This Week At Angama #90

In last week’s blog, I shared that I had only seen one herd of about seven elephant. How quickly things can change in the Mara. This week, I must have seen close to 200 elephant in one morning drive of just three hours. The news that the wildebeest have headed back to Tanzania must have reached them. [f 5.0, 1/1600, ISO 400  0.67 ]

A herd of elephant in a fiery, dramatic sunrise. [f 5.0, 1/60, ISO 200 ]

Elephant in the spotlight. [f 18.0, 1/1000, ISO 100 ]

There are so many calves walking around and playing about. Some, like this little one, look to be barely a week old – what a delight. Seeing them in comparison to the adults is simply awe-inspiring. [f 6.3, 1/1000, ISO 400  -0.67]

Elephants use their trunks to drink by sucking water in and then squirting it into their mouths as demonstrated by this big girl. [f 6.0, 1/640, ISO 400 -0.67]

This week’s blog is heavily dominated by elephant, and so is the reserve it seems. Here, a young elephant bullies away an adult lioness. The lioness had just come from feeding on a wildebeest kill in the distance when she walked between a small herd of elephant. [f 5.0, 1/6400, ISO 2000  -0.67]

Reaching high. This big bull elephant is stretching for the soft shooting leaves of a balanites tree. He must be one of the tuskers in the Mara Triangle. [f 6.0, 1/1250, ISO 320 ]

Ostrich generally prefer to roam open areas such as the savannah or desert habitat. I was surprised to see this one in the marshy bushland area of the Mara Triangle along the escarpment – a first for me. [f 5.0,  1/4000, ISO 100  -0.33]

Giraffe numbers have also increased this week, with groups of up to 30 giraffe spotted at a time. [f 5.0, 1/3200, ISO 400  -0.67]

A wide-angle view of the hill Angama Mara rests upon, with an elephant and tree in the frame to make the scene even more interesting. [f 5.0, 1/2500, ISO 250]

Two unidentified young adult male lion have entered the Mara Triangle and are already stirring up trouble. They have settled near the Hippo Pools plains area. Earlier in the week, one of them was mating with a resident female. This was, however, interrupted big two big males. [f6.3  1/1600, ISO 400 -0.67]

These two are the well-known Mara locals; the famous Boxernose and his brother. They showed up and attempted to throw the new boys out. Clearly overpowered, the young males could not stand their ground. What is actually very unusual about this interaction is that Boxernose and his brother do not actually control this area. Their territory is kilometres away, closer to the border. In fact, they had never before been sighted in this area so they were very far away from home. [f 5.0, 1/500, ISO 100 -0.33]

The rare and highly elusive serval cat. It was a stroke of luck to spot this small cat. Despite following it for half an hour, this was the best image I managed to capture. [f 5.6, 1/250, ISO 1250]

The hitchhiker. An ox-pecker enjoying a free ride atop a zebra. [f 6.0, 1/800, ISO 320 -0.33]

A lazy day out for the hyena. Judging from the blood drying on his face, he had quite a good meal earlier. [f 6.3, 1/60, ISO 100]

A grey crowned crane struts away in style.

f 5.6, 1/1600, ISO 400  -0.33

This Week a Year Ago

They were close enough for the lion to stalk and pounce undetected, but when the piglets scattered, she was indecisive as to which one to chase and ended up losing them all. Warthog family 1: Lioness 0. [f 5.6, 1/2500, ISO 320 -0.33]

Photo by Jeff