Bateleur Safaris News Letter

Dear Friends,

Greetings to all from Bateleur Safaris. 

It feels like yesterday since my last newsletter (actually over a year and a half!) Tourism in Kenya has been improving dramatically and this year is looking better than ever. Most of the popular game lodges are solidly booked for the coming July/August/September season. We are keeping fingers crossed that long may it continue. Tourism always helps to look after our wildlife! Herewith a few pictures and stories from some recent safaris.

July and August saw good numbers of the wildebeest and zebra migration arrive in the Mara region. We were there too, and observing those dense columns crossing the Mara River was always exciting. During August this happened nearly every day. The big Mara crocodiles gorged themselves on wildebeest at the crossing points whilst out on the plains more vast herds kept the grass mowed down. The short grass areas improved our cat sightings and over a four week period we learned their territories by heart.

One evening this mother cheetah gave us great entertainment. She made several attempts at hunting gazelle but these efforts were disrupted by her lone cub who really disliked being left alone and insisted on following while mother got down to business. Eventually, just before dusk the cub obeyed its mother’s instruction to remain behind, she closed in on a Thompson’s gazelle and ran her prey down. There were huge smiles in my car on seeing the cub bounding up to the kill after her mother’s high pitched call.

 Lions feasted well on the migrating masses. This zebra was caught at midday as it crossed a small tributary of the Mara.

We found this leopard nearby three lions feeding on a wildebeest kill. She had been driven off earlier while trying to sneak a bite off the lions kill! Lions do not tolerate competition from other carnivores and would make short work of a leopard if there were no trees nearby for it to climb.

This elephant photo was taken in Kenya’s 8,000 sq. mile Tsavo National Park where a recent count revealed a population of more than 11,000 elephants. This represents a major comeback from Tsavo’s 1988 all time low of 5,000. Kenya also has healthy populations in Amboseli, Masai mara, Aberdare mountains and the Samburu, Buffalo Springs, Shaba complex, making a current nation wide-total of over 30,000 elephants.

 The lion in this picture has a birth mark on his right foreleg. In 1998 as a cub I used to see him with a pride that lived three miles from camp. Now he is a territorial male with a pride of his own based around lookout hill approximately 15 miles away. So good to see him again!

 This leopard sighting has a little story. It was in February this year we were on a game drive down Olduvai Gorge in Southern Serengeti. Not having seen much I was anxious to find something interesting to stop for and break up the drive. Thankfully a large flock of guinea fowl crossed the track in front of us and we stopped and chatted about them for a few minutes. At this point one of my clients (probably bored by my conversation!) decided to have a pit stop behind the vehicle. As he was relieving himself a heavy branch fell from a nearby tree. Lo and behold there was a beautiful leopard and he almost fell out too! Later, this magnificent spotted cat settled down and we spent sometime observing him. We agreed that this had been a novel way to find a leopard!

I love finding big maned lions. This one was far out on the plains of Serengeti drinking from a lonely waterhole where he lay up for the rest of the day. On the morrow we discovered that he had been joined by a lioness.

All around, stretching to the horizon, were thousands of zebra and wildebeest, interspersed with many Thompsons and Grants gazelle, eland and ostrich.

Having your own private camp whilst on safari, is still our speciality. With camp fire flickering, lamps glowing and all the sounds of the African night it becomes a magical haven of peace. Meanwhile, nearby on the savannah, bathed in the soft light of the moon, the creatures of the wild live out there lives just as they have always done since time immemorial.  

We look forward to seeing you sometime soon.

 Warm regards,

Michael Cheffings. 

Bateleursafaris@swiftkenya.com

 P.O. Box 42562 Nairobi, Kenya (post code 00100)

TEL: 254 2 890454  FAX: 254 2 891007