Jambo and warm greetings from Arusha, Tanzania. This is my guide report for February 2014 along with a few snapshots I managed to take while guiding this past safari.

I just returned from guiding a safari from February 7th, 2014 to February 15th, 2014. I was with a family of four from Ohio named Stephanie, Laima, Chris, and Don. This was Don and Laima’s 4th safari to Tanzania. We enjoyed 2 nights at Sametu Camp in the Central Serengeti, 3 nights at Lake Masek Tented Lodge in the South Serengeti, 1 night at Ngorongoro Lion’s Paw Camp, 1 night at Bougainvillea Lodge near Lake Manyara and a final night at Tree Tops Lodge in Tarangire National Park.

We have had good rains this year in the Serengeti and Ngorongoro ecosystems and the resulting green grass has attracted much of the migration to the open plains of the Southern and Eastern Serengeti. The migration herds of wildebeest, zebra and gazelle were abundant in the Ndutu area, Gol Kopjes, Kusini plains and hidden valley. The following are some of the highlights/sightings we encountered during the course of our safari:

– Unusual sighting when a cheetah climbed on our vehicle bonnet perhaps for a good vantage point in between Ndutu and hidden valley in the South Serengeti.

This was near Barafu Kojes in the Eastern Serengeti when these lions decided to climb an acacia tree.

The ideal conditions (good grazing and standing water) and weather have caused the wildebeest calving to start right on time this February. We watched a live birth for 10 minutes. It took only 4 minutes for this infant to stand up and another 5 minutes to walk after consuming colostrum from the mother.

A coalition of two male cheetahs struggling to pull down a 1 year old wildebeest calf after stalking for about 1-hour. This was in the Gol Kopjes, East Serengeti.

A mother cheetah with 2 playful cubs less than 1.5 month old between Ndutu plains and Kusini in the Southwestern Serengeti.

Another live kill we witnessed is shown here. It was sad to watch when two brother cheetahs caught a few days old wildebeest calf. While one brother was strangulating the calf, the second cheetah already began to eat.

It was a little far however a caracal is a rare sighting in the bush. This was around Gol Kopjes in the East Serengeti.

It was not only one lioness which did this, it was a pride of 12 lions including their cubs that killed an average sized giraffe at the big marsh in Ndutu, South Serengeti.