The Honeybee: A False Idol?

Thanks to recent media attention, most of us don’t need telling about the importance of bees and their plight in the modern world.  Along with other pollinating insects, they are responsible for providing us with one third of our crop types from plums to pecans and peppers to pulses, a voluntary workforce that pollinates 80% of wild plants in Europe¹ and is worth over £500 million of crop production a year to the UK alone². Humans have rewarded them poorly with a combination of pressures including poisoning with pesticides, infection with imported diseases and destruction of their homes through habitat loss, causing terrible declines in their numbers.

Bees have climbed the PR ladder from a perceived stinging nuisance to some of the world’s most famous and cherished ambassadors for insect kind. So great has public support been for these insects that the UK government has taken a stand by passing the National Pollinator Strategy in November 2014. The realisation of the importance of bees to human wellbeing, and the impacts of humans on bee wellbeing have made bees poster children for the environment,  our reliance and our impacts on the natural systems that support us.

But there is confusion over the exact identity of this pollinator poster child. The classic image of a bee is the yellow-and black striped, dumpy flier of children’s drawings, resembling many Bumblebees. Popular culture has presented these friendly, fuzzy insects as the filler of our honey jars, fostering the perception of ‘the bee’ as a single, honey-making entity.

In truth there are lots of types of bee and only the balder, more wasp-like honeybee makes the sweetness that fills our shelves.  This confusion of two familiar kinds of bee means that ‘bee’ and ‘honeybee’ are often given the same meaning.  Many newspaper, magazine and online articles on bee declines and conservation make this mistake, creating further confusion by leading to the belief that reversing pollinator declines is all about protecting our honeybees.

An otherwise pleasing advert for Kellog’s honey cornflakes wrongly depicts bumblebees as the workers producing the honey. Bumblebees do not produce true honey.

Getting it half right. One third of our crop types rely on pollinators, but not solely on honeybees as is often suggested.

This idea is perpetuated by many beekeepers, keen to preach the virtue of their charges (though unfortunately few know much about the honeybee’s wild cousins). This bias even reaches the official level; The UK’s first Bee Summit was mainly focused on the honeybee and industry tests on the effects of pesticides on pollinators are only performed on honeybees. In reality, honeybees are only a small part of the big picture. The true situation is well illustrated in this video by DEFRA for The National Pollinator Strategy
 

So the idea of a single bee species is incorrect, but what does this mean for the protection of our pollinators and our food supply? There are three main issues with the idolisation of the honeybee above its relatives:

1.UK Honeybees are a single species amongst many

There are several species of honeybee, but only one lives in the UK, the Western honeybee (Apis mellifera)*. This is not a species of conservation concern (i.e. it is not particularly threatened). Compare this to their British neighbours, 25 Bumblebees (7 of conservation concern) and around 260 diverse and little-known solitary bees (64 of conservation concern)³. Bees are also just part of at least 1500 species of pollinating insects in the UK⁴. The honeybee is far outnumbered by other species with radically different lifestyles, habitat requirements and flower preferences which need taking into account if we are to conserve our pollinator task force. 

* Only one honeybee subspecies, the Black bee (Apis mellifera mellifera) is a UK native and is receiving recent attention as it has some resistance against the devastating Varroa mite. Most UK honeybees are a complex of continental subspecies bred for their honey yields.

The ‘Busy Bees and their Cousins’ by Maude Scrivener illustrates the diversity of Britain’s bees including the Honeybee (Bottom right), Bumblebees, Leafcutter bee, Nomad bees (middle) and other solitary bees (Alongside two ichneumon wasps in the upper right corner).

 

2.       Honeybees are resilient to change

Honeybee colonies live throughout the winter, survive for several years and the tens of thousands of worker bees in the nest buffers their colonies against hardship. If conditions are poor one year, they can bounce back over the following one so long as they have a fertile queen to ensure the next generation. Moreover they can search for food over many miles if flowers are in locally short supply. 
 By contrast, all wild bees have annual life cycles. Each year is a new generation and a new nest.  They also have less insurance against hardship. Bumblebee nests have only a few hundred, or even tens of workers to support the colony and most solitary bees act as single mothers with the female taking sole responsibility for building the nest and providing for her offspring. If they have a bad year, numbers drastically decline.

Solitary bees are particularly sensitive, since they usually have short adult lifespans, fly only a few hundred meters from the nest and often rely on specific flower types, even down to a single plant species.  If a wildflower meadow is so much as cut or grazed at the wrong time of year, entire populations can be lost. Our endangered bumblebees also rely on certain flowers, mainly legumes (plants in the pea family) such as clover which provide protein-rich pollen for their larvae, alongside other perennial plants which need sensitive management. Honeybees do need a variety of flowers to support them throughout the year, but they have no such specialisms.

In addition, solitary bees and bumblebees usually have no help whatsoever in their struggle for survival, but most UK honeybees enjoy all the luxuries of domestication. Beekeepers build their hives, supplement their diet with sugar syrup and treat their ills. In some cases, their colonies are moved to pastures new to pollinate flowering crops, ensuring a ready food supply, whilst wild bees are left to eke a living on the sparse wildflowers at the field edges. This is the most important distinction between the honeybee and its wild cousins. 


Left: The majority of UK honeybee colonies are tended by Beekeepers in Hives (Image by Migco-wikimedia commons). Right: Other bees are not hive dwellers. Many solitary bees (here a Lasioglossum sp.) dig nest holes in the ground, which they construct and tend all on their own (Photo © by author).

Of course, beekeepers have their fingers on the pulse when it comes to flower provisions in the landscape and the common challenges their colonies are facing with wild bees, but honeybee numbers are partly dependent on the human efforts of their beekeepers, not just the state of the environment. We must look to conserving habitats for our wild bees.

