Wildlife Sightings

Masai Mara

After the heavy rains, there is now plenty of food on the plains for the animals especially the herbivores. By the end of last year, the migrating herds of wildebeests and zebras had left for the Serengeti. The remaining animals, mainly herbivores, are concentrated in areas where the grass is short.

Unlike the time of the drought last year when the grass had dried up, it is now growing fast. This makes it difficult for the prey to see the predators until it’s too late. Unfortunately for the mammals, tall grass also harbors tsetse flies and ticks, forcing them to move to the plains where the grass is shorter.

The weather is great. The mornings are cool with temperatures as low as 13ºC rising to around 35 ºC by midday. There’s not too much dust unlike the time of the drought.

Big Cats

Lions

The two lion prides, the Ridge Pride and the Olkiombo Pride in our game viewing areas have been quite active this week. The Ridge Pride, including Notch and three other males killed an ostrich about five days ago and yesterday (30 January) killed an adult hippo on Paradise Plains.

The two males from Olkiombo Pride killed a hippo near the Double Crossing area on the Mara River. They were later joined by the females.

Leopards

Olive was seen two days ago at Olare-Orok River hunting some impala. Her two cubs were seen earlier with her on the Talek River. Kali has moved towards the Mara River north of the Talek-Mara junction.


Cheetahs

Since last week, the three cheetah brothers have been roaming the plains between the Talek and Musiara, hunting the young ones of the Topi and other herbivores.
There is a female cheetah with a cub around the Bila Shaka area. This is a very risky area because of the Marsh Pride and a pack of hyenas. Besides making it difficult for her to hunt, the lions and the hyenas are a danger to the safety of the cheetah and her cub. We will keep you posted on them.

Samburu National Reserve

With a reputation as as a dry semi-arid and unforgiving land, Samburu is in fact one of Kenya's most unknown gems. A pristine wilderness in the Northern Frontier district, the land is just as beautiful as the people, who's culture and way of life is uninterrupted as their Masai cousins found to the south of Kenya.

Our guests at Samburu Intrepids found these animals on a game drive just a couple of days ago. The ostrich and Grevy's zebra were spotted on the Buffalo Springs side while the rest were on a the Samburu National reserve side.






As skilled Samburu guides will tell you, in Samburu game is 'spotted', not viewed! They say it calls for greater skill to see animals which are fewer than in the Mara, as this picture of a leopard on the tree attests.



He obliges a photo op!



A reticulated giraffe reaches for the tastiest snacks on the highest branch.





Female members of an impala harem.


An elephant reaching for fresh shoots.


And now the latest buzz in Samburu - this pack of Cape Hunting dogs, also known as African Wild dogs (scientific Lycaon pictus) has been seen severally while on game drive.


Surely they didn't for a moment think they could bring down a giraffe!


The leopard and elephants below were seen just yesterday. The life giving Uaso (Ewaso) Nyiro is flowing and animals are easy to spot.





The elephant matriarch leads the herd across the river. They are encouraging the calf along.


Tsavo West National Park

Our resident naturalist in Voyager Ziwani Camp, Stephen Lekatoo, has sent an interesting look at things from Tsavo. This is the breeding season for crocs, and the resident crocs are laying eggs. Unfortunately they have come under attack from monitor lizards. One of the female crocs, aptly named Kasheshe, was pictured fending off an attack by the giant lizards. They also have to portend with hippos which trample on their eggs or even kill the hatchlings.



A visit to Tsavo West National Park would not be complete without a visit to Baobab tree; Lake Challa on Kenya's border with Tanzania which lies in a crater, with some of the clearest waters you'll ever see; Mzima Springs with it's pure waters from the Mt Kilimanjaro, filtered and purified through volcanic rocks; and a hike up Salaita Hills scene of the battle trenches built by the German Army during the first world war.


Lake Challa.

Salaita Hills, battle fields of German army during First World War.

Baobab tree. Legend has it that a German sniper lady used to hide in this tree and even killed 30 British troops.



Paul Kirui, Chief Safari Guide, Heritage Hotels, Francis Lenyakopiro, Resident Naturalist, Samburu Intrepids and Stephen Lekatoo, Resident Naturalist, Voyager Ziwani Tsavo

Wildlife Sightings: 2010

Happy new year to all!

It is the start of another year, with everyone making New Year resolutions and here in the Mara we are no exception - we do hope 2010 will be better. The good news is that we have started the year with lots of rain in the country including the Mara, giving us a break from the previous year’s devastating drought.

In 2009, the Mara River dropped to its lowest level. It made the famous annual wildebeest crossing from the Serengeti and in to the Mara look like a joke, because the animals just walked across the shallow river and we missed the usual action that goes with the crossing. We hope that this year will be different.

