March 2010 : Grumeti Reserves, Tanzania

This beautiful Bull was seen near Faru, the area is a haven for our Defassa Waterbuck, with quality grazing and water always close by. The combination of requirements for cover, open grassland and water makes for a patchy ecotone distribution along drainage lines, river systems and valleys. 

He was a member of a herd of eight bachelors, all in close proximity to a herd of females. The size of their home range depends mainly on the quality of habitat and population density. 

Lion vs Buffalo vs Tree

Arnold was out on drive late one afternoon and witnessed a young male Lion that appeared to have been chased up two trees by a herd of Buffalo. It is always difficult to ascertain exactly how events unfolded, but however you look at it; the roles of nature are often reversed, where the kings of the jungle are being forced into submission by the sheer force of numbers.

With the threat having moved away, he appeared to relax again, but certainly took his time coming down, and not so gracefully at that.

Although Lion are very skilled at climbing trees to escape various threats and on occasion to steal carcasses from Leopard, getting down is very much a different story. Their sheer bulk, longer and less nimble limbs which allow for a lower centre of gravity and lack of confidence makes for interesting viewing.

They spend ages contemplating how and which way to go. Notice the youngster watching with interest.

Butamtam Pride

We found the Butamtam Pride near Sabora on a recently killed Warthog. The pride was lying around relaxing after the feast, and one of the youngsters was left to chew on the remains of the skull. The cubs are mobile with their mothers at about two months. They begin to accompany the adults by about four months, on average are weaned at about eight months and reach independence around eighteen months.

They start to eat meat well before they are weaned, developing their milk teeth by incessantly chewing on carcasses.

Cheetah Time

Despite the grass being very tall at the moment, we have been extremely fortunate to have had quality viewing of a very relaxed mother Cheetah and her four sub adult youngsters for most of the month. Being an inhabitant of open country, cheetah are often seen in groups and assumed to be a social carnivore. But, these groups almost always turn out to be mothers and youngsters, or coalitions of males.

A mother in the wild can start moving her cubs from as early as ten days, lead her cubs to their first kill at about 6 weeks and after about three months they will actively move with their mother and only hold back when she is stalking. The mother trains the cubs to seize and kill prey by using young fawns, and by twelve to fifteen months they are stalking and successfully catching hares and fawns on their own.

Here the cubs are all following their mother’s example by climbing onto a fallen branch and using their wonderful vision to spot potential prey. They are approximately sixteen months old and still have a long time before independence. She has done a phenomenal job in raising these four youngsters to this age.

We found this female one morning looking intently down onto the plains. We were then fortunate enough to watch as one of nature’s harshest moments played out in the distance. A young Buffalo calf had been abandoned by its mother and had given itself away to two Hyenas. The rest of the herd was only about a kilometer away, but the result was inevitable. Activity at the den site near Sabora has been a special treat this month, with almost daily sightings of the youngsters, especially relaxed when the adults are present.

This fantastic herd of Buffalo has once again been a regular on the Nyati Plains, at most numbering up to approximately three hundred and fifty individuals. This wonderful old Bull was on the outskirts and moved back to the safety of the herd when the game viewer approached, still remarkable how close we can get.

This fantastic herd of Buffalo has once again been a regular on the Nyati Plains, at most numbering up to approximately three hundred and fifty individuals. This wonderful old Bull was on the outskirts and moved back to the safety of the herd when the game viewer approached, still remarkable how close we can get.

This large adult Olive Baboon was seen carrying a young Guinea fowl chick up into the safety of an Acacia tree. Frequently changing from a diet of grasses and herbaceous plants, their range of food intake includes vertebrate prey where they use their incisors to strip meat from the bone and discard any inedible parts. The birds were as beautiful as ever, this pair of Grey crowned Cranes put on a wonderful display for us.

One doesn’t always get this close to Ostriches; they too are becoming more familiar with Game Viewers. This pair of Secretary Birds was extremely busy constructing their nest A White – headed Vulture enjoying the remains of a Topi kill.

A proud Coqui Francolin male looking over his two chicks. Probably Africa’s most well known and most photographed bird, the beautiful Lilac – Breasted Roller. With his raucous call, the male puts on a fabulous elaborate display. We end the month with this young nomadic lion on walkabout, and look forward to a fantastic April 2010.