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Dear Reader,
Welcome to this issue of the Menengai Holidays
Safari e-bulletin
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Publisher: Menengai Holidays Ltd
Editor: Daniel Njaga
Feedback: bulletin@menengaiholidays.com
Website: http://www.menengaiholidays.com
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The Menengai Holidays Safari e-bulletin is a
newsletter on topical highlights and snapshots on
travel, wildlife and environment in East Africa.
This newsletter is distributed among past or
prospective customers, business associates or
friends. Should you not wish to receive further
editions, kindly unsubscribe by following this
link or via our website.
In this edition, we focus on Sheldrick Elephant
Sanctuary at Nairobi National Park. One of the
leading safari attractions in the city faces serious
hitch after Kenya Wildlife Service imposed a park
entrance fee for visitors to the sanctuary - who
previously paid only entrance fee to the sanctuary.
The orphanage has reportedly posted a 90% drop in
visitation spelling doom for the "beloved sanctuary".
We invite your opinion on KWS's move. On
destination, we focus on Tsavo National Parks, the
biggest in Kenya and among the biggest
conservation ecosystems in the world. What makes
this wilderness tick? The natural history item
briefly discusses the baboon. The ubiquitous primate
of African savannas is playful, highly gregarious
and naughty. Indeed the baboon needs no
introduction!!
Nice reading and have an informed travel always. |
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In
this edition...
Snap Shot: UK
Losing Toads? Who Cares!
News:
Elephant Sanctuary's Entrance Hitch
Destination:
Tsavo: The Theatre of the Wild
Natural History:
Baboons Promiscuous Legacy |
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Verbatim from our Customers
"Dear
Daniel...,
... Thank you for the perfect organization of our
trip to Kenya. We really enjoyed our safari as well
as our stay at Kilili Baharini in Malindi.
We would like also say that Jack was the best guide
we have ever seen. Information about animals and
your country which he gave us were excellent. He is
also a very good driver. Give him best regards from
all of us.
Thank you once again; we have already started
recommending Menengai Holidays to our
friends...."
Anna Lengiewicz, Warsaw, Poland, November 2007 |
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SNAP SHOT
UK "losing the toads"
So you thought Africa is so rich in species to be a
threat to another continents' biodiversity? Wait
until you learn that extinction of amphibians in
Britain is being ascribed to the hapless continent!!
Recent reports indicate that native toads in Britain
are at risk from a fungal infection, said to have
been brought in by imported frogs.
And that if it spreads further, it stands to
completely wipe out the British toad population,
according to recent research news in a Royal
Society Journal.
Amphibian trade
Environmental experts have called for tighter
controls on the aquarium trade to protect native
toads fearing the disease is being brought into
Britain time and time again through the world trade
in amphibians.
"It is thought that it could have been brought to
the UK by exotic pet species, such as the
African clawed toad,
that have escaped or been deliberately released,"
said a spokesperson to BBC News (our emphasis).
So What?
There you are: Africa is now the cause of woes
facing toads in the UK. By the way who cares if
toads are joining the dinosaurs in the grave? To
many African children - terrified daily by the sight
of amphibians in their gardens and village huts -
extinction of the toads would be an evolutionary
"milestone" hoping this would give way to more
elegant creatures. So what if the frogs jump into
oblivion; they would wonder!!
For all that cynicism, herpetologists all over the
world, should rest assured they have our blessings
to conserve all those ugly species.
Courtesy: BBC News
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Endangered Languages
Elsewhere, languages are dying faster than the
"professional" endangered species - the black
rhinos, the seas turtles and such like creatures
that are causing global uproar. Only that this time
round its not happening nor emanating or being
caused by Africa. At least not for now!
But on a serious note, its bad news nevertheless as
it takes away a rich fund of human knowledge and
history.
Field research and data analysis by National
Geographic and the Living Tongues Institute for
Endangered Languages have mapped the extinction
hotspots: 1) Northern Australia; 2) Central South
America; 3) Northwest Pacific Plateau; 4) Eastern
Siberia; and 5) Oklahoma and Southwest United
States.
