The Wildebeest Migration Is On!

It’s cloudy with cold showers late in the evening. The grass is moist and relished by the elephants and buffaloes. The Masai blankets are indispensable on the morning game drives. The impala males are rutting; the elephant females are in estrous and the hippos are mowing the grass along the Olare Orok River. It’s a very active season in the Mara.
  

WILDEBEEST MIGRATION

The long awaited migration of the wildebeest is on. The plains are rich with zebras, gazelles and many species of birds. There are endless lines of the wildebeest streaming to the Sand River to cross into the Mara game reserve from the bordering Serengeti in Tanzania. Without wasting time around the river, the wildebeest spread in the tall green red oat grass. According to the grazing succession, thousands of zebras lead the way.

They then branch into two groups. One goes up north and the other group moves west towards the Mara River, by the Lookout hill, which is 18 kilometers south of Mara Intrepids Camp.

We hope to see the first crossing at this point in two or three days. There are small groups at Posse and Olkiombo Plains but they look confused as to which way to proceed. The lions and hyenas are having a good time hunting them.

The Loita Plain migration is pressing in from the north towards the Olkiombo Plain.    

   

PREDATORS SIGHTINGS

Lions

The prides have started to group and position themselves at their favorite strategic points along the rivers where the migration crosses. They are very alert, hiding in the tall grass.

Notch’s boys have not been seen for almost a week. Notch is busy with the four lionesses from the Olkiombo Pride near Maji ya Fisi.

The Olkeju Ronkai pride has moved further south towards Lookout Hill. They could be waiting for the migration or pushed out by the Ridge Pride.

The Ridge Pride has moved to the south of Mara Intrepids Camp to await the wildebeest.

Leopards

After Olive killed the water buck in front of Mara Explorer Camp, she has gone to her hideout area. She will re-emerge when hungry again. She was last spotted by Smelly Crossing, west of the Olkiombo airstrip with her cub.

Another friendly leopard at Shamarta was seen once with an impala kill in a tree and another time looking very relaxed with a Thomson gazelle.

Cheetahs

Malaika (seen above with with her two cubs recently) is around Olkiombo Plain near Mara Intrepids Camp. Unfortunately she has lost one cub to the hyenas and remains with just one.

Heritage Hotels (Kenya) manages two luxury camps in the Masai Mara - Mara Explorer and Mara Intrepids - in the confluence of the four game viewing areas of the Masai Mara. The camps are on the banks of the Talek River, with most tents spread along the banks.  Report and pictures by John Parmasau,  Mara Explorer & Mara Intrepids Camp ©Heritage Hotels Ltd, Kenya. http://www.heritage-eastafrica.com/

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Wildebeest Migration Has Begun

After lots of will-they won't-they, we are happy to report the head of the migration has finally entered the Masai Mara! These pictures were taken today in the afternoon.

 The recon team checks out the area..

 Hmm - looks good, lots of food. I think we can settle here for the next few months..

Setting up camp...

 Everyone's finding a cosy spot...

The head hostess is primed.

Let the games begin!

Heritage Hotels (Kenya) manages two luxury camps in the Masai Mara - Mara Explorer and Mara Intrepids - in the confluence of the four game viewing areas of the Masai Mara. The camps are on the banks of the Talek River, with most tents spread along the banks.  Report and pictures by John Parmasau,  Mara Explorer & Mara Intrepids Camp ©Heritage Hotels Ltd, Kenya. http://www.heritage-eastafrica.com/

Prepping For The Migration

It’s getting hotter in the Mara hitting a high of 26^ºC but the mornings are chilly with temperatures as low as 15^ºC. The grass has changed from lush green to gold. It’s pure hay. The elephants and buffaloes are in the valleys and along the water courses where the vegetation is lush with plenty of fresh water available. 

Wildebeest Migration

The annual migration of the wildebeest from the Serengeti into the Mara is late. As we continue to focus our eyes down south hoping for good news and signs of the herds, the zebras are finally at the Sand River gate. They may have been attracted by the recent storm around the Posse Plain, west of the Mara. This could have also triggered the wildebeest to continue the great trek into the Mara.

