The Masai Mara received little rain this month, just 17.5mm with the grass slowly drying out, turning to a tawny colour and the roads becoming dusty. The grassland has been grazed right down in patches but we still have some good, lush grazing in the Musiara area as the herds of wildebeest are making good work of the grass up on Rhino Ridge. The marsh has all but dried out except for the main spring and the central pools at ‘Lake Nakuru’. Our hippo pool near the airstrip has also dried out leaving a mud bath which is heaven for the warthogs.
The temperatures have been a bit cooler as these are our winter months with daytime temperatures averaging about 24 C. As we are a couple of degrees south of the equator the temperature decreases by 5-10 C at this time of year with cooler mornings and evenings, however the mid day temperature remains quite warm.
The elephant are no longer grazing the long grass on the plains as it has dried and is less nutritious. The majority of the large herds that were in and around the marsh area in the last few months have now moved out to the acacia woodland and into the riverine forest. Resident herds of elephant that we have come to know very well, frequent the forest around the camps at night breaking branches and leaving football size presents in the morning to clear up.
buffallos
Buffalos too, have relocated to the periphery of the forest, moving in to graze at night feeding on the lush green grass that remains under the forest canopy. We also had an unusual sighting of two massive buffalos fighting almost to the death near the airstrip, no females around and not a known territory. The main breeding herd of between 400 and 500 have been circulating between the marsh and Rhino ridge.
The Warburgia Ugandensis (African green-heart tree) is the only tree with any fruit in the area, so many of the animals are coming in to the forests to feed from it; from elephant, baboons, Blue Monkeys and Brown Parrots.
There have been a few sightings of a very large 4 meter long African Rock Python near Mbila Shaka, a rare and awesome animal to see. Other rare sightings have been 2 very young caracal cubs hiding in the grass. These cats are a treat to see as we may only see them a dozen times a year. They are smaller, fairly strongly built and lynx like with tufts on their ears. The Side-striped Jackal has been in the area too, a small wolf like jackal with a thick coat, but very shy.
Zebras
The annual migration of wildebeest and zebra has come into our area in smaller herds of a few thousand or so. They are very quick to move with various groups coming onto Rhino Ridge and down to the Musiara airstrip and then disappearing just as quickly. The main concentration we believe are still to come, they are down towards Look Out Hill near the Tanzanian border and many still in Tanzania. However we have had some large river crossings at the main crossing area near Paradise Plains, numbering 5000 – 10000. These occurred mid month, earlier on in the morning which is not typical as the wildebeest will often wait for it to get hot and then take tentative steps towards the water for a drink and then decide to go for the plunge! There have been many crossings since, but in smaller numbers.
cheetah
After a short absence of cheetah in the area our female cheetah and her young cub have returned and have taken to jumping on the bonnets of the vehicles, the cub a little small yet. Sadly the cub looks to be blind in one eye but this does not seem to impair it too badly. They seem to be preying on gazelles only as the wildebeest calves may be too much of a challenge for her. The three brother cheetahs have been seen regularly now, but they now move huge distances. They do not seem to be fraternizing with any females but are rather spending their time hunting, ranging from the Talek river to the Koiyaki area out of the reserve and back to us at the Musiara Marsh. They are confident enough to be taking on young wildebeest. The single female cheetah which was seen mating with the brothers over a month ago now has been back in the area, but not for long, moving out as quickly as she had arrived. Not looking pregnant yet, if she is it will not show for some time.
Leopards
We have had some wonderful leopard sightings this month, our beautiful resident female who has been a common feature of our game drives has been seen in her usual territory around the camps and the marsh. However she tends to remain elusive during the day and mostly appears in the later evenings. A very large male leopard has been in the marsh area, perhaps he is checking on the female as a potential partner. He is a shy leopard and rarely seen.
The female leopard Olive and her two cubs are still together and well, moving from across the Talek river back onto the Olare Orok river. One of our guides had the pleasure of watching her make a kill of a young wildebeest right in front of his vehicle, amazing! There is another female leopard not very far from Olive, she too has two smaller cubs and are seen on occasion.
The Marsh Pride of lion are well ensconced near the Musiara Marsh, with so much potential prey around they are not moving very far and are spending a lot of their time together. The pride have been hunting wildebeest on a regular basis. Three of the sub adult males are still spending most of their time with one of the lionesses. She incidentally has been mating with the dominant male. There are still the nine sub adults and nine cubs of the new generation, three of which are still fairly small at about six weeks old. The smallest cubs have been coming out and following their mother around. The second pride male has been near the pride, but is looking in bad shape and is not interacting with the rest of the pride at all now. He is missing all but one tooth and is limping badly from a fight he had not long ago. It seems his days with the pride may be numbered.
The Ridge Pride have been up in the rocky area on top of Rhino ridge amongst the herds of wildebeest. Surrounded by prey the pride are not having to venture very far.
lion
At last the Paradise Pride of lions have given the hippo a rest and are feasting primarily on wildebeest and zebra. This may be as a result of all the male lions having moved across the river to their other lionesses. Notch the dominant male of the pride appears to be healthy although he is getting quite old now. The pride has been having fantastic success hunting on the Mara River banks at the wildebeest crossing sites. One of these lionesses took down three wildebeest as they exited the river one day. Lions being opportunists will capitalise on these situations. One of the six month old cubs had injured a leg and has not been seen recently, so we will be looking out for him.
The vultures have also been feeding well at the crossing points, cleaning up what the lions and scavengers leave behind.
Back in Camp we have been doing lots of re-furbishing of all the camps. and they are looking stunning. The tents at Governors’ Camp have lovely new interiors and we have re-done the bathrooms. There are also new family tents which sleep up to five people in one tent and the deck overlooking the Mara River has been re-done.
governors camp family tent
governors camp family tent bathroom
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