Of Old Friends and New: Kenya Revisited - February 2016

[offshorebirder]

I can't help saying that in some of the photos, it looks like the Flamingos are frightened/panicked/fleeing en masse.

 

Perhaps it is photographic artifice - how close were y'all to the Flamingos @@Safaridude? Was it an Eagle or other predator flushing them instead of the helicopter?

Edited March 20, 2016 by offshorebirder

[Safaridude]

@@offshorebirder

 

Yup. Guilty as charged.

 

For the most part, we kept a good distance. A couple of times, there is no doubt that we made them flee. The consolation is that they would settle down very quickly.

[Tom Kellie]

~ @@Safaridude

 

This same issue was raised between two guests at Porini Lion while I was there last month.

One had taken a client in a helicopter to photograph Lake Bogoria's flamingos.

The question that was raised was something to the effect of was it the sound of the helicopter, or its rapid motion, or its proximity which might have unsettled the flamingos.

The Chinese guide and his young Chinese female client maintained that it was the helicopter's motion, while the British naturalist thought that it was the engine noise.

I've ridden in helicopters before, but never in Africa.

Was the engine noise relatively mild, in other words, nothing especially disruptive?

Tom K.

[Safaridude]

@@Tom Kellie @@offshorebirder

 

If I had to guess, it's the noise that bothers them. I can't comment on the relative noise level of the helicopter.

 

There were many instances when the chopper got pretty close to a flock and the flock remained relaxed… as these photos (previously posted) show...

 

 

 

In general, greater flamingos were more relaxed than lesser flamingos.

 

On the question of whether this constitutes "animal harassment"… I think the answer depends entirely on the intensity of the endeavor. I think, in moderate doses, flying over flamingos is akin to walking up to a herd of buffalos in Luangwa or canoeing down the Zambezi next to a pod of hippos. Surely, the buffalos and hippos can and will flee from you, as they are meant to. Now, how much do you pursue closer contact with the buffalos and hippos from there? That's the million dollar question. I have no illusion that flying with flamingos (or going on safari at all, for that matter) is anything other than a luxury and an outlet for the well to do. It is not conservation in itself, and it doesn't help anyone or anything except for one's memory of a beautiful experience. While I can't speak for other people's helicopter excursions, at the end of the day I am satisfied that Andrew and Squack did an excellent job of providing a great experience and at the same time minimizing disturbance.

Edited March 20, 2016 by Safaridude

[Alex The Lion]

@@Safaridude

 

Great read on my Sunday afternoon, looking forward to the next installments.

 

Any news of those new conservancies around the Loita plains you mentioned on your previous trip?

[Tom Kellie]

~ @@Safaridude

 

Thanks a lot for explaining that.

I'm especially interested to know that the greater flamingos tended to be more laidback.

For years I've wondered what quirk in natural selection resulted in the bifurcation between lesser and greater flamingos.

I like what you wrote about intensity being the factor which makes the difference between contact and irritation.

All kidding aside, I wonder if one to two hundred years hence there might be noiseless lighter-than-air craft wafting safari goers near to wildlife with negligible decibels

That's hoping that the wildlife will be there to see and enjoy, in part as a result of your valuable work with the Nature Conservancy and the similar work of so many other Safaritalk members.

Without question, the #1 impact of having been a Safaritalk member for one year has been the steep rise in my conservation consciousness.

I owe you and quite a few others a major debt of gratitude for that.

Hats off to Andrew and Squack for producing the most ineffable of safari experiences, which you've very kindly shared with all of us.

BTW: I'm with @@pault in highly liking those splendid kudus!

Tom K.

[Tdgraves]

So many beautiful photos it's tough to choose a favourite, but I particularly like the leopard silhouette, elephant bedroom river sunset and the photo bombed eles!

[offshorebirder]

Not sure the Flamingos in post #82 look relaxed - could be nervously preparing to take flight as far as the photos show. But I will certainly take @@Safaridude's word for it.

 

However, comparing the disturbance of colonial Waterbirds to Buffalos and Hippos is not exactly apples to apples. Regular disturbance or even ill-timed occasional disturbance causes other colonial Waterbirds like Egrets and Herons to abandon feeding and nesting grounds...

