Amboseli National Park is a national park in Kenya that spreads across the Kenya-Tanzania border. It has great views of Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest free-standing mountain in the world.
Almost 85 percent of the ice cover on Kilimanjaro disappeared between October 1912 and June 2011. At the current rate, most of the ice on Kilimanjaro will disappear by 2040. 😢
“The Snows of Kilimanjaro” is a short story by Ernest Hemingway.
The plains zebra is highly social and usually forms small family groups called harems, which consist of a single stallion, several mares and their recent offspring.
Early on, a mother zebra keeps any other zebra away from her foal, including the stallion, the other mares, and even her previous offspring. Later, though, they all bond. Within the group, a foal has the same rank as its mother.
The European roller is a long-distance migrant, wintering in Africa south of the Sahara in two distinct regions, from Senegal east to Cameroon and from Ethiopia west. It is a bird of warm, dry, open country with scattered trees, preferring lowlands.
These primates are semi-terrestrial, which means that they can live on the ground as well as in the trees. During the night they climb a tree. They communicate with a range of sounds, gestures and postures. Individuals make different sounds depending on the situation. They use at least five different alarm calls to communicate to other individuals in the group, telling them where the danger is coming from, or how big the predator is. They recognize the voices of other vervets in their group.
Vervet monkeys are widely distributed on the planet and able to adapt better than most primate species to the proximity of humans. They also come in part to cities, invading plantations. In some places, they are therefore considered a pest and persecuted because they are hunted for their meat.
Vervet monkeys serve as a primate model for understanding genetic and social behaviors of humans. They have some human-like characteristics, such as hypertension, anxiety, and social and dependent alcohol use.
Elephant mothers carry their babies for nearly two years before giving birth. Then they ensure their babies get the best food, teach their children the most useful skills and show their children how to lead the herd during hard times.
Elephants learn how to pick the best plants for eating, how to defend against predators and how to navigate steep embankments — all from their mothers.
As we drove slowly through the large empty spaces of the Maasai Mara National Reserve, I was fortunate enough to perceive a spot of slightly different color in a small group of bushes.
It was difficult to really see what it was, luckily a little bit of photography gear material can help!
Some people say lions sleep 22 out of every 24 hours. It's true we often see them lying in the grass, sometimes yawning. But it doesn't mean they sleep when we're not there. “Lions lying sleeping in the shade on a hot day are […] conserving energy during the least energetically efficient time of the day. […] If the energy costs involved in an activity aren’t outweighed by its potential benefits, they simply won’t do it.” Clever.
The Masai giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis tippelskirchii), also spelled Maasai giraffe, also called Kilimanjaro giraffe, is the largest subspecies of giraffe. It is native to East Africa. The Masai giraffe can be found in central and southern Kenya and in Tanzania. It has distinctive, irregular, jagged, star-like blotches that extend to the hooves. A median forehead lump is usually present in bulls.
D'Arnaud's barbet is a small East African bird that feeds on insects, fruits, and seeds.
It grows to about eight inches, and is equally at home in trees or on the ground. A vertical tunnel two to three feet into the ground with a sideways and upward turn leads to the nest chamber.
In a striking dance the male and female face each on nearby twigs and twitch, bob and sing like mechanical toys.