3.       Honeybees are not super-pollinators

Honeybees are undoubtedly hard-working pollinators, since they must visit around two million flowers for each pound of honey⁵, but they are not the sole providers of our crops as is often implied. Several research projects have attempted to find out exactly how much different pollinators contribute to our food supply and the ecosystem. A Global study found that around 2% of bee species pollinate 80% of world crops and wild bees contribute just as much as honeybees to crop pollination⁶(Still an impressive effort from the honeybees!). Other studies have shown that when it comes to bearing fruit, honeybees are no substitute for our wild pollinators⁷. The wild Red mason bee for example is 120 times more efficient on apple blossoms than the honeybee⁸, and on strawberries, a combination of bee species feeding from different parts of the composite flowers creates larger, better-formed and tastier fruit⁹!
In terms of wild flowers, a study found honeybees lag far behind their wild cousins, visiting less than 5% of flowers in an ancient haymeadow, compared to over 30% visited by wild bees which were the top pollinators¹⁰.

This has more important implications than deriding honeybees.  It shows that we must preserve our wildflower-rich habitats to support our wild pollinator diversity if we want our fields and orchards to be fruitful.

So why are these other species so much better at pollinating? The reasons are twofold.
 Firstly, though the honeybee has many amazing adaptations for its lifestyle and visits at least 75 crop types worldwide, it simply doesn’t have the kit to deal with every flower type. Many flower shapes are adapted for specific pollinators to help ensure their pollen isn’t wasted on unrelated plants.
Take the bumblebees. They have the unique ability to “buzz pollinate”, vibrating their bodies using their wing muscles to release pollen, a technique essential for the tightly-clasped stamens of the tomato family and poppies (Every tomato, pepper and chilli you’ve eaten is pollinated by bumblebees).  Long-tongued bumblebees triumph on deep flowers such as Foxgloves with nectaries unreachable to other species.

But the honeybee does put its tools to good use. Perhaps too good! This is the second issue. The relationship between plants and pollinators is not as cosy as you might think. Bees are excellent pollen-collectors, but they have a vested interest to return it to the nest as food rather than transfer it between plants.  Since it has to provide for thousands of hungry larvae and other workers, the honeybee has become the peak of pollen-gathering efficiency. It gathers pollen into ‘baskets’ on its legs, stuck together with nectar and saliva, carrying little wastage on its nearly hairless abdomen. This leaves little loose pollen to drop onto and fertilise the next flower.
By contrast, solitary bees (Such as the Red mason bee) are rather messier since they only need enough pollen to stock one nest cell at a time. Instead of a basket of bristles, solitary bees have legs and/or abdomens coated in shaggy, branched hairs like a brush. The grains are not stuck together so easily drop off onto the next flower, leading to more efficient pollination.

The Honeybee (Left) is an efficient pollen-gatherer, packing it neatly into ‘baskets’ stuck to its legs. This Early mining bee (Andrena haemorrhoa) (Right) is a more efficient pollinator, brushing pollen loosely onto its hairy legs, from which it more easily drops off onto other flowers and fertilises them. Photos by ©Lamia textor (agrilus.blogspot.co.uk)

To wrap things up..

This article isn’t intended to demean the honeybee or beekeepers, rather it is to put the honeybee in context with its relatives and other pollinators. The honeybee is an amazing and incredible insect in its own right. Beekeepers share this fascination .Their knowledge, dedication and observation can tell us a great deal about the state of our pollinators and contribute to the passionate support our bees so desperately need. My father is a beekeeper and the fascinating honeybee contributed greatly to my appreciation of insects.

The take home lesson is that we shouldn’t solely idolise the honeybee. It is neither the ‘best’ pollinator nor the most reliable indicator of our environment. The honeybee shares its pollinator pedestal with a great variety of other species equally deserving of our appreciation if not more so and we need to conserve our flower-rich habitats to support this variety. It is important that we diversity of bee species and their needs, and act to protect the environment on which they depend in ways that help them,  rather than fixating on the hive dwelling honeybee, both for the sake of bees and our food supply.

Think bees, not bee.

Want to explore the diversity of Britain’s bees? Visit the Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Society (BWARS) and Steven Falk’s Flickr collection.

Learn more about bees and how to help them with Buglife the Bumblebee conservation Trust and Hymettus. You can help to understand the state of Britain’s bumblebees by becoming a Beewalker , and help bees and other pollinators in your garden by making a Pollinator Pledge.

References

1-Buglife. (2014) Get Britain Buzzing: A Manifesto for Pollinators. https://www.buglife.org.uk/sites/default/files/Pollinator%20manifesto%20with%20covers_1.pdf

2- Breeze,T.D. et al (2012) The Decline of England’s Bees: Policy Review and Recommendations http://www.foe.co.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/beesreport.pdf

3-JNCC. (2007) UK BAP priority terrestrial invertebrate species. http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/page-5169#insects

4-DEFRA. (2014) The National Pollinator Strategy: for bees and other pollinators in England. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/409431/pb14221-national-pollinators-strategy.pdf

5- National Honey Board. Honey Trivia .http://www.honey.com/newsroom/press-kits/honey-trivia

6- Kleijn,D et al. (2015) Delivery of crop pollination services is an insufficient argument for wild pollinator conservation. Nature Communications, 6. http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2015/150616/ncomms8414/full/ncomms8414.html

7-Garibaldi,L.A. et al. (2013) Wild Pollinators Enhance Fruit Set of Crops Regardless of Honey Bee Abundance. Science, 339 (6127) 1608-1611. http://www.sciencemag.org/content/339/6127/1608.abstract

8-AHDB Horticulture. Apple Best Practice Guide. http://apples.hdc.org.uk/agronomy-pollination-additional-information.asp


9-Chagnon,M. et al. (1993) Complementary Aspects of Strawberry Pollination by Honey and Indigenous Bees (Hymenoptera). Journal of Economic Entomology, 86(2)416-420.
http://jee.oxfordjournals.org/content/86/2/416

10- Dicks,L.V. et al. (2002) Compartmentalization in plant–insect flower visitor webs. Journal of Animal Ecology 71, 32-43 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.0021-8790.2001.00572.x/full

Ecogeeks in Africa-Part 2

For Part 1 of the summary of my Kenya Conservation Policy trip with the University of Exeter go here.

