Safari Learn

Giving Back

in: Activities, Safari Experience, Safari Learn by: Lydia Jwan

Say one day you are sitting at a café after a long day of work taking iced tea or whatever it is you fancy. Across the road from the restaurant is a curio shop which seems to be having a sale. You’ve never seen a curio shop do promotional sales before,  at least not one with mascots in giraffe and elephant costumes. How do they do it with all that heat – you wonder. Going back to your phone, you hear chatters and giggles. One laugh, in particular, attracts your attention. So you look up and see this group of school kids in hysterics. They look so fascinated by the mascots -I mean their eyes are even sparkling (am just assuming at this point cause how can you possibly see their eyes from across the road in a coffee shop).

They have been standing at the curio shop for almost an hour now. And as you leave to go home, you hear them talk of how they’d love to meet the real giraffes and elephants. The longing in their voices is so overwhelming. It takes you down memory lane. Childhood memories of going for school trips to national parks and how you could not sleep the night before any of these trips. You’d love to give them this experience because every child deserves to be happy.

At the Giraffe centre, we have enjoyed the privilege of bringing smiles to thousands of these children. The inspiration that brought to life our Ecological trips was not just born over a cup of tea but the desire to educate and pass on the knowledge of conservation. So for the last nineteen years, we have committed to taking school children, especially from rural or disadvantaged backgrounds to these day-long trip.

Each year, in partnership with Kerrigan Waves Trust, we take students from  Mukuru Kayaba Primary School to the Ecological trips. These trips’ aim is to learn while having fun as some would call it- edutainment.  It starts with a trip to our centre. Here the kids can feed the giraffes and if lucky kiss them too. The next stop takes us to Mamba Village, which is an Ostrich and Crocodile Farm. Did you know that crocodiles don’t have tongues? And that male Ostriches are called Roasters? Thought you should know, Cool stuff there!

From Mamba Village, the school proceeds to Nairobi Animal Orphanage. Here they see the Big Five animals and many other animals that have been orphaned or injured and are under rehabilitation. It is an amazing sight to come close to a roaring Lion or a panting buffalo. Their final stop is the David Sheldrick Animal Orphanage. Have you seen an elephant up close? They are magnificent creatures. Tender giants of sorts, and quite frankly my bias. The kids learn how emotional and demanding elephants can be, which explains why they are very social.

The day ends with a spectacular meal in which the educators and children interact and share exciting things they learnt from the trip. Eventually,  we take them back to school and wait to read their compositions on that experience. It is a fulfilling job to give back, a habit that should be inculcated in all of us.

A tale of wildlife photography

in: Safari Experience, Safari Learn by: Lydia Jwan

If you are an intrepid soul that only finds peace in the knowing, then David Attenborough would be your best friend. He being a curious individual by nature has spent a better part of his life exploring the wild and bringing it closer to our homes. I remember for the longest time the only TV channel we’d watch as a family that resonated with all of us and would almost immediately put an end to the remote control fights would be the Nat Geo Documentary – Blue Planet.

His calm voiceover as he spoke of the high seas and low tides took us to places we’d never been. I blame my introverted nature on of some these series because I would prefer sinking to a world of fantasy, my little haven of sorts, than having a mindless chatter with those around me. I know what you are thinking. Yes, this is not proper behaviour, especially in cooperate spaces. I am working on it. There’s always room for the personal growth right?

The other day, Netflix released David Attenborough’s documentary- Planet Earth. Now, I won’t lie to you because no one is paying me to promote it, but the truth is the series is dope! To show you that I have grown as an individual, my thought process consequently evolved from the lines of, are mermaids real to more sophisticated thoughts like what is the role photography in the conservation of wildlife?

So I did a bit of nose-diving, thank God for the internet!  and came across two intriguing wildlife photographers. Their works could arguably stem on inspiration from Sir Attenborough. Fun fact:  Sir David Attenborough was knighted by the Queen of England for his exemplary work in natural history programmes.

 

Let’s start with the less complicated photographer-  Matty Smith. So Matty is an ocean explorer and photographer who mainly focuses on showing the difference between the dry land and the deep seas. His collection, a Parallel Universe: Windows beneath the Waves, showcases some of the best- half over half under – water photographs the world has seen.

 His signature style of taking images of marine life has won him internationally acclaimed awards and recognition. One of his photos that gives me the creeps is the  Smiling Assassin which shows an American Crocodile lurking on the water surface but seems somewhat ready to pounce on his unwary self.

Karren Lunney is the second photographer who deals with more contemporary and  complex  ideas.  Her concepts rally around liminal spaces. In this case, liminal spaces mean states of transition, a point of uncertainty where a thing has ended, and another is yet to come.

 Take, for example, a rite of passage, the point just before you are initiated into adulthood. It is a point of uncertainty, and these are the kind of situations Karren loved to document in the wild.

