Re: Rekero - News and Community

[Doogs]

WS - great shot of the lioness at the end

[Doogs]

Introducing: the Mara cheetahs

It has been a fantastic month for cheetah sightings in the Mara! Guides, guests and staff alike are very excited by this as only last year we thought ourselves very lucky to glimpse a cheetah.

Now we have Malaika and her cub who was born around April/May. It was thought she started with six cubs, but by June she only had two and then sadly in July she lost another one to a hyena. Another female - Narasha, with two cubs around 3-4 months old, is usually seen hanging out in the Olare Orok Conservancy so we are happy to have her around. Then there is another female near Look-out Hill with four cubs which are also around 3-4 months old. She is obviously a very smart mum as there are not that many other predators down there. Honey’s boys are still cruising around the region most of the time and are often seen near the camp. Then we have what the guides reckon as three of Shingu’s cubs - a coalition of three males (if you remember she had six cubs last year). And to top it off an unknown female is pregnant! It’s hard to keep up with them all. Now we are just hoping the mums can safely rear all their cubs and right now it is the best time with plenty of food around.

The Wildebeest are headed back in their thousands to Tanzania already. But we also have reports that huge herds have crossed into the Serengeti and are now crossing back into the Mara - typical wildebeest fashion. They have been particularly unpredictable this year - coming late (end July) and already heading back…

After the Kenyan weather department had predicted a mini El Nino for us the weather has been scorching without a cloud in the sky. We're all about ready to jump into the river with George the hippo! Luckily we had so much unseasonal rain in August and earlier in the month that there is still plenty of grass to go around for the Plains game and other grazers.

One of the highlights this month was the appearance of a Southern ground-hornbill! This funny looking bird - the largest of the hornbills - took up residence in camp near the deck. Every morning it wakes up the camp with a loud and reverberating booming call. Just one of the many reasons we count our blessings to be working out in the bush!

Our best Salaams,
Clea, Con, Mariana & the Rekero Team

[whitestarling]

Thanks Doogs, how brilliant that the Cheetahs appear to be making a comebck after last year. Lets all hope these Cubs survive, the population could really do with it.
WS

[Laikipia]

Thanks Doogs. A lovely update as ever.

Lai

[Doogs]

Busy times at Naboisho!

October, in the Mara Naboisho Conservancy, was action packed with wonderful experiences, memories and adventures for each and every guest that visited Naboisho Camp. The hot, dry weather, with wildlife concentrating around water sources, and the arrival of so many new born babies towards the end of the month made for excellent wildlife viewing. Topi, hartebeest, impala, warthogs and gazelle all started to give birth during October, with jackal, spotted hyena, cheetah, lions and even martial eagles taking part in the rich and easy pickings, hunting at will and revelling in the times of plenty for the predators.

One particular sighting felt like a scene out of a documentary: a male and female leopard were trapped in a tree by a troop of baboons. The baboons mocked them with barks and mock charges, boldly going after them into the same tree! Concentrating on the leopard, the baboons did not notice the arrival of a young male and female lion – which then trapped the baboons in the tree with the two leopards! Needless to say, the baboons had some unplanned bowl movements… and went very quiet very quickly! To cap it all, a herd of elephants appeared on the scene, coming to check out all the commotion. Surely a highlight of the year! Talking about leopards, as you might have already seen on our Facebook page, Anita Mishra, one of our guests who stayed at the camp for five days, had 8 sightings of 6 different leopards! Truly remarkable, especially for a young conservancy!

Walking has been really exciting lately! We witnessed a breeding pair of martial eagles, feeding their young ones various kinds of prey. This magnificent, large and powerful eagle had us in awe as it soared above our heads each morning on the walks. Then there were the big cats. During one week we saw lions on foot every single day! Most of the time these were really nice, relaxed sightings, but some were slightly more hair raising encounters, featuring some growling to let us know that we kindly needed to go away… we obeyed. Some lucky guests also saw a male cheetah on a walk – relaxing in the shade of a wild date tree. We watched him rolling and grooming for almost 15 minutes, before leaving him in peace to enjoy the rest of his day.

Our new arrivals: two unknown adult male lions made their appearance close to camp, one of them a magnificent specimen with a big dark mane, see the picture below taken by our guide Wilson Mpooya. It is believed that they are from the Motorogi Conservancy and we are hoping that they won’t cause too much trouble during their visit… like when they walked straight through the middle of camp one night, roaring their lungs out!

The school that we are supporting, Ole Seri Primary School, will be benefiting from donations from our guests soon. After a meeting with the school headmaster, Mr. Robert Oyugo, they identified a need for extra school benches for the children. Naboisho Camp will order the material, and construction of the benches will start in the new month. We will keep you up to date on the project.

In the past month the new Mara Naboisho Conservancy website launched. Have a look at www.maranaboisho.com

The rains have started already. The bush is turning lovely green, and everything is fresh, clean and beautiful. Until next time!

Bush Regards,
Roelof, Helen & the Naboisho team

Follow us online: www.asiliaafrica.com/Naboisho | Facebook | TripAdvisor

[littlewid]

Thanks Doogs, that was a lovely read, got my email but that has saved me reading it they certainly have had a busy time with lots of wonderful sightings and I bet that must have been something else to see the leopards in the tree with the Baboons followed by the Lions then the Elephants, I bet the Leopards were glad when it was all over. I would have loved to have seen the Martial Eagles and their offspring. It makes me think of Lai and the wonderful time she must be having at the moment on her safari.

littlewid-x-

[whitestarling]

Thanks Doogs I also got the email, but have'nt had time to read it with running the Pub. So it was great to see it here. What a wonderful experiene it must have been to see the Leopards followed by the Baboons, followed by the lions, and Elephants. I think if lions growled at me I'd obey as well. Really stunning Lion the one with the dark mane in the photo.
WS

[Doogs]

WS, he has a lovely mane - reminds a wee bit on Notch but not has handsome !!! :)

[Doogs]

June Update . . . .

http://gmtiny.com/eXGj6

[Laikipia]

  Doogs. It just makes me think we need to get back to the Mara before too long ..............  

