Governors' Camp Game Report, Masai Mara, October 2011
October was a generally dry and windy month with local and scattered rain showers. Early morning temperatures averaged 18°C and later afternoons were as high as 34°C. The grasses are still short and have little moisture left and the water level in the Musiara Marsh has dropped drastically enabling buffalo, topi, eland and waterbuck to move easily through it. The Mara River is still flowing strongly but levels are slowly receding.
Wildebeest Update!
Small and scattered herds of wildebeest remain in the Mara. Early on in the month there were some good river crossings particularly on the afternoon of the 2nd October when around 3,000 animals crossed the Mara River. One wildebeest had a lucky escape , he was bitten in the rear end by a patrolling crocodile but managed to struggle free. On the 3rd and 4th large numbers of wildebeest were seen crossing the Mara River. On afternoon of the 18th a large herd of wildebeest massed up at the main Paradise crossing points, there were lion hiding in the croton thickets closeby and sensing danger the wildebeest changed tack and moved out into the woodland areas of Paradise where they crossed the river later that day.
Photo courtesy of Patrick and Joelle Plisnier
Throughout the month the wildebeest herds moved through the reserve spreading out across the plains and then filing down towards the River. This culminated on the 31st of October when a huge herd of around 10,000 zebra and 300 wildebeest spent all morning crossing the Mara River.
General game:
Game viewing is still excellent with leopard, lion and cheetah being seen every day. Topi are congregating into larger herds, a few females have already given birth, and there are many more that are very close to calving, the majority of births occur between October and December and the maternal bond between a mother and her calf ends after a year or when she gives birth to a new calf.
Elephant in family units are coming back again, there was a period in September and October when elephant sightings were slim in the Marsh and surrounding areas probably due to the large presence of wildebeest and all the noise that they bring. On the 25th there were over 35 Elephant in the Marsh with many young calves. Elephant now just walk through the Marsh with below knee height water marks on their legs.
The large herd of Cape buffalo with many young calves remain on Bila Shaka and Rhino Ridge, lion and hyena prey on these calves. Quite a few solitary bull buffalo can be seen on the fringes of the Marsh and towards the northern grass flays of the Marsh. Many of these old boys are often on the side of the road in a very motionless manner. Zebra are mainly seen in the grassland areas of the Burrangat plains across from the Talek River. A few small herds remain on Paradise Plains and Topi Plains. Small breeding herds of eland and their calves and a few large solitary males are close to the Musiara Marsh, Paradise Plains and within the Koiyaki conservation areas and at times eland can be seen congregating in large herds. In the last few weeks many impala fawns have been born, there is a breeding herd in the woodlands to Il Moran camp with 10 young fawns. Guests staying at Governors camp had an interesting sighting between Black back Jackal and a serval cat. Two jackal most likely a male and a female caught a young impala fawn and squabbled over it, pulling at it from opposite ends, it split in half each taking one half away, one Jackal ran off with its larger piece and the other appeared to stop and look about perhaps for another taking. In the meantime a serval cat saw what was happening and ran up to the one Jackal that was sniffing about and quickly snatched the other piece of meat. This activity between the two small predators has occasionally been seen by driver guides before. The two Species of Jackals (Black backed and side striped Jackal), Cheetah and occasionally male Olive baboons will feed on these fawns.
Photos courtesy of Katie McLellan
There are lots of warthog and their piglets on the short grass plains, lion and cheetah have killed and eaten many of these pigs, one sad occasion early on in the month a lioness ate a complete family the sow and four piglets, the lioness literally dug them out of their bolt hole, this is not an uncommon habit with lion. On the 20th at the Paradise side of Bila Shaka one of the Lionesses caught up with a sow warthog with her one piglet, she chased the piglet and caught it, the sow mother then chased the lioness and knocked her over, the lioness collected herself and quickly dispatched the sow, the interesting thing that happened next was the lioness then dragged the sow and put it top of her already dead piglet that she had killed a little earlier. Two other females and three sub adult lions joined in soon after.
Common warthogs do not have subcutaneous fat and the coat is sparse, making them susceptible to extreme environmental temperatures, this also affects the piglets greatly, subsequently along with predation they can expect a mortality rate of 45-50% before they are 5 months old. Lion and cheetah seem to be feeding heavily off these sows and piglets and is it perhaps due to the short grass and that they are being seen more readily.
Spotted Hyena can be seen in good numbers and with many den sites all over Paradise Plains, Topi Plains and Bila Shaka. They have been feeding off wildebeest and their calves; often if hyenas are in big enough numbers they will run lionesses from a kill.
Photo courtesy of Patrick and Joelle Plsinier
Large troops of Olive baboons are foraging way out on the open grassland plains in search of food. The males will often eat meat and kill young impala and Thomson fawns; they will also kill and eat Guinea fowl and other spur fowl species. A few hippos have been seen with calves and some of these calves are very young, the mother has to be very vigilant as crocodiles are partial to eating them: on the 26th at 11.30am a hippo calf was taken and eaten by a large crocodile apposite tent 3 at Il Moran Camp. Hippo are grass eaters which they crop with their lips and feed at night they require 45-60kg of fodder per night, as grass levels become short feeding time out and distances travelled tend to get extended subsequently some individuals can be seen during the day mainly early morning and evenings who are still grazing.
