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Bush Telegraph Newsletter - August 2013

 

 

Governors' Camp Collection News July 2013 

  

 

 

 

The wildebeest migration has arrived in the Masai Mara, there have been huge river crossings with thousands of wildebeest and zebra jumping into the Mara River, and running the gauntlet of hungry crocodiles and steep banks. The Marsh Pride of lions have new cubs in the pride and there have been dramatic scenes as the lioness tried to protect them from a leopard. In Rwanda our manager Nelis took a trek to see the Sabyinyo Gorilla family and on Loldia guests have been enjoying wonderful boat trips on Lake Ol Odian and great game viewing at Lake Nakuru National Park.

 

We hope to welcome you to this magical corner of Africa sometime soon.

Sincerely,


Governors' Camp Collection 

 

 

Masai Mara Game Report July 


Weather and grasslands 


The month gave us pastel sunrises with cool mornings and hot dusty days; although some early morning were as low as 10�C particularly on the 15th of July. Evening temperatures were averaging 24�C. There was a little rainfall in the latter half of June which kept the dust down. The Mara River has gone down tremendously and likewise many of the tributary rivers that flow into the Talek and finally into the Mara River. Grasslands within the reserve are now showing signs of drying out although in some areas of Paradise Plains and Rhino Ridge grass levels are still long. Cloudy mornings with a north easterly wind would bring the temperature down on morning drives. July was dry of rain, although there was a smitten of rain in last week which had no consequence to the environment.


 

Photo courtesy of Patrick Reynolds 


 

General game 


Towards middle of June some large herds of wildebeest and common zebra were filtering in from the eastern plains near the Loita Hills. Due to rain patterns, movements of these hoofed mammals can from vary from year to year, on the 24th more wildebeest and zebra were seen coming down through the Masai conservation areas. Good numbers of zebra can be seen across the Musiara and Marsh Plains areas of the Reserve. Large columns of zebra were seen across the Topi Plains and into the conservation areas. 

 

Good numbers of wildebeest were seen scattered across the short grass plains in the conservation areas and as far into the Mara North Conservancy.

Three leopards can be seen within reaches of the camps. Romi with her 8 month old male cub and another male have been seen within the woodlands that hedge the Mara River.

The Marsh pride with the four Musketeers can be seen within the Bila Shaka riverbed, the Marsh and Windmill areas.

Long days spent out on game drives with picnic breakfasts and lunches. With the Wildebeest movement throughout the reserve there has been some very good river crossings at Paradise. In the first week of July huge numbers were congregating on the Burrangat plains and within the Ronkai depression. Thousands have been crossing the Talek River since the last week of July; at the main crossing points at Paradise first it was the zebra mainly the resident Loita herds. In the afternoon on the 10th July at 1.30pm approximately 1,500 zebra were seen crossing from East to west at the main crossing point at Paradise. One foal was taken and eaten by crocodile. Three others were snatched at but swam free.

 


 

Photo courtesy of Patrick Reynolds 


On the 18th and 19th July two very large crossings at the mortuary crossing point, thousands crossed here with unfortunately many succumbing to tiredness and literally dying at the river banks, there were those that were taken by crocodile often as they returned back across the river. 

 

More of the wildebeest and Zebra have crossed at this point than at the main crossing point with many large crocodiles waiting at the river edges they often cross regardless. 


 

Courtesy of Peter & Anne Bolan 


 

Photo courtesy of Dave Richards 


There has been a crossing every second day or so, there was a good crossing of zebra and wildebeest on the 30th that crossed at the main crossing point, none got taken by crocodile. 

 

Latterly some large crossing were seen upstream from the Camps at the rocky crossing points opposite Kichwa Tembo airstrip, many of these wildebeest and zebra had filtered down from the conservation areas in the North east. On the 29th at approximately 11.00am there were thousands seen crossing.

 

Elephant in family units are being seen spread out across the grassland plains. There are many young calves within these family herds which is very nice to see. Large bulls, some of whom are inMusth can be seen moving from herd to herd. Giraffe are seen within the riverine woodlands and also as far as the 

conservation areas where they favour the acacia woodland species.

 

Photo courtesy of Patrick Reynolds 


Large herds of topi can be seen across Topi Plains, Paradise and also areas of the Musiara Marsh. Early on in July good numbers of Topi were seen moving from the Musiara Marsh towards Paradise Plains.

Two large buffalo herds can be seen between Rhino Ridge and Topi Plains, the one herd frequents the Bila Shaka river bed depressions and the Marsh verges or tey can be seen in the Marsh itself. The large numbers of wildebeest and zebra that are passing through have put pressure on buffalo and elephant who have moved away. The Marsh Pride in June had taken many buffalo within the Marsh and also Bila Shaka.

