Samburu's Sad Mother Nanai

Recently this mother by the name Nanai has been modeling with her three cabs. She has been longing to bringing up one of the biggest prides in Samburu region. The kids have really been growing very fast the reason for the mum’s pride.  Unfortunately her dreams were not without challenges. She lost one of the cabs last weeks. She has since been very careful with her remaining two cabs. Most of the time she has been sighted recent she has been without cabs and on very strategic places.

We had several good and unique sightings this week.

Beisa Oryx

Grazing on the flat plains of buffalo springs reserve were several browsers and grazers. They prefer flat plains so that they are able to see a predator from a distance. Beisa Oryx is one of the special five animals that we have around. Following the previous season plenty rains, there is enough grass for these cute Oryx only found in Samburu regions. Their unique tall ringed horns and clear black line marking on their body with perfect blend of brown and white colors is the main source of beauty. They are heterogeneous so you will find them in herds

White River Female

This cute female leopard has been making us proud every day of the week. Mainly found in the area of the now all whether white river. She has been pausing for every tourist for unique photos. Surely if it was a fashion contest she would easily walked away as overall winner. She is our Miss tourism Samburu.

She has been very lucky with kills. More than once we have found her enjoying the meat on top of the tree. This has only made her look prettier. One of the evenings she showcased how she does by bring down a full grown up he-impala

 The Lucky Cheetah

Sharing the same territory with oryx, impalas, grant gazelles and other antelopes, these cheetahs had plenty of time hunting the smaller antelopes. Only half of the chases, which last from 20 - 60 seconds, are successful. They are found mostly in these partially open savannas because they rely on tall grasses for camouflage when hunting. They are diurnal (more active in the day) and hunt mostly during the late morning or early evening.

Unlike other big cats, cheetahs cannot roar. However, they can purr on both inhale and exhale, like domestic cats!

Did You Know?

When cheetahs are running, they use their tails to help them steer and turn in the direction they want to go, like the rudder of a boat.

A Wildlife-Haven in Samburu

The reserve in Kenya’s northern arid lands is one of Kenya's best-loved wildlife reserves. In complete contrast to the rolling savannah grasslands of the Maasai Mara, Samburu is filled with hills and dry riverbeds (luggas) with the Ewaso Nyiro River meandering along groves of the iconic doom palms. It has a wealth of wildlife with lions, leopards and cheetahs hunting down antelopes, zebra and other herbivores. The elephants are one of the longest studied in Africa.

Samburu Intrepids is the jewel in the reserve. With its experienced guides you will be able to see much of what the reserve has.

Lion of Samburu

These lions will rest after hunting down the rare Grevy’s zebra that is only found north of the equator. It may look easy but hunting is a strenuous exercise.

Did You Know?

Both male and female lions roar?

A lion’s roar can be heard from five miles away. Lions are also the second largest living feline after the tiger.

Leopards

Leopards climb to higher spots to look for prey. They will then prepare for a kill. One would think this one is posing for a photo shoot.

Did You Know?

Leopards are very agile, and can run at over 36 miles per hour, leap over 20 feet and jump up to 10 feet.

Elephants

Elephant calf suckling

Did You Know?

Mating Season: Mostly during the rainy season.
Gestation: 22 months.
Litter size: 1 calf (twins rare).
Calves weigh between 200-250 pounds at birth. At birth, a calf's trunk has little muscle; therefore it will suckle through its mouth. It takes several months for a calf to gain full control of its trunk.

Grey-headed Kingfisher (above) and Palm-nut vulture

Birds

Samburu boasts over 350 species of birds.

Samburu People

They are one of the few tribes who have maintained their culture. They are nicknamed the butterfly people because of their bright coloured attire as seen in the picture.

The doum palm is iconic Samburu.

Top: Lioness and elephant

Above: Elephants against a doum palm in Samburu after the rains. That’s why the grass is green.

Written by Maurice Njeru, Manager Samburu Intrepids.

Adventure at Samburu!

