A number of extremely rare occurrences were registered at various Kenyan national parks in 2022.
In somewhat bemusing natural events, Kenyan wildlife treated the world to uncommon births, albino buffalo, comic elephants, polka-dotted zebra, and many more.
Some animals were even identified by name, especially elephants like Dida and Lugard - two great mammals that, unfortunately, passed away.
Elephants
A video of a baby elephant tickling Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) Journalist Alvin Kaunda was the topic of discussion in early November 2022 after it went viral, attracting global attention.
Kaunda was in the middle of taking a Piece to Camera (PTC) detailing the effects of human actions on the natural world when the tip of a brown trunk popped into view just behind his left ear at the Davis Sheldrick Orphanage.
The baby elephant casually used its trunk to feel Kaunda's face from behind.
Kaunda, though, appeared unfazed by the unexpected intrusion of his personal space and continued to deliver his on-camera report. The young-talented reporter could, however, not hold it anymore and finally burst into laughter when the elephant’s leathery appendage started snuffling his face.
In March 2022, a female elephant at the Tsavo National Park was filmed thanking a kind stranger who rescued her calf from a water hole. The video went viral across the globe.
In another rare instance, a Kenyan elephant made history at a conservancy in Samburu county after giving birth to twins in January 2022.
Zebra
On October 3, 2022, a resurfaced picture of a polka-dotted Zebra photographed in Kenya captured the attention of the global.
The photo, which was taken in 2019 at Masai Mara, was of a dark Zebra with white polka dots standing next to her mother in the regular black and white stripes that the animals are widely known for.
The photo which gained over 158,700 likes, 16,000 comments, and 1,516 quote retweets, first caught the attention of social media users when it was posted by a Twitter account by the name 'Fascinating'.
“A rare polka-dotted zebra foal named Tira, standing close to its mother in the Maasai Mara reserve in Kenya. Photo by Yasuyoshi Chiba," Fascinating wrote on Twitter.
Buffalo
Tourists and safari guides at Masai Mara National Game Reserve were on Thursday, November 17, 2022, amazed by a rare kind of buffalo that was spotted in the famous game reserve.
Tourists spotted the 'albino' buffalo calf while grazing together with a herd of adult buffalos.
The uniquely coloured albino buffalo calf was the center of attraction as a huge number of tourists trooped to the game reserve to see it.
"I found it near the Sand River at the border of the Mara and Tanzania's Serengeti National Park but on the Kenyan side,” a tourist recounted.
Cheetah
The elite group of five-male cheetahs, commonly known as Tano Bora, was known as the largest in the world. However, on a sad note, the group lost several members in 2022.
In August 2022, tourists and conservationists demanded relevant authorities to safeguard the remaining members of the world-famous group.
The leader of the group died in January, another member died in February and the third member died under mysterious circumstances.
Giraffe
An extremely rare occurrence took place at the Nairobi National Park after a giraffe gave birth to twins.
The Maasai giraffe gave birth to a set of twins in what the park workers termed as a rare spectacle in the history of the national park.
"One of the Maasai giraffes in Nairobi National Park has given birth to a set of twins. This is an extremely rare occurrence. We welcome the newborns with love," former Tourism Cabinet Secretary, Najib Balala announced.
The twinning rate in giraffes is one in every 280,000, and to explain this phenomenon, experts say there are a whole lot more human twins in the world than there are giraffes in zoos globally.
So rare are twin births for giraffes that experts report that out of 8,600 normal births worldwide, there are less than 40 twin births.
