Nairobi National Park drought over – Wildlife thriving
02/02/2010 11:05:33
Black rhinos in the Nairobi National Park, right on the dge of Nairobi. Photo by Dave McKelvie
By Will Knocker of the Silole Sanctuary
February 2010. After a two year drought, The Nairobi National Park finally received some decent rain in December and early January and the effects have been dramatic. Before the rains came, every last blade of grass had been grazed to dust by the 6000 or so resident herbivores & a similar number of illegal cattle. However the surviving cattle have now moved away to grazing lands in Maasailand.
The Nairobi National is 120 kms2 teeming with game and contains almost everything you might see bigger more remote parks, except elephants. In fact it is the best place in Kenya, if not the whole of Africa, to see Black rhinos in the wild.
Seasonal wetlands provide excellent habitat for aquatic birds such as this Saddlebill stork 
| All predators, including the Big Cats have done well during the drought, with virtually all wildlife in the Athi-Kapiti ecosystem north of the Namanga highway being contained in the park owing to the presence of water & grazing. |
Bohor reedbuck are doing well (many of them are translocated from Western Kenya) & are easily visible in the new short grass.
 | Buffalos surprisingly survived the drought well: there are close to a thousand of these large bovines in the park now.
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Kongoni (Coke's hartebeest) are now confined to the park because of human activities in the dispersal area. They are increasing in numbers & provide food for the ever-hungry & ever increasing NNP lion population (which is estimated at between 35 & 40 individuals.)
 | Dikdik in the Silole Sanctuary abutting the park: I have never seen this species in the park itself. Could somebody suggest why this might be the case? 
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A dainty bushbuck pictured in a seasonally flooded vlei in the Langata Forest. 
| Mother & calf Southern White rhino continue to do well; we have 11 in the The Nairobi National Park. 
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Notice the suburban backdrop, which sums up the
area outside the park in 2010:certainly not
suitable for big cats, though they regularly
venture out at night. |
Lions in the Nairobi National
I estimate that there are between 35 - 40 lions in NNP. They are all descended from the 7 that survived the drought of 2005 when so many were killed after cattle-killing outside the park.
This is way above the historical average of 30 lions established by the lion researcher Judith Rudnai in the 70's & a reflection of the changing conditions in NNP during a prolonged dry cycle.
The NNP population of lions is very young, with all but 7 individuals being less than 5 years old & at least one more litter of young cubs recently observed.
Lioness keeps lookout in a tree
A lioness near Masai Gate, loking out over her fast diminishing kingdom outside the park.The day before this individual was observed to kill an adult male baboon in the Silole Sanctuary.
Comment on the location and tell us what you saw there