Hello, it’s me Claude here with my latest safari report for my trip that finished on 04th July 2013. I was with four lovely people that I took on safari i.e Erick, Anna, Alec and Adrian. It was wonderful up in the Northern Serengeti as we had thousands of wildebeests everywhere all over the Nyamalumbwa plains in the direction to the Mara River.

We had one night in Lobo Valley and then we were off to Mbalageti and the West Serengeti where we found more of the migration and also other species including the big cats. This area was very productive.

At the Central part of the Serengeti the wildlife was a little scattered. Seronera Valley, Moru Kopjes, Sametu Kopjes, and the Marshes of Maasai Kopjes were the best places in the Central Serengeti for wildlife viewing.

At Ngorongoro Crater on our early morning game drive we had a rhino crossing the road twice very close to our vehicle. It was just us alone and I heard that was the only sighting on the entire day making it even more special. Here are just few of my pics to share…

Black rhino crossing the road in the early morning – Ngorongoro Crater

A freezing dik dik antelope in  Seronera Valley 

Zebras resting in the middle of the day but still alert for predators

Vevert monkey in Lerai Forest at Ngorongoro.

Curious little lion cubs near Sametu Kopjes in the Central Serengeti

Black rhino in the early morning coming towards our vehicle – Ngorongoro Crater

My name is Peter Meena the driver guide for ADS. This time I had a great group with the last name of Kedda where our trip started from 21st to 27th June. There were seven adults it total and it was nice to all be in one vehicle together. We started our safari by visiting the Western Serengeti (Mbalageti Lodge), Central Serengeti (Seronera Sametu Camp) and then we finished up with Ngorongoro (Crater Serena Lodge).

Here are a couple of interesting pictures to share with you. It seems everyone is sharing pictures of the big cats (lions, cheetahs and leopards) plus the other big 5 animals (elephant, rhino, buffalo). Here is something to mix it up at they say.

GIRAFFE: This solitary giraffe was quenching his thirst in the Grumeti River. It’s amazing to see this alpine animal spreading it’s fore limb’s and tossing it’s long neck into the water. It was very interesting to see how he was bringing his long neck up and down as if he was playing see – saw.

STUCK ZEBRA: The Zebra in the photo was deeply stuck in the mud of the Seronera River. To my experience he was trying to cross and make it through the water not knowing that sometimes mud can turn into quick sand.

MATING PUFF ADDERS: This couple of Puff Adders were seen mating. We stayed on to watch this exercise. It’s unbelievable to see how long these Serpents lasted in the affair because we left before they were done. It was awesome.

FLOCK OF BLACK HEADED HERON’S: We viewed this flock of Black Headed Herons perched on top of an acacia tree accompanied by young chicks, together with females and males. The entire flock was busy. Some were mating and some were nurturing the young one’s. What a great great scenario.

With appreciation,
Peter Meena.

Greetings from Arusha, Tanzania. My name is Ally, a guide with ADS, and I am home now after completing a safari with a really nice family from Connecticut, USA with a mother, father, 13-year old son, and a 9-year old daughter. Their names were Karen, Alan, Alexander and Isobel. We spent a total of six nights on safari finishing the trip on July 1st when the clients departed back home on KLM Airlines.

One of the most interesting sightings occurred in the Grumeti area of the West Serengeti. We watched a lioness catch a Thomson Gazelle but she did not immediately kill the gazelle. Rather, she seemed to play with it for quite some time. It was very sad to watch and even myself was holding back tears. I explained to the clients that this is how mother nature works. It is all part of the magnificent Serengeti ecosystem though sometimes it can be difficult not to get emotionally involved with the struggles of some of these beautiful animals.

Sincerely,

Ally Dhulkfil

I am Arnold Yahaya Mushi, the head guide of Africa Dream Safaris, and I have just finished my safari with two guests from Wisconsin, USA named Greg and Kathy. These guests first arrived into the Western corridor of the Serengeti on June 15, 2013 where I picked them up at the Grumeti Airstrip to start our 8-night safari.

