Big Five Explorer

Kenyan wildlife officials are ferrying thousands of zebras and wildebeest to a park in the country’s south to feed starving lions and hyenas, and prevent a conflict with humans.

The animals will be hauled from four locations to restock Amboseli National Park’s population, which lost 80 percent of its herbivores in a recent drought, said Kentice Tikolo, spokeswoman for the Kenya Wildlife Service.

“It was the worst drought in 26 years,” Tikolo said. “The Amboseli ecosystem was severely affected. … Lots of herbivores died, carnivores don’t have anything to feed on, and have been attacking neighboring livestock.”

The imbalance has sparked a row with villagers who lost animals in the drought and have threatened to kill lions and hyenas preying on remaining livestock.

“There are only 2,000 lions left nationwide, and we are concerned because the numbers are dropping,” the spokeswoman said.

“Maasais are getting angry and threatening to spear them — the human versus wildlife conflict is getting out of hand — and our carnivores are already greatly endangered.”

About 4,000 zebras and 3,000 wildebeest will be transferred to Amboseli. The zebras will go first. The wildebeest will follow, after calving season, Tikolo said. Once at Amboseli, they’re expected to breed and sustain the lions over the long term.

Shipping the animals from Soysambu Conservancy in the Rift Valley and three other nearby locations will cost about $ 1.4 million, according to Tikolo.

The animals are herded into a funnel-shape enclosure using helicopters and loaded into trucks to Amboseli. From there, they are released into the wild, she said.

Tourism is the second-largest source of foreign exchange in the east African nation. About 20 percent of the income comes from tourism, with Amboseli as the second -highest earner, Tikolo said

Lions are among the big five — the list of top wildlife tourist attractions in the nation. Others are elephants, leopards, rhinos and buffalo.

Source: CNN (http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/02/11/lions.kenya/)

Have you seen our 2010 Egypt brochure? It is packed with new holiday ideas and classic choices. We include several twin-centre holidays to inspire you. You can download our 2010 Egypt brochure from the home page of our site>> http://www.redsea.explorertravel.co.uk OPTION 1 Egypt & Kenya Cairo, Luxor, Esna, Edfu, Kom Ombo, Aswan, Amboseli, Lake Naivasha...

We're pleased to start the year with our best ever Cheetah Safari. It now includes two nights at the brand new Ashnil Mara Camp. What's more we offer a 2 for 1 hot air balloon deal for early bookers. 5R CHEETAH SAFARI Samburu - Aberdares - Lake Naivasha - Masai Mara From £1,545 per person valid 9 April to 6th June 2010 Includes return scheduled...

A group of poachers have killed a southern white rhino, an endangered species whose worldwide population is estimated at just 17,500, the head of Kenya’s wildlife conservation agency said on Monday.

The poachers killed the rhino in a privately owned ranch in central Kenya on Dec. 28 and cut off its horns, said Julius Kipng’etich, the director of the Kenya Wildlife Service.

Kenya Wildlife Service rangers tracked down the suspected poachers and suspected buyers on Sunday and caught them with two rhino horns weighing more than 7 kilograms (16 pounds) and 647,000 Kenyan shillings ($8,500) in cash, which is believed to be part of the money the poachers were paid for the horns, Kipng’etich told journalists.

He said in total 12 suspects, all of them Kenyans, have been arrested. Other suspects escaped and rangers are still tracking them, Kipng’etich said.

The late December killing occurred about a week after four of the world’s last eight known northern white rhinos were brought to Kenya, where officials hope they will reproduce and save their subspecies.

Rhino horns sell for more than gold on a per-weight basis, and have been the reason for a huge poaching problem against the species. The horns are used to make dagger handles in the Middle East and for medicinal purposes in Asia.

The rhino is labeled as one of the big five, a category of must-see animals while on safari – the buffalo, elephant, leopard and lion being the others.

In the late 1970s and 1980s poachers decimated Kenya’s rhinos, of which there are only two species in the country, white and black rhinos. Before the rampant poaching Kenya had an estimated 20,000 black rhinos in 1973. Today, black rhinos number only 610, according to the Kenya Wildlife Service.

White rhinos are even more endangered in Kenya with only 240 in the country.

The white rhino’s name comes from the Dutch word “weit,” meaning wide, which refers to its wide, square muzzle, adapted for grazing. The white rhino, whose real color is gray, has a pronounced hump on the neck and a long face.

The black, or hook-lipped, rhino has a thick, hairless, gray hide. Both species have two horns, the longer of which sits at the front of the nose.

Source: Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/04/AR2010010400861.html)