Razzle Dazzle

The Migration is on its way to Lamai, some of it has moved into the Grumeti reserve, but some of it can be seen within a two hour drive from the camp, thousands of Zebras collectively known as a 'Dazzle' mingle with their fellow migrants the Wilderbeest. The Stripes on a Zebra are thought to confuse their predators making it more difficult for them to single out an individual. This form of camoflage known as disturptive markings has been used by the US navy in the past.

Anon, photograph of the USS West Mahomet in dazzle camouflage, 1918. Courtesy US Naval Historical and Heritage Command, NH 1733

I am not sure how well it worked against opposition warships, but I am sure it kept the Sea lions at bay.

Serengeti a photographers paradise

There is a good reason the Serengeti attracts all the top wildlife photographers each year, just check their facebook pages and most of them are already gearing up for their annual trip or workshop to see the migration, many of them will come to our Lamai area in the north of the Serengeti in hope of seeing a crossing, which is one of the most spectacular sights you will ever see, it has been coined as a rite of passage that must be experienced. The Wildebeest will arrive in this area in about a month, then the crossings will begin, many will die from the fall, many will die at the jaws of the giant Crocodiles that are waiting for them as they cross the Mara river, but most will survive and continue their endless journey around the Serengeti ecosystem, welcome to a photographers paradise.

Welcome to Lamai 2013

The cool crisp clear mornings mark the arrival of Serengeti's winter, the Hyraxes huddle close together in the mornings, perched high on the large boulders that are scattered around the camp, trying to catch the warmth of the rising Sun's rays. The Lamai Kopje is the most commanding spot in the area, stunning views in all directions, the Mara, the vast Serengeti plains as far as you can see.

Bush Hyraxes.

Ancient Kopjes scatter the area, some of them as if giants left these huge boulders neatly balanced on each other. They provide a mutitude of animals with a place to live, hide and keep watch from. From the energetic Dwarf Mongooses to the lazy Leopards.

The Lamai Kopje.

 Large plumes of smoke rise in the distance, it's that time of year again, we can see the grass drying out more and more everyday, a small size bush fire can produce as much carbon dioxide as 1000 cars do in a year. It's better to burn now, so that the fires will not get out of hand later in the year.

Dwarf Mongoose

 From everyone here in Lamai Serengeti, we look forward to welcoming you to our home.

Climbing kopjes in Lamai

Lamai is placed on one of the most commanding Kopjes in the Serengeti overlooking vast plains and the Masaai Mara in the distance. The large granite boulders are great fun to explore, recently we took everyone up to the highest spot on the Lamai Kopje for a fun sundowner with breathtaking views.

This of course was after we had spent a morning with a Cheetah and her cubs, playing in the early morning light, it is truly a photographers paradise.

Something for everyone!

Yesterday morning we were woken early by the the prehistoric cackles and whoops of a pack of hyenas close to camp. It was soon followed by the bellowing of a buffalo, which echoed through the valley in front of camp for almost one hour.  As the sun rose we heard grunts and growls of lions and soon put all the noises together and realized there must have been a kill and these two enemies, the lions and hyenas,  must have come across each other and argued over the meal!
  

As soon as the early morning light had crept over the landscape, we jumped in the car and dashed out to find out what had transpired earlier. After a few minutes of searching under every shrub and reading the natural signs of the wild to see if the impalas were tightly grouped in a nervous huddle or the baboons were shouting out an alarming bark, we spotted vultures arriving and darting down towards a gully a few meters away, so drove off to investigate.

Within seconds we started counting the hyenas... one, two, three, four.... ten, eleven.... and soon the numbers rose to approximately 40 hyenas, all mingling in the tall grass, under bushes and crowded around a very unfortunate female buffalo who had apparently met her fate earlier that morning.

It was incredible to see the interaction between the hyenas, vultures and a very brave black-backed jackal who kept dashing into the crowd in the hopes of grabbing a small morsel for himself. He got snarled at a few times but generally the hyenas seemed unperturbed by his presence.

It was also fascinating to note the hierarchy within the hyena clan.  They all had to take turns in feeding and a few of the youngsters would chase away adults, obviously royal heirs.   

The vultures would mostly wait patiently for their turn but every now and then one would get inquisitive or greedy and waddle across to the carcass, trying to get close enough to steal a bit, but soon got chased off by a rather annoyed hyena.

This went on for a while and soon most of the hyenas moved away, leaving only one to fight off all the hundreds of vultures that had arrived on the scene.  We decided to leave him as he had enough to deal with.  A few meters away we came across 3 young lions, including 2 beautiful males and one female.  We sat with them for a few minutes and then followed them as they walked back to the kill, to eat in peace now that all the hyenas had left the scene.

We are still not sure what transpired that morning, whether the hyenas had killed the buffalo and the lions had tried to take it over or whether the lions were the main hunters and they had been chased off by this 40-strong clan of spotted hyenas.

Whatever the case, one thing is for definite... everyone - no matter how big, small, furry or feathery got their share of this meal!

