9 days kenya safari

Day 1 : Arrival :Nairobi
Meet with our representative for a safari briefing and transfer to your hotel for rest.Dinner and overnight at the hotel.

Day 2: Nairobi
Have a half day excursion to visit daphine shedrick an elephant orphanage,later proceed to giraffe centre a  rehab centre for the rare Rothschild giraffe,have lunch on your own account before ending your safari with a visit to Karen Blixen museum home to the famous “out of Africa “movie actress Karen.Return to your late afternoon and have rest.Dinner and overnight at your hotel.

Day 3: Nairobi – Amboseli National Park
Depart Nairobi in the morning and drive through the scenic Athi Plains and into the bush country of Amboseli National Park, home to the legendary Maasai tribesmen and famous for huge herds of Elephan to arrive in time for Lunch. Amboseli is big game country: Lion, Cheetah antelope, Zebra, Wildebeest, buffalo and giraffe. The afternoon game run is planned to introduce you to intense beauty and drama that fill each day here. Africa's highest mountain  –can be seen from your lodge on a clear day.Dinner and  overnight at the lodge or camp.

Day 4: Amboseli National Park – Nakuru
After an early morning game drive followed by breakfast at the lodge,depart for nakuru to arrive in the afternoon with lunch in Nairobi. You will proceed to the park for the days game drives and later check in at your lodge .You will be confronted with one of the worlds greatest ornithological spectacle as well as an abundance of wildlife within this small park. You will get a chance to spot the White rhino, the lion, the Hyaena, baboons, waterbucks among other wildlife. Dinner and  overnight at the lodge or camp.

 Day 5: Lake Nakuru National Park-Lake Naivasha

You will have an early breakfast then depart to Lake Naivasha.You will arrive at Lake Naivasha in time for Lunch. Freshen up, then relax at your Lodge or proceed for  a walk at hells gate national park where you enjoy a walk with wild animals such as buffaloes, giraffes,impalas and warthogs,later go down to the gorge returning in the late evening to your lodge . Dinner and  overnight at the lodge or camp.

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 Day 6: Lake Naivasha-Masai Mara.

After breakfast you will depart Lake Naivasha for Masai Mara. Enjoy the plains enroute. You will arrive at your lodge in Masai Mara in time for Lunch. Freshen up after lunch and proceed for an evening game drive. Dinner and overnight at Mara Sopa Lodge.Full board.

 Day 7 : Masai Mara

You will spend the day viewing game in the Mara where all the Big Five as well as a variety of antelopes and lesser kudu may be observed. The big cats, lions are found in large prides everywhere.Cheetahs and leopards are harder to spot but are still fairly common. Other common animals include Maasai giraffes, baboons, Warthogs, bat-eared foxes, grey jackals, and matriarchal clans of spotted Hyenas. You also have an option of visiting the  Maasai Village or a balloon Safari at an extra cost.Dinner and  overnight at the lodge or camp.

Day 8:  Maasai Mara.

You will take packed meals and venture further into the reserve towards Masai Mara river in search of the big cats, hippo pools, giant crocodiles and off course the world famous crossing point for the wildebeests, among other wildlife that this park has in store for you. Dinner and  overnight at the lodge or camp.

Day 9: Masai Mara- Nairobi

After breakfast depart the Masai Mara for Nairobi. Stop for panoramic views of the Great Rift Valley en-route. Arrive in Nairobi in the afternoon. Transfer to the airport in time for your flight back home or further arrangements.

The aberdare bongos

Scientific Name: (Boocercus euryceros )is a herbivorous browser which weighs from 500-900 lbs(250-450 kgs),can reache a height upto 50 inches at the shoulder,have a gestation period of about 9 months and have a life span of 19 years in captivity.The bongo is the largest and heaviest forest antelope. The large ears are believed to sharpen hearing, and the distinctive coloration may help bongos identify one another in their dark forest habitats. Bongos have no special secretion glands and so rely less on scent to find one another than do other similar antelopes. 

Both males and females have spiraled lyre-shaped horns that resemble those of the related antelope species of nyalas, sitatungas, bushbucks, kudus and elands. They have a hunched posture, with the head held up and the horns extended along the back.Bongos are found in rain forest with dense undergrowth. Specifically they are found in the Lowland Rain Forest of West Africa and the Congo Basin to the Central African Republic and Southern Sudan and kenya . Bongos are mostly nocturnal. Male bongos are solitary, seeking out females only during mating season. Timid and easily frightened, bongos will move away after a scare, running at considerable speed, even through dense undergrowth. 