 

I do not want to venture further opinion without being better informed, so I am going to check with some ornithologists and E. African bird conservationists to see what their opinion is regarding helicopter flights over flamingos at places like Lake Bogoria. I will share what I learn in another thread under the African Wildlife forum.

[Safaridude]

@@russell

 

I am afraid I know about 80% of what one should know about those conservancies I had mentioned (especially Pardamat)… just to make me dangerous. What I do know is that whatever happened or didn't happen isn't helping the Loita wildebeest migration situation. The migratory path is blocked even more now (with fencing… I witnessed some of it on the edge of Naboisho) compared to just two years ago when I wrote about it.

Edited March 20, 2016 by Safaridude

[Kitsafari]

Wow. Stunning.

[Safaridude]

Loisaba Conservancy – An Old, Old Friend

 

Literally and figuratively back down to earth, Squack and I have a day and a half to explore Loisaba. A lot has changed since my first visit to Loisaba in 2012. The owners of Loisaba were looking to sell what had been a private ranch, and the risk emerged of a subdivision of the property – or worse, abandonment of wildlife-based land use – by would-be buyers. In stepped The Nature Conservancy (“TNC”). TNC raised funds to transfer the ownership to a newly created Kenya-based land trust called Loisaba Community Trust. More information can be found here:

http://www.loisaba.com/news_details.php?article=1435070163

 

Most importantly, the securing of Loisaba ensures that the wildlife can still use the labyrinth of areas managed for conservation in Laikipia to move freely to and from the northern rangelands.

 

Loisaba may be one of the most scenic as well as biologically diverse properties in Laikipia. Both bush-covered hills and wide-open plains are well represented, the Ewaso Nyiro River skirts and natural springs abound. Currently, the plains are hopping with game. Huge herds of plains zebra and smaller groups of beisa oryx are seen from just about any location on the plains. Surprisingly good numbers of Grevy’s zebra and Mt. Kenya hartebeest are also present. Incidentally, there are no records of Grevy’s zebra occurring in Laikipia prior to the 1970s; and the Mt. Kenya hartebeest (a hybrid form of Coke’s and Jackson’s) has struggled to maintain its density. An interesting hypothesis here: During World War II, tens of thousands of plains zebras and thousands of hartebeests were shot in Laikipia to feed the prisoners of war. Veteran local hands speak of the dearth of those two species following such a cull. Could it be that the Grevy’s zebra moved in from the northern rangelands, filling the void left by the plains zebra in Laikipia? Could it be that the Mt. Kenya hartebeest has never fully recovered from a population level that breached a low threshold?

 

Plains zebra at first light

 

Grevy's zebra

 

Mt. Kenya hartebeest

 

Beisa oryx

 

 

 

Reticulated giraffe

 

The Kiboko Star Beds (not to be confused with the Koija Star Beds, also on Loisaba) have been given a recent facelift, and they are to die for. The rooms and the central area, all built using only local materials, are inconspicuously built onto a ridge overlooking a seasonal tributary. At bedtime, if you wish, your “star bed” is rolled out onto the veranda. Falling asleep while being illuminated by the moonlight, the mosquito netting being the only object between you and the moon, is a singular experience.

 

Star Beds by moonlight

 

Star Beds at dawn

 

Breakfast area

 

The mess area

 

Our last afternoon, Squack and I are hell bent on finding the local pack of wild dogs. A couple of the dogs have been collared in the name of research, and Yussef, our Loisaba guide, is equipped with an antenna. Yussef leads us to the top of a hill straddling Loisaba and the neighboring Sabuk. The antenna confirms the presence of dogs over on the Sabuk side where they have recently denned, but we do not have traversing rights into Sabuk. We glass the area for several minutes to no avail, as the dogs are most likely resting in the thickets. Only if the adults head over our side to hunt would we have a shot at a glimpse, and it is entirely possible that the pack has already hunted and is resting for the day.