 

Serval cats have been seen now that the grasslands are receding, on the 28th guests saw a serval near the Calvert within the marsh catch and eat two grass rats; their disc shaped ears can pinpoint sound effectively.

 

Spotted Hyena are well spread out and many are competing with lion for the latest Gnus!! On the 19th near Topi Plains hyena killed two young gnus, on the 23rd east of the Musiara Marsh hyena have been taking an average of one wildebeest a day. Spotted Hyena are effective and successful predators, running their prey down like a wolf or wild dog, Spotted Hyena have a large heart and thus tremendous stamina. Up to 85% of what they are eating they have killed themselves. 


 

Photo courtesy of Justin Grammaticas 


An Aardwolf was seen late in the evening on the 6th of June and again on the 15th July near Bila Shaka, this specialised insectivorous Hyenid is seldom seen which is rather sad, according to the Masai and seeing their scat latrines indicates there are more about than we see. The Aardwolf has a preference for Harvester termites which are very evident after a little shower of rain.

Hippo are coming out earlier in the evening to graze, some are even going back to the river late in the morning. Hippo crops the grass with their lips and need an average of 60-70kgs of grass fodder per night, they are pseudo ruminants and digest while in the water. With the grazing is getting shorter and thinner, the hippos are having to travel further afield and leave earlier to look for grass.

 

Hippopotamuses are primarily folivorous, mainly grazing on grasses growing along the banks of their river habitats. Like many other herbivore species, they will consume other plants if presented with them, but their diet consists almost entirely of grass, in some areas of Africa minimal consumption of aquatic plants has been noticed. Hippos have rarely been filmed or seen eating carrion, this action has generally been seen in the water, this could be due to nutritional stress.

 

Hippopotamuses may very occasionally eat small animals or consume carrion. 


 

Photo courtesy of Sabine Trensz 


Warthogs in sounders or solitary boars will be seen across the grassland plains, with so many wildebeest around lion have stopped hunting them so much lately.

Eland in small breeding herds remain on Topi, Paradise Plains and the Masai Conservation areas. On the evening of the 8th an Eland Bull was killed by lion on the east side of Rhino Ridge, by the morning there were three lionesses left, a large clan of spotted hyena arrived and drove the three lionesses off quite quickly.

 

Grants and Thompsons Gazelles will be seen on the shorter grass plains, the Musiara marsh holds a good numbers of Grants Gazelles with many of them close to the marsh grasslands.

There are many Dik Dik in the Riverine forest and close to the river bank, they stay in monogamous pairs with the female being a little bigger than the male. The males use a dung midden and will religiously mark his territory on a grass stem nearby by using his pre-orbital gland beneath his eye. Pairs spend about 64% of their time together. Males, but not females, will attempt to obtain extra- pair mating when the opportunity arises.

Black Rhino have been seen seldom seen although the older male was sighted on Paradise plains twice in the last few days of July.

 

Cats

 

Lion

 

Marsh pride - the four Musketeers, Siena, Charm and Bibi with their 10 cubs of varying age groups are being seen between Bila Shaka the airstrip and the Marsh. One cub is 8 months old, three cubs are now ten months old and the other six cubs are 14 months old although one of them is a little younger which was abandoned by Bibi. The huge numbers of wildebeest that have been passing through have kept them going with two or even three wildebeest being killed and eaten at a time. The pride has remained on Bila Shaka and the Musiara plains. Scar, Hunter, Sikio and Morani are often spread apart with two or three of them together at any one time.



 

Courtesy of Julius Kisasi 


The Marsh pride female Jicho had three little cubs that are about 6 weeks old; amongst them there is a male who has a lot of character. They have been residing in the marsh woodlands, with the many wildebeest that passed close to her recently she had managed to kill two wildebeest. She is a good mother and when a martial eagle passed close by she hid them quickly, Martial eagles are renowned predators of lion cubs here in the Mara. Jicho's Cubs on the 28th July have already had a taste of meat and this is a start to a lions life. On the 31st one of the female cubs became separated from Jicho, she was seen searching for it all around the area she kept the cubs, but sadly the next day the cub was seen dead. The other two, the male and female remain with her. Lippy and Kini spend much of their time within the Marsh boundaries and as far as the lower Bila Shaka river bed.
 

Jicho has still not accepted Lippy and Kini for the introduction of her cubs; we shall give it a bit more time perhaps. Lippy and Kini were seen on the Bila Shaka on the 25th and tried to have a go at a young wildebeest which was too fast for them. 

