Reporting Date: 22nd April 2012

Return of our pride.

At first we heard them roaring in the night shortly before dawn and most of us thought that they were very far away as the sound is usually carried over a long distance during the night. But indeed they were much closer as we came to realize when the guests started their early morning game drive. They had barely driven for three minutes when the young pride was spotted on some rocky area nearby. As it had rained the previous evening, the grass was wet and that was why these lions were mostly on the rocks. We hadn’t seen them in the vicinity of the camp for almost three weeks and we were glad that they have returned. This is our pride which consists of two young males with six females and two cubs.

Reporting Date: 20th April 2012

Early morning “visitor”.

This week has seen the camp being visited by elephants on a daily basis during the day as well as the night. Sometimes they come in small groups and at times singly as was the case today when a big bull  visited  the camp early at dawn and turned it into a feeding  ground.  The elephant was very relaxed as is often the case with these animals if not disturbed, they easily forget about their surroundings and carry on with whatever they are doing. The guests in the tent watched this “visitor” while enjoying their breakfast on the verandah.

Reporting Date: 18th April 2012

GIANT BIRDS OF SERENGETI.

The Kings of the ground nesting birds are definitely the ostriches. They are polygamous birds which feed on anything they come across and are often seen in nearly every game drive in the Serengeti. Sometimes they would open up their wings to either perform some dance during the mating season or to cool off by letting air pass through. Unlike other birds, the sound they make can sometimes be mistaken for a lion’s roar as they have a deep-booming sound.

Reporting Date: 14TH APRIL 2012

WILDEBEESTS MIGRATION UPDATE.

After giving birth in their ancestral calving lands of southern Serengeti in the months of February and march,  the wildebeests have started their long and winding trek towards the northern parts in search of grazing lands and water. They started the trek as one large group but shortly thereafter split into three major divisions which will eventually end up in the Mara game reserve in Kenya  as from the months of June  or July onwards.

The first group is moving towards the western corridor of the Serengeti  which is not far from  lake Victoria, this group will after sometime shift  their course towards the North-east after venturing into the Ikorongo game reserve adjacent  to the Serengeti.

The second group of the wildebeests is moving towards the central parts of the Serengeti after leaving behind the Simba Kopjes. This group is likely to either  team up with the first group or follow them towards the western corridor into the Ikorongo game reserve, a place with black cotton soil and poor drainage.  Here a good number of them could fall prey to the crocodiles of the Grumeti river, especially the young and inexperienced first year migrants.

The third group decided to follow the boundaries of the park  on the east  towards the Loliondo game controlled area. It is this group that we expect to be the first to arrive along the sand river on the border between the Serengeti and the Mara around the month of June as they seem to have taken a more direct route.  It is also at this time that we expect to start seeing these "nomads" of the grasslands in the area around the camp.  In between these large groups are to be found some tail-pullers who walk in small groups long after the rest have moved on.

There is plenty of green grass almost everywhere for this animals at this time of the year after we had some rains in the past few days but the surface waters in most places can’t last long, hence  the reason why these animals keep moving.

Head Scout’s daily report

Reporting date:      11.04.2012

The patrol in the afternoon came across the resident lioness on her own close to the salt lick trying to stalk a herd of zebras. Unfortunately the zebrsa were on high alert and saw her before making any move. she moved just by the salt lick and watched the zebras head towards the sundowner spot without stopping. The vehicles on afternoon game drive saw her and she never moved. The cubs must have been not to far from the place.

Reporting Date: 11TH APRIL 2012

LAMAI HYENAS KILLS TOPI.

Lamai plains in the extreme north of the park usually teems with a large clan of hyenas. Topis too occur on this area in large numbers because there exist a watering hole they share with the hyenas. During the heat of the day, some topis would be tempted to doze with their long snouts resting on the ground. Hyenas would sometimes take advantage of this situation and quickly attack from all sides. This is what happened today when ranger Kokan and his guests ventured onto the lamai plains while on a game drive. The hyenas devoured the topi with their powerful teeth and jaws and within no time they had consumed every bit of it.

Reporting Date: 7.4.2012

On full day game drive into maasai mara reserve Daniel and his two guests saw alot of game including a rhino in the open picking herbs and spraying urine into the bushes to mark territory. The outstanding part of the drive was when they encountered a cheetah on the road and didnt move at all despite hearing the car. The cheetah was sleepy in the beginning and woke up to look and changed bed.

Reporting Date: 5/4/2012

Lions  hunt certainly as agroup , perhaps  cooperatively and this is one of the reason why they live in prides.Young males remain in the pride until they are two or two and half when they are ousted from the pride to become nomadic until around five years when they are able to take over their own prides. The pride at Talek junction comprising of seventten individuals will defenitely pass through this but at the moment its well bonded that they spend most of their time together either patrolling the territory,hunting,playing or simply busking like when martin and his four guest found them relaxing together.

Reporting Date: 4th April 2012

It was about mid-day when a lonely bull elephant  walked across the camp on his way to catch up with his herd that had left him behind enjoying some lush vegetation  around a swamp. We saw him walking passed our fire-break path in big strides. At some point he stopped for a while and sniffed the air by lifting his trunk  up while pointing at our direction  before hurriedly walking away. He was a strong bull that we reckoned was in his early forties.

Reporting Date: 2/4/2012

The social system of Topi antelop is highly variable. In most places males hold territories with harems of upto 10 females, but in the Maasi Mara National Reserve males gather on breeding- season display grounds; females visit these " leks" to select their mates.

On  full day game drive Daniel and his guests saw a lot but the guests' highlight of the day was the assembly of the Topis.