I journeyed to Shaba a few weeks ago for 2 days. It had been many months since I had last visited Shaba and I was really excited to go.
Shaba is a stunning reserve, East of Samburu and Buffalo Springs National Reserves. It is larger than Samburu and Buffalo Springs and has many more swamps and springs to attract wildlife, especially large herds of buffalo. The Ewaso Nyiro flows through it and there are beautiful sites all along the river to visit.
Stunning scenery in Shaba
Another important difference – lions. There are many lions in Shaba but no estimate has been acquired as yet. The lions are also bigger and stay in their prides. And it appears that their main prey is buffalo!
Shaba is also home to big bull elephants, Grevy zebra, tons of buffalo, the big cats and much more. It was also the home of Penny, the leopard, who was raised and released by Joy Adamson in the late 70s.
We drove around for 2 days and I was thrilled to come across 7 lions hunting buffalo. It has been ages since I have seen such a large number of lions together. I managed to get a few ID shots of them and this was the beginning of my Shaba lion identity database.
First lion in Shaba to be identified
This was just a small taster of what’s in store in this dramatic landscape. I hope to spend 3-4 months in Shaba to census the lions and get a detailed understanding of lion ecology in this area. One thing I know for sure is that there are exciting times ahead and I can’t wait.