Kenya’s mountains and lowland wetlands may seem far removed, but together they provide the country's water resources. The Malewa and Gilgil rivers run from Mount Kenya and the Aberdare mountains down to the great lakes. We visited two of these lakes, Naivasha and Nakuru, the Mara River on the southern border and Mount Kenya.

1-Kenya's wetlands

We stayed on the shores of Lake Naivasha at Fisherman’s Camp. Here we felt truly immersed in the wildlife, as we were camping in a forest with views across the lake.  Ugly and intimidating Marabou storks paced through the camp for scraps, lovebirds nested in a dead tree, fish eagles swooped over and colobus monkeys browsed in the canopy which was alive with small birds. At night we watched hippos grazing the banks, separated only by a flimsy electric fence.  When the opportunity came, we took boat trips around the blue waters to take in the lakes birdlife. 

Birdwatching at Fisherman's camp. Some birds are clearly more exciting than others.Photo by author.

In its vastness, Naivasha appeared serene until we realised that the green carpet of water hyacinth covering the surface is a non-native species, the lake level is dropping thanks to abstraction by various users and the water is being polluted by agricultural runoff. The natural community is changing due to the dominance of invasive waterplants and stocking with tilapia, carp, and crayfish which have driven the lakes one native fish (Aplocheilichihys antinoni) to extinction .

One of the biggest lake water users are flower farms, two of which we visited  (a nursery and a cut flower supplier). The farms are vast, with 7 hectare greenhouses for each plant variety, and impressive technology controlling the watering systems.  It may surprise you that most cut flowers you can buy in a British supermarket come from these Kenyan farms.  To quote some figures, the farms produce a third of the global cut flower demand, using about 40% of all water extracted from the lake, some of which is then exported out of the country as “virtual water” within the flowers . However the employment of over 50,000 people (many of which are educated women) and a 7% contribution to Kenya’s  export market means the issue is not clear-cut.

One of the vast greenhouses of roses for export. Photo by author.

Environmental laws have encouraged the farms to reduce their water footprint. Measures include increasing their use of hydroponics (allowing more efficient watering), recycling water and fertiliser, and treatment of waste pesticides with settling ponds. These are steps in the right direction, but their actual impact was difficult to separate from propaganda during our talks with the staff.

Fortunately there is an organisation ensuring the flower farms do not get free reign. They are the Water Resources Management Authority (WRMA) who allocate water across the whole catchment. The Local Manager, Mercy Kendi explained how WRMA is essentially a cooperative of water users, from small-scale mountain farmers to major agricultural exporters, and was set up in response to conflicts between them. In the past, pastoralists angered by the diversion of water from their land, took to smashing farmer's pipes. Now WRMA avoids these conflicts by sharing water fairly between users, whilst ensuring the rivers stay running for wildlife. The motivation for joining WRMA? Taking water anywhere away from a non-WRMA controlled extraction point is a fineable offence. In addition to water allocation, WRMA also maintains riverine habitats e.g. by imposing buffer strips and helping communities restore banks by tree planting.

To illustrate just how much training they do on the ground, Mercy directed us to one of their members, a small-scale farmer on the slope of Mount Kenya. His farm was every hippy’s dream of self-sufficiency, whilst making money on the side from export crops. His crops were drip-fed for efficiency, ponds stored water in which he cultured fish, excess runoff watered his livestock feed in the bottom corner and his cows in turn provided slurry for the crops. Wild canaries singing in the trees, a large chameleon in the hedge and buzzing flower chafers joining his own honeybees around the fruit blossoms added to the image of Eden.

Our next stop, an intensive vegetable farm, could not have been a starker contrast.  Millitary rows of green beans and broccoli stretching to the horizon, watered by gigantic, GPS- guided booms on wheels, spraying out water that seemed to soak our faces more than the ground. This is one of the UK’s major sources of winter green vegetables, including most of the tenderstem broccoli in supermarkets. It undoubtedly generates a lot of employment and money, but at what environmental cost? For one, they did not adhere to WRMA, gaining extra water allowances from the Government. Whatever your stance on healthy eating, Broccoli World is not a place to take the kids.

Broccoli world aka Kenya seed farm. Photo by author.

After that experience, it was refreshing to get back to the wildlife, and Lake Nakuru National Park was the perfect antidote. The lake here is saline, and is famous for attracting vast flocks of lesser flamingos which feed on the algae that thrives in the salty water (Naivasha is unusual in the region for being freshwater). Unfortunately, the high rainfall that made the savannahs so green had flooded and diluted the lake so there were few flamingos. However, with over 50 bird species seen in one morning along with a leopard and a black rhino we weren’t complaining! A quick trip up to Baboon cliffs also gave us an incredible view of the lake.

The diverse waterbird community on the banks of lake Nakuru. Photo by author.

The view across Lake Nakuru from Baboon Cliffs. Photo by author.

