Camp Chronicles

Which very common plant in Masai Mara do these colourful flowers belong to?
(Click on the picture to see a larger version)

As of the end of the month, Mara Naboisho Conservancy had not received any rain. It had rained a little at the very beginning of the month for a few days, the conservancy has been dry since then. Much of the grass is still long from the heavy rains in November and December last year, but as the conservancy management allows land-owner cattle in for strictly controlled, zoned grazing, many areas now have shorter grass, with some new growth. This shorter grass is much more palatable and has been attracting an increasing number of wild ungulates into the conservancy.
Finding lions has become a little easier than in previous months. Lions sightings are on the rise with two main prides being the stars of the show; the Enoolera pride and the largest group, the Enisikira pride. Guests have been lucky enough to watch three males patrolling and each marking their territory, as well as a few sightings of different mothers with cubs, some getting ready to hunt.
One of the highlights of the lion sightings this month has been 13 adults and 2 sub-adults resting on the banks of the Enisikiria river, a good indication that they are moving back to their original home range in the centre of the conservancy. This will mean more sightings of this +25 strong pride.
Cheetah sightings, as ever, have been more sporadic, as the cheetahs move in and out of the conservancy regularly. The best sighting in the second half of this month has been a mother with her two cubs resting under a tree on Balanites plain near Koiyaki Guiding School.
Although there is a healthy population of leopards on the conservancy, they remain fairly shy, and sightings are not always common. The best times ot see leopards are early in the morning and late in the evening, usually in areas of thick bush and woodland. Late in the month, guests were lucky enough to see a big male leopard resting in a tree a short distance from the road.
Elephant numbers on the conservancy remain high, with sightings of groups of 100 or more individuals still relatively common. The long grass and the abundance of good browsing in the woodlands seem to be keeping the elephants happy. Often the elephants are found along the Ololmorijo, Enoolera, and Enisikiria rivers, as these are the best places to drink and to find mud to wallow in.
At the moment, many of the female giraffe are pregnant, and many have already given birth, meaning there are many tiny young giraffes finding their feet, keeping close to their mothers. The rest of the plains animals are also doing very well, and their numbers are steadily increasing week by week. The more plains-game the conservancy hosts, the more predators it will host as well, and in the coming weeks, we’re expecting some hot action and great wildlife experiences.

Masai Mara is one of the few places in Africa where one can see all three species of this predator. What are the three different species? Points awarded only for all 3 correct names.

The last two weeks of February have produced some great wildlife sightings on game-drives and close to the camp. We’ve had numerous cheetah sightings, especially in the middle of the month, with a female cheetah and her two sub-adult cubs having been spotted less than 200m North of camp on two consecutive days.
Lion sightings have not been as numerous as they were by the end of last year, but the quality of the sightings has not diminished. Less than a kilometer from camp, we had six lions on a zebra kill also for two days in a row. The following day, two lionesses with six cubs were spotted at the salt lick, approximately one kilometer to the South of the camp. There have also been good sightings of mating lions and mixed family groups along the Enisikiria river.
The last week of February has been characterised by afternoon and evening showers, while some nights have had heavy thunderstorms that last until morning. With the rain, the rivers have begun flowing again, and the conservancy has reverted to a verdant green. In areas where the grass has been cropped short, close to watering points and salt, new green shoots are pushing their way up, and all the wildlife seem to have a new spring in their step.
The last week has also brought about a turn of great luck for three of our guides. Moses, Daniel, and Dickson have all had leopard sightings with their guests, on three separate occasions this pas tweek. Leopards are the most elusive of all the big cats. There are good leopard numbers within Naboisho Conservancy, but the resident leopards, up until now, have remained shy and tend to hide in areas of thick bush, where they are difficult to find. Dickson and Daniel both had a great sighting of a leopard near Sampu Enkare in the Ndorobo valley, where the leopard had pulled a full-grown impala into the fork of a tree.
There has been no short supply of elephants, with all the long grass that the conservancy has to offer. Almost every corner of the conservancy produces great sightings of families and large congregations of elephants of all ages. Viewing 100+ elephants this month has not been unusual at all, and our vehicles are sometimes forced to sit for hours on end as elephant traffic jams block the roads.
Life in Mara Naboisho Conservancy is NEVER boring, and each new day brings new discoveries, from ball-rolling dung beetles to testosterone-filled elephant bulls in musth, fighting it out for the females. Each new season, and indeed each new week, has its uniqe attractions, and all can be experienced in relative privacy, with strictly controlled visitor numbers and a strictly enforced game-drive etiquette.

