Impala - Kenya


Aepyceros melampus - Male impalas are slightly larger than the females, but are easily recognized by their horns; females lack horns. Impalas range throughout the savannahs of Eastern Africa, from South Africa to Kenya. Impalas form three distinctive groups: the female herds, the bachelor herds, and the harems formed by dominate males during the mating season. Females stay with their herds and males leave to join with bachelor herds once they are weaned, usually after six months.

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Kenya derives its name from Mount Kenya, an extinct volcano. It is the tallest mountain in Kenya and the second tallest in Africa. Mount Kenya’s last eruption occurred 3 million years ago. The Kamba, the local Bantu people inhabiting the area near Mount Kenya, refer to the mountain as Kiinyaa. Johann Ludwig Krapf, a German explorer, used the local term in naming the mountain when he saw it in 1849. Krapf mistakenly assumed Mount Kenya as being the elusive source for the Nile River.