The reserve was an excellent setting for a talk from Edward Kariuki of the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS). He told us how KWS is striving to modernise its values and workforce, but like all conservation bodies is short of resources. It was good to hear that they were adopting an ecosystem approach rather than focussing on a few charismatic species, though some like rhino and elephant obviously have their own action plans.  He told us with enthusiasm about President Uhuru Kenyatta’s support of conservation. So far he has forged cooperation between KWS and Kenya Forest Service, and has passed the Wildlife Conservation Management Act 2013 imposing serious penalties on poaching.

Towards the end of our trip we encountered the Mara river, famous crossing place of migrating wildebeest. The bones littering the banks attested to this. I was itching to see the infamous Nile Crocodiles and was not disappointed as we had a guided crocodile and hippo walk along the banks. A mother hippo and young calf and a Nile monitor were added bonuses.

We saw (or rather heard) another river character on our first day lodging near Nairobi. Check out the guttural toad, a little amphibian with a big voice.

The mating call of the aptly named Guttural toad. Video by author.

Wildlife of Kenya’s wetlands. Left to Right: Wet Savannas, standing freshwater, rivers, saline lakes.
(1)Sausage tree (2)Grey crowned crane (3)Bohor reedbuck (4) Yellow-billed stork (5) Marabou stork (6) Garman’s toad (7) Hadada ibis (8) Blacksmith lapwing (9) Water hyacinth (10) Louisiana crayfish (11) Mascarene rocket frog (12) Hammerkop (13) African jacana (14) African short-clawed otter (15) Hippopotamus (16) Marsh harrier (17) Barn swallow (18) Long-toed lapwing, (19) Purple Swamphen (20) Squacco heron (21) Long-tailed cormorant (22) Malachite kingfisher  (23)Purple heron (24)Pied kingfisher  (25)Tacazze sunbird (26) Sacred ibis (27) Egyptian goose (28) Papyrus (29) Black crake (30) Clubrush (31) Water lilly (32)Guttural toad (33) Nile crocodile (34) Yellow fever-tree (35) Yellow wagtail (36) African spoonbill (37) Nile monitor (38) Sedge (39) Kittlitz’s plover (40) Black-winged stilt (41) Hottentot teal (42) Red-knobbed coot (43) African openbill (44) Common waterbuck (45) Lesser flamingo (46) Greater flamingo (47) Great cormorant (48) White pelican (49) Grey-headed gull (50) African Fish eagle.

At  our camp in Olare Orok conservancy, we experienced a flash flood (thankfully from a safe distance) when the calm low-flow of the stream turned into a roaring torrent overnight. Our earlier walk through the gorge at Hell’s Gate showed the power of these floods, which have carved the sandstone rockface where usually only trickling streams flow through. The floods have created such a striking landscape it has featured as a setting in a Tomb Raider film and inspired the stampede scene in The Lion King.

Views of the Hell's Gate gorge. Photographs by Tori Jeffers (Left) and Vicki Baldwin (Right), used with permission.

There is also something special about the springs in Hell’s Gate. They run hot from underground reservoirs in contact with volcanic activity near the surface. Once deemed mystical, the power is now harnessed for energy generation. There are 2 geothermal plants in Hell’s gate, generating 167 megawatts of electricity. This is ‘renewable ‘ energy, but with emissions of sulphur making an eggy stink around the plants, and fluoride in the waste water. Perhaps most concerning is that they are built within a national park, where developments are usually banned. There are strict environmental measures in place, such as containment of outflows, reinjection of waste water into the reservoirs, and regular toxicology monitoring of plants and soil around the stations, but we still found a burst steam pipe and an uncontrolled, steaming outflow.

Part of the Olkerai geothermal powerplant in Hell's Gate. Not something you'd expect so see in a National Park. Photograph by Tori Jeffers, used with permission.

2-Mount Kenya

Most of Kenya’s water comes from a much colder source, the glaciers of Mount Kenya. Scrambling up to these was beyond our means, but we still managed to hike 5,340m up the mountainside. This took us through several unique vegetation zones.
From the park entrance, the towering, twisted trunks of Podocarp trees loomed above the dusty track, home to red-fronted parrots, Hartlaub's touracos and the bulbous nests of mason wasps. From here we went into the cool green of the bamboo zone where we walked paths cleared by elephants through the dense stems.

At the base camp for climbers (3048m) we were greeted by a confiding troop of Syke’s monkeys. This mainly herbivorous primate specialises in eking out a living at altitudes other monkeys cannot, though this particular group was used to tourist handouts. Other specialities we found  included the delicate pink Mount Kenya violet, The Mount Kenya fritillary butterfly (a subspecies of Hannington’s fritillary) and club moss, a rare type of plant that predates the dinosaurs.

Some Mount Kenya flora. Top: Mount Kenya violet, unidentified Geranium, Sunburst.
Bottom:Cabbage groundsel, Club moss. Photos by author.

From the open basecamp we ascended into the shady, primeval rosewood forest. The boughs of these thickset hardwood trees drooped with mosses and ferns, whilst the rich vegetation below is the native home of some familiar garden plants such as the red-hot poker Kniphofia ,Lobelias and Nasturtium as well as oddly familiar docks, nettles, brambles and a purple clover. A verdant temperate rainforest.
The furry face of a tree hyrax peeked out of a tree hollow. These strange mammals look like a cross between a guinea pig and a lap dog (but are related to elephants!). At night back at our camp in Naru Muro they kept us awake with their hilariously horrendous “singing” .