The domestic herds of wildebeest and zebra from the Loita Plain are heading towards Olare Orok River and Intiakitiak River.

This is good news because it signals the arrival of the southern migration.

Resident Plain Game

Despite the tall grass in the reserve, there’s still good animal sightings around the Mara Intrepids Camp. Not far from the Camp’s suspended bridge over the river, there are large herds of topi and Thomson gazelle, warthog, Silver-backed jackals, elands, giraffes and buffaloes. We’re also seeing a lot of ostrich. The grass here is relatively shorter; therefore it’s become a favourite area for all the grazers. Plus there’s safety in numbers.

Predator Sightings

Lions

Great sightings.

The Rekero Pride (formerly called Ridge Pride) is dominating the Ridge, Olkiombo and Olkeju-Ronkai area. It’s a pride of 11 - four adult lionesses and 7 sub-adults cubs (one female and six males). It’s moving around with Notch and his bully boys. Notch and his boys are harassing other prides, especially around Olkiombo and Olkeju- Ronkai. The smaller prides of fewer than six members cannot withstand the pressure of this group. Many have been injured in fights with Notch’s gang.

When Notch’s gang kills a hippo in another pride’s territory, the Rekero Pride just walks in with no fear and chases away the owners of that territory. It has happened to the Olkiombo female who had a cub. She tried to get a piece of the hippo that had been killed by Notch’s gang in her territory. Instead she was badly injured by Notch’s bully boys neat the sundowner tree.    

Leopards

Olive and her five-month-old cub are by the Olare Orok and Smelly Crossing. Bahati is west of Mara Intrepids Camp. She’s a very interesting young female who is not even two years old but can bring down a full grown male impala – which happens to be her favorite prey. Like her mother, she always feed under cover.

    Olive with her cubs in March.

   

Heritage Hotels (Kenya) manages two luxury camps in the Masai Mara - Mara Explorer and Mara Intrepids - in the confluence of the four game viewing areas of the Masai Mara. The camps are on the banks of the Talek River, with most tents spread along the banks.  Report and pictures by John Parmasau &  Dixon "DC" Chelule, Mara Explorer & Mara Intrepids Camp ©Heritage Hotels Ltd, Kenya.http://www.heritage-eastafrica.com/

A Topic For Co-evolution & Interesting Insects

At the Great Rift Valley lodge the Acacia drepanolobium is a common plant. Its thorn-filled branches have evolved over the millennia to avoid being browsed on by the giraffe which evolved to have prehensile tongues to be able to pick acacia leaves between the thorns. The A. drepanolobium, went one step further and evolved to have galls on the edge of the thorn. These galls provide shelter for the cocktail ants which return the favour by protecting the acacia from being browsed on by the giraffes. When the giraffe sticks out its tongue to gather the leaves on the branch, the cocktail ants rush out of the galls and produce an irritant fluid to keep the giraffes at bay.

This is an example of co-evolution where two (or more) species affect each other’s evolution. So for example, an evolutionary change in the morphology of a plant might affect the morphology of the herbivore that eats the plant, which in turn might affect the evolution of the plant, which might affect the evolution of the herbivore...and so on.

This is a case of an exclusive “matches” between a plant and an insect even though pollination is not involved. The hollow thorns are the exclusive nest-site of the ant which drinks acacia’s nectar. The ants are not just taking advantage of the plant but also defending the acacia against the herbivores.

This system is probably the product of coevolution: the plants would not have evolved hollow thorns or nectar pores unless their evolution had been affected by the ants; and the ants would not have evolved herbivore defense behaviors unless their evolution had been affected by the plants.

An Interesting Insect on the ground

Jean Michel Kersaudy from France is a regular guest at the Great Rift Valley Lodge and is researching on the Harvester ant (Messor cephalotes) found on the grounds of the lodge and the golf course, much to the chagrin of the green keepers.

The harvester ant is a huge red colored seed-collecting ant found in East Africa.

The objective of Kersaudy’s research is to identify the type of grazing insects that are laying the golf course bare - in other words contributing to its land degradation. Land degradation in this context is the removal of grass on their trail.

