Reporting Date: 09.12.2011

Full day game drive with two guests was very interesting when we came across two male cheetahs resting under the tree, the guests were very concerned because they thought cheetahs are solitary.

Their ranger Alex explain to them that male litter-mates sometimes stay together as adults, and a single male may form a partnership with one or two unrelated males, these male coaliations (numbering upto three individuals) have greater success defending small exclusive territories than do solitary males as well as being able to bring down larger prey such as yearling wildebeest.

Reporting Date: 4th December 2011

Hyenas do not  get  along well with lions and cheetahs as they all feed on the same prey and therefore are competitors. It is for this reason that when they come across each other, there is tension and one party has to give way for the other. On this particular day, ranger Jaffery and his guests came across a lone cheetah that had killed a Thomson gazelle in the late afternoon in an open field. But out of nowhere, even before the cheetah recovered from the chase, an hyena came from the surrounding  bushes and chased him away from the meal before taking off with it into the bushes. He had gotten an easy meal which he did not work hard for. The cheetah could not defend the kill and simply ran away as their limbs are not adapted for fighting. Everybody thought this was very unfair but that is the rule of nature.

Reporting Date: 7/12/2011

Over the last one month rain in the Mara has been very good in terms of vegetation growth thus food for the animals is already abundant. The negative part of this food availiability is poor visibility to the antelopes and gazzeles.

On full day game drive Daniel and his four guests were lucky to come across aleap of cheetah that was hunting some grant gazzelles. With the grass nearly two feet high the grants could not see and the cheetahs made effort to reduce the distance before stricking when the grants have their head low to pick food. Unfortunately a Topi nearby went up a termite mound and turned around as if aware of what was about to happen, and by bad or good luck spotted the slight movement made by the cheetah to sit down. The Topi produced ableating sound meaning danger is around the corner and all the grants speed away for nearly half a km.

Reporting Date: 04/12/2011.

Yet again the scouts patrolling the camps private conservancy come across a pack of Wild-dogs!!

Peter and his guests were driving towards the area where the wild-dogs were last spotted. It took a while to get there because his guests were very excited to see everything that they came across. On arrival the dogs were abit shy but later on got used to the jeep being around them. His guests decided to give them a head count and a total of 14 dogs were counted, all looking pretty healthy.

The drama begun when they spotted some resident buffaloes grazing in a near-by field, they sorrounded one and started harrasing it. Shortly a second buffalo came and chased off the dogs! The dogs tried to stand their ground but the massive buffalo was too furious to be stopped. After a while the dogs gave up and went to look for animals they could harass and get away with it.

To view the sighted animals table click the "Read more" button.

Reporting Date: 2/12/2011

On an afternoon game drive around the conservancy, Daniel explained to the guests the conservancy concept as they drove around stopping for several plain game. The mention of the leopard presense in the area raised the guests expectation of spotting one and the search intensived after dusk as this was the right time to spot one hunting.

The reward of the search came when Sena the spotter requested for a reverse to shine the spot light on a desert date tree near the saltlick. " here is a leopard at long last" is all he said.

Daniel informed that there were five resident leopard around the conservancy and the one of the tree was a female fond of visiting the salt lick to hunt.

To view the sighted animals table click the "Read more" button.

Reporting Date: 28TH NOVEMBER 2011

On the lamai plains at the border of the Mara and the Serengeti , there occurs a small water hole which is frequented by  a large group of hyenas, a clan of about sixty. On this plains would also be found some Topis as well as Thomson gazelles . Usually the hyenas like the place because they can cool off in the water hole during the strong heat of the day. On the occasions when the lions invade the area, the Topis plus the hyenas would be nowhere to be seen. On this particular day, ranger Jaffery had just picked his guests from the Airstrip when he decided to visit the area. They found some hyenas trying to go for a sleeping  Topi which was a few meters  away from the rest. The Topi had his chin resting on the ground (typical way of sleeping in the heat of the day), so the hyenas were sure of getting him for lunch. Everyone held their breath as the hyenas walked towards the Sleeping Topi. Fortunately for the Topi,  the first hyena to attack made a mistake  by trying to bite from behind. This prompted the Topi to jump up with speed with his horns aimed at the ones in front, forcing them to back off. The other hyenas tried to attack from the flanks but the Brave Topi swiftly turned and  chased them away, trying to attack with his horns. He chased them while  heading  towards  where the other Topis were.

Reporting Date: 26th November 2011

It takes a buffalo bull quite a number of years to fight his way up to the top leadership of a breeding herd. The defeated bulls would leave the herd and either become solitary or join other males in a chosen area. It is this type of buffaloes that are usually furious and would  be ready to battle anyone that they come across for revenge. Today, ranger Godson was on a late afternoon game drive when they came across a large herd of buffaloes that included males, females and their young. What caught their attention was the sight of two bulls fighting on the edge of the big herd. They were hitting each other with their horns so herd  while pushing and pulling too. The sound of the impact could be heard at some distance of about two hundred meters  away . Occasionally, one would be pushed for about 20 meters backwards  then stops  for a while  to gain more energy thereafter the pusher would in turn be driven away. Finally one became submissive by holding his head under the belly of the winner. Once this happened the fighting stopped.

Reporting Date: 30/11/2011.
 

Sand river has been brought back to life by recent heavy down-pour upstream and the heavy rains in the Mara.

Peter, Daniel and their guests had planned to down to Sand river for their fullday game drive. Their seemed to be alot of ellys enroute and found it impossible to just pass them by without watching them. On arrival at the river it was time to look for the famous Sand river pride, not so far down stream they spotted two lioness and three cubs who were approximately three months old! They were all sitting under a 'sausage tree' enjoying the cool breeze and enjoying the view of the scenic Sand river. 

After watching them for a while they noticed one of the lioness looked as if she had very young cubs hidden or was expecting very soon!

Lioness are known to synchronise their estrus cycles so that they can raise the cubs together. This helps increase chances of their cubs survival.

Reporting Date: 25th NOVEMBER 2011

It takes a buffalo bull about six or more years to fight his way up to the top leadership of a breeding herd. The defeated bulls would leave the herd and either become solitary or join other males in a chosen area. It is this type of buffaloes that are usually furious and would  be ready to battle anyone that they come across for revenge. Today, ranger Godson was on a late afternoon game drive when they came across a large herd of buffaloes that included males, females and their young. What caught their attention was the sight of two bulls fighting on the edge of the big herd. They were hitting each other with their horns so herd  while pushing and pulling too. The sound of the impact could be heard at some distance of about two hundred meters  away . Occasionally, one would be pushed for about 20 meters backwards  then stops  for a while  to gain more energy thereafter the pusher would in turn be driven away. Finally one became submissive by holding his head under the belly of the winner. Once this happened the fighting stopped.