Rikki-Tikki-Tavi - Mongoose

Credit: Mohamed Iribo

Almost everyone has heard of the famous grey mongoose in India called Rikki-Tikki-Tavi and his braveness in the face of the deadly snakes. Here in Loisaba there are several types of mongoose, the smallest and most prolific of which is the dwarf mongoose. Satin brown with shiny button-like eyes, they keep a constant lookout for trouble, engaging in endless activity, until danger looms, in which case they disappear down the nearest burrow as if they have never existed.

The Dwarf Mongoose is the smallest of Africa's carnivores and widespread from below the Equator, colonising woodland as well as rocky areas. Here at Loisaba they are to be found in many places which already provide good defences against predators - under the cactii, around termite mounds, and in the rocks - they particularly like to set up a home just inside one of the fences surrounding the lodges. 

Dwarf Mongoose - not mongeese or mongooses - live in troops of ten to forty individuals and occupy a fixed territory with several burrow entrances. Just like meerkats, they have a dominant male and female and the rest of the troop fall into a well-defined pecking order with females always dominant over males, taking joint responsibility for care of the young. Their gestation period is fifty to sixty days and they can have up to seven babies in one litter.

Mongoose like to eat insects and other invertebrates as well as small reptiles, birds and their eggs, and they will also eat fruit. 

On a sunny afternoon, if sitting quietly enough, a guest can have hours of entertainment watching the comical antics of these busy little creatures although it is always difficult to get a close up picture of them.