Migration Update 2009: Issue 5

Wildebeest Migration

The wildebeest migration is still on in the Mara. The concentration of the migrating herds is almost spread in the whole of the Mara triangle, with some big herds on Paradise Plains. The Serengeti herds in the past week kept streaming in from the south with the leading herds pushing further north and others west into the Mara Triangle. They kept crossing the River by Look Out Hill over the week. The grassland recently burnt in the Mara Triangle is still attracting the herds.

Most herbivores in this ecosystem have come to associate the burning with fresh grass, which is true only if there is some rain soon after the burning. Most of the Mara Plains are now a sea of over grown red oat grass. To most herbivores this is quite tough and rough for their digestive systems and this explains why the herds have just been rushing through the reserve where there is plenty of new grass.

The crossing at the Paradise Plains over the week, crossed to the west of the Mara River. These were the herds that were crossing east from the Mara Triangle last week. Now they are going back.

The crossing however is not as exiting as usual since the amount of water in the river is very low. The herds of wildebeest just walk across. However, the crocodiles are really struggling to make any kill. They cannot stalk anything in water since they can be seen approaching. Deep water helps them drown their prey easily.

Lions
The lions are having an easy time with the availability of prey everyday. Some lion prides have small cubs. All the lion prides in our game viewing territory have been present over the last two weeks. We witnessed great hunts and kills in the last two weeks.

Cheetahs
Cheetahs were also seen over the same period. Shakira has moved south of Talek River and lately has been beyond Olkeju-Rongai. Her three cubs are quite active and have been seen making their own kills.

Leopards
Leopards were also seen quite regularly around the area near Mara Intrepids. Olive has a new litter. She was seen for the first time on 27th July with a cub at Olare-Orok River crossing. After a brief disappearance, she appeared again two days ago with two cubs at a new location on the Talek. We are keeping a keen eye to see how she will behave with her older litter of Binti, Ayah and Kali.

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

Migration Update 2009: Issue 4

The wildebeest have made another dramatic come back. Over the last few days, the concentration in the south of the reserve swelled to an enormous number. Most of the herds as per our previous update have made a complete cycle in the past two weeks. They moved from the eastern part of the river, crossed west onto the Mara Triangle, then south into northern Serengeti and east from there before re-entering the Mara, crossing the Sand river south of Look Out Hill. Though some of the animals are entering the Mara near Naima-Lumbwa hill, the re-entry is not through the same point as they did in July when they first came. Looking down into northern Serengeti, just beyond the border, one can see thousands of animals on the plains heading north into the Mara.

Everything now on the migration front is just like last month when the wildebeest first got into the Mara. The highest concentration is around Look Out hill and eastwards along the central plains. The westward bound herds have spread out on the south and north of Look Out hill again, with many animals have started crossing the Mara River west. For the past three days, our guests have witnessed many animals crossing below Look Out hill. The animals are crossing over into the Mara triangle just as before and others heading north from lookout hill, with the first ones now around Olkeju-Rongai and lower Burrungat plains. The western concentration is around Oldoinyo Olkineji and south to the border of Serengeti, while others are heading to the escarpment.

Most of the herds here have settled temporarily on the short grass from a previous burning. The unseasoned rains have played a crucial role in the sprouting of the grass. The crossing points in the north around Paradise plains have been teeming with activity, with most animals crossing back and forth. The water in the river is quite shallow now, hence easy crossing by the animals. We are glad it is happening all over again.

While all these are going on in the south, the northern section of the park seems to have slipped into a brief quite period. The area around Musiara gate/marsh has only a handful of wildebeest whereas earlier in the month, this area was all covered with wildebeests. On the triangle as well, the northern section is still empty. Most of the herds on the Mara triangle are only from Olpunyata swamp and Kurao plains southwards. These herds have also been crossing at the Paradise crossing eastwards. We expect huge crossings at Paradise in the coming week when the animals will start crossing the river east to paradise plains.

Predators
There is still a lot of predation activities in the Mara even with the brief absence of the migrating herds from some areas. The Ridge pride of lions kept roaming their territory; two days ago they were just between the Olkiombo airstrip and the camp (Mara Intrepids). The Marsh pride is at Bila Shaka. They had killed a buffalo yesterday and all the 16 lions were there. All the other prides are also in their respective territories.

Leopard sightings improved over the past week as a couple of them were seen. On 27th July, a leopard believed to be Olive was seen carrying a cub in its mouth near Olare-Orok river crossing. She headed towards the junction of the river with the Talek where she has been seen quite often in the same locality fro the past few days. The cubs are still small and she must be hiding them some where there.

Cheetahs sighing were good too. Shakira is still in the location of the Talek river crossing back and forth.

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

Migration Update 2009: Issue 3

The migration took a dramatic change at the end of last week. All the excitement at the crossing died out when most of the herds from the eastern side of the Mara River crossed west. Once in the Mara triangle (the western side of the park) most herds headed south into northern Serengeti. This was a quick exit, since they were expected to stay in the Mara till November which is always the case.

