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The long dry spell that has affected wildlife in many areas seems to continue, however, in the Mara, we have been fortunate to have had sporadic light showers earlier in the month.
Because of the showers, even though the grass is dry and coarse on the plains, there are still pools of water in the streams and rivers where the animals throng to quench their thirst after feeding on the dry grass. It’s easy to see animals at the watering holes around midday.
We are also seeing stiff competition amongst the herbivores for grass. Whereas some parts of the Mara have been mowed to the ground, there are areas that have good grass and hence higher concentration of game.
Up north in Samburu the drought is much more intensive, with the rivers dry and the grass withered. The animals have taken to digging for water, which ironically has made game viewing easy since we just have to head for the dry riverbed.
Migration update
The Mara continued hosting a higher concentration of wildebeest in the past week. Most of the herds reported on the Mara Triangle, Paradise Plains, Rhino Ridge and Musiara Marsh are still there.
There were heavy river crossings in the north of thousands of wildebeest from Oloololo Gate area to Musiara earlier in the week. These have settled around Musiara Gate, Rhino Ridge and Paradise Plains on the eastern side of the Mara River because of the availability of grass. When most other areas in the reserve have gone bare, these areas still boast plentiful grass, despite being dry and coarse. But in times like these, anything will do.
Though the wildebeest concentration is only in certain places, it is still a superb sight. River crossings have been frequent at Paradise crossing point, with the animals crossing over to the Mara Triangle and those to the north crossing east to Musiara Marsh, hence making a circle. The herds on Rhino Ridge and south of Mara Conservancy have stopped moving around to concentrate on feeding.
Looking around as you drive through the plains, you will understand why these animals are concentrated in places. A combination of a dry spell and over-grazing has played a key roll in the fast dwindling of grass forcing the herds to keep migrating. Overstaying in one area results in exhausting the food resource and hence for the herds to survive, they have to continue with their migration into new areas looking for new grass.
Predators’ activities:
Lions
All lion prides in our game viewing territories are present in their home ranges. There were many sightings of these cats in the past week, hunting wildebeest, zebra and warthogs all to the excitement of our guests. One lioness from the Ridge pride with her cubs just 1 km from Mara Explorer gave us the sighting of the week, with her cubs coming out in the morning and late afternoon and playing endlessly. There are other lionesses with cubs as well. These are from Paradise, Olkiombo and Musiara prides.
Leopards
Leopard sightings have been very good and better than the previous weeks. The most exciting moment was when Olive and her two cubs showed up occasionally. She has made a few kills in the past couple of weeks with some being witnessed by our guests. She killed an impala a few days ago at the Olare-Orok crossing and dragged it into a bush before going to fetch her cubs. When coming with the cubs, it was nice to see her carrying one in her mouth so as to increase her walking pace to get to the kill. Binti, her older daughter was seen a few times near the rocky bend on the Talek River, a place which has been her area of abode for long.
Cheetah
Cheetah sightings were also good and a few successful hunts were seen. Shakira has now moved up from Lookout Hill to Paradise Plains where she has been for over a week. The three brothers are also in the same location. There was drama recently, when the three brothers engaged Shakira and her three daughters in a fight that lasted almost an hour before the boys decided to leave the poor ladies alone. The sight of the seven cheetahs was quite unusual and our guests were treated to this rare show.
There is a new sighting of a cheetah with three small cubs (not the one mentioned in our past report) found to the east of Explorer, where she has been hunting over the past week. There is also one pregnant female in the same area that we think could give birth any time.
