Safari Updates

Andrew Reports:It was still a bit cloudy when we started out early, intent on finding Salayexe, the young leopard mother resident in the area.We found her tracks with those of her cub and were following these through a dry river bank when we looked up and saw a young Hippo bull on the river bank at eye level with us.     After a stop for for about ten minutes for photographs we followed the leopard tracks again. In an open clearing we encountered four hyenas ... three adults and a young subadult. They were cavorting around, playing and enjoying family interactions in the early morning light.                  Thirty elephants were drinking at at waterhole when we arrived. The youngsters and babies were enchanting,                                           ...

Andrew reports:   We woke up this morning to a cloudy day with intermittent drizzles. The cool weather meant that the animals were quite active and we passed numerous Impala, Giraffe and Zebras, and a large herd of Buffalo. We did not stop for these animals because our aim was to try and find Salayexe and her cub, so we made our way to the den where we had last seen her, but there was no sign of her or her cub. We were following her tracks when we came across Shadow – another stunning female leopard. She had been pregnant earlier in the year, but had lost her cub, and we were delighted to see that she appears to be pregnant again. Shadow was busy patrolling her territory and we followed her on her patrol as she demarcated her boundaries. In fact we spent most of the morning with her,...

Andrew’s News Bulletin:   We started with a glorious morning – lovely clear light with no haze. Our cameras were ready and there seemed to be animals everywhere.   We hoped to see Salayexe and her cub again, but having spent so much time with them in the past two days we could not be too greedy. We found male leopard tracks in the early morning and started to follow them, but we found ourselves repeatedly sidetracked by birds, buffalo, elephant, ... hippos ...   and we spent some time photographing very busy Dung Beetles.   This afternoon we returned to the area where we had spotted the leopard tracks, and followed these again.   We found the leopard – a large, well-built , magnificent male. He was clearly hunting, so we followed at a respectable distance so as not to disturb him, but close enough to get good photographs.  ...

Ben’s Bulletin from Masai Mara: Here we are with one foot in Kenya and one in Tanzania - and we are half in Masai Mara and half in Serengeti!   When we left the Lodge early this morning the skies were clear so we took a meandering drive to enjoy the early morning light, the sunrise and the magnificent scenery.   The highlight of this early drive came when we spotted a White - headed Vulture. We were delighted and immediately stopped quite a distance away to get some record shots. Then we moved a little closer, slowly so as not to alarm the bird, and when still at a safe distance we stopped again to get some ‘safety’ shots. When done we approached even closer. Now we could get really good images and our memory cards filled rapidly. We approached twice more until we were close enough to get portrait...

Masai Mara Update from Ben: Being in the bush is always magical - and then you get those days that are almost too beautiful to describe.   We were up and out just before sunrise and were in time to see those first early ethereal looking rays creep through the heavy, puffy, grand cloud formations. We stopped to take photographs until the sun was well above the horizon, with the flat-topped acacias creating beautiful scenery for us.   Driving on we encountered a tiny Topi – with the umbilical cord still attached, and practicing its first steps into its beautiful new world.   A large matriarchal elephant herd was next. They were in longish grass and with that beautiful, dramatic sky behind them, the scene was set again for more and more photography.   A very restless lioness with cubs was close by. The remains of a kill were not far...

From Andrew:We decided to head North again this morning, this time hoping to sight a black rhino. We searched for some time and although we saw black rhino tracks we could not find the animals. But we were not disappointed as instead of black rhinos we found white rhinos.       We spent quite a bit of time with the rhinos as they were close by and in a great position for photographs.   We moved off and found a large bull elephant at a water hole. He entertained us with his splashing around and drinking.   After a brief visit to the North Pride of lions who were resting in the warmth of the sun, we headed back to the camp for breakfast. We took a packed lunch with us as we left quite early to visit the southern areas of this diverse park.To our absolute delight we found...

Brendan shares the day: This morning we rushed out to try and find the lion tracks from last night. We scoured the area but there was no sign of them. Instead we were lucky enough to find Salayexe, the female leopard. She gave birth to cubs about two weeks ago, and it was very exciting for us to see her. We followed her for some time as she scouted the area, climbing onto different vantage points which gave us excellent chances to capture wonderful images. Salayexe climbed a maroela tree and all our cameras clicked and clicked. Suddenly she spotted some impala close by and the alert expression on her face was quite captivating. She jumped from the tree like lightening to go after the impala, again giving us a chance for action shots. As she disappeared into a drainage ditch we realised that it was already time to return to...

Andrew reports: We were so lucky this morning - we caught up with Salayexe soon after leaving the Lodge. She had caught a bushbuck and was busy with the kill when we arrived. Although she had placed herself in quite thick bush we were able to approach close enough to capture memorable images of the scene. Thank you Jenine for sharing this wonderful shot! We moved on and encountered a large male leopard - Lemoene. He was wandering around the boundary of our territory and when we disappeared into neighbouring territory we carried on, ready for the next sighting. A large herd of elephants with numerous youngsters who were eating and playing kept us entertained until it was time to stop for our coffee break. As we enjoyed our coffee and snacks out in the bush we were joined by Yellow-billed Hornbills, trying very hard to persuade us to share our...

From Brendon: There was another heavy mist as we started out this morning. Originally we thought that we would track leopards, but first we stopped to photograph a Coqui Francolin posing on a termite mound. We took lovely pictures of a giraffe in the mist ... ... and then on another termite mound we found a Yellow-billed Hornbill feeding on the termites in the mound. So we stopped again to enjoy the scene - and took our cameras out with almost every termite he snatched. A large elephant herd arrived and we practiced panning shots as they moved across an open area and across the road. This afternoon we returned to the hyena den. As we arrived the only visible pup disappeared into the den, but within minutes two adults arrived and seconds after that the two young pups came out hungry for a meal. Their mother suckled them and they...

Andrew in the Bush: Last night we had a surprise find - a scorpion glowing in the dark. We immediately took the opportunity to take different photographs of the eerie colours. We set out for the hyena den hoping to get more photographs of the group that lives there. On the way we stopped for hippos in the dam. Yawning and splashing in the early light gave us some gratifying shots. A little further on a Red-billed Hornbill demanded to be photographed against the beautiful sunrise and the golden light. Then a few members of a Dwarf Mongoose family kept our cameras very busy, and before long we found that time had passed really quickly and it was time to return to the Lodge for breakfast. This afternoon we set out again and finally we arrived at the hyena den. Two adults plus the three pups were outside and we were...