Love in the air and other matters at Lamai

 Sitting on the deck at the pool looking out at the breath-taking view, I have also been watching a family of Marico sun-birds as they busily and happily gather nectar from the wild flowers that are growing in abundance.  In the background, I can hear the drone of bees as they too collect pollen from the acacia tree which is so pretty at the moment, with its dainty yellow powder puff flowers.

The past week has been quite warm at Lamai, but two days ago, we had a welcome storm which swept across the plains, filling the rock pools and crevices and making life that much easier for the resident hyrax families, mongooses, lizards which all give us so much pleasure.

Our lion sightings continue to be amazing and on an outing with Gabriel just a couple of days ago, guests were lucky enough to see several sightings of different groups, including the mating of a lion and lioness, and if that wasn't enough, there were plenty of elephant in the area and guests witnessed another mating, with lot of trumpeting and interest from other members of the herd!

One sadness for us is that out on a drive a few days ago, we came across the young pride that live near the camp.  We noticed that the young female had a snare around her neck which was obviously causing her much distress.   Vets from the Parks department kindly agreed to come out with a view to darting her and removing the snare.  However, on the day they were here, neither the pride nor the young lioness were anywhere to be seen, despite search teams being sent out with our guides.  Then two days ago, a young female lion was spotted just below camp.  We weren't able to see if it was our girl with the snare around her neck or not, and just hope if it is, she has been able to feed herself and is not in too much pain, as in a case like this, the rest of her family would almost definitely leave her to fend for herself.  We hadn't seen this lioness for a couple of months and presumed she and her brothers had followed the wildebeest herds out of the area in November.  After seeing her again, it is obvious that she wandered into the area surrounding the villages where she must have picked up the snare.  Hopefully she stays close by now and doesn't wander off again.

There have been lions seen almost every day in the area and one pride has very small cubs, approximately 2 months old.  It is a common sight to see either a male or female lion lying resting on top of a rock, admiring the glorious view laid out in front of him/her.

The lodge is being spruced and polished today, awaiting the arrival of thirteen guests.  There is a positive vibe and air of excitement, and all our staff are worthy of a pat on the back.. YES – Lamai Serengeti last night won the award for “Best New Safari property in Africa”. We are all very proud and delighted!

 

  

The Circle of Life

There are moments in life when you really have to control your emotions and realize that nature has its own way of dealing with situations.  This was one of those moments for me.. when I had to desperately fight back the tears and not intervene!

A couple of days ago we took a drive out to an area which is locally known as 'green mabati", one of our favorite areas comprising of long sweeping, rolling plains, dotted with Balanites trees.  This area is Eden, where all the animals seem to co-exist happily together. In one view it is common to see Thompsons and Grants gazelles, topis,ostriches, impala, zebra, elephant and the occasional  black rhino.

This particular day we came across a zebra herd happily grazing on the freshly sprung grass. It was only when we saw a hyena, jackal and 2 vultures poised close by that we realized one of the zebra mares had just given birth within the last 5 minutes or so.

Next to her we saw a very wet and timid baby zebra lying flat on its side so, keeping our distance, we sat and waited for the little one to climb to its feet.  We were so excited as in all our years in the bush, we had never witnessed something like this.

For 40 minutes we sat and waited, watching the little foal kick and twirl around on the ground. It lifted its head every now again but for some reason,  just couldn't get up onto its feet.  The mother nudged it a few times but after about 20 minutes she started to get anxious.  She ran backwards and forwards in-between her family members, leading the majority of them away in a circle and then back to the baby.  She did this a few times and every time we thought she has left, she would appear again trotting up to the foal, calling even more hurriedly than before.  The jackal approached a couple of times but was soon chased away by the 'guardians'.  There were 5 members of the zebra family who would not leave the foal's side, possibly siblings or cousins, and they just stood and watched from a close distance and kept the area clear of any intruders. 

The jackals became bored and started to yelp hastily, causing confusion amongst the ranks.  It seemed the more they yelped, the more upset the mother zebra became.  She started calling repeatedly to try and coax the baby onto its feet.  The baby just spun around and around while the mother ran in circles and we prayed that the little one would find the energy to stand. 

Unfortunately after a few minutes of the jackals screeching, the mother couldn't bear it anymore and this time left for good.  Another mare with a small foal approached from about 200 meters away and the mother ran to meet her, followed by yet another mare and foal.  This was incredible behavior to observe and one wonders whether these other two mares were her sisters, trying to console her?

By the time the mother ran off, it was evident to us that the foal was not going to survive.  Zebra foals should stand on their feet within 15 minutes of birth, and it was now 40 minutes.  Soon after the mother ran off, the inevitable happened, the skulking hyena arrived on the scene and stealthily edged closer to the foal, carefully smelt it and then picked it up in its powerful jaws and ran off with it into the distance.

It was very difficult not to feel incredibly heartsore at this stage, but one wonders how many times this has occurred and how many births go unnoticed in the African bush.

We just hope and pray that the mother can overcome this cruel loss and is able to give birth to another healthy foal. 

I guess nature has to keep all animals fed....