LEOPARD BLISS

It seems Leopard are jumping out of the trees everywhere! No doubt something to do with the proliferation of young around, piglets or hoglets more specifically, bambi like impala babes and the tiny jockeylike baby baboon! We have seen 5 different Leopard in the past two days. Two large males one down next to Nkorombo our Mobile site near the crossing points. One much closer to home mid morning on the short grass plains near to kampi ya farasi. A large female upriver of Nkorombo and a smaller female around the edge of the Musiara Swamp whom we think is Zawadis daughter and of course Zawadi our perennial favourite, close by camp. she apparently has a tiny cub, whom we have not yet managed to catch on film.

WILD DOG ON THE PLAINS

It seems that Wild Dog are back! For years we used to enjoy a large pack of Wild Dog on the Aitong plains in what is now the Mara North Conservancy. Easily found and very active they were always seen out hunting! Bila Shaka! Without doubt, you were going to see them. Then in 1989 canine distemper entered the area and being extremely gregarious they contracted the disease and it was assumed they had all died off. @ to 3 years ago we started to hear rumours 2 dog had been seen coming into the Mara triangle then more recently photographic evidence showing a pack of 5 in the lemek hills.



Now in the Mara they are seen on occasion around the hills. In Maswa however we have been lucky enough to have a very tame pack of regularily 20 with another 40 drifting in from the woodlands on occasion. This super predator is a gregarious animal and a very effective hunter. Communicating amongst themselves the Wild Dog is invariably able to finish a hunt successfully and has a far higher strike rate than Lion, leopard and Cheetah. Couple that with a million odd ungulates, wide open plains and your chances of witnessing a kill get higher by the minute. Ultimately it is all about time spent out observing and when you settle in one place you increase your chances significantly!

BLUE MOON IN SERENGETI MASWA