WILDLIFE REPORT SINGITA GRUMETI, TANZANIA For the month of February, Two Thousand and Sixteen

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1 WILDLIFE REPORT SINGITA GRUMETI, TANZANIA For the month of February, Two Thousand and Sixteen Temperature Rainfall Recorded Sunset & Sunrise Average maximum: 32 C (89.6 F) Sasakwa: 68.2 mm Sunrise: 6:49 Average minimum: 23.5 C (74 F) Faru Faru: 35 mm Sunset: 19:01 Sabora: 43 mm Samaki: 7 mm Risiriba: 110 mm Here's our wildlife round-up for the month, and what a month it's been! Lions: We had some great lion sightings in February with a total of 72 sightings for the month. As with previous months, the majority of the sightings took place out west. The five three-year old, nomadic, once- Butamtam males continued to spend most of their time around Sabora. The Butamtam pride females and their offspring were seen mostly in the Sasakwa area, and there were many sightings on and around Sasakwa Hill. Equestrian Centre manager, Alison Mundy, saw the lions much too often for her liking as the lions spent a lot of their time close to the stables and horse paddock. One morning before letting the horses out to

2 graze, Ali and her team spent half an hour searching in and around the paddock to make sure it was lionfree. Once they were sure the coast was clear they brought the horses from the stables to the paddock to graze. Not even five minutes later Ali heard the horses making a noise and came out of her office to see lions in the paddock. All of the horses were lined up next to the paddock gate ready for her to open it so they could get out! Ali and her team immediately chased the lions off. Needless to say over the next few days it was difficult to persuade the horses to go back into the paddock! (Photo by Joe Kibwe) The ones to watch: We are keeping an eye on the above-pictured coalition of five nomadic males which frequent the Colobus Crossing area. Guide Joe snapped this photo of them this month. We estimate that they are around four years old on average and, because of strength in numbers, would already give fully developed male lions in smaller coalitions a run for their money. If they move further north into the concession they could become a force to be reckoned with at Grumeti, so we are definitely watching this space. Leopards: What is it with February? For the fourth year in a row, February has again proven to be leopard month and Singita Grumeti. There were 29 leopard sightings this month one leopard a day, on average! As with January, the majority of leopards seen were female. Female leopards tend to be shyer than males and therefore are generally seen less. The fact that the majority of the sightings were of females means that the leopard population in the area is growing continuously more confident and comfortable with the safari vehicles. There were four sightings of females with cubs, three of them different family groups! Not only is this thrilling because leopard cubs are a special treat, but the fact that three different females and their cubs

3 were seen suggests once again, how comfortable the female leopard population at Grumeti is becoming. The more cubs that are exposed to and become comfortable with the safari vehicles, translates to an even more relaxed population for the future. (Photo by Joe Kibwe) (Photo by Ryan Schmitt) Cheetahs: The two mother cheetahs, each with two cubs, once again dominated cheetah sightings. The mother cheetah with the two younger cubs continued to make the immediate Sabora area their home. Others seen on the concession were a coalition of two brother cheetahs, a single male cheetah, and a single female cheetah. Where there were cheetahs, there was action in February and these fast cats made up the majority of memorable wildlife sightings this month. In the next photo a mother leads her two cubs to feast on a Thompson's gazelle.

4 (Photo by Ryan Schmitt) Elephants: Elephant sightings in February were double that of January most likely due to the curtailing rains. Large herds were regularly seen around Sasakwa airstrip. (Photo by Ryan Schmitt)

5 Wild dogs: Some exciting wild dog sightings occurred on the concession this month and most of them took place near the Raho drainage in the Nyati plains area, just on the border with the National Park. The second release of wild dogs from the Nyasirori release sight took place toward the end of February. The 17 dogs that were released joined six members of the pack that were released in April We are extremely delighted to have additional wild dogs in the area and hope to see a lot more of them in the future. Extra special sightings: Guides and guests were lucky enough to spot some truly amazing animals this month: caracals and African wild cats. You may or may not have noticed the s at the end of both of these species names and that is not a mistake as there were two sightings of each species! Both of these smaller feline predators are very rarely see, so the fact that there were two separate sightings of each is extra special! Other special sightings were an African rock python, a serval, and two large herds of over 50 giraffes.