The rains have brought a sigh of relief to the pastoral communities in the country who had to search far and wide beyond their normal grazing borders in search of pasture and water for their livestock. It was a year where we saw a lot of conflict between humans and wildlife. This was because the pastoral people brought their cattle into the wildlife protected areas because there was still some pasture and water available. We saw this in Shaba and Samburu game reserves including the national parks like Nairobi National Park and others. We hope that the rains will last long enough to fill the rivers and replenish the pasture plains.

With the rains, we are seeing fantastic game, even in the arid Samburu Game Reserve, north of the Equator. The animals are regaining their health and are more active. Our guests in Samburu can now watch animals coming down to the Uaso Nyiro River to drink. The river, which is the lifeline for the animals and people living along its course, was dry for the better part of 2009.

Lions

The lions are busy trailing the herbivore herds which are now found on the drier higher grounds. In the previous week, we saw the Olkiombo Pride split into two by the Talek River which is full of water. It’s caused the lions some inconvenience as they can’t cross easily to either side.

Olive and her two cubs are near the Olkiombo airstrip. We found them on Friday (8 Jan) morning near the Olare-Orok crossing. With the rivers full, they will have to stay around longer.

The Ridge Pride has moved towards the southern side of Rhino Ridge, away from the Mara River area where they had been for sometime. It was nice seeing them recently feeding on a hippo in the water. The sub-adults are still moving around on their own. Recently, they almost had a confrontation with the Olkiombo Pride when they ventured into their territory.

Cheetahs

The three cheetah brothers (Honey’s boys) are still between the two rivers, the Mara and Talek. They killed a young warthog on Thursday (7 Jan) after a dramatic hunt.

Samburu National Reserve

Elsewhere, game viewing in Samburu has been interesting, as witnessed by these pictures provided by one of our guests, David Lawson who was on safari just a few days ago in the Samburu National Reserve.

The leopard was found at southern foothill of Koitogo, on Leopard Rocks and the majestic Somali ostrich at Larsen's plains. The following day, while on a mid morning game drive, David came across the lioness at the Leopard Rocks –– nice spotting Mr. Lawson! The Grevy's zebra was seen on the eastern side of Kiotogo Hill on the same day.







Thanks for the pictures David, and we hope to see you again soon!

Paul Kirui, Chief Safari Guide, Heritage Hotels and Francis Lenyakopiro, Resident Naturalist, Samburu Intrepids

Other Wildlife Sightings

The Big Cats Of Mara:

The Lions

The Mara cats are enjoying the last of the easy meals this month before the wildebeest leave. Many skeletons are strewn on the plains because of the big feast. As the wildebeest leave, the lion prides will become very mobile in search of prey, especially the ones with cubs. Some prides will split up because there will not be enough food to share around the pride.

Over the last few weeks, the Ridge Pride was seen roaming around the southern base of Rhino Ridge, Mara Intrepids and the Mara River area. There is one female with three-month-old cubs and one with two-month-old cubs. The females made easy kills when the wildebeest were all over their territory, which meant the cubs were well fed.

Leopards

Olive, our star female leopard and her three-month-old cubs are still around the junction of the Talek and Olare-Orok Rivers. They have lately been moving between this place and the little forest between Mara Intrepids and Explorer camps.

Binti and her daughter are downstream from where Olive is. They also took the opportunity to hunt the wildebeest when they were streaming down south through their territories and we saw a few young wildebeest' carcasses up in the trees along the river.

Cheetahs

Shakira, who for the past two years has been our star female cheetah, is still around with her three daughters. She has had some easy hunts because of the many gazelle fawns born in the past three weeks.

Honey's three male cubs, continue to roam far and wide from Musiara to Paradise Plains and south to Burrungat Plains. There is another cheetah between Talek and Olkiombo airstrip with three very tiny cubs. This is not Alama, who we reported earlier. In general cheetah sightings have been the best this season.

The Samburu Cats

Lions

Lions were seen throughout August and September. The prolonged drought has forced the herbivores to come to the Uaso River for the little grass and shrubs to sustain them. This has been good for the lions,
who have waited along the river to pounce on the poor prey. In Buffalo Springs, the Ngare Mara pride was seen thrice in a week along the Ngare Mara River.

Nanyeisho of Ngare Mara pride had two cubs, which were first seen in the beginning of September when they were two months old. The cubs were named by our guides as Ngooyeni (Lucy) and Ngayoni (Ricki) (the little couples). Many lions in the area have been forced to go to Isiolo River, which has a permanent water source in the region.

