The Great Migration Safari: Day 6

Some more good action coming out of this wonderful safari! The hyena den close to the camp was again active, with 3 small, black cubs running around and playing. A male leopard was the next animal to find itself in front of our cameras, as he was out and about looking for a meal. He stalked quite close to a herd of wildebeest, but as he was getting really interested, a second herd of wildebeest spotted him. To be fair, the second herd of wildebeest was about 30,000 strong so one of them was bound to see him. We left the leopard and made our way back down to the river to see if we could photograph any more crossing action, and again, we were in luck. Three more river crossings with a crocodile kill added in, is what was in store for us! Again, a young wildebeest was the unlucky victim. After all the action of the river crossings, we slowly made our way back to camp.

There was, however, still more to see and photograph. We found a pride of 5 lions having a hard rest in the shade of a tree, and tucked away in a dense thicket, we found a different lioness with 2 very small cubs. They were so small, that she had not yet introduced them to the rest of the pride. Realising just how lucky we were to have stumbled upon their den site, we moved off so as not to draw any unwanted attention to them. Close to the camp, we found our first black rhino of the safari! As is always the case with black rhino, he wasn’t so keen to be seen out in the open, so he made for the nearest bush and disappeared.

Major sightings of the day:

Hyena den with 3 cubs

Many buffalo

Many herds of elephants

Male leopard stalking wildebeest

3 different river crossings

Crocodile kill

Pride of 5 lions

Lioness with 2 small cubs

Male black rhino

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The Great Migration Safari: Day 4

We landed in the Masai Mara and were welcomed by thousands of wildebeest! There was a section of the massive herd all around the airstrip dotted with zebra, gazelle and elephants, so we got straight into this leg of the safari. The day’s sightings only improved as it went on, and there were so many animals to photograph, the only challenge was deciding where to point the cameras. Two lionesses were finishing off a wildebeest kill they had made earlier in the day and stole our attention for a good while, before we found the den site of a clan of spotted hyena. There were around twenty hyenas active around the den site, with loads of young cubs, ranging from a few weeks old to a few years. What a start to the Masai Mara.

Major sightings of the day:

Many buffalo

Many elephants

2 female lions on a wildebeest kill

Many different hyenas

Hyena den site with ±20 hyenas and 9 cubs

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The Great Migration Safari: Day 3 Samburu extension

This was our final day in Samburu before heading off to the Masai Mara, so we set out early looking again for the Samburu ‘special five’. The main goal was the wonderfully striped grevy’s zebra. We found a herd quite early on, and they gave us plenty of good opportunity to photograph them. Moving on from the herd of zebra, we spent some time with a male somali ostrich and a few elephants before finding a female leopard. As we found her, she gave chase after a black-backed jackal, and very nearly caught it. We followed her for a little while, until she eventually moved up into one of the hills. We thought the good times were done, and were heading back to the airstrip, when we saw a cheetah on the move. The cheetah was looking quite intent, and started stalking a gerenuk, which was standing up feeding and had not seen the cheetah. I thought for all money the cheetah was in for a meal, but the crafty gerenuk turned while standing on only its back legs, and saw the cheetah twenty or so meters away from it. It gave a short sharp call, and made an enthusiastic dash for safety. Very exciting stuff indeed.

Major sightings of the day:

2 black-backed jackals with a dik-dik kill

Herd of elephants

Female leopard chasing a black-backed jackal

Female cheetah stalking a gerenuk

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The Great Migration Safari: Day 2 Samburu extension

We set out nice and early looking specifically for the Samburu ‘special five’, and were rewarded with a lion sighting! We did manage to find the animals we were looking for and got some pretty cool photographs of them, most notably the gerenuk standing on its hind legs and feeding (the only antelope known to do this), and a journey of reticulated giraffe that very kindly posed underneath a near full moon for us. There was a lot on offer for us to photograph, and our bird lists rocketed – another great day in Africa!

Major sightings of the day:

2 herds of elephants

1 female lion

5 female lions

To join us in safari, click here!

The Great Migration Safari: Day 1 Samburu extension

We started our annual Great Migration Safari slightly differently this year, by heading further north into Kenya, to a wonderful place called Samburu. This area is known for what they call, the ‘special five’. You can find leopards, lions, elephants and a host of other species, but the special five are the gerenuk, reticulated giraffe, grevy’s zebra, somali ostrich and beisa oryx – all of which we managed to find on the first day! All these new species sent the cameras into overdrive. The bird life is also very cool, and our lists got filled quite quickly. The adorable little dik-dik’s running around the camp only add to the experience, and give lots of good photographic opportunities.