NEW SPECIES LIST:
(7 January 2014)
Mammals:
lion
side-striped jackal
Hart's wildebeest
Coke's hartibeast
Tomi
Cape buffalo
steinbuck
impala (a bachelor herd of 100s of individuals confronts a haram of dozens by the Mara River)
hyena
baboon
warthog
hippopotamus
fruit bats
Birds:
Masi Mara:
White stork
Grey crowned crane
Grey heron
Long tailed cormorant
Spur-winged plover
Common sandpiper
Crested francolin
Martial eagle
Scarce swift
Grey-headed kingfischer
Cinnamon-chested bee-eater
Von der decken’s hornbill
Red-billed hornbill
Red-fronted tinkerbird
Greater blue-eared starling
Yellow-billed oxpecker
Grey-backed fiscal
Common fiscal
Longtailed cisticola
(7 January 2014)
Mammals:
lion
side-striped jackal
Hart's wildebeest
Coke's hartibeast
Tomi
Cape buffalo
steinbuck
impala (a bachelor herd of 100s of individuals confronts a haram of dozens by the Mara River)
hyena
baboon
warthog
hippopotamus
fruit bats
Birds:
Masi Mara:
White stork
Grey crowned crane
Grey heron
Long tailed cormorant
Spur-winged plover
Common sandpiper
Crested francolin
Martial eagle
Scarce swift
Grey-headed kingfischer
Cinnamon-chested bee-eater
Von der decken’s hornbill
Red-billed hornbill
Red-fronted tinkerbird
Greater blue-eared starling
Yellow-billed oxpecker
Grey-backed fiscal
Common fiscal
Longtailed cisticola
Human wildlife contact in Kenya comes in many forms. Throughout the country habitat is being lost and humans have encroached on many of the Rift Valley's most wild regions.
In the Masi Mara the trend is for previously nomadic, tribal people is to live in similar ways to how they did traditionally, herding and tending to livestock, while becoming more settled in semi-permanent and stationary communities. It is not uncommon in the Masi Mara to see a Masi herder in a bright red shuka tending to cattle or goats, while simultaneously talking on a cell phone.
Due to the wealth of biodiversity and the potential to see all of the "Big Five" animals (elephants, lions, leopards, Cape buffalo, & rhinoceros) in one day, the Masi Mara
has a wealth of ecotourism opportunities. Many of megafauna mammal predators that guests come all the way out to the Mara to see in the wild, either have large territories or are itinerant. So you never really know what to expect, what you will see, or what predators will be up to.
What this means for a guest at a Masi Mara ecolodge is that you will have to share the lodge space with special guests - the wildlife. So as a Masi Mara ecotourist, while you may spend the day in and out of a camp with a luxury tent where songbirds flutter in trees next to sleeping fruit bats and the coffee and tea supply is overly abundant, when the night falls, the nocturnal predators go hunting and sometimes the leopard walks right your tent's door.
In the Masi Mara the trend is for previously nomadic, tribal people is to live in similar ways to how they did traditionally, herding and tending to livestock, while becoming more settled in semi-permanent and stationary communities. It is not uncommon in the Masi Mara to see a Masi herder in a bright red shuka tending to cattle or goats, while simultaneously talking on a cell phone.
Due to the wealth of biodiversity and the potential to see all of the "Big Five" animals (elephants, lions, leopards, Cape buffalo, & rhinoceros) in one day, the Masi Mara
has a wealth of ecotourism opportunities. Many of megafauna mammal predators that guests come all the way out to the Mara to see in the wild, either have large territories or are itinerant. So you never really know what to expect, what you will see, or what predators will be up to.
What this means for a guest at a Masi Mara ecolodge is that you will have to share the lodge space with special guests - the wildlife. So as a Masi Mara ecotourist, while you may spend the day in and out of a camp with a luxury tent where songbirds flutter in trees next to sleeping fruit bats and the coffee and tea supply is overly abundant, when the night falls, the nocturnal predators go hunting and sometimes the leopard walks right your tent's door.
Since the Masi Mara is so wild, I was not that surprised when animal footsteps and fear woke me from my sleep in the dark of the night. I heard strange sounds, that were likely hyenas communicating in the riparian valley across from my tent. Many creatures get excited when the chui hunts at night.
I did not know it at the time, but a leopard had moved through our camp. The next morning I got up early to look for new birds by the river behind our camp's bonfire pit. I found that the birds were very active and I was finding all types of species I had only dreamed about seeing, but there was a tense feeling in the air. If you know that creepy feeling that you get when you are being watched, then you know how I felt that morning, alone, 40 meters from our camp's kitchen area. When I found an unidentifiable scat that looked cat-like and fresh, and I had freaked myself out thoroughly, I decided I was done with birding and that it was coffee time.
At our camp, the staff was acting strange and they were clearly uncomfortable. When I saw an askari guard with a long spear I knew that something was up. Then within then next 20 minutes, the news broke. Another student had found the chui's kill next to her tent while trying to locate some fruit bats to photograph.
It turns out the askari I saw was headed to the leopard kill site to move the gazelle to an area outside of our camp, so its rightful owner could reclaim it. As we got our things together by our safari vehicles and prepared for our day in the Mara, a troop of baboons created a loud commotion in the trees by the river about 200 meters from our camp. All birds in the areas took to the wing and scattered at the sound of the baboons' alarm.
This was how we all knew where the leopard was resting for the day.
I did not know it at the time, but a leopard had moved through our camp. The next morning I got up early to look for new birds by the river behind our camp's bonfire pit. I found that the birds were very active and I was finding all types of species I had only dreamed about seeing, but there was a tense feeling in the air. If you know that creepy feeling that you get when you are being watched, then you know how I felt that morning, alone, 40 meters from our camp's kitchen area. When I found an unidentifiable scat that looked cat-like and fresh, and I had freaked myself out thoroughly, I decided I was done with birding and that it was coffee time.
At our camp, the staff was acting strange and they were clearly uncomfortable. When I saw an askari guard with a long spear I knew that something was up. Then within then next 20 minutes, the news broke. Another student had found the chui's kill next to her tent while trying to locate some fruit bats to photograph.
It turns out the askari I saw was headed to the leopard kill site to move the gazelle to an area outside of our camp, so its rightful owner could reclaim it. As we got our things together by our safari vehicles and prepared for our day in the Mara, a troop of baboons created a loud commotion in the trees by the river about 200 meters from our camp. All birds in the areas took to the wing and scattered at the sound of the baboons' alarm.
This was how we all knew where the leopard was resting for the day.
For the people that live in the Mara, human wildlife interactions and conflict are a part of daily life. Masi herdsman must protect their herds from predators by either building better boma enclosures, training watchdogs, or more recently using new technologies such as LED lights or motion sensors to keep predators away from their settlements. Ecolodge staff must keep their guests safe while protecting the wildlife that people from all over the world come to the Masi Mara to see. Safari drivers and tourists in the Mara must respect the wildlife and keep safe distances from the animals, to prevent disruptions of their behavior.