We are deep in the dry season in northern Kenya. The grass is gone, the Ewaso Nyiro River is low, people are struggling to graze their livestock and many have migrated north in search of pasture.
But the region’s large carnivores – lions, leopards, wild dogs, and others – are coping very well. Prey is easier for carnivores to find because they spend more time concentrated along water holes or the Ewaso Nyiro River, and are also more lethargic, making it easier for carnivores to ambush them.
The lions have been spending most of their time within the national reserves, hunting everything from warthog, to zebra to aardvark.
The Core Area in Westgate Conservancy, which is the region the community have set aside specifically as a wildlife refuge, is hosting an increased number of animals which come down to the river to drink. We have recorded more then 40 warthog in there, 5 kudu, lots of impala, over 10 waterbuck, 5 zebras – and for the first time ever 4 permanent giraffe. Leopard are seen daily and the wild dogs move through once every 10 days or so.
In the dry season, Samburu people take their cattle far and wide in search of water and vegetation for browsing. The landscape is dry and soil is quickly bare and compact.
Carnivores like this leopard are doing well in the dry season. This young female has left her mother and is on her own in Samburu.
The lioness Nanai out hunting in Samburu National Reserve.
An African wild dog passes through Kalama.