As we reached the final zone of our journey, the forest graded into trees of a different kind, giant heathers! Whilst this zone is boggy with runoff, the heaths are prone to fire and we entered this beautifully surreal landscape of charred trees and emerald mossy ground. This is the home of Kenya’s famous giant rosette plants. Most had burned away but we still saw young Giant lobelias, the tall yellow flower spikes of Cabbage groundsel and the occasional blood red Gladiolus. The view from here to the Aberdare mountains was spectacular and well worth the climb. We returned to camp exhausted, but glowing from the experience and the sunshine.

Vegetation zones of Mount Kenya. Podocarp forest (Top left), Bamboo zone (Top right) Rosewood/Timberline Forest (Bottom left),Heath. Photos by author.

 
I’ve done the best I can to recount this amazing and enlightening adventure to inform some and remind others. Great thanks are due to the people who made it all possible. The staff who informed, entertained and herded us, Dr Dave Hodgson and Dr Caitlin Knight (Biosciences), Dr Chris Laing (Geography), Amanda Scott (Nature writer) and Enoch Mobisa (Researcher and Alumni of the University of Exeter), who provided invaluable insights and observations on the trip. Also to our friendly and enthusiastic drivers and excellent cooks from Africa Journeys, to the variety of expert officials who talked to us, and of course to all my coursemates (Especially everyone else from the  Big 3, the only bus to see both a leopard and a lion cub!) I could not have asked for better company.

And another thing to add to the Big 3's achievements, was having the longest species list! We did have two amateur entomologists and someone familiar with the birds of the bush after all. Our prize was an enamelled mug each. Ironically the logo on the Falcon cup appears to be a harrier.

The Kenya Species Cup and other souvenirs.

Ecogeeks in Africa-Part 1

Almost a month ago, I returned from an incredible University trip to Kenya alongside other enthusiastic conservation students. The purpose was to explore the realities of conservation in a tropical country with spectacular wildlife. The journey of discovery took us not only to Kenya’s famous nature reserves, but also to the people striving to protect the ecosystems, indigenous communities who must deal with predators on their doorstep and the managers and users of the country’s precious water resources. We travelled across surprisingly diverse ecoregions on our trip, and these provide the framework for the following two articles, describing the wildlife and the key issues in each habitat.

1-Urban Kenya

Our trip began around Nairobi, Kenya’s capital. Despite the country’s 50-year independence it is still strikingly British, as all the signs are predominantly in English. However, the disorganised shanties would be a British health and safety inspector’s nightmare (In stark contrast to the grand, manicured government developments in Narok town). Wildlife thrives in the unkemptness of the shanties. Two large birds are common here, the Black Kite and the Sacred Ibis, both making a living by rummaging in rubbish for meat scraps. They are joined by the Pied Crow, an impressive raven in magpie’s clothing. Flocks of superb starling are a surprising dazzle of colour in the dusty towns, completely metallic and painted blue and green with an orange chest. Scattered acacia trees are festooned with the hanging baskets of weaverbird nests. The various species dressed in black and yellow are frustratingly difficult to tell apart. These urbanites are few, yet successful, especially as Nairobi continues to expand.

Kenyan urbanites. 1)Sacred ibis(Threskiornis aethiopicus), 2)Black kite(Milvus migrans),
3)Pied crow (Corvus albus), 4)African pied wagtail (Motacilla aguimp), 5)Speckled pigeon (Columba guinea), 6)Superb starling(Lamprotornis superbus), 7)Village weaver(Ploceus cucullatus),
8)Vitelline masked weaver(Ploceus vitellinus) , 9)Browed sparrow-weaver(Plocepasser mahali).

2- Savannahs

The Savannah is the habitat most people associate with Kenya. The vast grasslands are home to the World’s largest and most famous land mammals. Tourism has habituated the wildlife to vehicles, but there is still a world of difference to seeing them in a zoo. Although we visited during the dry season, high rainfall in recent years has made the savannas much greener and more verdant with wildflowers than the yellowing grass landscape we were expecting. The trip wouldn’t be complete without safaris, and our duty to collect data from our observations made them slightly more productive than the typical tourist experience.

Our first stop was Nairobi National Park. Though relatively small it was packed with spectacular wildlife, including a family of White Rhino and our first views of stately Maasai Giraffes. If you were prepared to ignore the tower blocks on the horizon and the occasional plastic bag in the bushes it was a tropical paradise!

The bizarre contrast in Nairobi National Park, where the city has grown to meet the wilderness.
Photo by author.

At Olerai conservancy we had a walking Safari, giving us the opportunity to see the Savannahs hidden treasures. There were delicate wildflowers in a variety of shapes and colours, along with spectacular invertebrates, including large tunnelling wolf spiders and their predators, huge spider-hunting wasps with black bodies and iridescent wings. More about Conservancies later.

A selection of wildflowers growing in Olerai Conservancy.Photographs by author.

At Hell’s Gate National Park, we were able to walk amongst game animals. The park is in Kenya’s portion of the Great Rift Valley. It is deemed safe to walk through due to a lack of big cats, but we found several signs of cheetah and a leopard was seen last year. Though our objective was to collect data on the game animals we saw, we couldn’t help being distracted by the amazing geological landscape. It is also home to a major roost of endangered Ruppell’s griffon vultures.

Zebra watching at Hell's Gate National Park. Photo by author.

 The grand finale was the Maasai Mara Game Reserve where we had the complete African wildlife experience including elephants, lounging cheetahs and a 20+ strong herd of giraffe (known as a tower). The jewel in the crown was finding lions feeding on an old buffalo carcass surrounded by a full cast of scavengers including jackals snatching bites under the lion’s nose, a mixed flock of vultures and spotted hyenas waiting in the wings.
Hyenas provided some memorable moments in the Mara. Firstly when a safari bus had a blow-out and a hyena approached to check its chances of a tourist takeaway and the next day when another chased a gazelle fawn straight across the road in front of us.  Our wild camping experience in a neighbouring conservancy was put into perspective when we encountered a pack of five on a drive a few hundred meters away.

