LAKE MANZE CAMP

News from Selous Game Reserve

Cats and dogs. What is all the fuss about. When you get into the bush your expectations are to see the Lions, the elusive Leopard and of course the Wild Dogs. This month has been exceptional with sightings of all the predators in the areas that we do our game drives.

The wild dog alpha females are currently pregnant and will soon be heading out to find a den so a new generation of pups can be born. Great to see the population of the wild dogs increasing.

Our resident Leopard was spotted on a couple occasions in camp at night and on one of the walking safari Leopard tracks with a cub was spotted. Has our resident have a cub? Only time will tell.

Birdlife as usual is a sight for sore eyes. Unfortunately, our so called resident Goshawks have left the nest and have not been seen since the camp opened. Greener pastures await them out in the bush.
Our trusty one tusker group of Elephants with their young ones have been frequenting the camp on a regular basis. The collared big bull makes his appearance on a regular basis chomping away on the Doum palm fruits in camp.

Is June the month of love? We want to say congratulations to all the honeymooners that chose to spend part of their honeymoon with us. May the safari bug bite and you all return with young ones to visit us again.

Thanks to guest Ales Wagner and our guides in camp for sharing with us they beautiful pictures.

Congratulations to the whole team in earning the Tripadvisor 2018 Service of Excellence.
Well done team.

Safe travels.

By Shaun, Milinda and all Manze Team.

MDONYA OLD RIVER CAMP

News from the wild side

It has been quite an exciting month here at Mdonya old river camp.
At the beginning of the month, we spotted (as well as camera traps), three lions in our area. One young handsome male and two females. They kept us all awake countless nights while mating, growling and calling. One specific morning, after they had walked through the camp, they were spotted basking in the sun, not far from some shade.
Every 10-15 minutes, the male was mounting the female. It was a very interesting behavior as usually we see them asleep! The female was attracting him by walking around and lifting her tail and lying down near him. While mounting her, the male would bite her neck in total dominance. The mounting lasted 20 seconds each time which was very quick. Another very interesting behavior was the other female who wasn’t ready to mate. She and her sister could not stay near one another, growling, flicking tails and fighting! We believed that the female is estrus was just very protective!

Once they left the nearby proximity of our camp (they never wonder too far) another spotted friend appeared and spent a few days in camp. A young male leopard that was first spotted on our camera trap. Once on a early morning, while everyone was still asleep, the resident bachelor herd of Impala ran onto one of the guest’s veranda and actively alarm calling. The whole camp was woken up and excited to know what had triggered such a reaction of that peaceful herd. With the presence of the Maasai, we spotted the young leopard for the first time, lying on the main path leading to the camp. He had obviously missed his opportunity to catch a tasty meal and was now the one mobbed by many more animals. The guests and the staff were mesmerized by the beauty of the youngster while he was sitting up, peacefully looking at us. After a few minutes he moved off and we thought it was the end of it.
But the same night, when we were all around the dinner table, the young male was again spotted but only a couple meters away from us! Again, extremely relaxed he let us get a glimpse of him. We spent half an hour with him before moving back to the table. In the darkness of the night he then walked away, climbed a tree, and carefully followed our exciting conversations lying down comfortably 30 meters away from us

Those are some exciting adventures that happen right in the middle of our camp. Of course, we are also delighted to view the giraffes, zebras and many other antelopes walking by throughout the days.
Let’s just say… This is another month spent at Mdonya Old River Camp.

Thanks to Ingrid Lucien and David Cox for sharing with us their pictures.

Best wishes,
Iris, Kingsley and all Mdonya Team.