 

Just then the radio crackles with the news that a big kudu bull has been detected on the confines of Loisaba’s main lodge. Greater kudus are very rarely seen in Kenya, as they have always occurred in low numbers and were hit hard in the recent past by rinderpest, a cattle-borne disease. The Kenyan kudu is morphologically different, typically small in stature and with a particular facial structure, swaying some to consider it a unique race. And besides, this kudu is likely the same bull that I had seen in 2012 hanging around the main lodge. We abandon the scant hope for wild dogs and opt for the sure kudu.

 

Reuniting with old acquaintances seems to be the early theme of this safari, as the handsome kudu bull turns out to be the same one I had seen in 2012. The main lodge has always been fenced to keep dangerous animals out, and this bull has learned to equate the lodge with safety, only occasionally leaving the confines. Tamed through many years of close contact with humans, he allows me to approach on foot to within 10 meters. With one wary eye clearly fixed on me, he would pick out and feed on the tasty pods of wait-a-bit thorn (Acacia brevispica). Old and slow now, he even has a noticeable limp. May he be so lucky as to die of old age.

 

My old, old friend

 

Going for the pods of wait-a-bit thorn

 

 

 

 

 

This is him back in February 2012

 

A day and a half (a half day spent over Lake Bogoria) is much too short for Loisaba, but Lake Jipe beckons. Even before our charter plane coming to pick us up comes to a complete stop on the Loisaba runway, I can see the brilliant flash of smile and sparkles from the regalia coming from inside the plane… James Sengeny is on board to join us on our Lake Jipe journey. That’s right – Squack and James at Lake Jipe. I know, I know, this is going to be complete overkill. But don’t hate me because I’m beautiful.

 

Squack

 

Bush hyrax

 

A view of a tributary from my room at dawn

 

Crowned crane

 

A big gathering at a dam

 

Grevy's zebra

Edited March 20, 2016 by Safaridude

[Tom Kellie]

~ @@Safaridude

 

The close range kudu images are my morning wake-up call.

Splendid shots which bring out the stunning beauty of the species.

The concept of the star beds is as novel as the photos are excellent.

Your low light image of the mess area is the kind of shot which I highly admire — clarity and detail aplenty.

Thank you for sharing your Loisaba experience.

Tom K.

BTW: When I visited Lake Bogoria in February, 2014 I saw and photographed several female Greater Kudu, but no male was observed.

Edited March 20, 2016 by Tom Kellie

[Safaridude]

Lake Jipe, Tsavo West National Park – A Tale of Two Circuits

 

While Mirjam Evans is putting the finishing touches on the mobile camp at Lake Jipe, Squack, James and I use Severin Camp, located in the northwestern corner of Tsavo West National Park, as a “staging area” for one night.

 

Endowed with fertile, volcanic soil and a fever tree swamp containing year-round water, this area is normally full of game. However, parts of the area now reveal destruction by livestock. Even during the good times, a couple of herds of cattle and goats would normally be found entering the area on the northwestern boundary of Tsavo West in order to water at the fever tree swamp. But what havoc the drought of 2015 must have wreaked… On this occasion, we find the open plain on one side of swamp has not a blade of grass on it and is littered with cattle and goat prints instead. What the ….? Squack, James and I go silent for the rest of the game drive.

 

The morning after, we stick more to the interior parts of the park where the game viewing is much better. Zebra, wildebeest, impala, gerenuk, eland, buffalo and elephant are seen. A pair of lesser kudu in the thickets obliges us for a nanosecond. Even a female leopard is encountered strolling through a korongo. But the degraded fever tree swamp area weighs heavily on our minds.

 

More of a dominance display rather than mating… a buffalo bull violates a calf

 

Only in this corner of Tsavo West are wildebeests found

 

Lesser kudu for a nanosecond

 

A female leopard

 

The “staging” is over. Onto Lake Jipe now. An all-day drive, first through thick acacia scrub and then through an ocean of grass after passing Maktau, brings us to a serene setting near a kopje a short distance from the shores of Lake Jipe. Mirjam, followed by the scampering three-year-old Liam, welcomes us to our home for the next three days.

