Well, this was a normal unexciting trip to the airstrip from Samburu Intrepids – a 15 minute drive – when coming round a bend to cross a lugga (dry river bed), we came across what at first sight we though was a did dik running for his dear life from a pack of wild dogs (Cape hunting dogs). It was in fact, a baby gerenuk. The signs were ominous immediately – he stood no chance. In a desperate dash, he tried to get away from the leader of the chasing pack by running under our jeep, and sadly hit his head in the under carriage. By the time the driver had stopped, just some five meters away, he lay kicking on the ground with some blood oozing from his head – he had either broken his neck or something vital.

Mercifully, he wasn’t in pain for long – in a flash, the leader of the hunting dogs, who had himself avoided hitting the vehicle by a whisker was on him. The rest of the pack which had spanned out in the bush landed in a matter of seconds. Just as i was reaching to grab my camera – which was in a bag on my lap – it was over. These were the sequence of shots taken in less than a minute, and what transpired.

The pack tears the baby gerenuk mercilessly

And splits him in two

They fight for the spoils

It’s all done

Someone got a good morsel..

NB This pack of wild dogs has become common in Samburu, with our blog featuring them severally. They seem to have adopted a new survival tactic; taking up to the hills once they have fed where they are away from bigger animals or humans, and their numbers seem to be increasing.


They were once hunted viciously (and mainly) due to human’s distate to their hunting methods and lack of specific prey – they don’t normally strangle a kill like other bigger predators but instead tear it apart while still alive, like what is shown in these pictures, which humans find cruel. They have also hunted and fed on livestock, bringing them in conflict with pastoralists with whom they share common areas. These pastoralists used to poison or hunt and kill, making them an endangered species.

we can’t see Africa’s tallest mountain because of the thick clouds.
Formed by explosive eruptions thousands of years ago, the crater-lake is fed by underground streams from the mighty mountain.
Its turquoise blue-green waters stand in stark contrast to the dry and dusty land where fat baobabs and thorny trees tough it out under a merciless sun.
Dust trails the cars driving out from Voyager Ziwani on the edge of Tsavo West national park to the secret crater-lake, driving past red-earth anthills, the shambas of the Taveta people and the turning to the hill where Grogan built his castle in 1930.
Nobody would guess what lies in the mound amidst this non-descript terrain until one reaches the rim and a burst of blue sparkles in the volcano’s crater. So secret is it that one could easily drive past it.
Even today few people visit it but historical records show that during the First World War, the allied forces marched around the northern edge in their advance on Taveta to battle it out with the Kaiser’s force.

Scrambling down the narrow path to reach the shores of the pretty pond that’s 4.5 square kilometres and 94 metres deep with the invisible line separating Kenya and Tanzania, we meet two women climbing up with fish bought from the local fishermen.

The women, are from the shores of Lake Victoria almost 800-kilometres away. On my first visit to the lake eight years ago, nobody dared swim in it for a teenage British girl, Amy Nicholls had been killed by a crocodile.
Her body was found on the Tanzanian side and brought to Nairobi for a post-mortem where it was revealed that the culprit was a croc. A local diving team spotted one a few years ago and a pair of tusks lying on the lake bed.
On closer look, the tusks were plastic used in a film shot on location. Little boys swim by a collapsed bridge which some enterprising person wanted to build to connect Kenya and Tanzania – secretly l think it would have spoiled the beauty of the stunning lake besides affecting the natural biodiversity.
Sitting on the shore of the lake, I weigh the odds of bumping into a croc. More unlikely than being hit by a car in Nairobi and none of the local guys have seen one in many, many years.
Floating on the water surrounded by the steep walls of the volcano and its forest of euphorbia and fig trees and a blue sky above, life’s a dream. A lone African fish eagle soars above to complete the idyllic picture.
Diving a few feet underwater shows the sun’s rays filter through clear water. But like everybody in the group questions, where did the crocodile come from when there is no surface river flowing into it.