Giraffe are fairly spread out, often close to the camps, as they browse on leaves within the woodlands. They will also be seen on the Paradise plains and other areas with good stands of acacia tree species which they like very much. They have a long blue/black coloured tongue which can be as long as 20 inches. Interestingly giraffe has a large heart as heavy as 11 kg in weight; the giraffe's patches are also an equal compromise for camouflage, underneath each patch is a relatively sophisticated blood system. Each patch there is quite a 'large' blood vessel and that blood vessel gives off smaller branches into the middle of the patch. What is being understood is that a giraffe is able to pump blood through these little branches into the middle of the patch and heat is dissipated through that system. Each one acts as a thermal window to release body heat. We often wonder if the striping effect of a zebra offer this same window to dissipate heat.
Photos courtesy of Katie McLellan and Patrick and Joelle Plisnier
We have had good sightings of the three male Black Rhino on Paradise plains this month. The Black Rhinoceros has a hooked prehensile upper lip and is an herbivorous browser and primarily feeds on leafy plants, branches & shoots and it's one of the two species of rhinos native to Africa. They have good hearing and an acute sense of smell, but their eye sight is poor. Black rhino often have sores correctly called lesions on their chests and flanks caused by a wormlike parasite which infects the skin and is transmitted by species of fly unique to the Rhino. Rhinomusca dutoiti is one of the more common biting fly species that is associated with Black Rhino.
Lion
There were some dramatic events in the Bila Shaka/ Marsh pride last month as four new males moved in and attempted a take-over of the pride. The two resident males were beaten badly and made a hasty retreat. A couple of the females remained with the new males mating with them whilst the rest of the pride scattered especially the females like Joy who had four small cubs and one adopted cub to protect. Claude and Romeo where last seen half way up Rhino ridge and Claude looked quite full and breathing much better this time!! Whereas Romeo is now struggling and looking quite thin. Three females and three of the sub adults seem to spend much time together and can often be seen in the woodlands and or near the main road between the camps. There are up to 20 altogether including four breeding females, six sub adults, three older cubs and two males Romeo and Claude who is quite old now.
Mid month Romeo and Claude were seen the other side of Rhino ridge feeding on the remains of a Gnu, they had walked some 4 kms from where the following evening all the females and the sub adults where in the same area as Claude and Romeo. The four new males were seen some distance away on the east side of Bila Shaka with one female. Romeo is not looking to well and is still thin.
Photo courtesy of Wendy Sheasgreen
Early morning of the 18th down on the paradise plains two lionesses were both hunting and successfully feeding off young warthog piglets. In September the young cub that is now 5 months old had joined with the four older 8 month old cubs and early on in this month it was seen on its own for some time, we were rather anxious to what was going on or had it been rejected? On the 22nd in the afternoon it was seen on its own but looking well on the short grass plains on the Rhino ridge side of Bila Shaka, in the morning of the 23rd at 7.30am in the Croton thickets of the Bila Shaka river bed they were all seen playing together and the little one seemed full of beans and was sucking off its surrogate mother!!
We will continue to follow the unfolding saga of the take over of the pride and post regular updates on our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Governors-Camp-Collection/127029937309236
The Paradise pride which has two adult females who are more often seen with six sub adult females and one sub adult male cub. They have been seen feeding off warthog and gnus. One of these females is quite old and often struggles to feed herself.
Notch and the four males can still be seen in the double crossing area of Ongata, Oldoruroi and also below Emarti hill, the last time they were seen was on the 20th at the Talek river area.
There is a female who once was part of the Marsh pride and her three sub adults and a nomadic male that joined up with her about a year ago are seen often around the south side of Rhino ridge. They have been feeing off the many wildebeest that passed through this way.
Cheetah
The three male cheetah coalition who were commonly seen all over between Bila Shaka, Talek and as far as the Burrangat plains, we understand that sadly one of the males died about three weeks ago near to Mara Sarova and was killed by a lion, sadly this is the plight of cheetah, this information we received from the guides in the Olkiombo area. The two males remaining were last seen on the 20th near paradise hunting warthog piglets.
Another male is being seen on paradise plains and also he is being seen in the Musiara area, he has been feeding off Thomson Gazelles and is suffering from sarcoptic mange on his neck and ears. Mange can be a common problem amongst cheetah and is caused by mites which are not insects but more closely related to spiders.
Photo courtesy of Patrick and Joelle Plisnier
A female cheetah has been seen at Paradise and Bila Shaka she likes jumping on cars in a similar way to a female cheetah called Keke, this young female could be a relation of Keke. She has been feeding off Thompson gazelle fawns and hares.
On the 19th a male and female cheetah were seen on the east side of the Marsh and both had killed young Grants Gazelle. They were both seen again towards the Musiara gate a few days later and perhaps they have gone into the Koiyaki conservation area.
Earlier on this month another female who had a young male cub who is at least 18 months old were on Topi plains and they have seemed to have moved off now.
Leopard
Olive, her 10 month old cub and the two year old son are still being seen near the Talek River. 'Olive' is a lovely cat with a good set of whiskers. She has been feeding off young Gnus.
A large male leopard has been seen in the river bed south of Bila Shaka looking towards Rhino Ridge. The large male who frequents the confluences of the Olare Orok and Talek rivers at a place called smelly waters has been seen often this month.
Photo courtesy of Patrick and Joelle Plisnier
The female with two cubs who are about eight or nine months old are being seen in the riverine tree line at the bottom end of the Bila Shaka river bed. On the 28th she was last seen near the Warburgia woodland on paradise plains. She has been feeding off impala and warthog piglets.
We hope to share the magic of our corner of the Mara with you sometime soon.
