NAIROBI NATIONAL PARK: Monitor Lizards, Kongoni & Gazelle

26 NOVEMBER 2008

A mid-afternoon meeting along Mombasa road placed me in the unenviable position of returning to the office at the start of the infamous evening traffic jam, made worse by ongoing road repair works.

Conveniently, though, the East Gate of Nairobi National Park (off Mombasa Road) offered a way to bypass the traffic snarl up, enjoy a short game drive through the park and return to the office in time to get some more work done.

The location and elevation of the area around the East Gate rewards with a commanding view of the Ngong Hills to the west and the grassy plains to the south. The grass is tall this time of year, and a keen eye is needed to spot wildlife. My first sighting was a ring-necked dove perched in an acacia tree.

Ring-necked dove

Driving on, I spotted a solitary female kongoni (hartebeest) antelope grazing contentedly, and a quartet of Thompson’s gazelle affectionately nick-named ‘Tommy’. These gazelle are small, graceful antelope. Their placid demeanour while grazing seems at odds with the continuous, edgy swishing of their short tails.

Kongoni Antelope

Thompson’s Gazelle

The drive was also a fruitful one for bird viewing, and I saw blacksmith plover, Egyptian geese, rufous-naped lark and zitting cisticola. One particularly rewarding sight was a female pin-tailed whydah, perched on a twig and seemingly feigning indifference to the attentions of a colourful, long-tailed male hovering in courtship display flight around her.

Pin tailed whydah – female

What had started out as an incidental game drive was turning out to be a rich game viewing experience. At Hyena Dam, one of my favourite locations, I spotted a monitor lizard basking in the warm afternoon sun. This is a large reptile, over 1 metre long. Its black-and-yellow patterned skin and soulful eyes with dark circular irises make it an intriguing creature. After a few moments of wary appraisal, it flicked out its black forked tongue and, perhaps not liking the sound and scent of the car, slithered off into the tall reeds by the water’s edge.

Water monitor lizard

Emerging from the park through the Main Gate off Langata Road, I reflected on its wildlife diversity: birds, mammals and reptiles all coexist here, in this island of nature isolated from the nearby hustle and bustle of the city.