Her famous collection, Dante’s Inferno. Showcases a confusion of wildebeest ( for my diligent students a confusion of wildebeest is the collective name for a group of wildebeest) migration as they cross over from the Maasai Mara to Serengeti plains. During the migration, the Wildebeest cross the Mara River which is inhabited by crocodiles, and some of the wildebeests fall, victim. In Karren’s view, it is a point of uncertainty if the wildebeests will make it to the other side of the river. It is also a test of bravery as with all rites of passage.

You all have to agree with me when I say, wildlife photography is not just a way of documenting our heritage but also a way of life. It is rather sad to note that very few Africans have actually ventured into this art of photography. And as the world evolves, I do hope we begin to document our own beauty as a continent.

Sick in the Wild

in: Safari Learn1 Comment by: Lydia Jwan

You know for the tallest animal existing, poise and glamour
is their way of life – nothing of news. 
And as the Victoria Secret’s of the wild ( Uhm,, they don’t call
themselves that, but work with me here) being sick is not a welcome respite. In
fact, sickness is just never a topic to whine about around there, I mean what
else would you want when you’ve got antiseptic saliva?

Well, that may not have been the case for Nandi the giraffe.
On Saturday, we notice that Nandi is gloomy and aloof. One might mistake this
for the cold weather  Nairobi has been
serving us, but at a closer look, his ever-smooth fur coat is rough, and his
nose is running.  Could he be sick? But
from what? Remember when I said giraffes have antiseptic saliva? Well, let’s
just say diarrhoea doesn’t care much about that because Nandi our girl had a
severe running stomach.

In this millennial age, we could call Nandi a foodie because
she, unlike others, is not keen on observing her diet. So anything and
everything works for her, and we all know how that goes. The exact food she
might have eaten that caused this is yet to be understood, but some speculate
grass. Good news ! she’s now under the medication and close supervision from
the rangers. Her health is steadily improving as she recuperates in isolation.

Over the last decade, a strange disease has also been noted in one of Rothschild’s cousins, the Masai giraffes. This species of giraffes widely spread in Northern Tanzania and Southern Kenya have been observed to have a  rare kind of skin disease. The disease is characterized by large grey crusty lesions that form on different parts the giraffe’s body mostly around the legs and the neck region.

Giraffes with these lesions seem rather inert  and could be an easy target for predators such
as lions. While it’s a feast for the Lions, the giraffes can’t help but feel
offended because they have never been known to give in so easily. And while the
disease has not been recorded in the Rothschild Giraffe, its causes and
treatment are yet to be found.

Research is still being conducted on the GSD ( Giraffe Skin
Disease) to determine the exact cause of the infection and if this disease is
mortal to the species. In other news, watch your diet, stay healthy, don’t be
like Nandi!

Fascinating Life Of The Dik-Diks

in: Animal Habitat, Safari Experience, Safari Learn by: admin

“Till death do us part”, is a promise that seem to be a tall order as years go by if statistics are anything to go by. The amount of sacrifice that is needed to keep the promise seems hard as life goes by.

 

Not for the Dik-Diks though. These small antelopes, not the smallest though, have a very simple yet interesting way of life and interaction with their family.

Normally, antelope family walk in large groups. Majorly for protection, even though the female to male ratio is a little big. The stronger the male, the more the females. The way of the wild is more of conquest between males. Most animals in the have to mark their territory in some way, before that, they have to fight for that territory. For the Dik-diks, however, the way of the wild is love as opposed to conquest, encouragement over battle and explore over war.

Their gestation period is 169-174 days  which is roughly 6 months. Mark you, an adult Dik-dik is the height of 16 inches at most with the weight of 15 pounds at most. Which makes them probably smaller than a dog. No, don’t take them for pets though, they are a rare breed. Much respect to them

Remember, the way of Dik-diks is encouragement over battle? Most wild animals chase away their young ones once they become adults as they are seen as competition for territory. Even here at Giraffe Center, Eddie is already having trouble with Jock (VI) (Betty’s Male Calf) and Olerai (Kelly’s Male Calf) yet they are not yet Adults. For Dik-diks, once they are adults, which is 7 months after birth, the Male Dik-Dik “sends away” the “Adult” Dik-dik out of their territory to go start a new home.

Dik-diks stay as couples. They stay together till death do part them. The male dik-dik send away the male young one as also the female dik dik sends away the female young one.

As to the remaining pair, they stay together, have other  young ones. If by bad luck, one of them dies due to any circumstance, the remaining one becomes suicidal. The remaining one can even surrender to a predator due to loneliness. Crazy I know.

They use their tears and to mark their territory. Urine and feces work too.

For some reason, some people use their skin to make gloves, hence their biggest threat are humans.

Well, what if we just leave them alone, they would be walking around Lake Nakuru National park giving us great examples of being in love. But no, we had to make gloves out of them, shame on us. Did you know that one Dik-dik  can only make one pair of gloves. Think about it.