Edited March 22, 2016 by Safaridude

[Safaridude]

Squack, Mirjam, Liam and James

 

Just us in wilderness. Squack, Mirjam, James, yours truly and, yes, Liam! Conversations flow from one subject to the next. There actually isn’t enough “down time” to complete them.

 

The mobile camp is an Evans family effort: Mirjam is, de facto, the camp manager, and Liam the star of the camp. I had asked for a minimalist camp to bring the costs down; and while the camp is small and basic, every necessity is more than met and Mirjam’s recipes delicious. I imagine this experience would be no different from visiting the Evans household. Liam keeps us company during the day, delighting us with his playfulness and curiosity until fading mid-afternoon, rubbing his eyes, in time for his afternoon nap on a hammock. If he has any plans in the future for a career in wildlife, he has a tremendous head start: he can already identify all the animals out here.

 

Without going into details, suffice it to say we had run into unforeseen logistical difficulties getting in and out of Jipe. Suffice it also to say Squack and Mirjam worked their tails off to overcome these difficulties. I don’t think I have ever seen a guide work as hard during the 3-day stretch as Squack has – all this while still keeping his nightly bathing and bedtime story duties with Liam.

 

It would be a tough task to find a guide more knowledgeable in his craft than Squack. Naturally curious, he appears to be constantly absorbing and inquiring in order to up his game even more. Not that his extensive knowledge is his only positive trait. Squack turns out to be a most principled and humble person. “He is so smart… so smart… and he is a nice fellow”, says James.

 

Speaking of James (http://safaritalk.net/topic/12723-a-chat-with-james-sengeny-maasai-safari-guide/), Squack and I had agreed to treat James as a full guest while at Lake Jipe (James is to later solely guide me in Masai Mara). James fell in love with the Lake Jipe area when we experienced it together in 2012, and there was no way I was going to visit Jipe without him. Of course, James would engage in guide/spotter duties with those acute Maasai eyes. It’s comforting to see my old friend standing sentinel in the vehicle calling out what he sees.

 

Mirjam and Liam

 

Liam

 

James

 

Squack putting up a bucket shower

 

Liam hitching a ride

 

The future warden of Tsavo?

 

A pre-meal routine

 

Breakfast in the dark

 

Our humble but comfortable mess tent

Edited March 22, 2016 by Safaridude

[Tom Kellie]

~ @@Safaridude

 

To my old eyes that wildebeest photograph is just about as good as it gets. Super color!

The young leopardess is a treat. Very glad that you saw her.

The view of the mess tent looks like what praying mantises imagine extra-terrestrial life to look like.

Tom K.

[offshorebirder]

@@Tom Kellie @@offshorebirder

 

If I had to guess, it's the noise that bothers them. I can't comment on the relative noise level of the helicopter.

 

There were many instances when the chopper got pretty close to a flock and the flock remained relaxed… as these photos (previously posted) show...

 

 

 

In general, greater flamingos were more relaxed than lesser flamingos.

 

On the question of whether this constitutes "animal harassment"… I think the answer depends entirely on the intensity of the endeavor. I think, in moderate doses, flying over flamingos is akin to walking up to a herd of buffalos in Luangwa or canoeing down the Zambezi next to a pod of hippos. Surely, the buffalos and hippos can and will flee from you, as they are meant to. Now, how much do you pursue closer contact with the buffalos and hippos from there? That's the million dollar question. I have no illusion that flying with flamingos (or going on safari at all, for that matter) is anything other than a luxury and an outlet for the well to do. It is not conservation in itself, and it doesn't help anyone or anything except for one's memory of a beautiful experience. While I can't speak for other people's helicopter excursions, at the end of the day I am satisfied that Andrew and Squack did an excellent job of providing a great experience and at the same time minimizing disturbance.

 

@@Safaridude - how close was "pretty close"? Because if it was less than 1500 feet, it was illegal.

 

In reaching out to experts I have been told that there is a provision in Kenya's aviation rules that lists flying at less than 1,500 feet altitude when over National Parks, National Reserves and Game Reserves as a prosecutable offense - except in an emergency or in the process of landing and taking off from a licensed aerodrome.