Welcome to the Mara! Lion, white-backed vulture and black-backed jackal at the buffalo carcass, watched by buses and balloons. Photograph ©Joshua Baum. Used with permission.

  Overall, the bus group I was part of was the only one to see the Big Five (Lion, Leopard, Buffalo, Black Rhino and Elephant) thanks to a brilliant spot of a leopard in the grass at Nakuru National Park. Asides from the spectacular megafauna, the group also saw some of the smaller, more elusive mammals, some on a night drive around one of our camps. Dikdiks, groups of banded mongoose, hares and a genet slinking along (An attractive carnivore like a graceful cross between a cat and a mongoose). One group even saw a serval walking close by.

Not forgetting the primates. Troops of shifty-looking olive Baboons scattered around the Savannahs and in our camps kept us entertained with their family activities and quickly took advantage of dropped food.  The more graceful black-faced vervet monkeys in the wooded areas were still not averse to raiding car park bins, whilst the handsome black and white colobus were content picking leaves from the trees, where they were agile leapers despite their bulk. Fisherman’s camp was famous for its nocturnal bushbabies, located by their torch lit eyeshine, though I did not see any myself.

Savannah monkeys.Black and white colobus (Left), Black-faced vervet (Above), Olive baboon(Below).
Photos by author.

The sheer number and diversity of birds of prey on the savannahs showed that the smaller wildlife must be doing well too. The most common was the Augur Buzzard, smartly black and white with a red tail, and we were also lucky to see pallid harriers coasting over the grass, several eagles, hawks, falcons and the distinctive ground-hunting secretary bird, one of which put on a spectacular flying display for us. Other memorable birds included ostrich, the technicolor lilac-breasted roller, and the long-tailed widowbird, a species where the male’s tail has evolved so long to attract a mate that he has difficulty flying!

Coming away from the Nature Reserves into the pastoral areas inhabited by the Maasai was quite a contrast. It was odd to see zebra, gazelle and wildebeest living alongside the herds of livestock, but the short grazed grass offered nowhere for smaller animals to hide. Many ground birds seemed to enjoy this though, with several Lapwing species, handsome crowned cranes, sandgrouse and the 1.2 meter-tall Kori bustard taking advantage of the easy foraging for insects and seeds.

A family of plains zebra against a backdrop of sheep and farm buildings in Maasai pastoral land.
 Photo by author.

We visited these lands to talk to three Maasai clans. Livestock herding or pastoralism is integral to their culture. Appreciation of Wildlife is another of their core values, but their attitudes to different animals vary. Unsurprisingly, large carnivores are not so loved. One tribe told us how lions take around 200 cattle a year, something the Government used to compensate for until some decided to cheat the system and blame natural deaths on lions. Despite being illegal, retaliatory killing is still practiced, though other measures such as flashing lights or fortifying the livestock pens are more effective and promising methods.

Encouragingly, two of the Maasai clans we visited had set up conservancies. These are nature reserves run by the Maasai themselves rather than the Kenya Wildlife Service government department. Olerai conservancy was recently set up as a legacy to prevent division of the clan’s land into private plots. We were fortunate enough to talk with two of the clan members, helping them understand what tourists would want from the area. We experienced wild camping in the Maasai Mara Conservancy , which was thriving with wildlife freely moving from the game reserve. The conservancies are an encouraging solution to a recent conservation issue. The loss of many clans’ traditional nomadic culture in favour of securing land rights since the 1960’s has led to greater impacts on the land.  Setting their land aside to generate a sustainable income from nature tourism gives wildlife not only more space, but more value and greater protection.

Morning in the Maasai Mara Conservancy camp. Photo by author.

The Maasai are not the only people to set up their own reserves. Our trip also included a visit to Solio Ranch, a private, fenced area set up for breeding black and white rhinos for stocking nature reserves. With 188 rhino, the ranch has the highest density of both species in one place. It was astounding to see them gathered in herds, apparently a more natural situation than the widely scattered individuals in most parks as a tragic artefact of poaching. This private rhino ‘farm’ sparked much debate on the issue of private versus public reserves for conservation. The owners face a new legal hurdle, as the influential 2013 Wildlife Conservation Management Bill prevents them from selling black rhino, greatly reducing the reserve’s income. However, this may be a small price to pay, since the bill imposes suitably serious penalties on poaching the Big 5. Sadly even Solio is not immune to poachers, and two have recently been caught on the reserve.

The take-home shot from Solio Ranch. Black rhino herd  against Mount Kenya. Photo by author.

And so went our journey across the Kenyan Savannahs. This article covers just some of the revealing experiences we had. In Part 2, I will cover our journey of Kenya’s wetlands and highlands. In the meantime, get acquainted with some of the fantastic savannah wildlife we saw in the true Ecogeek style below.

1.      1.       African long-crested eagle (Lophaetus occipitalis)-The males have the longest headcrest. Their main prey is small rodents, but they will also take other small animals and even fruit.

2.       Long-tailed fiscal (Lanius cabanisi)-A species of shrike common almost everywhere in Kenya, perched conspicuously in the open where they watch for insects on the ground.

3.       Long-tailed widowbird (Euplectes progne)-With his ridiculously long-tail to attract a mate, this species is a textbook example of the powers of sexual selection. Males closest to the physical limit for tail size are considered most attractive by the females.

4.       Yellow-throated sandgrouse (Pterocles gutturalis)- Relatives of pigeons, sand grouse are superbly adapted to arid conditions. They nest in the dry season and the adults have absorbent breast feathers to carry water from pools to their chicks.

