KENYA: Shimba Hills NR

The Shimba Hills Lodge is a wonderfully constructed three-story timber “tree-house” set deep in the coastal rainforest. From our covered dining room verandah we were able to watch the floodlit watering hole for nocturnal creatures. Two Large-spotted Genets came to the bait-stand below us and were soon joined by an African Civet (above) looking for any fallen scraps. Just after settling in for the night, Ben had a Wood Owl outside his room. Getting everyone out of bed, we all got to see it starring at us.

At breakfast Crowned Hornbills perched on the balcony and stunning Red-bellied Coast Squirrels (above) were getting up the courage to come into the dining area.

Shimba Hills National Reserve (above) is a small park with rolling hills, grasslands, open glades, woodlands and coastal forest. In the open areas we soon had, an eye-level view of a perched Flappet Lark; Siffling Cisticola – a small non de-script warbler; Croaking Cisticola – larger and slightly more marked than Siffling, and our only Pangani Longclaw (below) of the trip.

We noticed a lot of activity along the edge of the woods and grassland, where we could see Black-bellied Starlings, Black Cuckoo-shrike, Red-tailed Ant-Thrush, Tropical Boubou, Dark-capped Bulbul and a Zanzibar Sombre Greenbul feeding on a termite hatch.  Under the right conditions hatches usually occur after the rains. The winged termites, known as imagoes, leave the colony to reproduce and establish new colonies.

Less than ten minutes later we came across a second termite hatch. Not only was there far more activity but it was right in front of us on the track! Two Yellow-bellied Greenbuls, Ashy Flycatcher, Narina Trogon, Dark-backed Weaver, Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird, two Red-capped Robin-Chats, Chestnut-fronted Helmet-Shrikes, Green-headed Oriole, Black-backed Puffback and Black-headed Apalis were all fly-catching as the winged termites emerged from a hole on the side of the track. For ten minutes we watched in amazement until the mixed flock gradually faded away.

There are not many predators in Shimba Hills, which makes it easier on the last remaining population of the Roosevelt Sable Antelope (above) in East Africa. We had no problem locating a herd of about a dozen feeding along side a Maasai Giraffe and later came  across an impressive, though shy male.

At the Makadara picnic site we got out to stretch our legs, walking around the perimeter of the glade as an Angolan Pied Colobus and Blue Monkey watched what we were doing. Elephants had walked through the picnic site about an hour earlier, based upon the dung pile left behind. The most fascinating moment came watching Dung Beetles (above) fighting over fresh elephant dung. Three of them would grasp a piece of dung each and tuck it under themselves, all the time rolling it into a ball as they added more. It is inside these dung balls that the females lay their eggs. With so much dung available in this pile I wondered why one beetle would try and take a piece from another beetles ball?

We returned to the lodge to pack up and take a short walk around the tree-level wooden walkway that leads into the forest. Kenya Crested Guineafowls walked through the lodge grounds. A Fish Eagle made the obligatory attempt to snag a fish and Nile Monitors swam through the water hyacinth to bask on the bank. A beautiful butterfly, a Clouded Mother of Pearl landed with wings closed close to us. Ann and I almost stepped on the neatest of colored snakes, a Speckled Green Snake (above), that was crossing the walkway. About three feet in length it kept flicking its blue tongue, as it slithered up a post and into the leaves besides the railing. Blending in perfectly, it positioned itself to look like part of the vegetation and waited for something to venture within striking distance.