There is a commonly held belief that this species, the Rock Hyrax, is the closest relation to an Elephant. It is, in fact, only the closest related land mammal to the Elephant. However, there is actually another species which is more closely related to Elephants (both Asian and African) than the Hyrax. What is it?

Rain has not hit Mara Naboisho Conservancy for more than a month and a half, and much of the water within the conservancy has dried up. Many of the rivers, like the Olmorijoi and Enisikiria are left only with a few scattered pools. However, there are thousands of wildebeest, zebra, and other plains game from the Loita plains to the East, eating the grass and keeping it short around the areas of permanent water. This, in turn, attracts the predators, and sightings of lions are on the rise. Finding cheetah has been difficult, as they are non-territorial, and move freely between conservancies and across the ecosystem. However, on the morning of the 14th of February, the four orphaned cheetah brothers were spotted, looking healthy and strong, less than a kilometre from Encounter Mara Camp!

Leopard sightings have been fewer recently, with the long grass and thick bush complementing their already elusive nature. Our guides find fresh leopard spoor regularly, and we hear them grunting at night near the camp, but spotting one on game drives has proved difficult.

For the last four days, the camp has been full of guests who have had some amazing sightings. Many of the guests were lucky enough to witness a skirmish between three lionesses defending their kill from a crocodile on the banks of the Enisikiria River. Our guests and guides watched in awe as one of the lionesses charged fearlessly at the crocodile, sending it whirling back to the safety of the river. Later that morning, some of the guests witnessed a herd of elephants sending those same three lionesses scurrying for cover, as they came down to the water’s edge to drink. The following day’s game-drive produced lions chasing a hippo, but to no avail.

We have some recent good news, as well, with two lionesses from the Enisikiria pride who have taken up residence near the camp with their six cubs! We all hope and pray that these cubs will survive, bringing the pride’s number up to thirty.

As the grass gets cut shorter, we expect to have more, and better quality, sightings in the next few months.
Elephant and giraffe numbers remain high, adding value to all game-drives, with many young animals around, learning the ways of the wild.

After the long, unseasonal rains in November and December, the grasslands experienced huge growth, with chest-high grass covering much of the conservancy. The result of this was a shift, by most of the ‘plains-game’, from the core, game-viewing area outwards to the fringe areas of the conservancy where the grass is shorter. The long grass and lack of ungulates made it difficult to find any of the resident cats in the conservancy, despite the fact that Naboisho is blessed with several large lion prides. Even members of the Enisikiria pride, which have, in the past, been the most prominent, conspicuous lions in this area, have been difficult to find because they have followed the plains-game into the rocky fringe areas, which are not accessible by vehicle.

However, since the rain has stopped, the grass outside the conservancy has begun to dry up and has been more heavily grazed by the cattle from the surrounding settlements, encouraging the plains-game back into the core area of the conservancy. This has, in turn, brought the lions back into the core area as well, and our assistant manager/guide, Sammy Kaelo, was able to find lions with ease on three consecutive game-drives with guests.

A constant, thoughout the rains, and even now as the conservancy dries up, has been great sightings of large numbers of elephants and buffalos. Mara Naboisho has also continued to live up to its reputation for having the highest density of giraffes in the mara, with one game drive at the end of January revealing well over 50 individuals in one group! The same game drive also encountered large numbers of eland, wildebeest, zebra, ostrich, Thomson’s and Grant’s gazelles, impala, topi and hartebeest. A mother cheetah with her cub on a recent kill, feeding on a Thompson’s gazelle, were also spotted, surrounded by several vultures and hyaena.

As the areas around the conservancy continue to dry up, and as the surrounding livestock continues to compete with the ungulates, an expected rise in ungulate populations in the core area of the conservancy are expected over time.

Who is this regular visitor to the camp?

What kind of nest is this?

Identify the bird in the picture