 

I managed to find an online reference to this:

 

http://eaip.austrocontrol.at/all/hk/140915/eAIP-AIP---Republic-of-Kenya-201409160000/Html/eAIP/HK-ENR-1.1-en-GB.html

 

"The attention of all persons in command of an aircraft is drawn to the necessity to refrain from low flying over National parks, National Reserves and Game Reserves and to the fact that under existing legislation, provisions have been made for prosecution in cases of intentional low flying.

 

 

1.2.2 To protect Game in areas detailed in 1.2.4 below, persons in command should not fly below 1500 feet above ground level except in an emergency or when in the process of landing and taking off from a licensed aerodrome."

 

Section 1.2.4 goes on to list Kenyan National Parks, Reserves and Game Reserves. Lake Bogoria is listed.

 

 

This prohibition is for good reason and I contend the 1,500 foot minimum height should be increased over Flamingo-hosting lakes. Like shorebirds, Flamingos live on a knife-edge energy budget and even a little regular disturbance can create conditioning problems for the birds (particularly soon before breeding season). Disturbance can also cause abandonment of feeding and nesting grounds.

 

Another point:

When comparing Flamingo disturbance to Safarigoers' disturbance of Buffalo for example - the question arises: do the helicopter flights contribute a portion of their fee to Lake Bogoria National Reserve or to Flamingo conservation?

 

More to come soon in a thread on the Wildlife Conservation forum.

[Safaridude]

@@offshorebirder

 

Well, I can’t comment on precisely what heights we were flying at various times. I can comment on two things: (1) As aforementioned, I do not think at all that we unduly disturbed the flamingos, and we kept a good distance, whatever that may have been, most of the times. I cannot speak for other helicopter rides, but I felt we were extremely respectful; and (2) No way would the gentlemen involved (and I include myself here) willfully violate park and aviation laws. I realize you don't have to believe any of this.

 

I am a bit stunned that what was supposed to be a happy trip report has turned into a public prosecution. I understand and appreciate your concern and passion for birds and conservation in general. I can assure you that I and the other gentlemen share the same level of concern and passion and would never willfully do anything damaging to conservation. If previously unknown information comes to light, you can rest assured that appropriate corrections/adjustments will be made.

 

I wish you had chosen a different, more discrete path to obtaining your answers and goals. Social media can be a dangerous place. I am not so concerned about myself as I am about the others – not only consummate professionals at their jobs, but also conservationists at heart, walking the walk and fighting the good fight on the ground every day in their daily lives – truly remarkable people that I am privileged to know. To think that an ounce of their reputation could be damaged by a public interrogation is, to me, gut-wrenching.

 

I will no longer comment on this matter.

[twaffle]

Seeing Squack's camp in Lake Jipe reminds me just how organic and healing safari experiences can be. Lovely to see how Liam has grown into such a consummate little safari goer. I'd rather think of the Lake Jipe camp than the swamp at Tsavo West, very upsetting. Sometimes trying to find the positives when so much is wrong with the wildlife situation in Kenya is hard and dispiriting but with carefully planned trips it is possible, as you've shown. The contrast is noticeable.

 

I hesitate to comment on the Bogoria flamingoes as I find it a little distasteful, this current fascination people have to attack people who are posting their trip reports publicly in their reports. So many better ways to query and ask for clarification. If it continues, there will be very few trip reports being posted, at least that's what I fear. Having spent many years as an aerial photographer as well as piloting small planes myself, I know that judging the height above the ground was not something I could ever do without instruments. Asking Safaridude to give a height is a bit rough. I'm sure that his professional and highly skilled pilot would have had it totally under control, and suggesting anything else is a bit like fishing to find something to complain about.

[AKR1]

While opposing views and diverse backgrounds of folks on ST generally makes for healthy debates there are times when this is not so. THIS is such a time. Helicopters tend to bring out folks who inherently don’t like use of them on safaris. I too, several years ago, was put down here for talking about renting a helicopter to take shots of the landscape and animals from above in the Okavango delta. Harassment of animals was the theme then, it remains as unsubstantiated today as then.

