Migratory Birds of Kenya: When Millions of European Birds Arrive Each Year
The migratory birds of Kenya arrive from another continent every year, and most safari visitors never notice them. These Palearctic migrants breed across Europe and Asia, then fly thousands of kilometres south to escape the northern winter. The first arrive in September and October, numbers build through November, and most leave again in March and […]
Snakes of Kenya: What You Might Actually Encounter on Safari
Snakes in Kenya are one of the most common safari worries and one of the least common safari sightings. Kenya is home to dangerous species, including the black mamba, puff adder, spitting cobras and the African rock python, but encounters on safari are rare because snakes are shy and far more frightened of a group […]
Night Game Drives in Kenya: Where They’re Actually Allowed (Not Where You’d Assume)
Night game drives in Kenya are allowed in far fewer places than most visitors assume, and the rule catches many first-time travellers out. Kenya’s national parks, run by the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), and its national reserves, such as the Masai Mara (run by Narok County) and Samburu, close to game drives at dusk. The […]
Elephant Social Structure in Kenya: Matriarchs, Herds & a 22-Month Pregnancy
Elephant social structure explains why every herd you see in Kenya is run by an elder female, not the biggest bull: a matriarch who leads her family to food and water using decades of memory, and organises the group’s defence when a threat appears. Family units of related adult cows, their daughters and young sons […]
Primates of Kenya: Baboons, Vervet & Colobus Monkeys Beyond the Gorillas
The primates of Kenya rarely get top billing next to Uganda’s gorillas or Rwanda’s golden monkeys, but three species turn up on almost every Kenya safari, each with distinct social behaviour worth understanding rather than dismissing as background scenery. Baboons live in troops of up to about 150 individuals built around stable female family lines. […]
Kenya’s Big Cats Compared: Lion vs Leopard vs Cheetah Hunting Styles
Lion vs leopard vs cheetah is the comparison every first-time safari visitor ends up making, and the honest answer is that Kenya’s three big cats hunt in almost completely different ways. Cheetahs are daylight sprinters, reaching around 100 km/h in short bursts and catching prey in chases that rarely last a minute. Lions hunt the […]
Vulture Species in Kenya: 4 Are Critically Endangered, Here’s Why That Matters
Vulture species in Kenya rarely make anyone’s safari wish list, yet they are part of one of Africa’s most urgent conservation stories. Four of the vultures you can see in Kenya, the white-backed, Rüppell’s, white-headed and hooded vultures, are listed as Critically Endangered, and the lappet-faced vulture is Endangered. A continent-wide study published in 2016 […]
Hyena Species in Kenya: Spotted vs Striped, and Why the Reputation Is Wrong
Hyena species in Kenya come down to two true hyenas, the spotted hyena and the striped hyena, plus a third, surprising member of the hyena family: the termite-eating aardwolf. The spotted hyena is the one you will meet on safari, and its reputation as a cowardly scavenger is badly wrong. Long-term research, including more than […]
Giraffe Species in Kenya: Reticulated, Rothschild’s & Maasai Compared
Giraffe species in Kenya come in three very different-looking types, and Kenya is one of the few countries where you can see all of them on a single safari. The Masai giraffe, with jagged, star-shaped patches, roams the Masai Mara, Amboseli, Tsavo and Nairobi National Park. The reticulated giraffe, with neat liver-red blocks outlined in […]
Zebra Species in Kenya: Grevy’s vs Plains Zebra, and Where to See Each
There are two zebra species in Kenya, not just one animal with regional variation, and most visitors never realise it. The plains zebra is the familiar migration-herd animal seen across the Masai Mara, Amboseli and Nakuru, broad-striped and still widespread. Grevy’s zebra is a different species entirely: taller, narrower-striped, with large rounded ears, and listed […]