Faster than biological species
Some 7,000 distinct languages are spoken in the
world today, and one of them dies about every two
weeks. Harrison, an Assistant Professor of
linguistics at Swarthmore College, says that the
rate of language extinction far exceeds that of
birds, mammals, fish or plants and that language
loss often parallels loss of biological species.
Harrison estimates that more than half of the
world's human languages have no written form. "If
the last speaker of many of these vanished tomorrow,
the language would be lost because there is no
dictionary, no literature, no text of any kind," he
said.
Losing knowledge
Losing languages translates directly into losing
knowledge, Harrison added. "Most of what humans know
about the world is encoded in oral languages. When
we lose a language, we lose centuries of human
thinking about time, seasons, sea creatures,
reindeer, edible flowers, mathematics, landscapes,
myths, music, the unknown and the everyday."
Let us all unite to save our languages and their
rich heritage.
Courtesy: National Geographic |
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NEWS WATCH
Elephant Sanctuary in Entrance Hitch
Visitors to Nairobi are no doubt familiar with the
popular home of baby elephant; the Sheldrick
Elephant Orphanage, where infant elephants are cared
for and eventually returned to the wild in Tsavo
National Park.
Daphne Sheldrick,
the Director, is world renowned as the first person
in the entire world to successfully hand rear
newborn fully milk dependent African Elephant
orphans, something that spanned 28 years of trial
and error to achieve.
The centre has also played a very pivotal role in
conservation education and community sensitization
through various extension services in communities
bordering conservation areas.
Human surrogate mothers
The management of the sanctuary has also contributed
tremendously to conservation by supporting many KWS
projects in both Tsavo and Nairobi parks including
anti-poaching capacity building efforts.
The centre is especially popular with travellers who
are on brief visits to the country and have no time
or money to visit the wildlife areas in the
countryside to see natural populations of elephants
and other animals. Most fascinating is for visitors
to watch the calves bathing in the mud hole and
being bottle fed by their human surrogate mothers.
Park fees now mandatory
Over the past two months, the centre has found
itself in an entrance hitch as Kenya Wildlife
Service decided to impose a park entrance fee to all
visitors to elephant sanctuary besides the fee paid
directly to the sanctuary.
This hikes the entrance fee from the normal minimum
of 7 dollars to 47 dollars due to national park fee
of 40 dollars per person. This has effectively
swayed away many potential visitors to the sanctuary
and it also caught many safari guides off guard
causing a lot of bitterness in the tourism
fraternity.
Should KWS charge park entrance fees to the
sanctuary?
Proponents argue that it is illegal to allow
entrance to the park without the fees unless the fee
has been waived procedurally. They further charge
that presence of the sanctuary inside Nairobi Park
should not accord it special privileges including
direct collection of entrance fees since this ought
to go direct to the host national park.
KWS sharing failure?
However, critics of the move dismiss KWS's move
arguing that the centre is entitled to special
privileges since it supports numerous conservation
projects under KWS itself. They further applaud the
centre for its role of conservation education and
especially bringing to the world attention the
plight of elephants under the cruel hand of poachers
and how this disrupts elephant family systems.
Further, that its KWS failure to manage Nairobi Park
that led to decline in the park's allure, hence the
fall of gate revenue from the park. By imposing this
entrance fees on the sanctuary, it is argued that
KWS will only cripple the operations of the centre
and will not make up for lost revenue from the park.
Share with us your views on this debate:
bulletin@menengaiholidays.com
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Lake Natron Project Halted
The Tanzanian Government last month temporarily
suspended the controversial multimillion dollar soda
ash project at Lake Natron.
This was in apparent response to international and
regional pressure from donors and especially
environmental lobbyists. Ecologists had expressed
fierce opposition to the project charging that it
could drive flamingos to extinction since they breed
only in Lake Natron.