Our observations show that the change in the rain pattern and the burning of the grass in northern Serengeti has played a role in this change of events. Driving along the border shows that the herds have settled on the Serengeti side in the recently burnt plains. There is usually a massive burning of the grass in July in Northern Serengeti. When the short rains come in August, these plains flourish with lush nutritious grass thereby attracting many herbivores including the migrating herds.

Most of the central Mara is now quite empty of the wildebeest herds except for a high concentration of an isolated herd to the north between Rhino Ridge and Musiara Marsh and to the south just below the Look Out Hill. All is not lost because the movement of the herds inside Serengeti shows they are bound for the Mara again. Most of them once inside the Serengeti are heading east along the burnt grounds, feeding as they move and entering the Mara again just south of the Look Out Hill.

There have been sporadic crossings below the Look Out Hill and on the Paradise Plains crossing point. These crossings however, are not as dramatic as in the past because the water level is very low in the river making it easy for the wildebeest to walk through. The low level in the river can be attributed to the failure of the short rains at this time.

From experience, as was the case in 1998 and 2005, when the wildebeest herds disappeared only to return shortly, we expect the herds to be in the Mara soon. However the change in the rain patterns and the confusion brought by sporadic burning of the grass are expected to cause some changes in the concentration and duration of stay of the wildebeest in the Mara.

Big Cats

Lions

All the lion prides in our game viewing areas can be seen and have been giving our guests good sightings including day time hunts. There are six prides of lions in our area around Mara Intrepids and Mara Explorer. The lion prides are the Lookout pride, Olkeju-Rongai pride, Ridge pride, Paradise pride, Marsh pride and Olkiombo pride. With all these prides in our game viewing zone, you can’t ask for any better lion sightings.

Leopards

Leopards’ sightings have been good during the past week. There was however an unfortunate incident where a female leopard was killed by another due to territorial fights south of the Talek River.

Cheetahs

Cheetah sightings have been very good. We had a record of seeing 12 cheetahs in one day recently. With the concentration of plain game going up, we will have superb sightings in the coming weeks.

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

Migration Update 2009: Issue 1

The wildebeests have now entered the Mara! This has been confirmed today after a fact finding mission round the entry points along the Mara and Serengeti border. Though this is still in its’ initial stages, every indication shows that the stage is set for the world’s most fascinating wildlife spectacle.

A herd of almost 30,000 wildebeest have crossed the border near Sand River gate. They were seen this morning taking their traditional route towards Roan Hill, while some have already moved all the way up towards Talek gate. The plains now between Mara Sarova, Roan Hill and Talek gate is teeming with the first herds that have moved into the area.

The Loita population has also moved into the Mara. They came in about a week ago. A herd of about 4,000 zebras and wildebeest can be seen around Musiara gate in the north and others just south east of the Talek gate and this consist mainly of zebras. Their concentration however is still low but we expect a build up in the coming weeks.

The northern Serengeti national park patrol personnel have reliably informed us that the migrating herds have taken two wings – one heading north from Grumeti area to the west, while an eastern wing is the one now moving into the Mara.

However, their movement is slower because of the amount of grass in their way. Since May we have continued having intermittent rains which has made the plains covered in long green grass. This is expected to slow the migration movement north. Looking onto the Serengeti from the sand river, one can see isolated herds of zebra and wildebeest heading north though reluctantly. We anticipate this concentration to build as the herds push up north into the Mara.

The Mara predators in the areas where the herds are concentrated have suddenly woken up to the season of plenty again. The Marsh pride lions have now established themselves along Bila Shaka stream where the wildebeest are coming for a drink. Since the entry of the migrating herds into the area, these lions have always had something to eat, and we expect to start seeing more hunts for the big cats within our game viewing areas.

Look out for more updates and coverage of the Official Migration in the Masai Mara.

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

Wildlife Update 7

Weather:

We have come to the end of the rains in the Mara and the plains have transformed into a sea of grass. The resident animals, mainly herbivores are congregated into groups where the new grass has sprouted. This short and highly palatable grass is much favoured by the small and medium sized herbivores such as the gazelles, warthogs, hartebeests and the wildebeest. The rest of the reserve is still covered in long and overgrown grass, which the larger herbivores such as the elephants and buffaloes graze on and therefore you can see them easily.

The rains that pounded the Mara in late May and early this month were unusual. We do not normally have rain at this time of the year. Even as late as early this month, there were heavy thunderstorms in the afternoons, which continued into the nights. The Mara’s long rainy season is from mid-March through to April. However, the situation now is back to normal though the ground is still wet especially in areas where the marshes are.

