MDONYA OLD RIVER CAMP

Sightings of the month

June is a month where the change in seasons is noticeable as the waterholes and vegetation starts to dry out, this causes a ‘mini migration’ to occur as the ants move their colonies which was observed up close for 3-4 days as they were moving through camp. Watch the video.

Elephants are seen regularly walking past and we have been pleased to see the return of our resident bull elephants such as Charlie, Louise, Kijiti and last but not least Sikio Mbovu who made a grand return by walking right through the camp. Sightings of lions walking in the riverbed and their constant roaring at night, has given us exciting moments.

Spottings of serval and leopards are frequent and we even had a day where all of our guests saw at least two of them. We got footage of a female leopard in camp at night on our camera trap and also Fundi, our resident leopard, has been seen on several occasions. We have a new resident visitor: a very confident female Bushbuck.

New to this season: we are expanding our collaboration with the Ruaha Carnivore Project and STEP Project by getting more directly involved in collecting data for research and conservation purposes.

Pictures: leopards and Louise in camp ©Andrea Pompele All Rights Reserved
Picture: bushbuck ©Rebecca Phillips All Rights Reserved

By Rebecca, Andrea and all Mdonya Team.

LAKE MANZE CAMP

Sightings of the month

The camp has been a buzz of animal activity since the start of the season with their frequent visits feeling like a “welcome back” occasion.

It is not everyday that you come face to face with an impressive elephant named “Laygos” in camp. To see him lying on his side snoozing in front of the lounge area – “priceless and extraordinary”. Elephant activity in and around camp has varied from lonely bulls to groups of eight to ten at various times of the day and night feeding on the half eaten Doum palm nuts dropped by baboons.

A wakeup call at 6 am everyday by an array of bird calls and sounds – A tune that no electronic device can equal. The game drives have gone extremely well with sightings of Leopard and Lion kills on various occasions- An other tick off all guests bucket list. It is extremely satisfying seeing the guests embark from the game drive vehicle with this massive smile and a content swagger in their walk. The enthusiasm in their stories of the days sightings are contagious and flow from all guests during dinner time. There is no TV documentary that can emulate the atmosphere you experience here at Lake Manze Camp in the Selous.

Thanks to Graham and Helen Williams for the lions pictures and to our excellent guides for the other game pictures. See you all soon By Shaun, Milinda and all Manze Team.

FANJOVE PRIVATE ISLAND

News from the water side

The new season has started and as it always happens at this time of the year the sea by the beach is alive with the dark shade created by the thousands of sardines.

The egret are having a feast in trying to catch them as well as the trevally and some occasional barracuda. We also had two nests of green turtles that hatched this season which is great news!

Our new dive master Hakim has carried out several discovery dives for the fun of our guests who wanted to try to see the world with the eyes of a fish.

We are now using local Dhows for our activities and transfer which gives our guests some experience of the way transport by sea has always been for millennia this side of the world (we do though also use the engine to go against the wind, cheating a bit but for the sake of comfort ..)

So we are looking forward to host you all soon on our fabulous island, meantime watch Rebecca Ryen’s video on Fanjove’s wonders…

By Sal, Hakim and all Fanjove Team.