Adult males of similar size or age seem to try to avoid one another, but occasionally they will meet and spar with their horns in a ritualized manner. Sometimes serious fights will take place, but they are usually discouraged by visual displays, in which the males bulge their necks, roll their eyes and hold their horns in a vertical position while slowly pacing back and forth in front of the other male. They seek out females only at mating time; when they are with a herd of females, males do not coerce them or try to restrict their movements as do some other antelopes. Although bongos are mostly nocturnal, they are occasionally active during the day. When in distress the bongo emits a bleat. It uses a limited number of vocalizations, mostly grunts and snorts. The females have a weak, mooing contact call for their young. 

Females prefer to use traditional calving grounds restricted to certain areas. The newborn calf lies out in hiding for a week or more, receiving short visits by the mother to suckle it. The calves grow rapidly and can soon accompany their mothers in the nursery herds. Their horns also grow rapidly and begin to show in 31/2 months.Bongos are susceptible to disease such as rinderpest but various predators also take their toll. The young are vulnerable to pythons, leopards and hyenas. Lions have also been reported to kill bongos, but today the most serious predators are people living near forests, who often hunt bongos with dogs and set snares for them. Bongos are shy animals. They often are solitary, but sometimes accompany one another in pairs. Females and their young form small groups.

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The Spinders

Most of see them and ignore them even some going into an extent of killing them. Spiders exist in all over the world, both venomous and non venomous. In your adventure safari holiday is a must encounter bust most are unnoticed .Spiders form   a large and diverse group. They vary in size from tiny species less than 1 mm across, to giant exceeding 15 cm. spiders usually have unsegmented abdomen, strongly constricted at the end. With a group of finger-like spinnerets at the head. Spiders can be divided into two groups namely: mygalomorphae which are primitive and contain the big hairy spiders and Araneomorphae the true spiders. The difference between the two is the way the jawswork. The jaws of the mygalomorphae strike downwards, whereas the jaws of the araneomorphs oppose each other.

Spiders can live for a long time without food as long as they have access to water. External digestion takes place with use of venom ,which serves the function of immobilizing the prey and pouring digestive enzymes on them. These enzymes gradually digest the prey ‘s internal organs and the spider then sucks up the liquid. In order for successful mating to take place, the structure of the male palp has to be complementary to that of the female epigyne, much like a lock and key mechanism. 

Spiders produces silk which are produced by the abdominal silk glands and at least seven different kinds are known to exist. It is proteins with amazing properties, for the strongest types have a breath taking strain of that of steel wire of the same diameter. The silk produced can stretch to roughly double its length before it breaks. Spiders often recycle the protein by eating their silk before they rebuild a web. It has been shown that some species eat the silk as pollen gathers on it, as food source. Silk is produced as a liquid and is emitted from the spinnerets much as tooth paste from the tube. The spiders may climb to some point, lifts up its abdomen and releases a stream of silk which is called ballooning. This is caught by wind and the spider floats gently away. 

The longest lived spiders are those of the trap doors which may live for up to twenty years. Some common seen spiders in your Kenya safari adventure includes; of Araneidae family, cteniziade, eresidae and scytodidae.many varieties  exists in the world with black window spiders seen most with most  . They have a varying colour and other minor details but all of these species have similar lifestyle and all are dangerously toxic. Next time when you are in your safari holiday, have a look at them also since they are very interesting insects.

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The Dung Beetles

Beetles make up the largest order in the whole animal kingdom, approximately 300,000 species have been discovered. Dung beetle belongs to the family scarabaeidae together with rhino beetles. In Africa there are about 2000 species of dung beetles. Dung beetles were associated with resurrection in ancient Egypt, due to their behavior of burying dung and themselves and reemerging a couple of months later. Symbols of dung beetle were therefore placed in tombs in the belief that the deceased will be resurrected. Males carry horns, which serve the function of impressing females. 

The front part of the tooth is toothless; this serrated edge is used to cut out dung. The front arms are toothed and used as digging instruments. The thorax is well developed to aid in flying and digging. Dung beetle have antennae, which are covered with sensory organs, these are fanned out are used by beetle to smell the air for dung. The mount parts are highly adapted to feeding on dung, they act like a filtering brush when feeding, discarding the unwanted bits. The hind legs are bowed and longer for ball rolling.