With the weather back to normal, the skies are clear on most days, interspersed with a few cloudy days. On some days we have sporadic drizzle in isolated areas. As July approaches, we can feel the temperature changing. The last few days have been cold in the mornings with temperatures reading as low as 13ºC. But this changes within the first two hours after sunrise and by noon the temperature rises between 25-28ºC.

Wildlife:

The Lions

All the lion prides in our game viewing territory are still around. However, they have been highly mobile in the last few weeks, with some prides splitting up into smaller groups. This is due to the scarcity of food. With most of the herbivores concentrated in certain areas, the lions are finding it difficult to hunt. Lions are territorial and will chase away other lions not belonging to the same group or pride if the outsiders try to hunt in their territory. Even then, the lions in the areas where the prey (the herbivores) is currently found, are not having it easy. Their intended prey stay in close groups forming an 'anti-predator device' so that they have more alert eyes looking out for the predators. This minimises the chances of the predators getting close.

It is a very difficult time for our lions and seeing them on termite mounts or up in trees, is not unusual at the moment, as they scale higher vantage points to scan the grassland for potential prey.

The Olkeju-Rongai Pride patrols the area between Talek and Olkeju-Rongai rivers. This area has a small concentration of game for the Olkeju-Rongai pride to hunt.

To the north of the Talek River, the Olkiombo Pride now rules that section up to Ntiakitiak River. Here, there is also a small concentration of game and the cats have been making successful hunts regularly.

The Ridge Pride roams between the Talek, Olare-Orok, the Mara River and the Topi Plains above Rhino Ridge. This pride however, has split into three groups, but the groups come together occasionally. There is one female in particular who has been in the area to the west of the Talek and Olare-Orok Rivers for a long time. She is now seen often with two sub-adult cubs.

Cheetahs

Cheetahs are seen quite regularly. Shakira, the star in the BBC Big Cat Live program, has settled on Topi Plains for the last couple of weeks. She and her three cubs sometimes venture northwest up to Bila Shaka stream which is a few kilometres away. The area between the two places is teeming with game like the gazelles, which forms her main prey. Her cubs are doing very well.

There is another cheetah with two very small cubs to the east of Mara Explorer. We first saw her on 13 June and we think that was when she moved her cubs out for the first time. The tall grass is making her uneasy as the cubs keep getting lost in the grass and she has to call them constantly. It is a very difficult task for her to bring up the cubs at this time when visibility is poor and prey scarce. We hope she will be able to rear them successfully. We have seen other cheetahs too at this time, sometimes up in tree, which is quite unusual. Even they have to climb up to look for prey.

Leopards

Olive the leopard, showed up about a week ago after disappearing for a month. She has no cubs yet as was thought by some guides. She was reported to be mating with Big Boy across the footbridge at Mara Intrepid on 10 June. Her daughter Binti was seen regularly along the Talek River just west of Mara Intrepids. Kali has been a frequent visitor in our camp for the last month, coming for the resident dikdiks. Big Boy has also been seen patrolling the river just across from Mara Intrepids, in clear view of the guests in their tents and often heard.

We have not seen Ayah for sometime now. We think she is by the lower Talek River where it meets the Mara River.



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

Wildlfe Update 19th May 2009

There has been unexpected rain in the Mara region over the past two weeks. The rains, though not as heavy as the usual long rains in April has turned the plains in the Mara into a sea of grass. The animals are now concentrated only in a few overgrazed patches in the reserve. The rain has also made some areas difficult to drive through, which is normal when we get this amount of rain.

Rain notwithstanding, game viewing is still good. For a first-time visitor to the Mara, it may appear empty, but you would require local knowledge to guide you to where the animals are currently concentrated. In these patches of short grass, it is now a constant competition between the grazers and the speed by which the grass is growing, due to the rains.

All the prides in our game viewing territory are still there and quite active. I should say it is also unusual to see lions very healthy at this time of the year, especially the cubs. Normally they would have already started getting thin as the food availability would be scarce now. The Ridge pride have taken the area between the Mara river and Topi plains over Rhino ridge as their territory.

Ol-Keju Rongai pride can be found just across the river from Mara Intrepids where there is a small congregation of herbivores on a short grass patch that has always been a rutting ground for the Topi.

Shakira the cheetah can now be found between Rhino ridge and Bila Shaka area. This is the area where there is still a concentration of game. Her three female cubs are quite active and each time perfecting their hunting skills as they learn from their mother.

The three male coalition of cheetah can still be seen around, and would occasionally meet with Shakira.

We also have one male in around Rhino ridge and another young female towards paradise plains all of whom adds to the list of the numerous cats we have around.

Olive, our leopard star has not been seen for the past four weeks. We see Binti and Kali though separately. Their sightings have also been very irregular. The high and amount of grass along the river where we usually see them makes it very difficult to see them sometimes. Some of the guides believe that Olive may be expecting a new litter but only time will tell.

Our guides also reported of another Leopard at Ol-Keju Rongai which was seen quite a few times.

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