The Koitogo pride has split into smaller groups. The pride of four adults (two females and two males) with five youngsters is seen at Daraja-wire area north of the Uaso Ng'iro River. This is part of their territory, but they have also moved east towards the border of the reserves (Buffalo Springs and Samburu). Two lions were also reported at West Gate Conservancy. The scarcity of prey has forced the pride to split into three small groups.
The Ngare Mara pride has split into two smaller groups, both with little cubs. The White River females have two cubs, which were nearly six months old. Our guides named the female Uaso (Uaso was born by River Uaso which had water after a long dry spell) and the male is called Lengolong' which means; 'born during the bad drought'. The mother has been named Moduai, which is a Samburu word for 'rarely seen'. Moduai has settled in the southern part of the Uaso Ng'iro River, three kilometres east of the main viewpoint along the White River. The lion population in both the reserves is between 17 and 20.

The Intrepids guides have named all the lions in the area. The biggest pride Koitogo has Uni, a mother of two (Lentasat and Namunyak). Lentasat is the young male lion who is roughly 13 months old.

Namunyak is a Samburu word for the blessed one. The 13 female lionesses share the name with the lioness which adopted the Beisa Oryx fawn at the beginning of the millennium. Namunyak barely managed to survive a buffalo attack a few months ago when they were learning how to hunt.

Nashupai, another lioness, has three cubs Ngosouwan, Lolibuo and Naduaya. She is Naibor's daughter and Uni's sister. Her name in Samburu means 'smart girl'. Ngosouwan means the 'strong one' (buffalo like). She made her first hunt going for a buffalo during the dry season. In the normal circumstances a healthy buffalo, often stampedes towards the thicket where the young lions cubs are, doing their best to trample the cubs to death whilst warding off the lioness.

However, this time the buffalos were in for a surprise. Lolibuo, the young male was very eager to make a kill and when Ngosouwan jumped on the buffalo's back, Lolibuo followed and since it was the whole pride of seven, all the lions tried to help the little guys kill the buffalo. The enraged buffalo flung Ngosouwan into the bush and Lolibuo was left alone hanging on buffalo's back! Namunyak had nothing else to do but to help her half-brother. The buffalo saw it coming and got ready for it. Luckily, Ngosouwan came out of the bush with Uni and the two jumped on the buffalo.

Lion cubs have a rare survival rate, especially during the dry seasons when food is scarce. Furthermore, when one or more new males oust the previous male(s) associated with a pride, the conqueror(s) often kills any existing young cubs, perhaps because females do not become fertile and receptive until their cubs mature or die. Luckily this has not been experienced in Samburu National Reserve for a number of years now.

Paul Kirui, Chief Safari Guide and Stephen Tilas, Head Naturalist, Samburu Intrepids

Migration Update: Issue 7

The Outbound Migration

The migration in the Mara is drawing to a close as anticipated. The wildebeest have been trickling back to the Serengeti this past week, where they are seen to concentrate on the recently burnt patches in northern Serengeti. Only a handful of herds remain in isolated pockets in the Mara, and these are mainly in the south Mara triangle. Looking around driving through the Mara plains, it is easy to understand why these animals have left; most of the plains are bare of grass.

A combination of a dry spell and over grazing has played a major role in the grass cover becoming depleted. This is not a new phenomena for the wildebeest will move on to new pastures to give time for the old grazing pastures to regenerate.

The wildebeest will gradually stream back into the Serengeti with the last herds expected to leave by end of November. They will be away till June-July next year when they will return to graze on the rich green grasses after the long rains of April-May. It will be another season of plenty for the predators and the prey, as the cats and crocodiles keep a close tab on the grazers.

When the wildebeest finally leave the Mara, the predators have to devise smarter methods of hunting for the elusive resident animals. At times they have to go for long periods between meals. The strong ones survive but for the weak and the old, this may be their last season – in the wild, this is the survival of the fittest.

Click Migration%20Update%2009-%207.JPG for the migration map

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

Humpback whales, Whale sharks and dolphins spotted in full view of Voyager

For the past week Humpback whales, Whale sharks and schools of dolphins 
have been spotted in the ocean from Voyager Beach Resort. Join us for daily dive and snorkeling
 excursions to see these amazing creatures.



Here's a bit of folklore. In Kiswahili, the whale shark is called papa shilingi, meaning
 "the shark covered in shillings". According to the local legend, God was so pleased when he created this beautiful fish, that he gave the angels gold and silver coins to throw from heaven onto the back of the shark. Luckily, the whale shark with its magical markings is easy to spot because it swims near the surface, catching the sun on its back. It's the whale shark's way of saying thank you to the maker.



