THE GNU’S NEWS! – BY GARETH JONES

Every new day brings something different. Very early one fine morning about ten years ago, I approached the No7-Karen Primary dam, I noticed a jackal at the water, the jackal moved away as I went past, then I saw something move in the reeds, it was in the water and dark grey, maybe an otter?..Then suddenly it stood up and turned and I saw it was a small wildebeest calf, it turned and struggled towards the far bank, then stumbled ashore, and found its legs again to begin walking towards the track. Suddenly another jackal appeared and began to chase it, over the dam wall and right in front of my car, then within seconds there were 3 jackals attacking the calf, in desperation the calf then turned and & escaped to the safe refuge of my car, it stood next to my driver’s door for about 10 minutes, so close I could actually have touched it. The jackals then moved away, and in the meanwhile during the drama other cars had parked. After the jackals had moved away, the calf began to walk in the direction of the main road past the parked cars, then suddenly one of the jackals appeared and chased the calf, over the rise and down, past the stream and back to the No.7 dam wall.

The calf however was very determined and although wobbly managed to stand its ground against the jackal, the jackal then gradually moved away, and the calf then escaped up the hill behind the dam, moving past two adult male wildebeest on the way, and went out of sight over the hill, hopefully in search of its mother……

It could have ended tragically differently if my car had not been there during the second attack and also if the other 2 jackal had joined the final chase. However such is the way God designed nature, the young calf survived, I hope it found its mother & lived to tell the tale … it is always good to drive slowly and be prepared for the unexpected!

On another occasion four lions sat looking over the plains at the plentiful herds, I noted a herd of about 30 wildebeest with many new born calves watching the lions. After driving down to the Karen C Primary Dam, another smaller herd of about 20 wildebeest stood nearby, as I was about to drive away, something different caught my eye, one of the wildebeest had something protruding from its rear end. While looking through my binoculars I excitedly observed that this was the start of a calf being born.

Then just as the wildebeest seemed settled, various vehicles drove past without stopping, so the noise and dust caused the wildebeest to move away, and run up the eland valley. I was amazed that the female wildebeest could actually move at reasonable speed with the herd while the head of her calf flopped around suspended behind her rear.

Eventually the herd stopped and settled further up the eland valley, although they were some distance away I was still able to watch the birth event as it happened. The wildebeest birth took approximately 10 minutes, as the mother varied between standing, kneeling and lying down, while the calf began to eagerly wriggle while still suspended in midair.

Then suddenly the calf fell onto the dry red earth in the moment of final birth, lying still for about a minute while the rest of the herd began to sniff at it, then the calf began to struggle to get up, at first it was very wobbly, but after less then 5 minutes the calf was actually up, drinking mother’s milk and walking after her. God has made many animals much tougher than human being in order to ensure their survival. Witnessing any birth in nature is always a wonderful experience.

It had been dry over much of the park, and then we had some good rain over most of the central and northern part of the park, within days fresh green shoots erupted in multitudes of grasses and plants. It was not long before the herbivores found these green pastures, approximately 300 Eastern White bearded Wildebeest have again returned. WOW!! It has been some years since I last saw a large herd of wildebeest far up in the park, what a wonderful sight to see them intermingled with zebra, eland, Coke’s Hartebeest and Thompson’s and Grants Gazelles.

The last time I saw a large herd of Wildebeest was in March 2009 when over 1000 wildebeest were counted in the park at the end of the long drought when so many cattle died in the park. The wildebeest that come into the Nairobi National Park are the Eastern White bearded Wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus albojubatus). This is a rare sub-species of gnu which consists of less than 5000 individuals located east of the Rift Valley.

Wildebeest are known by their nature to migrate over vast distances, in the past the area now known as the Nairobi National Park often had thousands of them moving through the park in search of grazing pastures, naturally the lions also enjoyed this. Sadly due to the Nairobi mega-city growing rapidly the traditional migration routes are being throttled by fences and construction projects. The park is becoming a “green island in a sea of construction”, it will be a very sad occasion if the wildebeest no longer return.

To still be able to see a wildebeest migration so close to Nairobi this year is like a miracle, thank God they are back again, and is it good news or should I say “gud gnus”?

The park is open daily from 06h00 to 19h00.

Gallery