“Lappet-faced vulture in Maasai Mara National Reserve”
This vulture prefers to live in dry savannah, thornbush, arid plains, deserts with scattered trees in wadis, open mountain slopes. They are usually found in undisturbed open country with a scattering of trees and apparently prefer areas with minimal grass cover.
This high and mid-mountain species, which descends at its lowest around 800 meters in Uganda and Kenya, is well adapted to degraded, agricultural and even urban environments. At the base, it lives in the edges and clearings of the mountain forest.
It is a solitary nester, which can however organize a collaboration between two couples on the same territory. The nest is discreet, unlike colonial weavers, and can go unnoticed in the foliage. The male builds alone, but can aggressively steal a nest from another weaver species. The female incubates alone, a dozen days, only a few eggs (maximum three).
This weaver is mainly insectivorous, and eats fruits, berries and seeds only in small quantities.
“Variable sunbird in Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya”
The variable sunbird (or yellow-bellied sunbird) is a passerine bird which feed largely on nectar, although it will also take insects, especially when feeding young. Flight is fast and direct on their short wings. Most species can take nectar by hovering like a hummingbird, but usually perch to feed most of the time.
The variable sunbird is a fairly common resident breeder in equatorial Africa.
Standing proud in the savannah with their red blankets and painted shields, the Maasai people have become one of the more widely known symbols of East Africa; the Maasai shield is even featured on Kenya’s national flag. It’s not uncommon in Kenya and Tanzania to see the Maasai in their traditional dress, not only in their villages but also in the streets of the cities.
Maasai are pastoralist and have resisted the urging of the Tanzanian and Kenyan governments to adopt a more sedentary lifestyle. They have demanded grazing rights to many of the national parks in both countries.
Visits to Maasai villages are a popular activity during trips to Kenya and Tanzania. Meeting the local people and getting to know more about their life in the savannah is an integral part of the East African travel experience. It’s just as unforgettable as gazing into the eyes of a lion, or watching the sunset over the Serengeti Plains.
Possibly Africa’s most famous ethnic group, the Maasai people are semi-nomadic people located primarily in Kenya and Northern Tanzania.
According to their own oral history the Masai people originated in the Nile Valley in Northern Africa and migrated south around the 15th century with their cattle.
Once considered fierce warriors and feared by all tribes in the area, the Maasai lost much of their power in the 19th century.
The Maasai have now adopted a more sedentary lifestyle that includes growing and buying cultivated food.
Real practice or only folkloric demonstration for the easily impressed tourists, the realization of a fire by rubbing two pieces of wood is mastered by the Massaï.
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!
The African fish eagle is a large species of eagle found throughout sub-Saharan Africa wherever large bodies of open water with an abundant food supply occur, like lake Nakuru.
The adult is very distinctive in appearance with a mostly brown body with a white head like the bald eagle and large, powerful, black wings. The head, breast, and tail of African fish eagles are snow white, with the exception of the featherless face, which is yellow.
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.