Small Cats of Kenya: The Serval and Caracal Beyond the Big Five
Small cats of Kenya do things the Big Five never will. The serval is often described as having the longest legs for its body size of any cat, and it uses them to leap high and land on prey hidden in tall grass. One long-term study in Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Crater recorded servals succeeding on roughly […]
Monitor Lizards of Kenya: The Nile Monitor and Its Relatives
Monitor lizards of Kenya are among the biggest reptiles you will see on safari, yet most visitors drive straight past them. The Nile monitor is Africa’s longest lizard, often 1.2 to 2 metres from nose to tail, and it turns up along rivers, lakes and wetlands across the country. It is a true opportunist, eating […]
Raptors of Kenya: The Martial Eagle, Fish Eagle & Snake-Stomping Secretary Bird
Raptors of Kenya do things most visitors never expect from a bird. The martial eagle, one of Africa’s largest eagles at up to about 6 kg with a wingspan of around 2 metres or more, hunts gamebirds, hyraxes, monitor lizards and young antelope, often spotting prey from a soaring height before stooping to strike. The […]
Hippo Behaviour in Kenya: Why It’s Africa’s Most Dangerous Land Mammal
Hippo behaviour is far more interesting than the half-submerged, apparently sleepy animal you photograph in a Kenyan lake or river suggests. Hippos are often described as Africa’s most dangerous large land mammal, because of a mix of territorial aggression, unpredictability and sheer bulk: adult males average around 1.5 tonnes and big bulls can top 2 […]
Antelope Species in Kenya: From the 3kg Dik-Dik to the 900kg Eland
Antelope species in Kenya cover one of the widest size ranges of any animal group you will see on safari, from the dik-dik, which stands around 30–40 cm at the shoulder and weighs about 3–6 kg, to the eland, the largest antelope on Earth, where a big bull can weigh up to roughly 900 kg. […]
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 […]
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 […]