5.       Dung beetles-  Bury the dung and lay their eggs on it to feed their offspring. Whilst burrowers simply tunnel under the dung , rollers form balls which they take away to be buried, reducing competition.

6.       Waste paper plant- Grows in heavily grazed areas where it is a parasite on the roots of grasses. Named for the resemblance of the scattered, flimsy flowers to scraps of tissue paper.

7.       Colotis butterfly-Various red, orange and yellow colitis sp are the most common butterflies of the savannah. They seem to have boundless energy as they fly almost non-stop  in random directions.

8.       Kori bustard (Ardeotis kori)- At an impressive 18 kg and 1.2m long, this is the World’s heaviest flying bird. They usually stay on the ground, where they hunt large insects, lizards and snakes.

9.       Cape Buffalo (Syncerus caffer)- Renowned as one of Africa’s most dangerous animals, even standing up to lions. Buffalo feature on the ‘Big 5’ as large, unpredictable lone bulls were prized hunting trophies.

10.    Candelabra tree(Euphorbia ingens)- This giant euphorbia is able to grow up to 10 meters tall. It remains uneaten thanks to its spines and sticky sap which causes blisters.

11.    Mould beetle-Soil sticks to static hairs on this beetle’s body, helping it camouflage as it forages on open ground.

12.    Crowned lapwing (Vanellus coronatus) -Common across Savannahs and pastures in short grass where it feeds mainly on termites.

13.    Prickly pear-Though the spines make it unpalatable to animals, this cactus has two human food uses, it’s edible fruit and the red food dye coccineal derived from the aphids which feed on it.

14.    Thomson’s gazelle (Eudorcas thomsonii)- The commonest antelope in East Africa, ‘Tommie’s’ make up for their small stature  with speed, reaching 80kmph.

15.    Plains zebra (Equus burchelli)- Zebras stripes help create an optical illusion when they move, confusing  both predators and biting insects.

16.    African hare (Lepus microtis)-Like most hares, rely on their speed to escape predators in open habitat. They can leap up to 10 feet.

17.    Aloe- The succulent leaves of aloes conserve water. They famously soothe irritated skin, and are sought by elephants as a hydrating snack.

18.    Trap-jaw ant (Odontomachus sp.)-The jaws of these ants are so fast and powerful they can be used to propel themselves into the air from a hard surface, but are more usually used to snatch fast-moving insects.

19.    Mwanza flat-headed rock agama (Agama Mwanzae)-The male’s spectacular colouring gets  brighter with dominance and has leant them the nickname ‘Spider man agama’.

20.    White-bellied bustard (Eupodotis senegalensis)-Far smaller than kori’s bustard. The male puffs out a black beard during display.

21.     Common Eland (Taurotragus oryx)-This cow-like antelope is the second largest in the world after the giant eland. Bulls develop a large dewlap with age.

22.    Temminck's Courser (Cursorius temminckii)- Strangely for a wader, coarsers prefer arid areas and are good runners.

23.    Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) - The world’s fastest land mammal in order to catch gazelle, these slender cats often hunt in the midday heat to avoid more powerful predators stealing their kills.

24.    Common Warthog (Phacochoerus africanus) The ‘warts’ on the side of the head act as fat reserves and protect the male’s face from their opponents tusks during fights.

25.    Red-billed oxpecker (Buphagus erythrorhynchus)- Long thought to be helpful to large herbivores by picking off ticks, oxpeckers actually have a taste for blood. They wait until ticks are engorged before eating them and will keep wounds open to feed from them.

26.    Pallid Harrier (Circus macrourus) – Migrate to Africa from Eastern Europe and West Asia in winter. Like other harriers, they coast along low to the grass, watching and listening for birds and small mammals.

27.    Common Ostrich (Struthio camelus)-The World’s largest modern bird.Males are the main carers of the offspring.

28.    Topi  (Damaliscus korrigum) - In the breeding season, males gether into leks where both sexes compete for mates.

29.    Secretary bird (Sagittarius serpentarius) - Named after  their head feathers resembling old secretaries with quills behind their ears, these raptors wade through the grass using their long legs and feet to subdue snakes and other small animals.

30.    Blue Wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus)-Following the fresh grass growth with the rains, Kenyan Wildebeest migrate to Tanzania and back. In recent years their migration patterns have changed , possibly due to climate change.

31.    Pompillid- This huge wasp (4cm), paralyses burrowing wolf spiders and buries them alive to feed her larvae.

32.    Pentanisia (Pentanisia. prunelloides)- The delicate pastel-blue flowers attract butterflies, whilst  the root is used medicinally by native tribes to treat burning-anything from burned skin to fever and heartburn (though it is not scientifically proven to work).

33.    Banded mongoose (Mungos mungo) - A colonial  mongoose . Amazingly, all females in a group give birth within a few days of each other, so the group can care for the young in a crèche.

34.    Burrowing wolf spider(Geolycosa sp.)- One of Africa’s largest spiders. Unlike most wolf spiders which are active hunters, the females ambush insects from their silk-lined burrows.

35.    Bur marigold (Bidens sp.)-These sunshine yellow flowers patchwork the savannah and are important nectar source for native honeybees.

36.    Yellow-necked spurfowl (Pternistis leucoscepus) -  Closely related to chickens. Both sexes have bare yellow necks and the males call at dawn from termite mounds.

37.    White rhinoceros(Ceratotherium simum) - A corruption of the Afrikaans "wijd", meaning "wide", after it’s broad lips used for grazing. White rhinos are not native to Kenya, but introduced as attractions in the Parks.

