From the heights of Mt. Marsabit in northern Kenya everything is downhill. When I arrived for a recent 10-day expedition, even my expectations paralleled the topography. In short, we knew security was a problem, we hadn’t seen many vultures ...
“Hey mzungu,” was the shout that greeted me, accompanied by two surprised faces, as I darted outside to lock the hubs of my vehicle for four-wheel drive. Rain splattered the windscreen, black cement-like mud engulfed my feet, and migrating Amur ...
Nine years ago I was regularly in the field in central Kenya studying Mackinder’s eagle owls (Bubo capensis mackinderi) and promoting their conservation among the local community. The reason we had to promote the conservation of owls is because ...
Mount Kenya is equal parts beautiful and brutal. Amidst the moorlands, Lobelias rise like skyscrapers, and lacking competition from the other odd-ball assortment of plants in this “Planet of the Apes” landscape, they protrude like beacons marking your slow progress ...
Thigh-high grass sways in the breeze as the effusive birdsong, so characteristic of the tropics, continues despite the midday heat. In this otherwise tranquil landscape, sights and sounds can be deceiving. It is only your nose that alerts you to ...
Two days ago eight members of the Marsh Pride, made internationally famous on the long-running television series Big Cat Diary, were poisoned inside the Masai Mara National Reserve. The lions fed on a cow carcass baited with a highly toxic ...
Among members of the public, I describe myself as a conservationist, or more typically my response is, “I study birds.” Among my conservation colleagues, I have to go a step further—”I study vultures”—to which the near-unanimous reply is “...
I love to hike and I even enjoy the occasional bush-whack. So it was with some excitement that my student Paul Muriithi asked me to accompany him for five days on Mt Kenya to search for the Abyssinian owl (aka ...
Traveling 125 miles under your own power might take a human a week a more to complete. For an endangered Ruppell’s vulture with an epic wingspan of roughly 8 feet, it’s a mere day trip. Long Way to Go for ...
Darcy Ogada has studied the animals of Africa for a long time, but this might be the worst of times yet. She is fighting to document and put a stop to a new form of hunting and poaching: poisoning. The ...
In 1962, Rachel Carson penned the environmental movement’s cornerstone manuscript Silent Spring. The highly controversial book awoke America’s consciousness to the harmful effects of pesticides on the environment, particularly on birds. Over 50 years later, the book has left an ...
This year has seen a dramatic increase in vulture poisonings particularly in southern Africa. At current levels many species of African vulture will become extinct within our lifetimes. Since May at least 1,500 White-backed, Cape, Lappet-faced, and Hooded Vultures have perished ...
This year has seen a dramatic increase in vulture poisonings particularly in southern Africa. At current levels many species of African vulture will become extinct within our lifetimes. Since May at least 1,500 White-backed, Cape, Lappet-faced, and Hooded Vultures have perished ...
When you love your work should it really be called ‘work’? Perhaps Nat Geo has got it right to call it ‘exploration’. We were blessed to explore this most beautiful place and in the course of our ‘work’ my vulture ...
When you love your work should it really be called ‘work’? Perhaps Nat Geo has got it right to call it ‘exploration’. We were blessed to explore this most beautiful place and in the course of our ‘work’ my vulture ...