 

So let’s take the gloves off here. @@offshorebirder comments above, whatever the intention, are unacceptable. Regardless of your views on this, to post regulations on flight levels to an individual who is not the pilot, on a public forum, in an accusatory tone is absolutely uncalled for and is borderline harassment. I think it’s a form of envy- helicopter charters are very expensive- perversely pontificated as some kind of conservation concern for the welfare of animals/birds. Compared to all the immediate, clear and present danger to the wildlife in most of Africa, it’s bizarre that tourists who bring revenue to the area and are far more valuable to the locals than most local wildlife, especially birds, is being accused of disturbing flamingos just because he took a helicopter ride over an area, clearly at a considerable distance from the birds.

 

To make matters worse, to attack someone who has done more for conservation then almost all of us here is outrageous. I know @@Safaridude and this forum is far richer for his involvement. His trip reports generously and promptly shared with all, along with his many knowledgeable contributions make this forum a far more attractive place. Several marginal members in the past have caused others who contributed far more here, to leave ST due to snide comments etc. Let’s collectively make sure the same thing does not happen here.

 

Hopefully someone will respond with an apology.

[Game Warden]

Please refer to my new topic on the theme of adversarial attitudes when posting here.

 

Then, should they wish, members can discuss points I've outlined there, rather than tying up @@Safaridude's trip report, should he wish to continue on with it.

 

Thanks, Matt

[Tom Kellie]

~ @@Safaridude and @@twaffle

 

A technical question about pronunciation, if you don't mind.

As both of you have been to Lake Jipe, you know how it's pronounced. I don't.

While In Kenya, I've heard conflicting pronunciations.

Does ‘Jipe’ rhyme with ‘stripe’?

Or, does it rhyme with ‘skip-day’?

Thanks!

Tom K.

Edited March 23, 2016 by Tom Kellie

[Safaridude]

Well, shifting gears and forging ahead now… back to the TR.

[Safaridude]

Interlude: The Fringe-eared oryx

 

 

 

 

The tassels on the ears flapping, their seeming to wave bye-bye as the animal trots away, leaving you in frustration once again… the fringe-eared oryx on the dry, dusty plains with Kili in the background, for me, is quintessential, untamed East Africa.

 

The fringe-eared oryx (Oryx beisa callotis) is generally considered conspecific with the beisa oryx (Oryx beisa beisa), though some “splitters” consider them to be two distinct species, with the Tana River geographically splitting the two (fringe-eareds to the south of the River). The two subspecies are morphologically markedly different, however: the fringe-eareds are stouter, darker and with those ear tassels (“callotis” means “beautiful ears” in Greek). These two oryxes were once thought to be conspecific with the gemsbok (Oryx gazella) of Southern Africa until genetic tests proved enough differences. There is no doubt, however, given the morphological and behavioral similarities amongst the O. beisa subspecies and O. gazella, that once upon a time there were uninterrupted dry, hot savannas favored by these oryxes linking their East and Southern African populations.

 

(It should be noted here that there are two other species falling under the genus, Oryx: the scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx dammah) and the Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx). These are very different from the fringe-eared oryx, beisa oryx and gemsbok.)

 

The fringe-eared oryx, restricted to Northern Tanzania and Southern Kenya south of the Tana River, is in trouble. My informed guess is that there may only be about 5,000 – 8,000 of them left – remarkable, considering that a game count in the 1970s revealed a population of 23,000 in the Tsavo ecosystem alone. Most alarming is the fact that pockets of their traditional strongholds are routinely and rapidly falling by the wayside.

 

In Tanzania, a population that migrates into Tarangire National Park during the dry season has dwindled from 1,000+ to perhaps a couple of hundred. They are virtually extinct in the northern half of Tarangire and rarely seen in the south. The once extensive Natron – Longido population has been severely depleted. Although there may still be a couple of hundred left in Natron, a 2010 game count revealed only one small herd present in Longido. An Ngorongoro Conservation Area population that used to make occasional forays into Serengeti National Park (there is a record of oryx being seen once at Seronera in the 1970s) has, to the best of my knowledge, disappeared.

