One week in! Today we began our transect game counts in the Pardamat Conservancy. This particular Conservancy hosts a huge Masai farming community and part of our goal is to investigate how the wildlife are faring with their grazing grounds shared by so many cattle and "shoats" (sheep and goats). The human-wildlife conflicts are clearly apparent here and large carnivores are few and far between other than apparently hyenas. Despite this, life is abundant here. Zebras, wildebeest, Thomson's Gazelle, and warthog are all over the place. Impala seem to be present in decent numbers as well. So far we've encountered two separate herds of double digit size of Masai Giraffe, including one with two calves. Elephants aren't common but we've found plenty of evidence that they move in from the surrounding hills overnight to access the watering holes. We did come across one infamous bull named 'Joseph'. He was perfectly calm, but has a habit of destroying fences and bares the scars of at least three spears to his left side. Absolutely beautiful animal nonetheless.
Since I'm in a less wildlife-rich conservancy and will be spending the bulk of my time the next two weeks conducting similar game counts, my sightings are likely to be far fewer than one may expect for the time being. That said, I've stilled walked away with a handful of new additions for the day:
362) Common Sandpiper Actitis hypoleucos
363) Hildebrandt's Spurfowl Pternistis hildebranti
364) Northern Grey-Headed Sparrow Passer griseus
365) Temminck's Courser Cursorius temminckii
366) Nubian Woodpecker Campethera nubica
367) Greater Blue-Eared Starling Lamprotornis chalybaeus
Tomorrow, more of the same as today!
~Thylo
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