LAKE MANZE CAMP

News from Selous Game Reserve

An action-packed month is an understatement.
Guests have been bombarded with sightings from Lion kills to Leopard playing hide and seek up trees to Wild dogs on a hunt.

They say you are lucky to find the Wild dogs. Not true. The persistence and perseverance of the guides have paid off on a couple of occasions this month in tracking them down close to the Beho Beho mountain area. They have to eat so there is always a chance that they will sprout up somewhere. Right place right time.

Elephants for dinner. Priceless.
Three Kudus wandering past while setting up the dinner table. Exceptional.
The lake area is brimming with birdlife. The Bee eaters and kingfisher showing up at will even posing for an inviting photo.

A new visitor in camp. A Collared Palm Thrush moved in and is not shy at all. Calling and following you around. We have aptly name it Bubbles as it has growths on the beak that represent round bubble-like growths. Not sure what they are but he is a happy chappie indeed.

Thanks to Ariane and Joel Potter and John Schmieding for some great shots taken around Lake Manze Camp during their visit. Your contribution is highly appreciated.
The season is in full swing and we await the arrival of all our new guests to come experience our paradise hidden here in the bush.

Safe travels.

By Shaun, Milinda and all Manze Team.

MDONYA OLD RIVER CAMP

News from the wild side

Leopards have been on the rendez-vous this month!
Over 15 leopards were spotted while on game drive by our amazing team. We all think exactly the same, they are truly amazing cats. Their ‘rosettes’ mesmerize you when strolling along while their climbing ability would make any of our house cats jealous. Though the bigger leopards weigh up to 90 kilos, they are capable of pulling up to two times their own body weight up a tree to escape competition from other predators and scavengers.
In areas where competition isn’t though, leopards are seen feeding on the ground as carrying prey uses a lot of energy. Leopards have a well known, forever enemy; the baboon due to the fact of sharing arboreal habitats. Nevertheless they do not prey on them specifically. As part of the BIG 5, is the fastest of all, reaching 27m per second on full speed, averaging 70km/h.
Though being the most numerous of the Big5, the leopard is usually rarely seen as they are solitary cats and have enormous territories but in Ruaha National Park, they do not seem affected by human activities.

Nevertheless, at Mdonya Old River camp, we also like to focus on other more common animals that make safaris even more enjoyable:
the impalas, seen around every corner, are more amazing that one would think. They are indeed small antelopes but are capable of jumping over 2 meters high and 11 meters long, making them quite difficult to catch. When disturbed, the herd will explode like a firework in all directions and to re-group they are one of a few using scent from their pedal-gland or The black patch on their ankle,
the Maasai giraffe or Kilimanjaro giraffe can only come from our deepest imagination. Their long necks have exactly the same number of vertebras as us, 7. Further than having a long neck, giraffes have the biggest heart in the animal kingdom, weighing up to 13 kilos and capable of pumping large amount of oxygenated blood to their brains. Nature is made wonderfully well.

Life in camp has been beautiful. And game drive have been amazing, but enough said, it is time to join us!

Thanks to Coral and Fernando Macaya for sharing their safari videos with us.

Best wishes,
Iris, Kingsley and all Mdonya Team.