My trip to Kenya in March ended all too quickly for me. I was having such a good time that the last few days really snuck up on me. The first few days we stayed at Ol Pejeta it seemed like we had forever to go in Kenya, and even after we'd been there fore a few days it seemed like the time was passing really slowly and we would get to stay forever. It probably didn't help that Brenda and I kept joking that we would just stay forever and forget all about our obligations back in the States. We liked Kenya a lot.
Plains zebra (Equus quagga) were all over the plains at Ol Pejeta. They were pretty exciting to see at first, but after a while they became a lot less exciting. It didn't help that for some reason I kept calling them giraffe. I got confused. They, more than any other animals, spent their time lazing around and napping on the roads, soaking up the sun. Almost all of them were also pretty chubby. There were also plenty of little foals around, although there was this funny observer effect where we would think we had seen such a small adorably baby zebra until the next day (or twenty minutes later) when we would see one that was somehow even smaller! I think the smallest one we saw wasn't much smaller than the one pictured above, who was napping on the side of the road one day as we were trolling for giraffe with Kim. Mostly, sleepy zebra got up pretty quickly when they heard the car coming or heard their herd scampering off, but this little guy stayed asleep. We were actually pretty worried about him when all three of us, Kim, Brenda, and I were leaning out the car window snapping pictures of him and still he wasn't moving. We thought that he might be sick or near death and would make a quick snack for a predator.
Plains zebra (Equus quagga) were all over the plains at Ol Pejeta. They were pretty exciting to see at first, but after a while they became a lot less exciting. It didn't help that for some reason I kept calling them giraffe. I got confused. They, more than any other animals, spent their time lazing around and napping on the roads, soaking up the sun. Almost all of them were also pretty chubby. There were also plenty of little foals around, although there was this funny observer effect where we would think we had seen such a small adorably baby zebra until the next day (or twenty minutes later) when we would see one that was somehow even smaller! I think the smallest one we saw wasn't much smaller than the one pictured above, who was napping on the side of the road one day as we were trolling for giraffe with Kim. Mostly, sleepy zebra got up pretty quickly when they heard the car coming or heard their herd scampering off, but this little guy stayed asleep. We were actually pretty worried about him when all three of us, Kim, Brenda, and I were leaning out the car window snapping pictures of him and still he wasn't moving. We thought that he might be sick or near death and would make a quick snack for a predator.
Turns out he was just snoozin' really hard and as soon as he woke up and saw us staring at him intently it took him only a few seconds to jump up and gallop away. He ran away so quickly and suddenly that he startled the rest of his herd and they all ran off for a little distance, until they realized that there wasn't really any danger.
Another curious thing that Brenda and I discovered, independent of Kim's education, is that Impala (Aepyceros melampus) make a really startling grunting-growling sound when they are fighting. We discovered this one day when walking around the chimpanzee enclosure with one of the chimp caregivers, John. As we walked through a rather thick section of brush we heard growling and both Brenda and I turned quickly, only to find John laughing at us as he told us that it was just impala. They have a resource-defense polygyny mating system, meaning that males defend a resource -- the females -- from other males. The males with their harems can be pretty aggressive towards their females and we got a couple of chances to watch males aggressively chase females back into their harem. One of the neat things about driving around with behavior nerds is that you get to stop to watch interesting or funny behaviors and nobody complains about what you're doing.
One one of our last mornings driving with Kim we encountered a female Grant's gazelle (Nanger granti) that had just given birth. I don't know if Grant's are usually found in herds or not, but it seems like they would be, given that they're a gazelle species. Females are always safer in herds. When we drove up all we could see a huge male warthog nuzzling at a package on the ground, and after we had (accidentally) driven the warthog off we could tell that the ground package was a newborn. So newborn that the baby was still encased in the embryonic sac and was still wet. The warthog was guarding the newborn against its mother, or so it seemed, and it wasn't until we got quite close that the hog actually ran off. The mother then stood around vigilantly watching her surroundings, practically ignoring her newborn. I kept accusing her of being a bad mother, but she was in a pretty vulnerable position, out in the open, right next to one of the roads. I suspected that the warthog was attracted by the smells of the birth and was then eating the placenta and embryonic sac. I don't think even that big of a male would have been able to kill the baby, although maybe he could have crushed its spinal cord if he tried hard enough, or kept the mother away for long enough that the baby starved to death. Regardless, it was very interesting to see this kind of behavior when most of the people at Ol Pejeta, Kenyan born and bred, had never heard of or seen that behavior before.
We also saw a family of elephants a couple of times, once at a watering hole and once just crossing the road. I was pretty bummed that I didn't get to see them splashing water around anywhere at all, I think that would have been super awesome. But we did get to see this cute little guy foraging on the side of the road for quite a while. According to Kim, young elephants are usually pretty skittish from cars. This group was seen near the research centre a bunch of times, so maybe they were more used to people driving by them and staring at them.
Our last day in Kenya we went into Nanyuki around 10:30 to do some curio shopping and go to Trout Tree restaurant for lunch. Trout Tree was pretty awesome, the restaurant is actually in this gigantic tree. I wasn't sure how they managed to do it until we got there, when we drove down a really steep ravine and I saw that the restaurant was supported in part by the tree and in part by the ravine. The food there was delicious, they had a trout chowder (which I didn't order but did steal some of Kim's) that was delicious, all smoky and creamy with fresh smoked trout in it. We also ordered a smoked trout appetizer that was really great; a whole small trout (maybe 8-9" long), served with dark wheat bread and horseradish, lemon, and arugula. Yummmm. For lunch I had a whole grilled trout and it was amazing. So yum.
And the best part about the restaurant? There were black and white colobus (Colobus guereza) so close I could practically touch them! They are a habituated troup and were in a tree out front of the restaurant when we arrived there, about seven of them, hanging out, yawning, sprawling, being adorable. They also jumped onto the roof of the restaurant, just a tarp, while we were eating and got chased off by the restaurant staff. Apparently mangabeys often come down there too, but weren't there that day.
That afternoon we had a long, warm drive back to Nairobi in our express matatu, and got to wait in the airport for about six hours before our flight. Brenda and I did some airport shopping, and then got onto our flight home. Our flights home were really long, and Brenda and I got really cranky. Really, really cranky. We were hating humanity by the end of that trip.
That pretty much concludes the stories from my first trip to Kenya. If I forgot anything I'll try to shove it in here somewhere so it makes sense.
And the best part about the restaurant? There were black and white colobus (Colobus guereza) so close I could practically touch them! They are a habituated troup and were in a tree out front of the restaurant when we arrived there, about seven of them, hanging out, yawning, sprawling, being adorable. They also jumped onto the roof of the restaurant, just a tarp, while we were eating and got chased off by the restaurant staff. Apparently mangabeys often come down there too, but weren't there that day.
That afternoon we had a long, warm drive back to Nairobi in our express matatu, and got to wait in the airport for about six hours before our flight. Brenda and I did some airport shopping, and then got onto our flight home. Our flights home were really long, and Brenda and I got really cranky. Really, really cranky. We were hating humanity by the end of that trip.
That pretty much concludes the stories from my first trip to Kenya. If I forgot anything I'll try to shove it in here somewhere so it makes sense.
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