Males usually initiate ball rolling in the ball rolling type. After cutting the ball away, he moves away from the pile of dung and secrets a pheromone to attract the female. once a female have been attracted by the scent ,she will make some adjustments to the dung ball and then either follow the  follow the male, or perch on top of the ball.  In doing so the female, conserves much needed energy for the brood stage .a suitable site is located, often under a bush and the dung ball is buried. At this stage, mating takes places over  a period of two to three days. 

The male then abandons the brood and then returns to normal activities. The females takes the ball apart and removes the sticks ,stones ,etc and rebuilds it, leaving  a chimney in the top of the ball vents for the larvae, which digs down into the ball and breathe through  the event .larvae emerges and remain  in the dung ball for four to five months until the dung beetle finally emerges.

The females feeds on fungus growing on the dung ball, this serves to clean the ball. The larvae do not defecate in the ball, they store their feaces in a fermentation chamber and use the fermented dung to plaster their ball as it begins to show signs of weakness. Dung beetles are divided in four main types namely; telecoprids , paracoprids, endocoprids and kleptocoprids.The rollers (telecoprids) make up only 10%of dung beetles found In Africa. They get balls of dung away from the dung heap as quickly as possible to avoid the competition, sometimes it takes only thirty seconds to cut out a suitable ball. Some of these balls roll a food ball and a separate and lager brood ball. Most roll backward, some forwards.

The tunnellers (paracoprids)are active during the early evening and night. They emerge from the ground  and can measure light intensity, once the desired conditions are present and the beetle emerges like a rocket and searches for food. Once located it tunnels under the dung  and constructs a series  of tunnels under heap into  which it rounded balls of dung  are stored and used. The dwellers (endocoprids) live in the dung heap itself and also cut out balls of dung. These species are well adapted to cold, dry conditions where the ground is hard. kleptocoprids steal other dung beetles balls and roll them as their own.

Dung beetles are of great significance since they constructs tunnels network underground, this aerates the ground .They fertilize the ground by spreading the dung out and burying it. They also prevent flies and maggots and other parasites from breeding  in the dung, in vast numbers by dispersing it within a couple of hours, thus preventing the spread of deadly diseases. They also control human feaces where about 40,000 tons of waste are buried by dung beetles. Livestock also dependent  on dung beetles, which protect them against flies ,parasites like worms ,and against ticks.

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The laughter of Spotted hyenas

Spotted Hyena Scientific Name: Crocuta crocuta (spotted hyena) Swahili : Fisi Which weighs from 90 to 190 lbs, have a gestation period of about 100 days and stay in captivity upto 22 years. The hyena (spelled "hyeana" in some parts of the world) is Africa's most common large carnivore. 

In ancient Egypt, hyenas were domesticated, fattened and eaten, and in turn, humans have on occasion become food for hyenas. Reputed to be cowardly and timid, the hyena can be bold and dangerous, attacking animals and humans. Female spotted hyenas are dominant over the males and outweigh them by about 3 pounds. It is difficult to distinguish between the sexes in the field because external female genitalia have a superficial similarity to those of the male. Spotted hyenas are found in grasslands, woodlands, savannas, subdeserts, forest edges and mountains and an animal you won't miss while in your kenya safari.

Spotted hyenas are organized into territorial clans of related individuals. The center of clan activity is the den, where the cubs are raised and individuals meet. Hyenas mark and patrol their territories by depositing a strong-smelling substance produced by the anal glands on stalks of grass along the boundaries. "Latrines," places where members of a clan deposit their droppings, also mark territories. Hyenas are social animals that communicate with one another through specific calls, postures and signals. Hyenas usually bear litters of two to four cubs, which, unlike the other two species, are born with their eyes open. 

Cubs begin to eat meat from kills near the den at about 5 months, but they are suckled for as long as 12 to 18 months, an unusually long time for carnivores. At about 1 year, cubs begin to follow their mothers on their hunting and scavenging forays. Until then, they are left behind at the den with a babysitting adult. The spotted hyena is a skillful hunter but also an opportunistic scavenger. It consumes animals of various types and sizes, carrion, bones, vegetable matter and other animals' droppings.

The powerful jaws and digestive tract of the hyena allow it to process and obtain nutrients from skin and bones. The only parts of prey not fully digested are hair, horns and hooves - these are regurgitated in the form of pellets. The high mineral content of the bones hyenas consume make their droppings a highly visible, chalky white. Hyenas make a variety of vocalizations, including wailing calls, howling screams and the well-known "laughter" used to alert other clan members up to three miles away of a food source. Hyenas eat a great variety of animal products, vegetation and, according to campers, even aluminum pots and pans. 

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