MOUNT KENYA

Mount Kenya, extinct volcano in central Kenya, located just south of the equator. With an elevation of 5,199 m (17,057 ft), Mount Kenya is the second highest mountain in Africa, after Kilimanjaro. Mount Kenya was created by massive, successive eruptions of a volcano 2.5 million to 3 million years ago. Mount Kenya originally had a summit crater, but erosion wore the cone away, leaving a series of snow- and glacier-covered peaks, and valleys containing frozen lakes. But in the last 150,000 years the volcano’s glaciers have been losing ground to warmer climate. As recently as the late 19th century, seven of these glaciers melted completely away. The several that remain are retreating rapidly. Mount Kenya features an array of ecosystems and climatic zones. Grasslands and low trees grow on the basal plateau of the mountain. Rising above the basal plateau, a ring of dense rain forest covers the mountain slopes up to about 3,200 m (about 10,500 ft). Above this rain forest, alpine zone vegetation covers the mountain to about 4,600 m (about 15,000 ft), where it dwindles to mosses and lichens living on the snow-encrusted rocks. From the crowned eagle and mountain buzzard that inhabit the upper mountainous regions to the elephants, rhinoceroses, forest hogs, and Sykes monkeys that live in the dense forest areas, many animal species gain sustenance from this varied vegetation. The numerous rivers radiating from the central cone and the volcanic soils create a fertile environment. The lower slopes of Mount Kenya are cultivated by the Kikuyu and the related Embu and Meru peoples. The Swahili name given to Mount Kenya by the Kikuyu, Kirinyaga, translates to “mountain of whiteness.”

ELEPHANT/TEMBO

Elephants have four teeth, all molars, which have jagged ridges for grinding leaves, stems, and roots. A single tooth can weigh more than 5 kg (11 lb) and measure 30 cm (12 in) in length. The first pair of molars is located toward the front of the mouth. When these front molars wear down, they drop out in pieces as the two molars in the back shift forward. Two new molars then emerge in the back of the mouth to replace those that have moved forward. Elephants replace the back molars six times throughout life. When the last set of molars wears out—anywhere between 40 and about 60 years of age—an elephant can no longer chew food and dies of starvation, a not uncommon death among elephants. Elephant tusks are actually a pair of elongated teeth. They are the largest and heaviest teeth of any living animal. The tusks are used for digging for roots and water, stripping the bark off trees for food, fighting each other during mating season, and, in savanna and forest elephant cows, warding off predators of baby elephants such as lions and tigers. In a calf, the first incisors are replaced within 6 to 12 months of birth. The second set, which become the tusks, grows at the rate of about 17 cm (about 7 in) per year throughout life. Tusk growth is determined by genetics and nutrition, and over the years, normal wear and tear scales down their length. A bull tusk from a savanna or forest elephant typically weighs 20 to 45 kg (50 to 100 lb) and is 1.8 to 2.4 m (6 to 8 ft) in length. The tusks of an adult Asian bull average 1.5 m (5 ft) in length and 30 kg (70 lb) in weight. Ivory hunters prefer to target savanna and forest elephants because their tusks are more massive than Asian elephants, and both bulls and cows have tusks. E.Skin Elephant skin is wrinkled and about 2.5 cm (1 in) thick, with a sparse covering of bristle-like hair. Despite its thickness, the skin is subject to infection by lice, ticks that carry blood-borne diseases, and the larvae of the warble fly, which bore into the elephant’s body and cause swelling and bleeding. Elephants frequently cover themselves with dust, bathe in water, and take mud baths to protect their skin. F.Senses Elephant eyesight is poor, and the eyes are small in relation to the enormous head, which can turn just slightly from side to side. This limited movement results in restricted side vision, and an elephant must move its whole body to broaden its range of vision. Its other senses—hearing, smell, taste, and touch—are acute. The most sensitive organ is the trunk, which is frequently at work picking up scents of food and danger from the ground and air. Elephants can smell water at great distances and can hear certain sounds from more than a mile away. Sexual maturity among bulls begins at about 11 to 12 years, but during mating season older bulls drive the younger ones away; bulls typically do not mate until around age 30. When a bull is about 20 to 25 years of age, the large glands on both sides of its head begin to swell and secrete an oily, testosterone-rich fluid. The bull's behavior becomes erratic and often aggressive toward other bulls and humans at this time. This event, known as musth, occurs annually throughout the bull’s lifetime, lasting for several days or several months depending on the animal's age and overall health. Cows begin breeding at about nine years of age and typically come into estrus, or heat, every 16 weeks, at which time they are receptive to mating. While pregnant, a cow’s estrus cycle halts and she does not mate. Soon after a cow gives birth, her estrus cycle begins again and she mates even if she is nursing. There is no breeding season for elephants—mating occurs throughout the year. Elephants do not mate for life. Bulls and cows form temporary pairs prior to mating, and after a brief courtship, the bull mounts the cow from behind, copulating for less than a minute. Mating may continue for several days. Usually, one bull mates with several cows, guarding them from the advances of other bulls. Cows give birth to single calves 20 to 22 months after conception, the longest gestation period known for any animal. Cows may give birth alone or surrounded by other cows. A newborn elephant is about 1 m (about 3 ft) high and weighs about 120 kg (about 260 lb). The calf is initially helpless and unable to control its leg muscles and trunk. After one to two hours, the calf is able to stand and suckle, obtaining milk from its mother’s paired mammary glands, which are located between the front legs. Between three and four weeks, calves begin to experiment with feeding themselves; it may take six months before a calf can master the skill of drinking with its trunk. By the age of nine months, calves spend almost half of their time feeding on vegetation. They are weaned at about three or four years of age upon the birth of a younger brother or sister. In captivity, cows have borne calves until they are 60 years of age, at intervals of about four years. One or more female elephants, known as allomothers, often assist in the rearing of a calf. Allomothers stay near the calf, for example, while the mother moves away to forage for food. The more allomothers in a family, the greater the chances of the calf's survival. By age ten, a calf will weigh 900 to 1,300 kg (2,000 to 3,000 lb). It will attain most of its height between the ages of 20 and 25, but unlike other mammals, will continue to grow at a slow rate throughout life