We got a good chance to see very big herds of zebra and wildebeest as they were migrating from nyasirori on the way to the grumeti game reserve. The immediate area was very dry and almost all the swamps were complete dry and hence the migration was moving quickly.

Also seen in the West Serengeti were big groups of hippo outside of the water and walking on dry land. We also spotted a pride of lions laying next to the sun pepper bush trying to hunt wildebeest. They were unsuccessful but we managed to take very good pictures of lioness and wildebeest together.

As usual there were plenty of the big croc’s and we also saw the black and white Colobus monkey relaxing up on a fig tree very close to the river. The Grumeti was full of hippo’s as well, thus it was very good beginning to our safari.

Coming to the Central Serengeti we got a chance to see two very big male lions and large numbers of elephants. In the well-known Seronera Valley we spotted a leopard up on a sausage tree and there happened to be elephants crossing underneath. Not far way from the place where we spotted the leopard, we saw a lioness up resting in another sausage tree.

On the way to Moru Kopjes near Lake Magadi we watched a mother cheetah with her cub hunting a female thomson’s gazelles. The mother cheetah broke one of the gazelle’s legs from the rear so that she could give her cub hunting lessons. It was an extraordinary experience and we spent more than two hours there. Later the mother decided to kill the gazelle and dragged the carcass into the shade to eat.

At the moment this area is dry with very short grass and home to large numbers of thomson’s gazelles. Also in the same area where the national park in doing controlled burning of the grasses we saw southern ground hornbill, very rare bird that lives for 35 years and produces just two eggs only after 9 years.

Coming to Sametu kopjes towards the Eastern side of the park we saw a big pride of lions resting under the balanite tree. It seems like they been eating well. One of the male lions was moving around but the cubs were just resting next to the water.

At the Gol kopjes in the southeast Serengeti we saw three cheetahs, but they were just lying on the tall grasses. The area is very dry but there were large numbers of gazelles and ostriches.

The Ngorongoro Crater is very cold at the moment. Down on the floor of the Crater we saw seven lionesses and one male lions, also a rhino near Lake Magadi. The lake has enough water but there were only a few flamingo’s because they are now migrating to the different lakes in the Rift Valley. We did see big herds of zebras, wildebeests and buffaloes.

At Lake Manyara National Park, it was very good because the guests enjoyed the ground water forest and the big numbers of baboons that were playing in the area. Also we saw a large a herd of buffaloes that were surrounded with cattle egrets. In the dry woodlands of Manyara there were large numbers of elephants and also blue monkeys.

Please enjoy a few of my pictures.

Thank you.

Arnold Y. Mushi
ADS-Driver Guide
June 26, 2013

Note the leopard above the elephant in the picture below.

Jambo! My name is Emmanuel and I a driver-guide with ADS. I have just completed a very special safari with my two guests from California. There names are Joseph and Courtney. It was an extra special trip as the guest were celebrating their 75th and 74th birthdays. As pictured here we arranged for them to receive our traditional Maasai birthday gifts.

Thankfully the high expectations I had for this special safari were exceeded with the tremendous wildlife action we encountered.  We enjoyed a total of 8 nights on safari with 2 nights in the West Serengeti at Kirawira Tented Camp, 2 nights in the Central Serengeti at Four Seasons Bilila, 2 nights on and near the Ngorongoro Crater split between Lion’s Paw Camp and the Ngorongoro Manor and our final 2 nights in Tarangire National Park at Swala Tented Camp.

It turned out to be a spectacular program and we really got lucky with some tremendous wildlife encounters. Some of the highlights included watching a lion kill, close encounters with both cheetahs and leopards, witnessing the great migration, watching the large crocs in the Grumeti River, spending time with a hyena family at their den site and in general just enjoying the natural beauty of Tanzania’s national parks, which I am very proud to call my own.

