Somali ostrich has suffered a drastic decline in its population and range mainly due to hunting over the years for meat, skin and feathers. Urgent conservation measures should therefore be taken to reverse this trend particularly in their current population stronghold, the Samburu landscape. In this range, the magnitude and consequences of human disturbance on the ostrich has not been established. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate the behavioural patterns and assess the impacts of human disturbance to the bird. Focal animal sampling was used to establish ostrich"s behavioural activity budget while the magnitude of human disturbance was assessed by determining and comparing flight initiation distances in the protected and partially protected areas. Somali ostrich spent most of their diurnal time in feeding and moving, and are more sensitive to human disturbance in the protected areas than they are in the partially protected areas. The results of this study imply that the ratite does not differ in behavioural patterns from other extant ostrich species and human disturbance is not posing a significant threat to its survival within Samburu landscape. Further studies are recommended for better understanding of the conservation status of the newly published species.

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Information on reservoirs is important as it forms a vital baseline for among others the detection of undesirable changes in water quality. Variations in the physicochemical characteristics of water were investigated in five peri-urban reservoirs Uhuru reservoir located in Nairobi City County and Ruiru, Ngewa, Comte and Kianjjibbe in Kiambu County between February 2014 and January 2015. The aim of the study was to establish the quality of water. Mean Secchi depth recorded in cm was 0.7 ± 0.9 in Comte and Kianjjibbe reservoir respectively. Total phosphorus in µg L -1 in the reservoirs was 0.8 ± 0.14 in Uhuru, 1.0 ± 0.02 in Ruiru, 1.0 ± 0.77 in Ngewa, 1.0 ± 0.82 in Comte and 2.7 ± 0.25 in Kianjjibbe. Soluble reactive silica in mgL -1 was 3.4 ± 0.47 in Uhuru, 4.0 ± 0.64 in Ruiru, 7.3 ± 0.7 in Ngewa, 5.9 ± 0.15 in Comte and 7.0 ± 199 in Kianjjibe. Peak values of total nitrogen and total phosphorus were recorded during the wet season while high soluble reactive silica was recorded during the dry season. There was a significant difference in all measured physcio-chemical parameters between the reservoirs (p<0.001, df=59). The study concludes that the reservoirs investigated varied in levels of physico-chemical properties. The variation was attributed to differences in rainfall, volume of outflow and use dynamics of the water of the reservoir.