We Have a Winner

You may recall that last week I blogged about my surprisingly awesome trip to Nairobi National Park. It turns out that the reason we saw so many animals was that they had finally started a process of controlled burns throughout the park. This shortens the grass and encourages more animals to venture in for grazing.

But today’s post isn’t about KWS’ park keeping methods. Today, we are following through on a promised “shout out’ for the person who correctly (we believe) identified the mystery animal we spotted on our way out of the park.

Hubby’s erstwhile girlfriend, She of the Gratuitous H, posted that our animal was a Waterbuck. According to this website which SGH provided:

There are 2 forms of Waterbuck, Kobus ellipsiprymnus, found in Kenya. The Northern or DeFassa Waterbuck has a whitish rump while the Southern Common Waterbuck has a large white ring on its rump (or, as it was once described to us "a target painted on its bum"!). They are stout and strongly built with a rough coat. They have sweat glands across their whole body and these produce a waterproofing fluid which coats the whole body. They mainly eat grass but will also browse on leaves, buds, shoots etc. We particularly like walking through the woods around Lake Naivasha where you can pass alongside small groups of Waterbuck grazing in the dappled light, the combination of colouring and their apparently large, liquid eyes is very peaceful.

So thanks for the info SGH and hurry up and visit us in Kenya so we can introduce you to the newly christened “SGH Buck” in person!!