Hilton Kotze Safari Blog

Sad day in the Masai mara

I thought long before I decided to tell this story so please for give me if it disturbs you but this is the harsh reality of nature .

The day started out with coffee and rusks and we jumped onto our game viewing vehicle at 645am and headed out with an unexplainable feeling ,something of a mixture of excitement ,expectation and adventure . As we drove out of the Lodge and entered the Mara reserve I wondered what this vast expanse of land would yield today.

With in a half an hour we picked up the jackal family ,mom, dad and the three pups.

Jackal family

Just in time as it appeared that they were moving den today . we followed at a safe distance and watched the cubs run and play as they followed mom and dad to there new home . Finally it looked as if they had reached a suitable termite mound and this was to be there new home . the pups stood on the mound and made loud yelping sounds (much to their determent as it turned out)

jackal pups on the mound

Although mom and dad were moving from their old den site to protect the young from other predators ,it turns out that the termite mound they had chosen was 50m away from a tree which happened to have a leopard in.

The yelping sound were a sure giveaway for the leopard who did not waist any time and climbed down the tree. the mom and dad went ballistic and tried to warn the pups to take cover in the mound they also tried to distract the leopard by running in its way but the leopard headed straight for the mound the pups had gone down a hole but sadly the leopard was to fast and dug into the hole and got one of the jackal pups .The leopard run off into the bush with mom and dad barking and yelping in the hope that they could get the leopard to drop the pup, but all was lost the pup was dead on impact .

leopard digging into the mound

leopard with jackal pup

The story has a sad ending but this is how nature balances numbers and controls itself it is the law of nature and is not affected or altered by our human emotions

The Migration

If you are a nature lover , I am sure you will feel the same as I do about the wildebeest migration. It is one of the 7 wonders of the world ,it has been said to be the greatest show on earth ,I have been looking forward to this event for years , but nothing can prepare you for something so spectacular ,you have to see and experience it.

I did not know it but there is quite an art to seeing the migration, here is how it goes:

The wildebeest come out of the woodlands and walk towards the Mara river.

Once a group of wildebeest have started gathering at the rivers edge , the vehicles (tourist) start lining up ,but the secret is to stand 500-800 meters away from the potential crossing.

This is so that the animals don’t feel boxed in and they can see an exit route out of the river.

Then in there own time (can be several hours between crossing attempts) the wildebeest wait for some brave companion to take the first step towards the water, inevitable the rest follow .

9/10 times they are spooked by something or some vehicle being to close to their exit point and they all rush up the embankment again and the whole process starts again . This can happen several times before the real thing, but when it happens all hell breaks lose , its something like a motocross hole shot , all the vehicle start and rush forward at the same time to the same spot.

The wildebeest come running down the dusty embankment in there numbers ,a cloud of dust towers into the air as the wildebeest plunge into the Mara river in the hope of finding fresh grazing on the other side, all this is happening at the same time.

Once you have your spot next to the river that’s were you stay. Depending on the size of the herd a crossing can last 10-15 min or sometimes 2-4 hours.

wildebeest run

dust run

the crossing

I will be posting some more photos soon