Nature shows her two profiles every day, that of the delicacy of landscapes and their inhabitants and that of the cold and inevitable aggression of the predator against its prey.
May and June are characterised by the massive presence of flowers and butterflies between tents in camp.
In those months a walk along the camp pathes is a holiday in the holiday, you can enjoy the harmony of the light movements and of the gentle colours.
But nature itself reminds us that beauty can also be grave and lethal. One morning during breakfast we realised the presence in the vicinity of the Mdonya’s pride: the evidence was given to us by the last verses of a zebra on which the 8 lions had pounced. The screams of the poor animal did not last long and for 4 days lions, hyenas and jackals were spotted in the camp.
In another sighting another pride of lions tried unsuccessfully to access the prey of a leopard, cunningly positioned on the highest branches of a sausage tree. The ability to climb logs and branches of a lion cannot be compared to that of a leopard. Our guests witnessed the various attempts of a lioness to reach the leopard and its consequent slips to the ground. The leopard, a beautiful male, remained in place all the time and certainly watched smugly and satisfied when the lions finally left the area.
There were several sightings of the various prides of ruaha, several leopards and also 3 sightings of the rare cheetahs of the ruaha.
Thanks to Raffaella Scuderi for her videos and pictures of the leopard story.
Other pictures in the gallery from Ayoubu and Micol.
Mdonya Old River Camp Team
Lake Manze - Nyerere National Park Tanzania
It seems the world did not come to a standstill.
The plentiful animals did not wait impatiently for our return but instead carried on with their normal life enjoying what happens on a daily basis.
Sightings have been top notch with the wild dogs around, which is quite rare for this time of the year. A pack of nine dogs and a pack of seven dogs have been sighted on a good couple of occasions.
Lions are in abundance in certain areas and birds to die for. We are still searching for the remainder of the Manze pride who seem to have moved on or joined some other pride. Not to worry we will track them down.
The Manze herd of Ellies have been rumbling through camp on a daily basis, although the first couple of times were rushed as they were not used to activity and people in camp. It is nice to see that one of the moms has a brand-new offspring but a photo opportunity is difficult as they protect the new addition.
When two elephants meet the greeting turns to a tussle of muscle with no winner in the end. Luckily, we just shake hands or give a kiss on the cheek.
When the Masaai excitedly call you and say “ haraka raka” which means faster faster, you grab the camera and run. A leopard has a baboon by the throat close to tent number 1. After a quick sprint we found the baboon and leopard but the other baboons were barking and harassing the leopard. Before we could get the shot the Leopard dragged it behind a bush. After waiting for a vehicle we found that the Hyena had stolen the kill and the hungry Leopard was running off into the distance.
A rare spotting of a Civet was one of the highlights of the month.
Have you ever seen a Malachite kingfisher after a good night out? Make up and a good combing of the feathers will do the trick. Grooming still has to be done.
We want to say thanks to Warwick Stuart Broad for being in the right place at the right time and for allowing us to use his excellent photos taken during his trip with us here at Lake Manze Camp.
Hope to see you all back here one day and for the first timers, you have so much to see and experience. It is time to build some great memories.
Safe travels.
Shaun, Milli and the Lake Manze Team.
