Kenya

‘Jambo’ everyone! That’s hello in Swahili – a language spoken in Kenya. My name is Oki and I am an oxpecker.

My friend Zeb Zebra has asked me to write about our trip to Kenya, which happened last year. So I’m going to tell you about a few of our favourite areas and show you some pictures. I really hope you’ll like them!

We’ll begin with the Maasai Mara National Reserve. This area is famous for the Great Migration! Huge herds of wildebeest, zebra, and two types of gazelle move through the area in search of food, from July until October.

However, the Reserve has massive amounts of wildlife throughout the year! For example, there are lion, rhino, leopard, elephant, and buffalo, known together as the Big Five. And there’s a lot of birdlife!

Seeing the Great Migration is one of many things you can do in the Reserve. You can watch the herds while you are on a game drive, or you can take a hot air balloon ride and take a look from the skies! That’s what Zeb and I did. The herds’ crossing of a river called the River Mara is spectacular!

If you’ve read Zeb’s first post in the Zeblog, you’ll know that Zeb got a fright in the Maasai Mara, while he was crossing the River Mara to get to the plains on the other side! A big crocodile came at him, one just like this:

Zeb was so frightened, he ran all the way to Amboseli National Park!

Amboseli is another of our favourite areas of Kenya. It has lots of different features – plains, woods, and swamps. The swamps provide water for wildlife all year round, so there is plenty to see here.

In fact, Amboseli is well worth a visit if you love elephants! That’s because you can get very close to the gentle giants, which is something Zeb and I really enjoyed.

Other activities available in Amboseli are game drives, biking, and horse riding!

Third on the list of favourite areas is the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, which is great for game drives, as well as visits to local villages to find out how the people live. Zeb and I love the scenery here! There are plains, wetlands, hills, and the only forest in Kenya, which is called Ngare Ndare. And there’s also the majestic mountain called Mount Kenya!

Of course, when you have so many different types of scenery within an area, you have lots of different types of wildlife. Something else I love about Lewa is a group called the Northern Specialty Species. There are five members of this group, and one of them is the Somali ostrich.

The others are Grevy’s zebra, reticulated giraffe, beisa oryx, and gerenuk.

The Grevy’s zebra is the largest type of zebra – much bigger than Zeb! The reticulated giraffe is very tall – an adult male stands as high as three men! Also known as the East African oryx, the beisa oryx is a type of antelope, with amazingly long horns. And the gerenuk has a remarkably long neck. All five species are well worth seeing!

The Samburu National Reserve is the fourth favourite area, and also home to the Northern Specialty species (see above). Zeb and I love this Reserve because, as well as containing a wonderful range of wildlife, it is home to the Samburu people.

The Samburu people have lived in the Reserve for about 500 years. They herd cattle, sheep, goats, and camels, and they wear very colourful clothes and jewellery. When they dance, they make a circle and jump as high as possible off the ground!

Finally, Zeb and I really like Laikipia! This area has lots of different features, so there’s all sorts of wildlife. You can explore Laikipia in many ways – game drives, bike rides, horse rides, and camel rides!

Best of all, though, you can visit a couple of wildlife sanctuaries – the Rhino Sanctuary and the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary. It makes me happy to see animals being so well looked after!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my blog about Kenya. If you’re going on safari here soon, I wish you a very happy vacation!

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE WHO ZEB AND I MET NEXT? IF SO, DO FOLLOW US TO TANZANIA. YOU CAN ALSO LEARN MORE ABOUT ME, IF YOU WISH!