News from Maasai Mara, Kenya September 12th 2008

The migration took a dramatic change in the past week, confounding even seasoned observers! The Mara plains are now almost empty of wildebeests after almost all the herds from the eastern side of the Mara River crossed west. This was a quick exit, since they were expected to stay in the Mara till November, as is always the case. Once on the Mara triangle (which lies in the western side of the park), most herds headed south into northern Serengeti. The herds on the central, Burrungat and Meta plains headed south as well, and crossed the Sand River into northern Serengeti.


The northern Serengeti ecosystem experienced short rains in August. The grass on these plains was burnt in June and when the short rains came, they were replenished with lush nutritious shoots, thereby attracting many herbivores including the migrating herds.

There are however plenty of general game on the Mara ecosystem. There remains some wildebeests inside the park south of the Talek River towards Roan Hill, and others around Engoikwateet salt lick on the Mara triangle.

The situation in the Mara now is exactly similar to how it was in 2005, when we experienced a trend coined "double-migration". Looking at my archive of past updates, everything this year is the same as in that year. Because of this, we expect the wildebeest to come back again in another 2 - 3 weeks. We have just got rains across the Mara now as we compile this update and it is expected to reverse the current trend. This can only heighten the experience, since the wildebeest and zebra cross the river twice to-and-from the Serengeti, instead of once as is norm!

Big cats
The Olkiombo pride, teaming with eleven cubs of different ages, was our main attraction over the past week. They made several attempts and successful kills along the Talek River when the wildebeests crossed south onto Burrungat plains. The scene of the previous week’s crossing still smelled from the carcasses of wildebeest that died from stampede.

Cheetahs were seen throughout the week. The mothers of the small cubs have not yet led them out of their hiding place, but routinely comes out of this places to hunt. It was very unfortunate when one of the female cheetahs lost some of her cubs to a python on the central plains. Most cheetahs now have cubs. There are about five female cheetahs with very small cubs in our game viewing area.

Leopards were also seen regularly. Olive with her three cubs were seen many times at the confluence of the Talek and Olare-Orok rivers just two kilometres from Mara Explorer.

Paul Kirui, Chief Safari Guide
Kindly contact: safariguide@mara-intrepids.co.ke for comments or inquiry on the migration and other animal sightings in the Mara
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