Picture by ©Gurinder Sehmi

A little investigation solves the mystery. The Challa croc-culprit is no other than Grogan, one of Kenya’s most vivid colonial characters who besides building his enormous castle on the nearby hill, pioneered large-scale farming and irrigation in Taveta.
He in his wisdom, then brought some rare dwarf crocodiles as pets and had them shipped from Madagascar in the 1930s and put into Lake Challa, which lay in his 9,650-square-mile estate.
The crocs were thought to have become extinct in the lake some years ago, many killed by the local fishermen in the 1990s when the toothy reptile continually ruined their fishing nets. Maybe it was just the lone one lurking in 2002.
Article by Rupi Mangat, rupi.mangat@yahoo.com Reproduced Courtesy of Nation Newspapers. All rights Nation Media Group Ltd. As appeared on Saturday Magazine, 20th November 2010

It has stopped raining in the Mara, making the grass turn coarse like hay. Only the valleys and river banks are green, attracting the grazers that prefer shorter grass. You can see them early mornings on the plains while the grass is still soft and moist from the morning dew but as the day gets hotter they move to the river banks to graze.

Time for a drink before crossing – zebras are usually the head of the migration.

The areas that were first visited by the herds of wildebeest and zebra have very short grass stalks and are dusty. It’s only the gazelles that can plug the stalks.

All the rivers and the water pools are full, providing water for the herbivores, especially now to help digest the coarse grass.

Migrating Herds

The advance herds are by the rivers, paving the way for the big herds. They have left little for the others to graze along the migratory corridor.

The corridor extends from Sand River gate all the way to the Marsh on the eastern part of the reserve and further in to the conservancies like Olare Orok and the Mara-West.

Crossing points are chosen for many reasons

Safety being paramount – you never know who’s sneaking up on you!

This lioness wanted gnu for lunch

After making a stop at the Marsh, the herd turns towards the Mara River to their traditional crossing. It’s exciting to watch the first herd of the migration.

This year they avoided the western part of the reserve and decided to follow the edges of the reserve east up to the Marsh.

Traditionally, the Serengeti herds cross Sand River from the south then break into two groups – one going east and one going west towards the Lookout Hill. A few herds will trek direct to Posse Plain and cross Talek River near Mara Intrepids Camp going through Olkiombo Plain and across to Olare-Orok at the Smelly Crossing and up stream at Double Crossing to reach the Topi Plain through Rhino Ridge, down to the Mara River through Paradise Plains. Those who pass through the Lookout Hill, will cross Mara River just below the hill, to get to the Mara Triangle.

This poor fella was trapped under an unfortunate gnu who’s inside the jaws of on a Nile croc

This year, the herds have been crossing the Mara River at Kichinjio where many wildebeest have died. They then head towards Rhino Ridge, Base and Shamarta which are the wildebeest camping areas and ancestral calving sites.

The wildebeest follow the zebra, who explore the new areas first. However the wildebeest take a different direction from zebras who are going east to the Ngama Hills near Sekenani, for zebras prefer the taller courser part of the grass.

PREDATORS SIGHTINGS

LIONS

Lions sighting are good and food is abundant. Still the families have not come together as usual when the migration is on.

Lion prides do restructure their family units after separating for some time to avoid food competition.

Notch and his four sons still dominate a section of the Mara and continue to mingle with the Marsh Pride and the Olkiombo Pride. The vultures circling in the air point to where the predators are feeding on their prey or where the wildebeest and other animals have succumbed to death.

LEOPARDS

Olive and her two cubs of different ages are at the Base lugga with a wildebeest kill.

CHEETAHS

The three brothers moved to Olare Orok Conservacy. Shingo the mother of six cubs, is east of Mara Intrepids Camp. Two young expectant females are at Bila Shaka and Topi Plain. Saba and her young male cub are at Musiara. A young female cheetah gave birth six kilometers from Mara Intrepids Camp towards Fig Tree.