Whale sharks have called Kenyan waters home for many years. Even though it's a shark, the fish behaves like a whale, feeding on plankton and other small sea creatures and it's completely harmless, making it a beautiful fish to swim with. Recently, there's been a significant increase in their sightings, possibly due to the post El Nino mantis shrimp invasion, which the whale sharks feed on.


However, the worrying bit about the increase in whale sharks along the Kenyan coast is that they have
 become more of a target with fishermen. Under international law, whale sharks are only given a secondary type of protection. They are listed under CITES Appendix II meaning that trade in whale sharks is allowed but must be monitored. But monitoring can only be successful if there are enough patrols at sea and the law is enforced. Most specialists are of the opinion that this level of protection is not enough and that we still do not know much about the biggest fish in the ocean.

Check with Buccaneer Diving for diving excursions with the whale shark. Buccaneer Diving is assisting with gathering information about these amazing creatures, working with Project AWARE to help protect these gentle giants of the sea.

Frederic van Lennep, Operations Manager, Buccaneer Water Sports and Diving
freshaevents@gmail.com

Migration Update: Issue 6

Overview

The long dry spell continues. It has affected wildlife in many areas and seems to continue. However, in the Mara, although it is dry, we have been fortunate to have had sporadic light showers earlier in the month.

Because of the showers, even though the grass is dry and coarse on the plains, there are still pools of water in the streams and rivers where the animals throng to quench their thirst after feeding on the dry grass. It's easy to see animals at the watering holes around midday.

We are also seeing stiff competition amongst the herbivores for grass. Whereas some parts of the Mara have been mowed to the ground, there are areas that have good grass and hence higher concentration of game.

Up north in Samburu the drought is much more intensive, with the rivers dry and the grass withered. The animals have taken to digging for water, which ironically has made game viewing easy since we just have to head for the dry riverbed.

Migration update

The Mara continued hosting a higher concentration of wildebeest in the past week. Most of the herds reported on the Mara Triangle, Paradise Plains, Rhino Ridge and Musiara Marsh are still there.

There were heavy river crossings in the north of thousands of wildebeest from Oloololo Gate area to Musiara earlier in the week. These have settled around Musiara Gate, Rhino Ridge and Paradise Plains on the eastern side of the Mara River because of the availability of grass. When most other areas in the reserve have gone bare, these areas still boast plentiful grass, despite being dry and coarse. But in times like these, anything will do.

Though the wildebeest concentration is only in certain places, it is still a superb sight. River crossings have been frequent at Paradise crossing point, with the animals crossing over to the Mara Triangle and those to the north crossing east to Musiara Marsh, hence making a circle. The herds on Rhino Ridge and south of Mara Conservancy have stopped moving around to concentrate on feeding.

Click Migration%20Update%2009-%206.JPG for migration map

Looking around as you drive through the plains, you will understand why these animals are concentrated in places. A combination of a dry spell and over-grazing has played a key roll in the fast dwindling of grass forcing the herds to keep migrating. Overstaying in one area results in exhausting the food resource and hence for the herds to survive, they have to continue with their migration into new areas looking for new grass.

Predators' activities:

Lions

All lion prides in our game viewing territories are present in their home ranges. There were many sightings of these cats in the past week, hunting wildebeest, zebra and warthogs all to the excitement of our guests. One lioness from the Ridge pride with her cubs just 1 km from Mara Explorer gave us the sighting of the week, with her cubs coming out in the morning and late afternoon and playing endlessly. There are other lionesses with cubs as well. These are from Paradise, Olkiombo and Musiara prides.

Leopards

Leopard sightings have been very good and better than the previous weeks. The most exciting moment was when Olive and her two cubs showed up occasionally. She has made a few kills in the past couple of weeks with some being witnessed by our guests. She killed an impala a few days ago at the Olare-Orok crossing and dragged it into a bush before going to fetch her cubs. When coming with the cubs, it was nice to see her carrying one in her mouth so as to increase her walking pace to get to the kill. Binti, her older daughter was seen a few times near the rocky bend on the Talek River, a place which has been her area of abode for long.

Cheetahs

Cheetah sightings were also good and a few successful hunts were seen. Shakira has now moved up from Lookout Hill to Paradise Plains where she has been for over a week. The three brothers are also in the same location. There was drama recently, when the three brothers engaged Shakira and her three daughters in a fight that lasted almost an hour before the boys decided to leave the poor ladies alone. The sight of the seven cheetahs was quite unusual and our guests were treated to this rare show.

There is a new sighting of a cheetah with three small cubs (not the one mentioned in our past report) found to the east of Explorer, where she has been hunting over the past week. There is also one pregnant female in the same area that we think could give birth any time.

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 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