Extremely Rare Zebra Causes Stampede at Maasai Mara

Zebras grazing around with their black and white stripes boldly contrasting the Savannah grasslands have always been a sight to behold, sometimes leaving many in disagreement over their real base colour.

However, this time around, Kenyans were treated to a rare type of the mammal species that boasted of little white polka dots instead of the usual stripes.

Reports by the Daily Nation disclosed that the Zebra foul, which is less than a week old, was birthed at Maasai Mara Game Reserve.

Antony Tira, a renowned tour guide and photographer at Matira Bush Camp, who spotted and photographed the black dotted foul, could also not believe the sight when he came across the zebra.

“At first I thought it was a zebra that had been captured and painted or marked for purposes of migration. I was confused when I first saw it," Tira admitted.

However, on closer examination, he realised it was a zebra with a melanin disorder.

The visibly weak zebra stuck close to another female zebra with the usual stripes, possibly its mother.

The discovery caused a stampede in the Mara with tour drivers and photographers, hurriedly taking tourists to the lookout area in the game reserve near the Mara River.

The newborn has since remained the top story in the Mara for the past three days. Tourists who sought to keep the memories of the "additional wonder” took extra clips of this rare holiday experience.

This was the first case in the Mara of such a zebra as explained by a wildlife specialist at Matira Camp Parmale Lemein

However, he quickly pointed out that according to research, none of the Zebras with such conditions in other parks in Africa survived for more than six months after birth.

Recently, Kenyans also celebrated the birth of a white giraffe, born to a white mother, in the Ishaqbini-Hirola Community Conservancy, Garissa County.

The birth of a male white calf brought the count to two, and are reported to be the only ones of their kind in the country.