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.

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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Reporting Date: 15.12.2011

This morning while on a Full day excursion in the reserve, Ferdinad and his two guest came across lions mating, its been raining in the maasai mara for the last one month so its lush green and a nice weather for breeding.

Copulation among lions is highly repetitive affair a pair may mate two or three times an hour for several days. A lioness usually has her first litter of cubs when she is three to four years old, thereafter producing a new litter of two to four cubs once every two years if the cubs survive. If the cubs die, she comes into oestrus within as little as four weeks.

She gives birth to her cubs in a place of concealment such as a thicket or rocky outcrop, where they remain hidden for the first six to eight weeks.

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Reporting Date: 15TH DECEMBER 2011

Almost every night, there occurs some roaring from the nearby kopjes (rocky outcrops) from some resident pride which consist of  two males in their prime and four lionesses with two cubs of about one year of age. This pride would patrol the areas around the camp in the evenings and early hours of the day, thereafter retreat into the nearby kopjes to relax and sleep during the strong heat of the day where it is not easy to see them as they would be in the shady spots enjoying a good view.On this particular day, nearly all the camp rangers with their guests had a good view of  one of the  pride male as he looked down from the top of the Kopjes.

Reporting Date: 13/12/2011

Two female cheetahs have cubs south of Maasai Mara and the surving cubs are doing well. Evidence shows that most cheetahs lose between 50-60% of the cubs to the other predators especially in their first year.

On full day game drive, Japhet and his guests came across this female with one cub. Two weeks ago she had two and we suspect that she must have lost one last week. Interestingly in these cats, the rule of 'ladies first' doesnt apply. Instead its 'cubs first' especially when it comes to feeding. The mother who often does the killing also monitors the surroundings as the cubs feed just to make sure all is well. Cheetahs are known to be weak and easily loose their kills to the other cats and even get intimidated by vultures. The guests were impresed by the organisation of the feeding when Japhet explained the procedure.

Reporting Date: 13DECEMBER 2011

In almost every game drive, sightings of  Impalas besides other game is  the norm as was the case today of Ranger Godson and his guests on a full day game drive.
These antelopes are the most comonly seen species in the Serengeti plains and open bushlands.The males are elegant with their curved horns while the females do not posess any horns. They occur in mainly two groups, the bachelor herds or "boys only team" or a  group of a single dominant male with several females  as his harem. The dominant male ensures that he keeps  the other males away from his harem. He normally has a very exhausting job and does not keep the harem for long due to constant competition.

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Reporting Date: 11th December 2011
 

Many times on our game drives we come upon warthogs grazing in the open grasslands or on the  edges of bushlands and many times people overlook them. But warthogs play a vital role in the wild as many predators rely on them for food source. Today, we came across a group of warthogs which the guests described as ''beautifully ugly'' because they thought that they looked so prehistoric and funny with their little tusks sticking out on both sides of their flat snouts.

Reporting Date: 10th December 2011

Ranger deus and his guests were on a game drive today when they came across a lonely male cheetah that was on a termite mound relaxing and enjoying a good view of the serengeti grasslands.On many occassions, cheetahs would use the termite mounds as vantage points to look around for their prey, especially where the grass is tall, thereafter they would walk away slowly at first towards their target and then bursting into high speed when closer.

Reporting Date: 8th December 2011

On an early morning game drive, we were out looking for cats when  from some distance we saw some few  vultures  on the ground, next to them were some five jackals that were feeding on something which we could not see. When we drove closer,  we found that they were actually feeding on a male Thomson gazelle. With their thin mouths, they were biting off little bits of meat from the carcass in a very fast and timid manner. The few vultures around were trying to come in to take their share but each time the  jackals would quickly leave the meal and chase them off. From our observation we thought that the kill was made by a cheetah because the rear side of it and the ribs had long been eaten (cheetah's way of eating) also, it is not easy for Jackals to kill a mature male Tommy as they are very fast. As we drove away, after about ten minutes of watching, the Jackals had started to leave and more vultures flew in from all directions.

Reporting Date: 6th December 2011

With the rains that have been pounding the Serengeti over the last three weeks, the waters of the Mara river have been running fast, forcing the hippos and crocodiles to move into the mouths of the small rivers that flow into the it and where the waters are calm. It is on one of this tributaries that we watched some two African fish eagles perched on a tree waiting patiently for a hunt. They were a male and a female. As we watched the hippos and crocodiles in the waters, after  the guests taken pictures of  the aerial hunters, one of the eagles  suddenly flew down at an angle aiming at the waters with its talons, it plunged onto the surface of the waters  and came out flying with some catch  of what seemed like a small cat fish. It then flew back with it onto the same branch where it had left its mate. Then they started sharing the catch while tearing with their sharp beaks and talons. The game viewing shifted from the hippos to the beautiful Fish eagles.