The Great Migrations and The Vultures.

 The Great Migrations and The Vultures-Mara Talek.
After watching the cheetahs-two brothers and narrowly missing a leopard we set off to watch the leading herd of the wildebeeste,we found them about 10 minutes of drive after crossing Talek River,They were there in tens of thousands heading north,and as per my observations they might cross Talek river by tomorrow 2nd.08.2012.It was amazing watching the males running up and down as they try to win some females to mate with,it is here that they will mate and to deliver them in south-eastern plains of serengeti in between January and march ,their noise was of its own kind.This year they arrive when they late,a month later as compared to last year.Already the vultures were scavenging on two different wildebeeste, they accompany them to wherever they will migrate to knowing that some will die of stampede when they are crossing the rivers and others would be killed by the mara-serengeti predators.Vultures and Hyenas play a big role in the eco-system as they scavenge on the animals that they would otherwise be rotten producing bad smell allover,bravo to them though some people put them on the list of the ugly five!They would be here for the next 3-4 months grazing on the tall grass of the mara,and once they would finish lawn-mowing they would head back to Tanzania-Serengeti.

A Lucky Day With The Cheetahs.

 Up on a termite mound,which one to go for among those zebras?

 Spray-Marking a Boscia tree,we are around here!

 After the chase and missing to catch one,back on another termite mound,what next men?

 Malaika,too hot for her could not get enough cover,but her cub had enough!

Malaika's cub,Please mum find a shade for us,it is too hot,or can we go for it in Alfred's Car?,Yes let us go there.......

Cheetahs(Acinonyx jubatus)Two brothers and Malaika with her cub-Mara Rhino Ridge and Mara Double Crossings.

       Today,On the 1st of August we left the camp very early in the morning looking for malaika and her cub,the cheetah that she has been hanging around double crossings in the mara but on our way down there we found two other different cheetahs,two brothers chasing zebras up and down,trying to bring one down for breakfast,I did not expect to find them,for we had not seen them near rhino ridge for long time though cheetahs can easily cover long distances in few hours,it was great watching them going after the zebras though they did not succeded to get one.These two lost their brother early October last year,after they were ambushed by lions.Male cheetahs who are brothers or non-brothers can form coalitions and and when it come to hunting they bring down bigger prey that the solitary cheetahs can not do,during the last migration i saw these brothers,though when they were three bringing down a bigger wildebeeste that a single cheetah can not,also they can easily.Looking forward to watching these two going for the wildebeeste or Zebras.

At mid-day on our way back to the camp we spotted malaika with her cub in tall grass,it was too hot,and i decided that we were going to wait for until they move to where she had her kill(a gazelle),For mama the grass could not cover her,she was pantin alot,the cub had a small shade.She later decided to go and find a shade somewhere,not showing us her kill,all cats during the heat of the spend their time under the shades,but for malaika she may have not had enough of her meal.As we were taking some shots of her the cub came under our car for the shade,and mum had no option but to jump on to the roof of our car,this was exceptional,may be she wanted to check on who could be around for the security of her cub and their kill.My clients could take photos of them,a cub under us and mum on the roof,Iam very sure that the tiny one got relieved of the heat and after approximaely 10 minutes she jumped off the car followed by her toto,and they went looking for shade..........,we head back to the camp for late lunch.

Mara Musiara Baboons and Elephants.

 Olive /Savanna Baboons(Papio cynocephalus) Musiara Marsh

On the 31st of July,we found these baboons in the marsh near to our camp grooming each other ,a social behaviour that baboons must displayed to strengthen the bond amongst themselves in their in their family(troop),when we get in here there was only one  big male on this termite mound,it was very interesting to watch young boys coming in trying to groom the dad,only one was brave to do this but others were shy,and in about five minutes both old and young girls came grooming the dominant male(the bigger one in the photo facing the other siede!),they younger ones later on went cleaning/grooming the adults....................

African Elephants(Loxodanta Africana) Musiara Marsh
After watching a troop of baboon,we drove through gazelles,eland,impalas,waterbucks,reedbucks,zebras,old bull buffalos we found this(above) family of Elephants,no bull was present here,Musiara marsh is famous for holding bigger amount of animal species,one day i counted 12 mammal species around our safari landrover.Elephants social organisation is Matriarchal,that is any herd is headed by an old female called called matriarch who leads the family to better grazing/browsing fields or to look for water or making any other decision,males only come in to check for the female s on oestrus(sexually receptive),young bulls in the family when they get to the age of between 12 and 15 years they are kicked out nad they become solitary on form boys club!.When we found this family of about 9 elephants they were all Scattered,only that this female who she was not the matriarch was with three calves of different ages,the matriarch was about 5OO metres from them and we knew that she was in touch with them through infrasounds,sounds that are beyond human hearing,may be one of the calves above was hers,and we kept a space in between them,we left them feeding on the marsh reeds,they spend more than 18 hours grazing and browsing because they have very poor digestive system,a fruit of pepper park tree(warbugia ugandensis)can pass through the system un touched!