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Seasons' Safari Bookings
Book your December and Easter Holidays and
safaris with us today. There are plenty of elegant
hotels, lodges and tented camps across the country
to suit your tastes and budget. Click
here for some of the recommended safari
hotels based on our customer feedback in 2007.
However, readers are advised that this list is
subjective; based purely on our associations with
them and there are numerous other hotels in every
destination which are not included here.
Also look out for our 2008 safari offers - In the
next edition.
Drop us a note to place your booking:
info@menengaiholidays.com |
Travel Quote
"...In my experience, it is rarer to find a really
happy person in a cirle of millionaires than among
vagabonds..."
Thor Heyerdahl
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DESTINATION
Tsavo National Park: Theatre of the Wild
Tsavo National Park is one of the Africa's largest
wilderness reserves. It is larger than country of
Wales! It was gazetted as a national park in 1948
and later divided into two - Tsavo East and Tsavo
West, for administrative convenience. Both parks are
bisected by the historic Nairobi- Mombasa railroad
where the popular legend of two lions that claimed
several rail workers was born, "The Man-eaters of
Tsavo". Apart from being inhabited by lions,
stripped hyena, impala, giraffe, and others, Tsavo
is also a bird lover's paradise with numerous
species of weavers, hornbills, sunbirds, rollers,
and raptors commonly seen.
Accordingly, we have in the Tsavo ecosystem the
biggest elephant population in Kenya estimated at
over 15,000 by Kenya Wildlife Service. This is also
one of the natural homes of the endangered black
rhino and a very successful sanctuary for its
rehabilitation is found here at Tsavo West.
Yatta Plateau and Luggard Falls
Tsavo East's vast rolling scrub-covered hills are
home to the largest Elephants herds in Kenya.
Amongst the most interesting geographical features
in Tsavo East is the Yatta Plateau, which being
290km long makes it the world's longest lava flows.
There is also the famous Luggard Falls (named after
European explorer, Captain Luggard who passed here
on his way to Uganda) along the Galana River with
its spectacular rock formations. Visitors can walk
along the rocks and enjoy a cool breeze as well as
relax and view wildlife at the base of the falls.
There is also the Mudanda Rock which is a 1.6 km
rocky outcrop which is very ideal for walks and
scenery viewing especially wildlife that come to
drink water at the base of the rock. In addition,
Aruba Dam, built in 1952 across the Voi River is
also popular with visitors as it attracts many
mammals and birds.
Mzima Springs and Shetani Lava
Tsavo West's rolling volcanic landscape with its
recent volcanoes and lava flows make it ideal for
geological and cave exploration as well as hiking.
First, we have Mzima Springs, a must-visit for any
nature lover and more so with interest in earth
sciences. The springs produce 50 million gallons of
fresh sparkling water daily and are the main water
supply for the Coastal region. A unique underwater
observatory built under the springs gives you an
incredible view of this crystal clear underwater
world, where massive hippos glide silently through
the shoals of barbell.
There are also numerous rocky outcrops, like Roaring
Rocks, while large sections to the west are of
recent volcanic origin with large lava flows.
Shetani Lava flow, estimated to be 200 years old is
quite stunning and worthy attraction to Tsavo West.
But don't forget the Ngulia Rhino Sanctuary. It is a
rehabilitation sanctuary for the black rhino but an
ideal habitat for other wildlife offering some of
the best photographic opportunities for visitors.
Large herds of elephants and giraffes plus other
plains game are often encountered here.
Accommodation
Accommodation in Tsavo is diverse ranging from
simple ground camping to self catering bandas and
from luxury lodges to exclusive and pricey tented
camps
Contact us for travel arrangements and hotel
bookings to this fascinating wilderness:
info@menengaiholidays.com |
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NATURAL HISTORY
Baboon: Promiscuous and Proud of It
Primates is a category of animals that include man,
with 185 species ranging from those that don't
resemble humans like the bush babies to those that
closely resemble us like chimpanzees. They also
range widely in size from the small 60 grams bush
baby to as big as the 200 kg gorilla. Africa has 51
species of primates inhabiting different habitat but
mainly forests and savannah woodlands.
