Saturday, August 24, 2013

Leopard Loving

Look there's a Leopard
Flirt

Love bite

High 5


Last week we were treated to a once in a lifetime sighting, Leopards mating! Even a Troop of Baboons couldn't separate the lovers.

This sighting was not only enjoyed by our guests, but by our guides as not even the most experienced guide had seen it before.

One of the reasons this is so hard to see is that Leopards are usually solitary and rarely tolerate each other.

?
Unlike our resident Hyraxes, who seem to be very social...


Sunday, August 18, 2013

Yoga in Lamai





What better a place to enjoy a session of Yoga than in the Serengeti? Making good use of the outdoor decks of our rooms in Lamai, the DuFour family spent their siesta times in the afternoons at Lamai stretching and showing their incredible Yoga skills with the stunning back drop of the Serengeti plains. After mornings in the bush spent watching hundreds of thousands of wildebeest along with a host of the big cats, including the spotty variety, the family came back to enjoy the lodge and unwind with a spot of Yoga. The family had just climbed Kilimanjaro where Jack had also taken the opportunity to practice his Yoga! Thank you very much to Jack for sharing these photos and your skills!

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Fighting to survive

Throughout the last week our guests have been treated to experiencing the rush and excitement of watching thousands of wildebeest crossing back and forth across the Mara River. A big part of the experience is watching whether the wildebeest make it across the river alive avoiding the dangers of the crocodile jaws and rocks in the river that can break their legs.

Due to the sheer number of wildebeest that cross the river in a mad frenzy there are bound to be a few that do not make it to the bank on other side of the river. In this case it was a young wildebeest who happened to get slightly separated  from the rest.

Wildebeest crossing the Mara River
The crocodile singles it out and moves in 
The crocodile comes up from behind and snaps
The shocked wildebeest gets pulled down stream
The wildebeest puts up a fight and desperately tries to get out of the water but the crocodile has a good hold of him and just waits for the wildebeest to tire
Almost an hour later the crocodile gets the wildebeest in to deeper water and pulls him under
Unfortunately that was it for the wildebeest, worn out from the struggle and unable to stand up the crocodile finally finished him off.

Thank you very much to the photographer Rob Kerscher who captured this event and shared the pictures with us.

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Another exciting day around Lamai

View from the lodge the other day.

He looks well fed.

Crossing back over the Mara.

The river has a stong current.


Some of them decided crossing was a bad idea, and headed back.
The Lamai Lions could be seen again from the lodge early this morning, they had been chased up a rock by a herd of Buffalos, you don't even need to go on a game drive to see good game here at Lamai Serengeti.

Then our guests were treated to an amazing crossing sighting, which lasted for 45 minutes.

Many of our guests have a preconceived idea about the migtraion being one long herd of over a million Wildebeast all moving in one direction and only crossing the Mara river once on the way up and once on the way back down, but this is not the case, yes there are big herds but there are many smaller herds, these large and small herds cross back and forth accross the Mara river sometimes up until November depending on where the grazing is best.