 

 

Photo courtesy of Moses Manduku 


In July 11th at 5.30pm two of the breakaway lionesses had a fight with an old male leopard near the wooded area in marsh, the lioness was Jicho and we think she fought the leopard because he got a bit too close to her cubs who were nearby. The leopard and lion fought until the leopard scrambled up a tree with Jicho in pursuit. Jicho didnt get very far up the tree and the leopard then indignantly pee'ed on her from above. Jicho got a scratch on the left side of her neck which was from the leopards front pad claw, this will heal in time. Despite the age of this Leopard who had worn out lower canines he gave Jicho a good run.

 

Photo courtesy of Emett Doerr 


Modomo and the other three breakaways spend much of their time near Rhino Ridge and Topi Plains; here they have fed off many topi and wildebeest. There are three cubs that are 6 months old and two that are 14 months old. On the 12th they had killed a wildebeest near the gardenia tree; on the 16th they had killed a young wildebeest near the Olive tree further up Kries Lugga.

 

Leopard

 

In the afternoon of the 11th July at 5.15pm a new male leopard whom we strongly suspect is the same male that is often seen associating with Romi, was near the large fig tree at the lake Nakuru area of the marsh and he had just killed a yearling wildebeest close by to some cubs belonging to Jicho, she saw the Leopard there and came over, there was a fracas and Jicho got scathed on the left side of her neck.

 

This new male Leopard has been seen again in the wooded tree line close to Little Governors camp, he was seen in the late evening on the 27th with a Dik Dik that he had quickly snatched.

 

Romi and her 9 month old male cubs are being seen frequently in the woodlands near the BBC camp and also within the wooded areas near the Marsh. There are two dead Warburgia trees within the woodlands near the BBC campsite and both a very fond of lying up on these tree trunks with the evening light on them

 

 

Photo courtesy of Terry Phelan 


The large, rather yellow male Leopard has been seen a few times near the Bila Shaka river bed crossing. On the 13th July he had killed a young wildebeest and had stashed it up a Boscia tree on the croton hill the other side of the Bila Shaka. Overnight he moved it to a large Warburgia tree and fed on what was left. 


 

Courtesy of Patrick Reynolds 


There is a female leopard with two 2 month old cubs; they have been seen often at an area called Kifuku ya Nyoka in the croton thickets. She was feeding on a young three month old wildebeest on the 28th morning. 


Another large male leopard has been seen in the same area, on the 29th he was seen with the female and two cubs about 100 meters apart.

 

At the mortuary crossing point there is another male that has been seen often this month; this leopard has taken many young Wildebeest in the croton thickets as they come down to cross the river, last year he took two in three days.

 

Cheetah

 

Sightings of Cheetah have been rather slim this month.

 

 

Malaika and her 15 month old male cub were seen near the Ronkai depression and Lookout hill area. She has been in this area for quite some time now and we hear that she is feeding Impala and Thomson gazelle.

 

A young female has been seen on the northern fan of Rhino Ridge, she shows that she is lactating so we presume that she has cub's somewhere.

 

A female with two cubs a male and female who are over one year old have been seen near the salt lick on the Ntiaktiak River. These are the three that have more than likely come down from the Mara north conservancy. On the 31st at 10.00am near the Murram pits in the Fig tree conservation areas these three cheetahs effectively killed a young Wildebeest.



 

Courtesy of Julius Kisasi 


The young male that was often seen near Governors was again seen early on in the month, he has since been sighted the other side of the Marsh in the Masai conservation area.7

 

Walking in the Mara North Conservancy.

 

Earlier on the month we had some nice warm weather with bright early mornings.

 

Large numbers of Wildebeest have been filtering through into the conservation areas, with large numbers on the eastern plains. Spotted Hyenas have been feeding off wildebeest on a daily basis, large clans congregate and run down the wildebeest like wolves, as the wildebeest disperse individuals are singled out, by the hungry hyena. Often all that is left are a few bone splinters and matted hair.

There are zebra in good numbers across the open grasslands. Topi and cokes hartebeest are in the longer grass, while Topi move throughout the shorter grass areas too.

 

We have had good sightings of Giraffe as they move between the Acacia woodlands and riparian woodlands, males will travel great distances looking for breeding herds and oestrus females. Acacia Gerrardii release tannin in the leaf rachis which gets stronger as the more it gets browsed upon, with this the Giraffe move from tree to tree. Some large males are very recognisable often by pattern and colour; they can be seen as far 30 kms away in a few hours.

 


 

Courtesy of Patrick Reynolds 


The one Buffalo breeding herd will be seen on the western plains as there are some long grasses here which suit buffalo, there are also a few old males that frequent the woodlands and river courses.
 