Attached to my posting are some pictures from my safari. Asante Sana!

Emmanuel Kichao
ADS Guide
June 25, 2013

Jambo! My name is Raphael, a guide with ADS, and I have just finished my safari ending June 16, 2013 with 2 guests from California, USA. It was an amazing safari because we started in the Western Corridor of the Serengeti where the migration was located. We saw masses of wildebeests together with zebras. If that was not enough, we saw them crossing the Grumeti River and witnessed one wildebeest taken by a crocodile. In the Western Serengeti we also saw a pride of lions hunting multiple wildebeests. They were making successful hunts and then leaving them without eating. In the West Serengeti, we also saw a beautiful white and black colobus monkey and monitor lizard along the grumeti river.

In the central part of the Serengeti (SERONERA VALLEY) we saw a mother leopard with her two cubs enjoying two kills (both thomson gazelles) in a tree. The mother leopard was having a difficult time dragging the prey up the tree as the cubs kept pushing it back to the ground. They did this four times but it was enjoyable for my guests and I to watch.

Around Sametu Kopjes in then Central-Eastern part of the Serengeti we saw a pride of lions eating a buffalo and there was a mother carrying a cub in her mouth not more then ten days old I would estimate.

We drove down into the crater very early in the morning (06:00am) and suddenly we met a black rhino on the road around Lerai forest. We also a saw a Zebra giving birth in the crater. Another very interesting sight was coming across puff adders mating in the middle of the road. Attached here are a few of my pictures.

Zebra being born in the Ngorongoro Crater

Wildebeest crossing the Grumeti River, West Serengeti (note the elephant in the background)

Red dragonfly near the Grumeti River, West Serengeti

A wonderful picture of a mother leopard dragging a Thomson Gazelle up a tree.

One of the leopard cubs is about to start eating the gazelle

A one-tusker elephant in the Ngorongoro Crater

White and Black colobus monkey

Two lions resting at Sametu Kopjes

Male lion with Buffalo kill at Sametu Marsh in Central Serengeti

June is one of the more spectacular times to visit the Serengeti. It is a dynamic time for a safari. June is the season of change with the great migration pushing northward as the green season slowly gives way to the long dry season. This was another great safari for me this June. We wrapped up our trip on June 8th and I am excited to get back out to the Serengeti for a late June safari.

My guests arrived into Kilimanjaro on Tuesday 28th May 2013 and departed Saturday June 08 when they flew back to the USA, Colorado. This was their first time in Africa and they were so happy, seeing the great herds of wildbeests and zebras who were migrating northward approaching Bologonja springs, which means in a  few days time they will cross the Sand River. Some highlights are as follows:

Zebra migration in the Central Serengeti

Lonely male lion at Gol Kopjes, East Serengeti

Mother cheetah with two cubs and a kill in the Gol Kopjes area of the East Serengeti

Seronera Spring

Sunrise in the North Serengeti

Two female lions at Tagora Plains in the Central Sernegeti

I have just concluded my first safari for June and am preparing to head back out for hopefully another great adventure in the Serengeti. My most recent safari was a big success in both the West and Central Serengeti. The wildlife viewing was good along the Grumeti River as well as the surrounding plains where we saw a pride of lions with cubs and some big groups of giraffe.

In the Central Serengeti the game viewing was also great where we saw big herd of zebras, elephants, buffaloes, leopards, lions and cheetahs hunting. The East Serengeti which is usually more dry this time of year was also surprisingly good and at a special place named Gol Kopjes we saw lions and cheetahs. In Tarangire National Park, game viewing was good in the Silalei Swamp where many big herds of elephants were grazing and also long the Tarangire River where we came across a leopard with a kill.

I hope you enjoy a few of my pictures. I have tried to take some more unusual pictures a little different then the ones traditionally posted on the ADS blog.