Kenya - Ol Pejeta Conservency Game Drive Part 2

Superb Starling

Ankole Cattle.

We stopped for lunch at Moranis restaurant where a club sandwich went down very well.

I took the opportunity to try and find 'Baraka' the blind 'Black Rhino'. He has an huge enclosure all of his own and  can be fed from the specially designed feeding platform. Unfortunately he had taken cover and wasn't feeling very sociable.Maybe we would get another chance later?

There was still lots to see even while we were at the restaurant with lots of birdlife.

It is home to a breathtaking variety of birds. From the massive 140kg ostrich, to the endangered white-backed vulture, the majestic martial eagle, the cinnamon-chested bee-eater, and everything in between.

Ol Pejeta integrates cattle with wildlife, and use livestock as a means to manage the rangelands more effectively.

The challenges faced by this integration are predation from big cats, and tick-borne diseases carried by wildlife, particularly buffalo. Ol Pejeta loses around 1% of its livestock to predators each year, but this figure is considered sustainable in such an environment.

African Elephants

Back on the game drive  it was awesome to spot Elephants just going about their business at such close quarters.

The African Elephant is the largest land mammal on earth, but these gentle giants are listed as vulnerable by IUCN due to widespread poaching for their ivory.

Traditionally, they follow seasonal migration patterns, travelling huge distances to find food and water. As such, there is no resident population of elephants on Ol Pejeta, but there can be up to 300 at any one time.

 An estimated 100 African elephants are killed each day by poachers seeking ivory, meat and body parts, leaving only 400,000 remaining. That really brings home what we are seeing on this trip. It is not unrealistic to think that one day this magnificent creature will be extinct.

Going further 'off piste we were totally unprepared for what was to happen next. 

'Massive Bull Elephant'

A family of Elephants were drinking at a water point , the mother and her young quickly headed off to safety. However the matriarch was having none of it and started making threatening gestures toward our vehicle.

Common sense meant that this was no time to hang around , a few hasty photos and lets get out of here!

An angry 'Bull Elephant is not to be messed around with. It was a fantastic yet frightening experience at the same time .
African elephant societies are arranged around family units. Each family unit is made up of around ten closely related females and their calves and is led by an older female known as the matriarch.

Cheerio I'm off