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page was last updated 26 January, 2003
Kenya's west coast - Lake Victoria Safari Village
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Ruma National Game Park
The home of the only Roan Antelopes in Kenya
Location
00° 35’ S & 34° 12’ E in Nyanza
Province, Suba District, Kenya
Altitude = 1200 – 1600 meters above sea
level., Area 12.000 hectares
How do you get there
Driving time from Mbita is about 1hour (about 30 km)
Site
Description
Ruma National Park was first gazetted in 1966
as Lambwe Valley Game Reserve, and acquired National Park status in 1983. It is
situated 10 km east of Lake Victoria in Western Kenya, southwest of Homa Bay and
east of Gembe and Gwasi Hills. It lies on the flat floor of the Lambwe Valley,
bordered by the Kanyamaa escarpment and includes a section of Lambwe Hills
Forest Reserve to the southeast. The terrain is mainly rolling grassland, with
tracts of open woodland and thickets dominated by species of Acacia and Balanites.
The soils are largely “black cotton” clays. The surrounding area is settled,
with a mix of small-scale cultivation and grassy pasture land.
Birds
Ruma is the only protected area in Kenya where
the globally threatened Blue Swallow, a scarce intra-African migrant, is
regularly recorded. Blue Swallows arrive in Kenya from their breeding grounds in
southern Tanzania around April and depart in September. They depend on moist
grassland for feeding and roosting. Black-backed Cisticola, a species thought to
be extinct in Kenya, has also been reported from Ruma, but these records are
unconfirmed.
Mammals
A variety of mammals occur in the park but the
most notable is the Roan Antelope, Hippotragus Equines, a rare species in
Kenya.
Roan associate in herds of up to 20
individuals with a very characteristic social structure. Amongst the females,
the more dominant is the leader. There is only one adult bull in each herd, the
juvenile males being evicted at the age of about 3 years. All the female calves
remain within the herd, that , when too big, divides into smaller groups of cows
and their young. These groups will form new herds, once again with only one
adult bull.
The young males evicted from the herd, associate in "bachelor groups"
of up to 12 individuals. Amongst these, the most dominant is the first one in
line to join a new group of females, very seldom, on their fights for supremacy,
inflicting body harm to their contenders.
Roan Antelope are very courageous animals. If threatened by predators, including
Lion, they will confront them, and many of these big cats have perished, gored
by the scimitar-shaped horns of Roans.
Adults attain a mass of up to 270Kg. and can live to about 15 years. Roan
Antelopes are mainly grazers.
Others include Oribi, Bohors reedbucks and Rotschild giraffes. The park
is also rich in Ostriches, Chimpanzees, Impala gazelles and plans are underway
to introduce the White Rhino.
Conservation Issues
Ruma represents a valuable island of natural habitat in a sea of human settlement.
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Ruma park | Lambwe Forest | Area Map | Other Mbita Hotels | Safari proposals ]