Heritage Hotels boasts some of the very best safari guides in East Africa. These guides, many having grown up near the properties where they lead safaris today, maintain an intimate knowledge and understanding of the bush and the wildlife there. Every month, our guides provide detailed reports on wildlife sightings so you can keep track of the wildlife even when you’re not on safari. During the summer months the reports focus on the great Wildebeest migration and the rest of the year we track the ever enchanting Big Cats near Mara Intrepids and Mara Explorer.
August, 29 2008
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The
last week has been very enthralling for crossing enthusiasts, with our guests getting their holiday’s worth! Very many wildebeests crossed the Mara River at Paradise point for 3 consecutive days, with the crossings lasting up to ten hours each day! Another crossing point commonly called cul de sac, or Kichinjio by the guides in the Mara, was also very active with many wildebeests and zebra succumbing to crocs and many more others dying from being trampled.
These same herds had crossed about three weeks ago from the Mara Triangle just below the same point for ten hours one day, east onto Paradise and Olorukoti plains and Rhino ridge. Some of them had pushed further north outside the park into Koiyaki and Olare-Orok conservancies.
Some light rains in some areas across the park have triggered random movement by the wildebeest, but our guides expect them to be around for a while.
Big Cats:
If ever there was a good time to catch predators in action in the Mara, then the past week was! Our guests saw very many hunts – attempted and successful - in broad daylight as the lions, cheetahs and leopards can’t resist the temptation of going for one more wildebeest – even though they have just fed or have caught another recently.
Just yesterday, the Olkiombo pride made a record by killing eight wildebeests in one afternoon - and four more overnight! The wildebeests were crossing the Talek River, which is almost dry but in such a rush that many died in the stampede and others suffered broken limps.
Olive the leopard killed three wildebeest over the past week, which she feed-on with her three different litter cubs - a sub-adult female born late 2005, two 18 months-old cubs that are still with her, and a 5 months-old. The family has showed an extraordinary interaction that is now drawing considerable attention from wildlife enthusiasts and experts, as it is a rare occurrence. Fortunately for our Mara Intrepids guests, the happy family is occasionally spotted strolling past the bar area across the river in the evenings.
There are four cheetahs with very small cubs at the moment in our game viewing area. Two of these are not far from Mara Explorer, and still have their cubs hidden in thicket. One has four cubs and the other has six. Our informed guides expect them to move the cubs out any time in the coming two weeks. The third female is in Musiara area, while the fourth is near Look-Out Hill. The latter has already moved her cubs from the thickets and can now be seen moving across the plains with them.
Maasai Mara, August 8th, 2008
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There is only one word to describe the situation in the Mara at the moment, ‘It is all wildebeest’. The past week characterized the highlight of the migration in the Mara. There were intensive crossings at the Mara River at the Paradise and Pump-House crossing points in large herds that were last witnessed in 1996 and 2001. To the utter amazement of seasoned Mara guides, there were so many animals converging before crossing, the crossings - especially at the Pump-House point - went on for almost 10 hours!
There’s an air of excitement for the guests who have been planning their trips in advance to witness this event, and for them, it’s been worth it! The wildebeest have been moving en masse from the Mara triangle onto Paradise Plain. Many have died from predation by crocodiles, others from being trampled during the stampedes at the river crossings, and predation from the Big Cats and hyaenas.
The concentration of the migrating herds is now almost spread out across the whole reserve, with more trooping in in their thousands from the Serengeti. The highest concentration currently is towards the central and north plains. Some rains earlier in the week have in a way hastened the movement, with temperatures were somehow low in the mornings but the mid day was fine.
Predators
The last was also quite active for the predators. There were more lion kills witnessed in one week, than in the past couple of months! Wildebeest carcasses littered the plains around pride territories, with even the so called “greedy hyaenas” having their full - as carcasses remained untouched for long periods!
Cheetahs were seen through out the week, with kills and attempted hunts witnessed a number of times. There is a cheetah with 6 four days old cubs, just one kilometre from Mara Explorer along the Talek River. The area had to be sealed off to reduce incidents of the cubs being ran over by vehicles. This same female had a similar litter two years ago, with four of these cubs surviving to adulthood.
Bella the leopard was seen a few times and on two occasions seen with Ntito - one of her daughters - and her 7 month old cub. It was nice to see this very rare occurrence, three generation of leopards interacting!
Paul Kirui. Chief Safari Guide
Kindly contact: safariguide@mara-intrepids.co.ke for comments or inquiry on the migration and other animal sightings in the Mara
Maasai Mara, July 31st 2008
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The wildebeest migration continues to thrill guests to the Mara. For the past week the herds of wildebeest and zebra continued in their traditional migratory routes into the Mara. The herds which have been crossing the Mara river near the lower Mara bridge are now massed up on the recently burnt section on the south Mara triangle. More herds have kept crossing over from Serengeti into the Mara and these are still near Look Out Hill and some have spread out on the central and Burrungat plains.
The animals continued crossing near the lower Mara bridge onto the Mara triangle in the past week, though in reduced numbers. In contrast, there were many wildebeest and zebra crossing at the Paradise Point, where there has been a lot of action with crossings in both directions.
The crocodiles at the Mara River have increased slightly, but the crocodiles have never ceased taking the opportunity. There are many animals snapped by the ever-hungry reptiles during the crossings, with our guide once counting upwards of 30 crocodiles in a feeding frenzy on one wildebeest carcass! With more animals on the Mara triangle now moving east, there are now more than one crossing points at the river - which increases chances of one seeing a crossing while reducing over-crowding.
Predators
The lion prides in areas where the migrating animals have reached are now hunting daily. So much so, that when there are easy pickings, even full-bellied lions will hunt just for the fun of it! This has heightened the excitement during the game drives.
There were good leopard sightings over the past week. Even in areas where leopards are known to be shy, there was evidence from carcasses in trees. A young female - christened Penda by Mara Intrepids guides - can still be found at Olkeju-Rongai area. In the past two days, she has been seen actively hunting in the middle of the day.
Paul Kirui, Lead Safari Guide, Heritage Hotels
Sighting of the year!
Maasai Mara, July 31st 2008
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There was a rare sighing in the Mara yesterday of an unusual visitor - a rare lesser Kudu! Spotted by our guide, AggreyAngogo at around 4.00pm yesterday (29/7/08) just east of Mara Explorer, it was excitement all around. He generously shared this information with other tour guides, and in one hour almost a quarter of the Mara guests were here to see for themselves. Though commonly seen in other areas like Tsavo east and west, and other parks in eastern Kenya, the lesser Kudu is scarce in the Mara. It is believed a few of these animals occurred in these parts before the1940s, and nobody remembers ever seeing one in the past few decades.
