WILDLIFE REPORT SINGITA LAMAI, TANZANIA For the month of January, Two Thousand and Sixteen

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1 Photo by Mishi Mtili WILDLIFE REPORT SINGITA LAMAI, TANZANIA For the month of January, Two Thousand and Sixteen January in Lamai continued to be very rainy. January is already a generally rainy month in the Lamai area and the fact that it is an el Niño year meant this January was even rainier. The conditions made it slightly difficult to get around, but at the same time made game drives much more exciting! Rain brings cooler temperatures, which in turn makes the wildlife more active, and exciting encounters more frequent. Here's a bird's-eye view of what the big cats and elephants of Lamai have been up to in January: Leopards: Leopard sightings decreased slightly in January, but mainly due to lower occupancies during this time of year. It's not that they are not here - it's just that there were not that many guides with guests out looking for them. All of the leopard sightings in January took place on the Lamai plains, north of the camp. Cheetahs: Cheetahs were seen on their regular stomping grounds, the Lamai plains, north of the camp. The two brother cheetahs that frequent the area were seen around their favourite spot, right next to the Tanzania/Kenya border. One very special development was a sighting of a mother cheetah and two tiny cubs. We hope to see more of this new family in the coming months.

2 Lions: Lion sightings at Lamai were steady in January. The most noteworthy sighting was a mating pair of lions on the Lamai plains, seen multiple days in a row at the beginning of the month. Elephants: Elephant sightings were very good as usual. Many times elephants were seen from the front of the camp treading through the river. On one occasion a big bull passed breathtakingly close to camp!

3 Photo by Adas Anthony Daylight robbery One of the exciting wildlife interactions that took place was when guide Robert and his guests were driving through the Lamai plains and suddenly two lionesses dashed across the road in front of them. Robert drove further down the road to get closer to where the lionesses had crossed, and then spotted them under a balanites tree digging into a zebra carcass. Before the group could begin to discuss the possible circumstances surrounding the carcass, they saw a very disenchanted and startled leopard high up in the tree and were able to immediately piece together what had happened. This leopard had killed the zebra, but before he had time to drag his kill up the tree and safely away from other predators, the lionesses had spotted him and his prize, and sprinted toward him to take the kill for themselves. The leopard quickly conceded defeat, realizing it was not worth risking his life to defend his meal against the two much bigger and stronger cats. He shot up the tree as swiftly as possible and as far up as possible, away from the lionesses below. The leopard made the right decision, but we are sure he was probably not too happy about watching his hardearned meal being eaten by others. Unfortunately, in the bush there are no rules or codes of conduct, and life is far from fair. Photo by Joe Kibwe

4 High places Photos by Mark Nicholson We all know that tree-climbing lions are one of the many special features of the Serengeti, but what about tree-climbing cheetahs?

5 At least one cheetah in the Lamai area has apparently mastered the art of tree climbing, as trails guide trainer Mark Nicholson saw while on game drive. Cheetah are known for using elevated objects, such as fallen trees or termite mounds, to get a better vantage point, but three metres high in a balanites tree is a whole different ball game! Mark and his guests watched while the cheetah stood in the tree and observed his surroundings, and then climb down a little ways before making a leap of faith back to solid earth. By Lizzie Hamrick Singita Lamai Serengeti Tanzania Thirty-first of January 2015