ZEBRA SERENGETI

Burch ell’s zebras and blue wildebeests roam Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, one of the last places in Africa where large animal migrations still occur. During the wet season herds with numbers in the thousands populate the southeastern plains of the park. In the dry season the animals migrate westward into the woodland savanna of the Serengeti and northward to the grassland areas of neighboring Kenya. Serengeti National Park is an important tourist attraction for Tanzania, one of the world’s least developed countries.

SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK

Serengeti National Park, park in northern Tanzania. Established in 1941, the park covers 14,800 sq km (5,700 sq mi) and consists mainly of flat, open grassland, with a few rocky kopjes (small hills) and some areas of woodland and bushy savanna in the western part of the park. The Serengeti is the only national park in Africa where seasonal migrations of plains animals take place. Serengeti National Park is inhabited by more than 200 species of birds and 35 species of plains mammals, including cheetahs, leopards, lions, and giraffes. Zebras, gnus (large African antelopes also called wildebeests), gazelles, and elephants did not exist in large numbers in the park until the 1960s, when the rising human population in the region caused a shortage of natural resources and forced many of these animals into the protected area. About 200,000 zebras, 2 million gnus, 1 million gazelles, and thousands of elephants now live in the park. The plains of Serengeti National Park are also home to black rhinoceroses. During the rainy season, from November to May, millions of animals graze on the park's southeastern plains. This area has few rivers and becomes excessively dry once the rainy season ends, so gnus, gazelles, and zebras migrate to the western savanna and as far north as the grasslands of Masai Mara Game Park, across the Kenya-Tanzania border, where they spend the dry season.

MASAI TRIABLE

Masai, East African nomadic people speaking Maa, an Eastern Nilotic language. The Masai (or Maasai) are nomadic to provide grazing and water for their cattle. Cattle are the center of Masai life, providing their food (milk, blood, and meat), their materials (skin for clothes and dung to seal their houses), and their only recognized form of wealth. Each family marks its cattle with a unique brand and ear slits to identify them. The Masai live in small clusters of huts (called kraals or bomas) made of sticks sealed together with cow dung; these kraals also include enclosures for the cattle. Masai males are rigidly separated into five age groups: child, junior warrior, senior warrior, junior elder, and senior elder. Both boys and girls undergo circumcision ceremonies, which initiate them into adulthood. Marriages are often arranged, and polygamy is practiced. The Masai believe in a supreme god, Engai, who blesses them with children and cattle. Prior to European colonization of Africa, the Masai herded their cattle freely across the Great Rift Valley of East Africa. They first encountered Europeans in the 1840s. During the 1880s and 1890s, the Masai experienced severe droughts, famine, and disease, including smallpox, which was probably due to European contact. The Masai cattle herds were decimated by rinderpest, a highly infectious febrile disease. The weakened Masai fought against the encroachment of the Europeans but were defeated. The Europeans wanted farmland, and acquired large portions of Masai land in the treaties of 1904, 1911, and 1912, which confined the nomadic Masai to reserves and gave the Europeans fertile land. Today the Masai, who number approximately 250,000, live in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. Despite government efforts to settle them, most are still nomadic.

mount kilimanjaro/tanzania

Kilimanjaro, highest mountain in Africa, located in northeastern Tanzania, near the border with Kenya. Kilimanjaro is a dormant volcano. Its two peaks stand 11 km (7 mi) apart and are connected by a broad ridge. Kibo, the higher peak, rises to 5,895 m (19,341 ft) above sea level, and the summit of Mawenzi is 5,149 m (16,893 ft) above sea level. Although Kilimanjaro lies 3° south of the equator, an ice cap covers the crater of Kibo year-round; this ice cap is pierced by several small craters. “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” (1938), one of the most famous stories of American writer Ernest Hemingway, is set in the region. Kilimanjaro has a number of different vegetation zones on its steep slopes. Coffee and plantains are grown on the lower slopes of Kilimanjaro. The mountain was successfully scaled for the first time in 1889 by German geographer Hans Meyer and Austrian mountain climber Ludwig Purtscheller.if you want to do it please in touch with us for more information