Huaorani: part 8
Planet Doc Full Documentaries
The most famous national parks in the world are located close to the border between Kenya and Tanzania, however, far removed from the famous border, there are other far less well-known reserves containing animals that the large majority of travellers have never even heard of. This is the Samburu National Reserve.
Samburu Reserve is home to the majority of large African mammals. There are elephants, rhinoceroses, hippopotami, large felines, such as the lion and leopard, and an extremely large number of herbivores. But the reserve also houses a large number of lesser species which take advantage of the resources of an environment that remains sterile for the greater part of the year, during the dry season.
Termite nests are usually meeting places for many of these small animals. Beneath this earthy structure, thousands of small ants hide away, transforming them into natural food stores awaiting someone able to open them.
Mongooses take double advantage of the termite nests. Not only do they feed off the termites, but they also use the cavities of the large anthills as dwellings.
With the arrival of the rains, thousand of winged termites leave the anthills to found new colonies. This is a long-awaited moment for the park’s birds, which congregate around the little earth mounds and feast on the ants.
The waters of Ewaso Ngiro flow even in the dry season, except in years of prolonged drought such as 1986 and 1987. The river’s course enables large Nile crocodiles to live here, which are to be seen sunning themselves on its banks.
The Nile crocodile is the one most commonly found on the African continent, although, curiously and regrettably, it is precisely from a large part of the Nile where they have almost completely disappeared.