Lai

[littlewid]

Doogs thanks for the update, I am very slack at reading these and it was sad to read that another one of Honeys boys has been killed leaving only one brother now, that must be so tough on him but also very sad to see them dwindling away.  

littlewid-x-

[Doogs]

Oh I think you should too Lai  

I agree LW, I just wonder how the remaining brother will cope on his own after spending so much time with two then one of his brothers, it's very said   He is not that old, he will be 7 later this year (I'm sure the 3 boys were born around September 2006) so he's got a good few cheetah years ahead of him if he can stay out of trouble.  surviving one, we all hope you stay safe, well and you're hunting skills are good so your tummy is always full  

[Laikipia]

3 down to 1 - very sad indeed and how to learn to hunt on your own after such an amazing coalition. Fingers crossed for the last one of Honey's boys.

Lai

[whitestarling]

Thanks Doogs I missed this one with my router being down. Thats really sad news about the brothers, I should think he will struggle now, as he's been so used to hunting in comany, and will have to change his stratergy. Good news on the Cheetah project though, hopefully numbers will increase even more
WS

[littlewid]

Lets hope he can stay out of trouble Doogs and he manages to hunt as a solo cheetah. I am going to look on the positive side and say he had a fantastic mum who would have taught them well and with his brothers they would have had hunting strategies and that would have had to change when they went to two, so hopefully he will be ble to change to a solo strategy and do well on his own but I bet he will miss the company of his brother. I hope he finds a lady cheetah and has some little cubs and maybe another coalition will be started in all their memories.
Good luck fellow  

littlewid-x-

[whitestarling]

A month of crazy weather and unusual wildlife sightings

February is meant to be dry and hot! Instead it’s been wetter than normal. Early in the month we had enough rain to sustain grass growth and this was followed by a cold spell. We had thick mist and no sunshine for an entire week. Temperatures plummeted to 10°C degrees during the day. Subsequently we discovered it was all due to a cyclone off Madagascar. Other parts of the Mara got good rain, but here it was mainly cold and cloudy. Things returned to normal during the latter part of February and hot weather coupled with strong winds was the order of the day. At times the wind was so strong that we were afraid the tents would take off and never be seen again. Thankfully, they stood strong and we suffered no damage.

Around Rekero the scenery is quite breathtaking now. The grass is high and when the wind blows the afternoon light makes it shimmer in waves, just like an ocean made of golden threads (see photo below).

The Elephant Pepper tree is fruiting and lots of visitors are popping into the camp. A large troop of baboons, elephants and even a giraffe stopped by for the feast. The elephants are the naughty ones and have caused some damage. One was feeding on fallen fruit right at the entrance of a guest’s tent the other day. When the guests closed the curtains to prevent the fellow from spotting further tasty morsels inside the tent, their movement gave him a fright and as he lifted his head, his tusks snagged the netting on the verandah and tore a hole in it. Fortunately they only noticed the damage the following morning. And so, yet another Rekero tale will be told.

As the weather becomes drier the elephants make good use of the water we put in the buckets outside the tents. Guests love seeing them drink water so nearby and the elephants enjoy it too - we aim to please all our visitors at Rekero…

With the migration now in the south of the Mara, prey is less plentiful in our area and resident lion have their work cut out to find enough food. The cubs are always the first to suffer and some of them, unfortunately, seem rather thin and weak.

Some of our guests were privileged to witness some rare sightings recently. Amongst these were elephants mourning the death of one of their own and the extraordinary intera_ction that occurred between lion and hyenas around the carcass. The elephants tried to prevent the hyenas from feeding on their dead family member, frequently charging and chasing them in all directions. Sadly, as in all things nature took its course and, after some time had passed, the elephants moved on. Leopard sightings have also been good this month and Malaika, the cheetah, has also been seen of late. We even heard that a guide had seen her new litter consisting of six cubs. This is great news, as her previous litters all comprised of four cubs. (Who says girls don’t get better with age!). Our resident guides are yet to spot them, and we can’t wait to share the information with you.

Until our next update - Salaams to you all!

Best wishes from Clea, Con, Mariana & the Rekero crew

WS

[Laikipia]

Thanks WS. I had the email too but as you know have never worked out how to post it   

Lai

[littlewid]

Thanks WS, I hadn't read my email. How strange that they have ben having the same weather as us, high winds and then the fog, you can be all tose miles apart and the weather can be the same.
Sad to hear that the Lion cubs are suffering with the lack of food, that's never nice to read but great news about malaika and her 6 cubs, that is wonderful news isn't it. It's also sad to read about the death of an elephant, It sounds as if they did a valiant job protecting their family member from the Hyenas but as they say, nature takes it course.

Thanks for posting this WS

littlewid-x-

[Doogs]

Rekero Camp Mara Update : A Few Recent Entries on Their Blog:-  

http://blog.asiliaafrica.com/

[Laikipia]

Thanks Doogs. I am so behind with all the blogs!

Lai

[whitestarling]

Long time since we've seen anything from Rekero thanks Doogs

WS

[Laikipia]

Asilia Africa have a blog which covers all their camps in Kenya, Tanzania and beyond.

http://blog.asiliaafrica.com/

Lai

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