Following a slightly lower rainfall within the Maasai Mara region, the migration ended a little earlier than usual, with many of the wildebeests not lingering for as long as they usually do within our conservancy. At the end of September, the tail end of the migration was spotted at Pose Plains and Sand River on the Serengeti border, diligently finding their way back into Tanzania.
Since then, the Conservancy has received the first drops of what appears to be an early onslaught of the short rains for three consecutive days now. Patches of lush green grass have started sprouting around Mahali Mzuri, and we highly suspect that these rains may trigger a return of the wildebeest. We have already seen a thin line of wildebeest trotting towards our direction, and we might just be lucky enough to experience a double migration, similar to what happened back in 2013.
OMC, the home of lions!
The lion prides in our Olare Motorogi Conservancy are thriving well. Our resident pride, known as the Motorogi pride, includes 23 lions and cubs in total!
The two big male lions have been named Lipstick 2 and Blackie 2 after their fathers who previously ruled the ridge pride before one of them died of injuries, following a match with 6 males who took over from them and extended their territory to the famous marsh pride territory. After the demise of Backie 1, Lipstick 1 then disappeared leaving their sons to rule the territory.
This month, we saw one of the three lionesses protecting her cubs from a herd of buffalos that were fast approaching their den. Unfortunately, the buffalos killed one of the cubs and we are now left with 9 lion cubs.
Tito our resident leopard gave birth to a young male leopard a few months ago. Through the conservancy management, our guides ran a naming competition and of the names that received the most votes was, Osidai, the Maasai name meaning ‘the handsome one’.
As seen above, Tito’s son has showcased his good looks to Duncan, our head guide, who spotted him dragging his kill up a tree and away from nearby hyenas. The young male is still patrolling his mother’s territory together along with his sister and they can both be seen along the valley in front of the camp.
New baby Leopard news:
Tito has given birth again! We’re delighted to have more cubs in the conservancy and can’t wait for her to introduce them!
Selenkei the super mum!
You might well remember our famous cheetah mother Selenkei from our previous game reports whose sons are all grown up now and fending for themselves in the Kenyan plains. She must have taught them good morals, as they recently adopted another young male to join them. This was such a special moment to see how they have welcomed a cub from another mother to join their family.
Selenkei, our mother cheetah, also has some exciting news of her own to share… she’s given birth again to four cubs in our neighbouring conservancy!
She was spotted walking slowly with the cubs and leading them towards Olare Motorogi Conservancy, close to Mahali Mzuri where she successfully raised her first cubs. We cannot wait to welcome Selenkei with her new cubs back home! It looks like another season of seeing cheetah cubs and kills is upon us.
Sundowners o'clock
Your safari experience at Mahali Mzuri is not complete without a breathtaking sundowner or two! Under that acacia tree, many of our guests have taken in the stunning scenery with a glass of bubbles in their hand!
Thank you to our Head Guide, Duncan Lenjirr for these sightings.