Elephants

Elephants form deep family bonds and live in tight matriarchal family groups of related females called a herd. The herd is led by the oldest and often largest female in the herd, called a matriarch. Elephants are extremely intelligent animals and have memories that span many years. It is this memory that serves matriarchs well during the dry seasons when they need to guide their herds, sometimes for tens of miles, to watering holes that they remember from the past. They also display signs of grief, joy, anger and play.

The mating season for elephants is mostly during the rainy season and the gestation period is 22 months.

A lone elephant heading to the bush. The elephant was the only one around this area. More elephants where spotted in the distance distance.

River Ewaso Nyiro which means ‘river of brown water’ is the only source of water for wildlife in Samburu National Reserve. This season it has little water in it. The elephants were seen at the river, taking their time to quench their thirst. A lioness walked past them for a drink also.

During the dry season, the flat top acacias bear seed pods which are healthy for livestock and wildlife. Elephants enjoy the acacia seeds after quenching their thirst at River Ewaso Nyiro.

Compiled by Chris Letur, Camp naturalist

Nanai the Lion

The Koitogo pride of lions in Samburu National Reserve is named after the famous hill in the heart of the reserve. There are 21 lions in the pride. On a recent evening game drive we saw one of the females from the pride called Nanai (a Samburu word meaning mine) and her cubs aged five months walking on the road.

Nanai came out of the bushes followed by her cubs and walked majestically along the road.

We got some beautiful photos of the cubs. To my surprise the cubs were not shy of the vehicle. Instead they stared at us as if they were also taken by surprise.

We followed Nanai and her cubs for a while until we reached the banks of the Ewaso Nyiro River which is the main source of water in this dry semi-arid land. That's when we realized that Nana’s intention was to take her cubs to drink water. After drinking, they came up the river bank. While the cubs played, Nanai looked around for prey.

She then let the cubs go in to the bushes as she hung around the banks. Nanai is one of the famous female’s seen most of the time around the reserve. She is about nine years old and really struggles to bring up her cubs. We wish her plus her new cubs all the best.

Written by Justus Kisoo | Samburu Intrepids Camp | Heritage Hotels Ltd.  

Samburu Intrepids Camp - Easter Sightings

A young male cheetah near Larsens Camp was seen. He looks new in the area.

At Samburu National Reserve, we have a good number of cheetahs. For the last six months, we have had regular sightings of two females, each with two cubs. One female and her cub are at Samburu National Reserve and the other female and her cub are in Buffalo Springs National Reserve. There are other cheetahs but rarely seen because they are not used to cars.  
         
Leopard spotted

Over Easter, guests at Samburu Intrepids Camp were delighted to see leopards on all three days in different areas of the reserve.

Read More about the elusive African Civet.

Report and pictures by Jelly Loloju – Safari Guide, Samburu Intrepids Camps.

©Heritage Hotels Ltd, Kenya. http://www.heritage-eastafrica.com/

       

RARE SIGHTING AT SAMBURU NATIONAL RESERVE

A few days ago while on a game drive we saw hundreds of vultures relishing a freshly killed male impala. At first, I thought it was a leopard kill but there was no sign of the impala having been strangled by a leopard.

Vultures feed on carcasses, they do not make a kill of their own.  We were very eager to find out who killed the impala. So we switched off the car engine and waited. 

I only took three pictures then I saw a wolf-like animal emerging from the bush. It was a wild dog!

The impala had been hunted by a pack of wild dogs.

When we were children we were told that wild dogs only eat animals alive and when the animal falls down, the wild dogs leave it. I have also seen wild dogs hunting their own prey where they finish it immediately.

• African wild dogs live in packs. The Alpha male leads the team in a hunt.
• African wild dogs take care of the young for about 12 -14 months –or for as little as six months if all of the previous young die.
• The gestation period is between 60 and 80 days. Pups are born in dens.
• A wild dog is adapted to long-distance running at high speeds,  of up to 66 km/hr for 10 to 60 minutes, and over great distances (at about 50km/hr. for 5.6km).  Nearly 80 per cent of all wild dogs hunts end in a kill.
• Members of a pack vocalize to help coordinate their movements.
• They take good care of their young. After a successful hunt, the hunters will regurgitate meat for those that remained at the den.
• To hunt larger prey, wild dogs use a closely coordinated attack, beginning with a rapid charge to stampede the herd. One wild dog then grabs the victim's tail, while another will latch on to the upper lip or nose, and the remainder attempt to disembowel the animal.
• The male wild dogs usually perform the task of grabbing the prey by the nose.
• The African wild dog is an endangered species due to habitat loss and poaching. It uses very large territories (so can persist only in large wildlife protected areas), and it is strongly affected by competition with larger carnivores that rely on the same prey base, particularly the lions and hyenas.

