true short-grass plain habitat available to gazelle sp., gnu, zebra etc?

The debate on the ‘dispersal area’ really, urgently, needs to focus on this prime bit of habitat.

We wildebeest are watching you……….