Exploring Ol Pajeta Conservancy, Kenya (Part 3)

In case you missed them, check out my previous blogs from Ol Pajeta Conservancy.

This is my final installment of the series, where I'll show some lesser appreciated animals from the preserve. We saw quite a bit for a such a short trip, but regrettably we didn't see any big cats like lion or leopard.

1: Cape buffalo can be aggressive, and this guy looked like he wanted to murder us. They are responsible for dozens of deaths every year. They can weigh over a ton, and are one of the big five game animals. This particular one had recently coated himself in mud, they do this to protect themselves from pests.

2: While we were on the game drive, we encountered a rancher tending to his Ankole longhorn cattle. These cattle are domesticated throughout Africa. They have massive horns, so large you wonder how they can keep their heads up.

3: This majestic antelope is called a waterbuck. Only male waterbuck have horns. They are called waterbuck because they are always close to a water source.

4: The hartebeest is another breed of antelope. They have a unique look to them with their elongated faces and oddly shaped horns.

5: Thomson's gazelle are named for the Scottish explorer Joseph Thompson, who explored the African continent in the 1880s. They were considered near threatened by the IUCN, but were upgraded to least concern. They only exist in Kenya and Tanzania.

6: This is a reticulated giraffe, one of the nine subspecies of giraffe. You can tell the various subspecies apart by the pattern of their coat. Reticulated giraffe have well defined patches of brown with sharp borders. These giraffes are considered endangered by the IUCN, while 3 subspecies are critically endangered. Only one subspecies is considered least concern.

7: The northern white-crowned shrike is a tiny bird with a loud high-pitched squawk. When I heard this bird and look, I had to do a double-take. I was shocked so much noise could come from such a tiny critter!

8: This beauty is a white-bellied go-away-bird. I really like his long horizontally striped black and white tail. He also had a cool tuft of feathers on the top of his head.

9: This an appropriately named yellow necked spurfowl. This one is a male because he has spurs on the back of his legs.

10: A helmeted guinea fowl. There were thousands of these birds at the conservancy. I was told they are delicious. I wondered why they didn't serve them at the lodge.

Thanks for dropping by! Please consider donating to Ol Pajeta Conservancy to help support the preservation of these awesome animals. I hope that you enjoyed my travel photos and commentary, and will return for more travel content in the future.

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