38.    Pangani longclaw(Macronyx aurantiigula) – One of the few easily-recognisable pipit-like birds on the plains owing to the male’s orange- yellow throat.

39.    Northern anteater chat (Myrmecocichla aethiops )-Presumably eats ants and/or termites, but very little information is available on this common bird.

40.    Helmeted guineafowl (Numida meleagris)-This distinctive and loud gamebird travels in groups, sweeping the grasslands for edible plants and small animals. They are thought to be major controllers of ticks.

41.    African elephant (Loxodonta africana)- The largest land animal, with an appetite for destroying trees to maintain open grassland, elephants must range great distances to sustain themselves.

42.    Umbrella thorn acacia (Vachellia tortilis)- The iconic tree of the savannah. The umbrella-thorn is able to dominate this habitat through being extremely tolerant of drought, high temperatures (up to 50° C) poor soils, alkalinity and even night frosts at higher elevations.

43.    Cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis)-Named for their habit of following large mammals to snap up the insects and small vertebrates which get disturbed.

44.    Spotted hyena (Crocutta crocutta)-Hyenas are much misunderstood. Though efficient scavengers, they mainly hunt their own prey. Despite appearances and behaviour they are also more closely related to cats and mongooses than to dogs.

45.    Black-backed Jackal (Canis mesomelas) –These small dogs hunt rodents, hares and small antelopes aswell as using their agility and cunning to scavenge kills from larger predators-often right under their noses!

46.    Impala (Aepyceros melampus)-Common in scrubby Savanna in herds of up to two hundred. Males are territorial in the breeding season, when they attempt to control a harem of visiting females.

47.    Thorn apple (Datura stramonium)-This plant is not grazed since it’s alkaloid content makes it deadly toxic, at just above the doses for medicinal use!

48.    African monarch (Danaus chrysippus)-This butterfly retains poisonous alkaloids from the milkweed it eats as a caterpillar. It may be the first butterfly to be depicted in art, in an Egyptian Fresco from 1500BC.

49.    Lion (Panthera leo)-Widely heralded as the Kings of the savannah, being the apex predator means lions are under threat from habitat depletion and retaliatory killing when they target livestock. They are particularly reliant on the wildebeest herds.

50.    Serval (Leptailurus serval) - One of Africa’s smaller cats at less than 1m tall. Their long legs help them patrol tall grass in search of rodents, and jump an incredible 3m to catch flying birds.

51.    Whistle-thorn acacia (Acacia drepanolobium)-This shrubby tree gets it’s name from the sound of the wind blowing into holes in it’s galls. The tree grows these swellings as homes for ants, which in turn protect it from herbivores by swarming and biting any animal that disturbs the branches.

52.    Fork-tailed drongo(Dicrurus adsimilis) -These small crow relatives hunt insects from perches, often following large herbivores which disturb their prey. Meerkats and mongoose use drongos as a predator alarm signal, but the drongos sometimes trick them to steal a prize meal.

53.    Maasai Giraffe(Giraffa tippelskirchi) -Ranging around Kenya and Tanzania, This Giraffe species is distinguished by its jagged brown patches and is the tallest species, at around 6m tall.

54.    Lilac-breasted roller(Coracias caudatus)- This jay-sized  bird has a beautiful patchwork of pink, purple blue and turquoise. It is no surprise that Kenya chose it as it’s National bird.

55.    Hooded vulture (Necrosyrtes monachus) -With it’s slender bill, this is the only vulture species to eat insects aswell as carrion.

56.    Ruppell’s Griffon Vulture (Gyps rueppellii) - The World’s highest flying bird, recorded at 11,000 metres. The roosting colony at Hell’s Gate National Park fly to the Maasai Mara to feed, around 185km away.

57.    Lappet-faced vulture(Torgos tracheliotos) -One of Africa’s largest and most aggressive vultures, this species can digest tough hide and sinew which others cannot deal with.

58.    Augur buzzard (Buteo augur) -Kenya’s commonest bird of prey over plains,highland moors and cultivated fields. Around 10% of the country’s population are completely black dark morphs.

59.    Swallows-Various swallow species are resident in Kenya, whilst our own, the Barn Swallow migrates here in the Northern winter. They mingle across the great plains chasing the abundant flying insects. Left to right: Wire-tailed swallow Hirundo smithii, Mosque swallow Cecropis senegalensis,Barn swallow H.rustica.

60.    White-fronted bee-eater (Merops bullockoides) -This species of bee-eater has a complex social system of family ‘clans’ with the members helping to rear each other’s offspring.

61.    Sausage fly (Dorylus sp).-This strange flying insect, looking like a cross between a wasp and a cranefly is actually a winged male driver ant.

62.    Martins-Close relatives of the swallows, martins have smaller, stockier bodies and shorter forked tails. From left to right: House martin Delichon urbicum, Sand martin Riparia riparia (both British migrants), Plain martin R. paludicola, Rock martin Ptyonoprogne fuligula.

63.    Swifts-Adding to the frenzy of aerial hunters, various swifts also winter in Kenya. They spend almost their whole lives in flight and tend to feed much higher than swallows and martins.

64.    Bateleur (Terathopius ecaudatus)-The swept-back wings and stubby, triangular tail make this handsome eagle very distinctive in flight. It’s name is French for “Street performer” as it’s wing-rocking motions resemble a balancing tightrope walker.

65.    Tawny eagle (Aquila rapax)-This powerful eagle can tackle hares and guineafowl, but also uses it’s veracity to steal food from other large birds such as fish eagles and storks.

66.    Lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni)- This species is smaller and more warmth-loving than the familiar Common Kestrel  (F. Tinnunculus) since it feeds mainly on insects.