Report by Steve Tilas – Safari Guides, Samburu Intrepids Camp.

©Heritage Hotels Ltd, Kenya. http://www.heritage-eastafrica.com/

Kooijman Family Experience, Samburu

Melissa Kooijman is a travel agent from Safari Studio in Canada who visits Africa almost every year. She stayed at Samburu Intrepids Camp with her mum and sons, and spent time at Kiltamany primary school where they donated note books, pens, pencils, rulers, art and craft papers, toys and crayons to take care of the whole school with 153 pupils.

Melissa’s two sons, Ethan and Joshua, also interacted with the school children - it was their first time to Africa. The boys brought with them 63 letters from their school - and more school supplies. In the same vein, the Kiltamany children also wrote letters to Lavington school in Canada where Melissa’s boys study. They also learned how to make bow and arrows and fire with sticks. At night, we gathered around the fire to roast pope corns.

     Tilas at Kiltamany School showing the pupils how to write letters to the students in Canada

During my visit, I drew the above animals to give pupils hints on what to draw. On the same note, I discussed with the teachers about Melissa’s visit.

    Boys and girls ready to take a turn to draw on the blackboard

Fire making is part of the games we teach young adventures using the sand paper bush branches.

On the night of 3rd March, we used the fire from the twilling sticks to make a fire which we used for roasting pop corns.  After, we did had a session on stargazing.

The next morning, we visited Kiltamany village. We were welcomed by Samburu women.
Melissa visited the village for her young boys to learn about the unique Samburu culture.
  

Melissa and her sons in the village. Stephenie is in the back ground dancing with the ladies.

It is only by visiting people that one can learn about other cultures, especially our traditional literature which is not written on paper but is passed on by word of mouth.

The young boy Joshua is dancing with one of the ladies in the village. The video below is his Samburu/Africa trip. Enjoy. 

Steven Tilas, Resident Naturalist, Samburu Intrepids Camp ©Heritage Hotels Ltd

Kiltamany School Girls Boarding Gets Helping Hand

Five years ago, Heritage Hotels embarked on a school project at Kiltamany Girls School. It was to furnish the school dormitory for the local Samburu girls. The dormitory was opened on 25^th January by the Honorable Moses Lenolkulal, the governor of Samburu County.

Heritage Hotels and the school are grateful to KathleenPeddicord and her family who were guests at Samburu Intrepids Camp in July 2013 for helping with the furnishing.

On the safari, the young son, Master Jackson Peddicord was intrigued by the Samburu community. He wanted to see how the Samburu men drew blood from the livestock. Mixed with milk and herbs, the concoction is drunk by the men.

I organized a treat for the family to visit Kiltamany in Westgate Conservancy bordering Samburu National Reserve.

We left the Camp early morning and after a 15-minute drive we were at Kiltamany village. Jackson the adventurer joined the Samburu boys partaking in the morning activities. The Samburu lads taught Jackson how to make fire using sticks. He was also invited to take part in drawing blood from a goat – which is done by shooting a small arrow in the jugular vein of the animal. It is a shallow depression which is sealed after the blood has been let out and the animal is not harmed. Jackson also helped the Samburu women to milk goats.

The family was impressed by the community that welcomed them at Kiltamany. After a walk-around the village and a visit to the community school, Kathleen’s family donated the mattresses to the girls’ boarding school so that the girls do not have to walk miles to school – or sometimes miss school when the wild animals are in the way.

The first group of girls – 30 very excited boarders – was admitted on 25^th February. The next project is to have a boys’ boarding school.

We thank Kathleen and her family for the donation. 

Steven Tilas, Resident Naturalist, Samburu Intrepids Camp ©Heritage Hotels Ltd