Unlike the ‘Big 5′ mammals, the wild dog is not a famous species. However it is endangered and is more difficult to find. In recent years, the government and other NGOs have done a lot conservation work to help them. Nevertheless the number of the wild dogs are still decreasing. So I think people should pay more attention on this species. If not they will disappear someday.
After the morning game drive, we went to the Samburu village to visit the natives there. They were extremely passionate that they danced a welcome folk dance and sang a wedding song for us. After that, we started to divide into groups and followed the village guide to visit the inhabitants. The natives used to live in small huts made of cow leather. But a drought three years ago killed all of their cows. Now they use grass and paper to build their homes.
Some of the natives know English as they attended school when they were young so we were able to communicate with them easily. I chatted with a boy who is only one year older than me. He wore their traditional dressing and held a spear. He told me many things about their daily lives and traditional culture. After hearing his words, I think that the over-exploitation and human activities greatly affected their lives and traditional culture.
In the afternoon, we went on a game drive again. This time we witnessed two leopards laying on a rock and tree, respectively. Perhaps they were resting and spying on their prey. They looked extremely mighty which made us feel really thrilled.
Leopards are very similar to cheetahs. Their most distinctive difference is the spots on the body. Cheetahs have black marks running from the corner of eyes while leopards don’t. Furthermore, a leopoard is relatively larger than a cheetah.
Compared to rhinos, leopards seem to be more abundant, but the truth is that their numbers are actually decreasing. I suppose that habitat loss due to human activities is the most likely reason that lead to the problem.
Hopefully we can discover more unexpected and rare species!