African animals safari in Kenya-5 most sought Primates in Kenya

Kenya national park monkeys. In Kenya animal safari, you will see a lot of different monkey species including the baboons, bush baby, vervet, blue monkey, colobus among others. Animals in Kenya Africa parks are more than the monkey business, there are also African lions, elephants, giraffes, rhinos, leopard, cheetah, hippos, crocodiles and a plethora of other herd animals.

For many travellers, Africa means animals-and for the wildlife watchers Kenya is one of the prime locations for seeing nature in the raw. Nowhere else on earth is so great an array of large animals supported by such a range of environmental and climatic variations.

All manner of wildlife experience is here; the epic seasonal migrations of huge zebra herds, the excitement of the solitary cheetah bringing down its prey, the skittish avian inhabitants of Arabuko sokoke, the protective mother warthog watching over her young.

The east African mosaic of riverine forest, savannah and lake shore was favoured by the earliest humans. For millennia thereafter it was humankind who was the intruder in this domain. Today, only pockets of this once mighty untouched realm remain, but it is here that the wildlife watcher is drawn.

Whether you hanker after the amassed flamingos at Lake Bogoria, the grazing herds of antelope and wildebeest on the savannah, the shrieking monkeys in Kakamega, or the ponderous elephants and the delicately stepping giraffes of Samburu National reserve., there’s is no real trick to spotting wildlife in Kenya.

If you are in the right place and the right time, wildlife is in abundance, so you need to get out there and put in the time, be it on a safari vehicle, atop a camel or on foot.

Bear in mind, too, that by watching wildlife in Kenya you are helping to conserve it. A substantial amount of foreign currency is earned from wildlife tourism in Kenya and other East African countries.

The money you spend in visiting national parks and reserves cvontributes to the long term viability of these sanctuaries where the fabled great cats and innumerable herd animas can continue to carry out their timeless life-an-death drama.

Primates
1. Bush baby

These nocturnal primates have small heads, large rounded ears, bushy tails and enormous eyes. Greater bush babies are dark brown; tiny lesser bush babies are light grey with yellow on their legs. They are often in family groups of up to six or seven, but forage alone for sap, fruit, and insects and, in case of greater bush babies, lizards, nestlings and eggs.
Distribution: Lightly wooded savannah to thickly forested areas; greater bush babies occur mostly in southern and central Kenya.

2. Vervet Monkeys

Conspicuous inhabitants of the woodland-savannah, vervet monkeys are easily recognised by their grizzled grey hair and black face fringed with white. Troops may number up to 30. Vervet monkeys have a sophisticated vocal repertoire, with, for example, different calls for different predators.

They are diurnal and forage for fruits, seeds, leaves, flowers, invertebrates and the occasional lizard or nestling. They rapidly learn where easy pickings can be found around lodges and campsites and become pests when they are accustomed to being fed.


3. Blue (Samango) Monkey

Similar to vervet monkeys, but slightly larger and mush darker, blue monkeys \have a grey to black face, black shoulders, limbs and tail, and a reddish brown or olive brown back. They are more arboreal than vervet monkeys and generally prefer dense forest and wood land than savanna.

They feed largely on fruit, bark, gum, and leaves. Social groups usually consist of related females and their young, and a single adult male. Their broad diet allows them to occupy relatively small home ranges.
Distribution; through out most evergreen forests and forest patches.

4. Eastern Black-and-white Colobus

This Colobus is glossy black with a white face, bushy white tail and a white fur ’cape’. Newborns are initially born white, gaining their adult coat at around six months. The black-and-white Colobus spends most of its time in the forest canopy, where it feeds mostly on leaves.

The ready availability of its food enables it to survive on quite small home ranges, usually maintained by troops of up to 12 animals, consisting of a dominant male, female and young.
Distribution: Forests in western Kenya; similar Angolan black and white Colobus can be found in south east Kenya.

5. Baboon

Baboons are unmistakable. The yellow baboon and the olive baboon are named for their differing hair colour.
Baboons live in troops of between eight and 200; contrary to popular belief there is no single dominant male.

Social interactions are complex, with males accessing only certain females, males forming alliances to dominate other males, and males caring for unrelated juveniles. Baboons forage in woodland-savannah for grasses, tubers, fruits, invertebrates and occasionally small vertebrates.

Robert is a travel expert with Landmarksafaris.com. Degreed in tourism management, he has authored more than 1000 articles on Kenya East Africa travel. To find out what happens to you on your Kenya animal safari, take this hook, line and sinker: http://sojournsafaris.com/8-days-kenya-wildlife-safari