In general, all primates are characterized by a
large, complex brain, long gestation periods and
lifespan and slow maturation. This animal group is
confined to the tropics and 80% of them live in the
rain forests where they tend to be dominant mammals.
East Africa has few patches of tropical forests
where we have the great apes, but the entire region
has host many other primate species especially
monkeys.
Tree dependent
Primates are very dependent on trees and very few
have managed to leave the trees and venture into
savannah and semi-desert areas. These include the
baboons, vervet monkey and the chimpanzees.
Accordingly, these three are more commonly seen by
travellers in East Africa than other primates. But
all primates still depend on trees or cliffs for
security. Only man and gorilla sleep on the ground!
In this article, we focus at the most ubiquitous
primate in our national parks; the baboon. It is a
very common primate in East African savannahs. They
weigh up to 50 kg and males can weigh up to twice
the females. Their limbs are sturdy, nearly equal in
length while hands and feet are short and wide with
stubby digits. The females have very prominent
sexual swellings.
Most widespread
Because of its adaptation to terrestrial life, the
baboon is the most widespread African primate, found
virtually in the savannah and even arid habitats
where there is water and trees or cliffs. Most
travellers will see baboons on the highways in
different parts across the region. They have also
successfully been able to live outside national
parks and are serious crop pests and even classified
as vermin in Kenya.
They feed on all accessible edible plants within
their range, which is supplemented by animal foods.
The plant menu includes grasses, flowers, fruits,
seeds and shoots. During dry seasons, they can even
uproot grasses and feed on the underground stems, a
niche they share with no other mammal except the
warthogs.
Stalking Visitors
Because of their strong taste for fruits and human
food, baboons tend to stalk visitors in national
parks in search of fruits or their peels and other
foods. On the highways, they come out not only to
solicit food from humans but also feed on insects
that are trampled on by vehicles. In some cases they
feed on vertebrate prey like fish, lizards and young
of ground nesting birds, bird or crocodile eggs.
Baboons live in troops ranging from 8 to over 200
animals but typically averaging about 40. Adult
females are more in a troop and most troops tend to
avoid one another but may occasionally share
resources. Their social organization is highly
complex and variable, with a communication system
that can display emotion and motivation. Females
remain in the troop, with a reproductive strategy
based male supremacy.
The males hop from troop to troop after adolescence
in search of mating chances and room for social
dominance which largely accounts for mating success.
Many people on safari who encounter baboons have
noted some unique traits. We focus on just two which
we have been asked frequently by many:
First, male baboons so promiscuously display their
reproductive organs. This is seen especially when
adult males are positioned at vantage points with
thighs spread and the penis prominently displayed
for all to see. This is thought to be a
communication warning off other males to keep off
the troop.
Secondly; what accounts for the regular change in
colour and texture of the sexual skin at the hind of
the female baboons. Again it's about reproduction.
During pre-oestrus, the skin is black with a pink
background. Oestrus follows which lasts for about 10
days during which time sexual skin is bright pink
and fully swollen. Fading and deflation starts 2-3
days after ovulation and end in 7 days with sexual
skin black and flat. |
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ECO BITS
Did you know?
:: That the baboon's scientific name is Papio
cynocephalus? Did you know that cynocephalus
means "dog-headed," because the animals dog like
heads?
:: That baboon males have one of the fiercest
sexual competitions in the animal kingdom?
:: And
that this aggressive competition is thought to have
contributed to their significantly larger size
compared to females?
:: That besides their vicious and highly
aggressive fighting, baboons are also among the most
playful and sexually active (promiscuous) of the
primates? More than human beings, you ask?
Next time to come across a baboon troop, observe
them closely and send us your comments and
observations:
info@menengaiholidays.com |
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Refer to a friend
We encourage you to share our e-bulletin with a
friend who may find this information useful .
Always choose Kenya as your first choice travel
destination and let us show you the rest. |
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