 

In Kenya, a population of 700+ (a 1980s estimate) in Amboseli National Park and the surrounding group ranches has dwindled to a couple of hundred. The aforesaid 23,000 in the Tsavo ecosystem (“Oryx were perhaps the most numerous of the antelope…”, writes Daphne Sheldrick in the 1973 book, Animal Kingdom: The Story of Tsavo, the Great African Game Park) are now down to perhaps 3,000 – 4,000.

 

The plight of the fringe-eared oryx is rich with irony – considering that the animal is practically nature’s perfection. As is the case with its cousins, beisa oryx and gemsbok, fringe-eareds are able to cope with heat as well as moisture deficit better than just about any large mammal: the large body takes longer to heat up; the white belly deflects sunlight; a complicated network of vessels located in the nose acts like a radiator to cool the blood circulating through the brain; in any case, the brain can tolerate high temperatures that would easily prove lethal to other mammals; the rapier-like horns can be used to fight, often a better option than heat-inducing and energy-sapping flight; the urine can be concentrated and feces expelled rock-hard in order to preserve moisture; and they are able to obtain sufficient moisture from their food by feeding on dew-laden food at night and even digging with their large hooves for melons and tubers.

 

Though the fringe-eared oryx and its cousins can thus outcompete most other ungulates under the most arduous of conditions, they were blessed with one more adaptive trait that is almost superfluous and proving to be a curse in this shrinking world: the ability and propensity to move great distances. This trait has the fringe-eared oryx, in particular, confronting fences, roads and villages as its range is becoming fragmented. Hunted (for its meat) using domestic dogs in certain parts of its range (oryx will eventually turn and fight against its canine tormentors, allowing the human hunter to easily close in for the kill) and in any case routinely poached with snares or “lamps” (ungulates tend to freeze when spotlighted at night), the fringe-eared oryx is fast disappearing – with little fanfare.

 

The fringe-eared oryx, to me, more than any other species, represents the bush-flecked “East Rift Valley Maasailand” (Hemingway’s East Africa, if you will), an iconic piece of wilderness, at the heart of which stands Mt. Kilimanjaro. Whether one considers it a separate species or simply one of the two subspecies of O. beisa, allowing the fringe-eared oryx to flirt with extinction in the wild is to debase the millennia of evolution, which perfected this most adaptable ungulate and also forged the different morphologies within the genus, Oryx.

 

Tsavo remains the only protected area in Africa with a fringe-eared oryx population in four figures. The Lake Jipe area of Tsavo West is one of the last remaining strongholds within the Tsavo ecosystem. It is a privilege to have a chance to view them here.

[Safaridude]

@@Tom Kellie

 

It's pronounced, "Ji-pee", or "Ji-pe".

[twaffle]

@@Safaridude I have struggled to get close enough to one fringe eared oryx to photograph it clearly, let alone a herd, so well done for that achievement. It seems to be one of those species that is declining under the conservation radar as far as campaigns go. I have some slides of Dad's from our years visiting Tsavo in the '60s that shows herds of them but like most of the images from back then, the quality just doesn't match what even the simplest camera and lens can manage these days. Tsavo is but a shell of its magnificence of days gone by. Both sides of the Mombasa road.

 

Thank you for the detailed information on the fringe eared oryx.

 

@@Tom Kellie Swahili has very strict pronunciation of its vowels, unlike in English where you can have short vowels, long vowels etc. It becomes problematic when a word is taken from the English language because then pronunciation becomes a mix between what the colonials would have used and what a native Swahili speaker would have used. Such as 'zebra' where the swahili pronunciation should be with a short 'e' sound but where anyone influenced by Colonial British heritage is more likely to say 'zeebra' which frankly sounds a bit pretentious. Having said that, you hear many native swahili speakers using 'zeebra' so language like everything morphs.

 

'e' should be pronounced somewhat like the 'e' in 'get', and 'i' would be pronounced like 'ee' in 'see'. Anything around what Safaridude has written will get you understood, Jipe with no pronunciation of the final 'e' may give you raised eyebrows.