July has been good for Elephant sightings particularly close to the river and also in the Acacia woodlands. There are many young calves some of which are very young. There is a bachelor herd of bulls that have been seen lately on the river, one of whom has a good pair of tusks, for a savannah elephant this is quite good going. With the wildebeest scattered over the open plains elephant feel pressured and tend to spend more time feeding in a wooded habitat. 

 

 

Courtesy of Patrick Reynolds 


There is a lioness that has three young cubs that are approximately 2 months old. They are being seen in the croton gorge that runs down from the salt lick. There are 13 lion that can be seen with three females and 6 cubs of varying age groups. 

 

On the 23rd a Martial eagle was seen to take a young Thomson fawn on the Eastern grassland plains, these savannah Eagles are large birds of prey hunting in the grass and woodlands.

 

Report written by Patrick Reynolds 

  

 

A trek to see the Sabyinyo Gorilla Family 

 

From where we crossed the Park boundary, we trekked for about an hour and twenty minutes before we reached the trackers who has been sitting with the Sabyinyo Family since very early that morning. We found the 16 strong family with majority of the group still in their nests where they settled the night before. Some of the youngsters were playing about while the adults were finding the strength to remove themselves from their warm beds. Sounds a lot like us humans, doesn't it?

 

 

After about 10 minutes, GUHONDA finally lifted his head and starred at all the onlookers before giving a grunting OK for us to be there. 


 

Shortly after that we were surprised by new Mom, KAREMA, showing off her 10 day old baby. Everyone huddled to one side to get a glimpse of the little one. The tiny pink face was only in view for about 10 seconds before it was carried off into the thick underbrush. What an amazing feeling it was to see such a tiny little baby in a species that has seen the brink of extinction. Dian Fossey herself believed that the Mountain Gorillas of the Virungas would not see the turn of the century, but thanks to her efforts and the awareness she created towards this amazing species, I was able to now stand in the home of the Mountain Gorillas and witness this incredible sight. 


 

The rest of the family started moving around while feeding on the lush green vegetation. Guhonda waited around for a few more minutes before he too got up and started feeding. We followed the family as they went about their day. A little ways off we came across GIHISHAMWOTSI, the second in charge Silverback. He carried a few minor bitewounds, most probably from a fight with Guhonda. The dominant Silverbacks in a family don't take kindly to their subordanants breaking rank. Gorillas heel remarkably well though. They would self-heel from wounds that would have us humans hospitalised in intensive care or even worse.

 

All too soon our 1 hour came to an end and we were given the command to pls take our last pictures as it was time to leave the Gorillas.

 

Photos and text by Nelis Wolmarans, Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge manager 

  

 

News from Loldia House 

 

July has been really busy with Guest's from all over the World. We had a delightful Australian couple staying who were celebrating their 50th. Wedding Anniversary.

Almost all the guest's are going over to the small lake - Ol Odian -for a boat trip. They are seeing many more flamingos than at Lake Nakuru and a lot of other birds plus hippo and giraffe.


 

Guest's going to Nakuru Park are almost guaranteed to see rhino and the Rothschild Giraffe. Some guests have been lucky enough to see a pride of lions with cubs and some even sitting in a tree. 

 

 

The walks on Crescent Island are also proving popular, with guest seeing giraffe, wildebeest, waterbuck and plenty of birdlife

 
At the beginning of this month guest's had a fantastic sighting of a female leopard. They were called by the watchmen during dinner - the guests stood on the verandah and watched the leopard trot outside the fence at the bottom of the garden and back again.

We have a new head chef called Gilbert. Gilbert takes over from Daniel Ndegwa who was the most superb chef and we have been receiving lots of compliments on the quality and standard of Gilberts food which is great.

 

With support from Governors' Camp Sandie Edmeades visited Loldia House to oversee the annual Sports Event at the Loldia Primary School. The final of which was 'Prize Giving' - the awards were presented by Bette Hopcraft and Jill Retief, whose families farm Loldia Farm. Sandie who is a Trustee of the Loldia School fund reported that the increase in the school population, now 1,920, is of great concern. The lack of Government funding in the School is having a detrimental effect on the children and the standard of education that can be provided for them. Poverty in Kassarani, the home of the majority of the pupils, is widespread and the way out of this is through education. The main aim of the Loldia School Fund is to provide the resources to enable the children to take this opportunity. If you would like to know more about the School Fund or feel you can contribute to it please contact Sandie Edmeades direct email [email protected]

 

 

Loldia is full for the month of August as the majority of the Guest's will be heading to the Mara as the Migration this year is phenomenal.

- Heather Wallington, Loldia House Manager, Photos courtesy of Robin Tickle