Migration Update 2009: Issue 2

Migration:

The movement of the wildebeest in the Mara over the past week progressed much faster than anticipated. With plenty of long grass all over the central Mara plains, we thought the animals would move slowly north and westwards as they usually do. However, in a departure from their normal routing over the years, all the herds headed north across the Meta plains and settled on Burrungat plains. They arrived at the Talek gate area, where they settled for a couple of days before heading west towards the lower Burrungat. Some animals on reaching Mtamaiyo lugga (an offshoot stream of Talek river) crossed north and have for the last few days settled on the higher grounds east of Mara Explorer.

The crossing over the Talek supplemented the main crossing at the Mara when the animals crossed the almost dry riverbed in such a rush that it resulted in a few casualties. The stampede was intense and created a cloud of dust in the area, making it quite a photogenic activity.


The rest of the herds proceeded west upto the Mara river where they crossed over in a couple of places, though these were not big herds. The main herd headed south to the Look Out hill area. These started crossing the Mara river onto the western side of the Mara. The crossing here is not yet as dramatic as the other points because there are only a few wildebeest crossing. The water level is also quite low and hence the animals just walk across the shallow river.

We now have wildebeest lining the east side of the Mara river from the hill upto the Talek-Mara junction. The rest of the herds are spread out on the plains behind this location.

The northern migration (Loita herds) is now spread across from Musiara gate down to Ntiakitiak River and Rhino ridge area. Since last week they have been streaming in small numbers towards Paradise plains with some crossing over to the west onto Mara Triangle.

Needless to say, our guests at the camps have had a week full of excitement on game drives.

Big Cats

Lions

It's also been a great week full of activities with the predators. We saw more lion kills than in the past months. The Olkiombo pride has settled along the Talek river at the spots where the wildebeest have been crossing. Some members of the pride have moved north and are now in Olare-Orok conservancy, just on the edge of Mara.

The Bila Shaka pride of lions has been around Musiara gate for the past week. They have been less mobile than the previous months, because there is now plenty to eat. The Ridge pride has been north of the Mara-Talek junction earlier in the week but has now moved across the river into the Mara Triangle. These lions have now extended their territory to across the Mara river.

Cheetahs

Shakira has settled along the Talek river since last week, sometimes crossing south to Maji Ya Fisi area. She gave us quite dramatic sightings over the week when she hunted gazelles in these areas. There were other cheetahs seen during the week.

Leopards

Olive and Kali were at Mtamaiyo Lugga earlier in the week, where she was seen hunting wildebeest that were crossing there. However Kali is now back to their usual base by the Rock Fig after he was chased back by Big Boy who also moved to Mtamaiyo. With Kali now 14 months old, the big male is becoming less tolerant of him. I saw him yesterday trying to hunt wildebeest which were obviously too big for him. He had to give up. Binti was seen in the same location as Kali over the last few days, though not together

Other leopards seen were: the Olare-Orok female and her 2 sub adult cubs; Olkeju-Rongai female and her very aggressive mother. This particular female killed a gazelle and took it up the tree, but climbed down when she heard the vehicles approaching, leaving the carcass in the tree. A bateleur eagle landed on the tree and started feeding on carcass, which was really awesome.

Paul Kirui, Chief Safari Guide
Kindly contact: safariguide@mara-intrepids.co.ke for comments or inquiry on the migration and other interesting wildlifel sightings in the Mara, Rift Valley, Samburu and Tsavo West National Park