The second objective is to determine the extent to which grazing insects are contributing to golf degradation at GRVL.

The harvester ant species Messor cephalotes use of formic acid produced in their glands to clear the grass.

Ant Antics

• After separating the seeds from husks, the ants remove the husks and put them outside their nests. 

• They have a queen but no king because the king dies immediately after mating. Mating takes place during the long rain season.

Report By: Daniel Kilonzo, Senior Naturalist, Great Rift Valley Lodge and Golf Resort

Heritage Hotels (Kenya) manages The Great Rift Valley Lodge and Golf resort in Naivasha, just an hour an a half's drive from Nairobi. The lodge is famous for one the longest holes in Kenya - the par 5 -  17th ‘signature’ at 598 metres (654 yards)!

 Report and pictures by Daniel Kilonzo, Resident Naturalist at GRVL ©Heritage Hotels Ltd, Kenya.http://www.heritage-eastafrica.com/ 

Great Rift Valley Lodge Goes Foal!

On the morning of 9th July 2012, by the second hole on the golf course a zebra foal was born. The zebras were introduced at the Great Rift Valley Lodge four months ago and now we have two mature females, one sub-adult male and one foal.

Zebras have a long gestation period of one year which helps the young one to fully develop in the womb and be able to flee predators a few minutes after birth. The mother eats the afterbirth to avoid attracting predators. However there are no predators at the Great Rift Valley Lodge. A zebra foal identifies its mother by sight. After birth, the mare and the foal spend time away from the herd – the theory is that the foal memorizes his (or her) mother from her stripes. The foal will stay close to the mare for a year.



Report By: Daniel Kilonzo, Resident Naturalist, Great Rift Valley Lodge and Golf Resort

Heritage Hotels (Kenya) manages The Great Rift Valley Lodge and Golf resort in Naivasha, just an hour an a half's drive from Nairobi. The lodge is famous for one the longest holes in Kenya - the par 5 -  17th ‘signature’ at 598 metres (654 yards)!

 Report and pictures by Daniel Kilonzo, Resident Naturalist at GRVL ©Heritage Hotels Ltd, Kenya.http://www.heritage-eastafrica.com/ 

Mount Longonot

The majestic mountain seen from the Great Rift Valley Lodge and Golf Resort stands at 2,785m above sea level. It has one of the largest calderas in Kenya.

The name Longonot is derived from the Maasai word Oloonong’ot meaning ‘’Mountain of many spurs’’ or ‘’steep ridges’’ created by rivers of molten lava.

Longonot is a Stratovocano/composite volcano built up of many layers (strata) of hardened lava, tephra, pumice and volcano ash.

The excursion to Longonot from the lodge is a day trip. The drive to Mount Longonot National Park is 45 minutes and the hike from the foothill to the rim is 3.5 kilometers long. The walk around the rim is 7.1 kilometers.

It’s possible to climb down the crater but very challenging.

From the mountain it’s possible to spot the Burchell’s zebra (Equus burchellii), elands (Taurotragus oryx), Thomson gazelles (Eudorcas thomsonii), Grants gazelles (Nanger grantii), Maasai giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis), the rarely seen Klipspringer (Oreotragus oreotragus), Coke’s hartebeest/Kongoni (Alcelaphus buselaphus), Steinbuck (Raphicerus campestris) and Kirk’s dik dik (Madaqua kirkii).

Being a very young volcano in Kenya that last erupted in 1863, there is a lot to learn about the geology. It is dormant volcano and the water a few thousand metres below the surface is 300°c - one of the hottest temperatures on earth.

Report By: Daniel Kilonzo, Senior Naturalist, Great Rift Valley Lodge and Golf Resort

Heritage Hotels (Kenya) manages The Great Rift Valley Lodge and Golf resort in Naivasha, just an hour an a half's drive from Nairobi. The lodge is famous for one the longest holes in Kenya - the par 5 -  17th ‘signature’ at 598 metres (654 yards)!

 Report and pictures by Daniel Kilonzo, Resident Naturalist at GRVL ©Heritage Hotels Ltd, Kenya.http://www.heritage-eastafrica.com/