KENYA – Samburu : ….. and Life

Driving the maze of tracks that intertwine through the riverine habitat Peter and I stumbled upon the same old lioness, worn incisors and all, this time with 4 adorable 7 week old cubs. The youngest cub was still heavily spotted. They all took turns napping with one of two walking about but never too far before returning to casually play with their siblings. She must have felt very safe being exposed, though I would have thought that that Martial Eagle, given half a chance, would take a cub with little problem. The cubs stayed very close to their mother, often nuzzling her and even suckling.

Once she felt that she had kept the cubs out in the open for long enough she turned around and with ease stepped over a tree trunk and vanished into the evergreen brush. The cubs took their cue from her and followed, the older two finding their way over with relative ease, while it took the younger ones a little while to realize that there was no other option but to go over it. There was a slight struggle but they made it to the top and soon all of them were gone.

Through the radio chatter we heard that there were Somali Ostriches with chicks amongst the saltbush. Once we got into the area it was easy enough to pick out a towering 8 foot bird above the low vegetation! The Somali race differs from the Common Ostrich in that the males have a greyish-blue neck and thighs.

Once they ventured out into the more open brush and grasses we would eventually count about 23 chicks about 18 inches in height. The chicks are extremely well camouflaged with what looks like a brown matting of unkept feathers and golden streaks on the back and dark brown stripes down the neck.

At one stage the female (below) noticed a rival female and proceeded to chase her away (they are the fastest running birds capable of at least 40mph), at which point the chicks instinctively all hid at the base of a bush until she returned, even though the male was less than 30 feet away.

Not too far away another male was clearly visible so we drove to see him. He was standing over the remaining 9 eggs of his clutch, with 4 day-old chicks by his side! We stayed and watched for a while seeing life being exposed to the world for the first time. There was one chick that must have hatched within the last hour as she was still wet, could barely lift her head and with shear exhaustion only able to crawl a few inches at a time. This was remarkable timing.

The older chicks looked so awkward laying down together occasionally lifting their heads. Every once in a while one would stand up on very short stubby and wobbly legs. Barely able to put together 3 or 4 steps before falling over. If one would manage to venture to the edge of the males reach, he would peck at the chick in no uncertain terms. We even saw it once flick, with its bill, the chick back into the ‘zone’. The male stood in the same spot never moving his feet. He knew that the chicks and eggs would be far too vulnerable if he moved and this way he was in full control.