Aside from the overwhelming abundance of megafauna, both Kenya and Tanzania were home to many smaller animals such as the Dik-Dik. Given the cutest name of any African mammal and being the size of a rabbit, these tiny gazelles were a constant source of delight for us whenever we spotted them. They mark their territory with scent glands near the tip of their noses.
Making them all the sweeter, they mate for life and are rarely more than 20 feet apart. We felt a certain kinship with this and assume that in earlier lives we were likely Dik-Diks ourselves. Anytime they were grazing separately on opposing sides of a path or if a van got between a pair they would very quickly become agitated until they were back together again.
There were 2 types of Dik-Diks in our trip. The Kirk's Dik-Dik seen earlier, and Guenter's Dik-Dik shown below. Kirks were common in drier areas such as
Samburu, while the Guenter's was primarily found in
Ndutu. Aside from regional differences, the Guenter's has a broader snout as you can see below.
Making them all the sweeter, they mate for life and are rarely more than 20 feet apart. We felt a certain kinship with this and assume that in earlier lives we were likely Dik-Diks ourselves. Anytime they were grazing separately on opposing sides of a path or if a van got between a pair they would very quickly become agitated until they were back together again.
There were 2 types of Dik-Diks in our trip. The Kirk's Dik-Dik seen earlier, and Guenter's Dik-Dik shown below. Kirks were common in drier areas such as Samburu, while the Guenter's was primarily found in Ndutu. Aside from regional differences, the Guenter's has a broader snout as you can see below.
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