Reporting Date: 24TH DECEMBER 2011

On a game drive this morning we came upon a family of black rhinos which consisted of a couple and an older calf which was about three years old. At first they were lying in a small pool of water by the side of the road and did not realize our approaching car, so this gave us the advantage of getting closer. They then woke up and slowly began to walk away as they grazed in the small thickets. After a little while, the male marked his territory by thrushing urine onto some bushes, this was so spectacular, then they continued moving and occasionally stopped  to look back at us. Black rhinos are usually solitary and most of the sightings in the serengeti have mainly been of single ones unless  with a calf which is usually  driven away when a new calf is born.

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Today on a late afternoon game drive we came upon a lioness that was relaxing in the sun on a rocky place behind some bushes. She was a lactating lioness with four cubs of about three months old. Her cubs were hidden behind  her on the bushes where she would constantly go in to monitor them. Normally the lionesses would leave the pride members for a secluded spot  for some duration to quietly  feed her cubs, but this is usually within their territory. She would later on introduce the cubs to the main pride. This lioness was part of a pride that we refer to as the ''river pride''which roams the area near the Mara river.

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Reporting Date: 19th December 2011.
 

Ranger Deus and his guests came across a wounded cheetah that was limping as it moved  in the open bushlands. The wound was on one of it's back legs. A few days earlier, it had tried to bring down some warthogs which had some  young ones but the warthog put in a vigorous defence which resulted in the injury as the cheetah took off. After the incident, the cheetah has not been in a position to effectively hunt and feed himself , though it is now under treatment. Normally cheetahs are disadvantaged when it comes to fighting as their limbs are only adapted for high speed.

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Reporting Date: 17 December 2011

In the late afternoon game drive today, ranger Kokan came upon a herd of about  40 buffaloes  on their game drive near the camp. These are part of a large resident herd of about 500 that  inhabit  a small riverine swamp  close by. Having good eyesight, these herd saw the vehicle approach from some distance and stopped grazing to look around with their heads held up. It did not take long before the ranger and his guest realized that these were buffalo bulls which had been separated from the breeding herd. After a little while the  herds got nervous and took off while scattering amongst the open bushes, they did not run far before stopping to look back at the source of their fright (typical behavior of the buffalos).

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