Reporting Date: 16.07.2012
 

Several thousand wildebeest have already crossed over into Masai Mara through sand river. One of the big groups has spread out towards meta plains while the other is moving towards talek river through Posee plains.

To the right of Sand river gate we have a huge herd of zebra and gnus slowly coming down towards the river, some of the Zebra are already down at the river banks making their way into Mara.

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Reporting Date:16.07.2012

Buffalo herds near camp.

We are used to being visited by elephants in  the camp, but this day it was the turn for the buffaloes which visited in a very large group. They got attracted by the lush green pastures which came as a result of the previous long rains. The group was a breeding herd which normally consist of younger bulls, females and young. At night we herd them making some noise as if fighting off some predators but in the morning they concentrated on the greener pastures with ease only getting a little scared as we approached.

Reporting Date: 15th July 2012

The advance team of the wildebeests and zebras have now reached the sand river zone on the border between the Mara and Serengeti after having  left the lobo and Bolongoja regions last week. Today, only a small group of about five hundred zebras crossed the sand river into the mara leaving behind a large group of wildebeests  and more zebras  at the foot of the Nyamalumbwa hills which is the main chain of hills closer to the sand river.  Many others are spread  out in the acacia woodlands  at the foot of these hills.

The second group of these animals has left the fort Ikoma region in the west and is almost reaching the Shonzo plains  which isthe middle ground between the eastern and western serengeti.

Reporting Date: 15th July 2012

The advance team of the wildebeests and zebras have now reached the sand river zone on the border between the Mara and Serengeti after having  left the lobo and Bolongoja regions last week. Today, only a small group of about five hundred zebras crossed the sand river into the mara leaving behind a large group of wildebeests  and more zebras  at the foot of the Nyamalumbwa hills which is the main chain of hills closer to the sand river.  Many others are spread  out in the acacia woodlands  at the foot of these hills.

The second group of these animals has left the fort Ikoma region in the west and is almost reaching the Shonzo plains  which isthe middle ground between the eastern and western serengeti.

Reporting Date:  14.07.2012

This year the Mara/Serengeti ecosystem has received alot of rainfall. Generally by end of June every year the mega herds of wildebeest find their way into the Mara and stay around until late October. Due to heavy rainfall in the month of May the wildebeest are sweeping the extensive Serengeti plains slower than they normally would.

We are expecting our first herd to cross Sand river anytime between 24-48 hours. The huge herd is between Mbologoja and sand river. Another huge herd is slowly sweeping the western corridor of Serengeti and is expected to cross sand river in a weeks time.

Reporting Date:  11.07.2012
 

After pacing up and down the hyenas decided to join the feast. The lioness was still busy feeding, Japheth and his guests thought a huge fight would errupt. But to everyones suprise they all started feeding together! It was an unusual truce formed maybe because there was plenty of food for all.

Lions and hyenas are both gregarious and generally do not tolerate each others presence.

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Reporting Date:  10.07.2012
 

Japheth on a half-day game drive had planned to go down to Talek river hippo point. Not far from his destination a pack of over twenty Hyenas were moving back and forth. On arrival at the scene he saw a lioness feeding on a hippo carcass. There was not much left and the Hyenas wanted to get something to eat before it was all over but the lioness would not give them a chance. As Japheth drove further down he saw the rest of pride who were relaxing under some bushes. His guests enjoyed watching the commotion between the Lioness and the Hyenas.

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Reporting Date: 09.07.2012

In the conservancy we have plenty of plains game around with big herds of elephants passing through once in a while. We have a resident herd of buffalo that has been around ever since the camp opened. This particular herd of buffalo has become so accustomed to the presence of the camp making them feel at home anywhere around the camp. 

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Reporting Date: July 8th 2012

This week has seen the advance group of the wildebeests and zebras moving past the Lobo area  where they had stayed put for almost two weeks before moving into  the Bolongoja  area  which is much closer to the sand river. The sand river is on the border between the Masai mara and the Serengeti. This group  is not the main one and numbers about 100,000 individuals  comprising mainly of Zebras as the trail-blazers. It seems that in the next twenty four hours, they would be crossing into the Masai mara . Meanwhile, the main group is still spread out on the western  corridor near Fort Ikoma  and may take  some two  weeks to  reach  the northern parts of the Serengeti as they are moving slowly.

Reporting Date: 06.07.2012

The rainy season is over and now we are getting into the cold season. Most of the animals are very active for the better part of the morning during this season.

Charles and his two guests set out towards Mara river and were hoping to find some hippos. On arrival they saw alot of plains game relaxing by the river side. While driving along the river they saw lots of hippos and crocs. They found most of the hippos relaxing on small islands in the middle of the river.

Generally hippos are found in water during the day so as to avoid the scorching sun but on a cool day they can be seen relaxing on the river banks.