Hidden Treasures of Lamai

Lamai the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

When Mum's away the cubs come out to play.

What mischief can I get up to today?

Showing off his climbing skills.

A few weeks after our Blog on Leopards Mating, the male has been seen proving that he is the true alpha male in the area, he was spotted with another female on the same Kopje hopefully ensuring that we see lot of these little fellas above.

These cubs have been a regular sighting much to the enjoyment and entertainment of our guests, seen most mornings and evenings, playing around the rocks and branches that provide them with much needed shelter and protection. They have been a highlight amongst the many amazing sightings we get on a daily basis.

Many thanks to Linda Porter for letting us use her wonderful image of the rainbow above the Lamai Kopje.

Lamai's Little Ones

We have had an exciting week around Lamai Camp where we have met the latest newcomers to our resident Dwarf Mongoose and Rock Hyrax family.

Good Morning

Whilst this Dwarf Mongoose pack has around 15 individuals it is only the dominant male and female mongoose that breed, though the other pack members help feed and care for the offspring.

Playing in front of their den

Group Hug

Venturing out away from the den

Four baby Rock Hyraxes were discovered right next to one of the rooms where they are frequently seen playing on a rock formation. The Hyraxes are very entertaining to watch and often give us great amusement with their generally lazy behavior, short bursts of activity and at times peculiar social interactions (as depicted in last weeks blog). Watching these adorable babies play has definitely been a highlight of this week.

Watchful mother

Ready to play

Wink Wink  

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...

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!

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.

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.

Heron VS Frog

With the largest terrestrial mammal migration in the world, it is easy to overlook the smaller goings on in the Serengeti. Whilst crossing a small bridge over one of the many streams here, we noticed that a Striated Heron was poised for the kill.

Strike

Gotcha

Yum Yum

Last attempt to escape the Heron's clutches.

Not good enough.

Gulp.

It's always good to keep an eye on the smaller things, even stopping and waiting for things to unfold infront of you can be a great alternative to zooming round in the game viewers.