Dear All,
After an absence of six weeks, I was looking forward to getting back
into Nairobi National Park, when a visit was suggested by Rupert
Watson the previous evening.
There had been much bad news relating to the invasion of the Maasai
and their cattle on the net of late, and the indifference of KWS. We
spent the whole of Friday  13th November in the Park, and this is what
we found.
Wild mammals were in very impressive numbers scattered in large
concentrations in various corners of the Park but the numbers coming
in to drink at Karen Primary School Dam was most impressive. The north
is grassy and attractive, but parts of the southern parts still arid
and very bare though some new grass shoots are appearing. In spite of
the greenery many dams are dry, Forest Edge, Empakasi and Langata have
all but gone with just damp mud remaining.
We saw cattle only in the south-east and all day no more than forty
were seen, whilst dead cattle were at least three times this. Of the
native mammals, the only mortality was a Giraffe near Kingfisher, and
this could have been weeks old, and totally unrelated to any drought
problems. It would appear that KWS may have been pushing the herds
out, or that the people have recognised a futility of incursion as the
cattle are not able to survive the drought anyway, contrary to the
endemic plains game. It's still a fantastic destination… do not be put
off by anything you may hear.

We arrived about 6:40am and made for the Ivory Burning Site. Here we
found a few migrants, one of the Upcher's Warblers is back in it's
Acacia gerardii already, and will probably stay there for the next six
months, and a Tree Pipit flew over calling. There were two
Nightingales, but no sign of Willow Warblers or Spotted Flycatchers. A
Giant Kingfisher was calling on Nagalomon dam, and an African
Firefinch feeding under the scrub.