6 Lucky with leopards Unforgettable! This is the word guide Ed Ayo uses to describe the amazing two days he spent guiding out of Faru Faru. Ed and his guest saw seven leopards in two days! All of the sightings took place around the Faru area, no more than a few kilometres apart from each other. The sightings were of two separate mothers, each with two young cubs, and a single female south of Koroya Hill. Both Ed and his guests were thrilled. The most notable about it, as Ed points out, is to see two different sets of leopard cubs in two days. As we mentioned earlier, seeing leopard cubs at Singita Grumeti is not common, so to see two different sets in two days is absolutely incredible. (Photo by Braya Masunga) (Photo by Ryan Schmitt) Ed has been a field guide at Singita Grumeti for over eight years. Not only was this the most leopards he had ever seen over such a short period of time, but, as he told his guest, he had never guided guests at Singita that have ever seen this many leopards during the course of their stay. She was one lucky guest!

7 Lion and cheetah chase (Photos by Ryan Schmitt) Gerald and his guests were lucky enough to see an amazing sighting on the morning of Friday, 12 February, in front of Sabora Tented Camp. The sun was bright and the grasslands were full of dew, Gerald recalls. In front of Sabora were a mother cheetah and two subadult cubs of about 18 months old. The cheetahs were looking around, sensing the environment hoping to get food. But 50 metres west of the cheetah, guests and guide saw a lounging, single male lion. All of the sudden, the cheetah cubs flushed a side-striped jackal out of the grass and chased it vigorously, but the jackal got away. The cubs sat down to restore the energy they used up during the sprint. Immediately, the male lion stood and came quickly to the cheetahs' resting point. The lion had obviously thought the cubs had caught whatever it was they had been chasing and hoped to grab the kill away from them. Unfortunately for the lion, once he got closer to the cheetahs, he realized they were just resting with no kill. The lion laid back down, now much closer to the cheetahs than he was before.

8 Now, the cubs had found a new activity to keep them amused. They both crouched in the grass and began stalking the male lion. It was funny, Gerald says, because they were crouching as if stalking a scrub hare! The lion gave a sudden roar and brief chase to disperse the two cubs. They ran away, but then came back to the lion, at which time he chased them off again. This back and forth continued repeatedly. Eventually, the cheetah cubs became bored with the activity, and soon settled down and continued with their own business.

9 A male lion could take out a young cheetah in one fell swoop, so to witness this interaction between cubs and a lion, with no serious harm being done, was most interesting! Maybe the cubs could sense from the lion s behaviour that he would not be a threat to them, which is why they acted the way they did? Or maybe they were just lucky that they messed with the right lion, in which case we hope they become a little more careful in the future! Python in the paddock (Photos by Martin Dodwell) Lions weren t the only predators seen at the Equestrian Centre this month. As per the daily routine, the grooms had gone into the paddock at 16h00 to bring the horses back to the stables. Only, on this particular day, one of the grooms spotted something unusual: a dead impala lamb in the bushes with no signs of injury. He looked around and soon saw a python resting under a bush. He then reported this to the Equestrian Centre s Martin Dodwell. The grooms leave work at 17:00 and everything quietens down for the evening, so at 17:30 Martin went back to where the python and impala were seen earlier, and found the python had started eating the impala. The python was struggling to get the front legs of the impala folded in so it could swallow it. Martin, only one metre away from the scene, started filming and taking photos. The python wasn't phased by his presence, and it wasn't only Martin watching the scene. Other impala were aware of what was happening and standing about 30 metres away. The python did eventually get the impala s legs folded suitably, and it took it approximately 20 minutes to ingest the impala.

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11 Serval in a tree? When guide Joe Kibwe and his guests were on game drive in the Nyasirori area, southwest of Sabora, and came across this serval in a tree, all them, especially Joe, were very surprised! Servals are known to occasionally climb trees, but as it's uncommon to even see a serval in the wild, it is extremely uncommon to see one in a tree! Although they are predators, their small size requires them to be stealthy, in order to avoid the much bigger predators of the savannah. This was a fantastic sighting. Wild dog surprise Guide Peter Chatama and his guests were busy watching a mother cheetah with two cubs who were hunting Thompson s gazelle along Raho drainage. Peter and his guests were soon distracted when they noticed large herds of gazelles, impalas, zebras, wildebeests, elands and giraffes racing from south to north. The cheetahs took off into the herds and they lost visual of them just before they realized that, as Peter aptly puts it, the plains has been invaded by the newly introduced wild dogs, the ones released this month. Nine African hunting dogs showed up south of Raho drainage, about sunset time, and were the reason for the racing herds of animals on the plains. They were divided into two groups. Peter and his guests watched in awe, and before they could even register what was happening, one group caught and ate a male Thomson gazelle in front of the game viewer! The first guest sighting of some of the newly released dogs on the concession could not have been more perfect!

12 (Photo by Ryan Schmitt) By Elizabeth Hamrick Singita Grumeti Serengeti Tanzania Twenty-ninth of February 2016