At this time of the year, the "ral" migration happens in the Mara: the birds who spend the cold European months in Africa, are in Southern kenya before their long flight home. The species that e are meeting on game drives with guests Tanya and Ron Fasol are the Abdim's stork, the common cuckoo, the Klass' cuckoo and the European bee-eater. The other remarkable sight is the breeding of the Jackson' widow bird, dancing in the long grass with long tail to attract the attention of the female. Today we spend almost one hour watching this performance. And we were the only ones in the middle of the Mara enjoying this!

A month before they are officially due, the rains have started in the Mara. Road are muddy, rivers and streams are difficult to cross, animals are happy. Except for a lioness of the "Aitong pride", who has jut had two cubs and has been disturbed by the fact that new males lions are trying to take over the pride. With so small cubs, she knows that they are in danger to be killed by the new bosses. So yesterday she decided to leave her sisters and go solo, followed by the two meowing babies. She's on her own now, and life will be difficult. But she is nicknamed "mama kali", the tough mother, so hopefully she'll make it!

Kenya has gone through a difficult moment, but Kenyans never cease to surprise for their witticism and intelligence. The same day that x UN secreary general Kofi Annan landed in Nairobi to start the pace process between government and opposition, a baby rhino landed in the Mara. After a year and half of waiting, in the rhino sanctuary next to Saruni a fourth member has joined the resident family of white rhinos. Kofi the veteran diplomat is an element of hope for Kenya. Kofi the baby rhino is a sign of hope for the Mara and especially for this endangered species. The normally grumpy father, Madaraka, is now guarding his baby ay and night. But visitors are allowed!

Mothers are known to never give up on their small ones when in danger. But the elegant mother Grant gazelle that we saw a few days ago in the Aitong Plains, just below Saruni, produced an extraordinary show of bravery and endurance. On a morning game drive, we came across this distressed Grant standing by the remains of her new born, killed by two jackals. With amazing determination, for 45 minutes she chased the two killers, running up and down this rocky environment to make sure that the baby would not suffer further indignity. Jackals are clever hunters, often unafraid of much bigger animals, but in this case they had to give up. Mama Grant managed to chase them away and then decided to cry next to her baby. Our guests filmed the scene and promised to publish the video on YouTube!

It was on the 3rd July around 7 in the evening that the Saruni wild dog pack was spotted again near the lodge. George Senua, one of our trackers on his way from out tented camp, Campi Ya Tembo, found the pack walking along the road a mere 800 meters from the lodge. The dogs were not very shy and when they saw George and the Saruni vehicle, they started walking towards it. The sighting is a very strong indication that population of these rare and endangered species are increasing and they are increasingly comfortable in our area, a typical wild dog habitat. The Saruni pack consists of six adults and two pups. This is the second time they have been spotted near camp. The last time was in November 2006, when a Saruni guide (see report below) and two clients had the priviledge of watching two members of this pack mate less than 1km away from Saruni.

On the afternoon of the 4th July 2007 we were engaged on guiding the clients on a full day out on the plains with a picnic lunch. From Saruni we drove down to the edges of the Maasai Mara National Reserve through the Aitong Plains. In a spot roughly mid-way between Mara Buffalo Camp and Elephant Pepper Camp, we observed some antelope in an agitated state, snorting, twitching nervously and pacing. The behavior is generally indicative of the presence of a predator, so we stopped to see what would happen next. I spotted a large female cheetah lying flat atop a termite mound attempting to conceal herself while gaining a vantage point from which to scout for potential prey. Behind her were 4 cubs! The cubs are very healthy which is rather unusual for their age. Cheetah may have up to 6 cubs in a litter, but very seldom does more than 1 cub survive the first year. Between hunger and other predators, it is unlikely that 75% of cheetah cubs will survive their first year. Seeing 4 healthy cubs all from one litter is a very rare sight indeed! We left the cubs and their mother to their hunting and proceeded towards camp and after merely one kilometer we bumped into 2 male cheetahs patrolling their territory for game. It was a fantastic day and one that I will not forget in a hurry. According to the latest game census there are only between 50 and 60 cheetah left in the Mara, so seeing 6 all in one day is pretty special!

Professor Bunker and his family, form London in Great Britain, could not believe today when on a game drive not far from Saruni our superstar tracker, Lemeria, spotted the cheetah and.... four healthy cubs. At saruni we knew that this cheetah had given birth a couple of weeks ago. But we had never been able to really see them, and to count them. With the help of the local rangers, several lodges on Lemek-Koyiaki group ranches had decided not to approach the mother cheetah to give her the time to raise her cubs before exposing them to vehicles and people. But yesterday they all decided to come out in the open. An amazing sight. The nukber of cheetah is rapidly decreasing all over Africa and we'll do our best to protect "Ine" an d her cubs. There are plenty of gazelles in the area where is is.. so, nom shortage of food. What she now needs is privacy.

On November 15th I was driving back to Saruni from a game drive when, near the Oliopa dam about 2 km from the lodge, I spotted swaying white tails and thought they were impala. The figures were definitely blackish and - I could not believe my eyes. Wow! WILD DOGS? Yes, and there were three of them. I have been hearing about wild dogs being rarely sighted by the Maasai in the northern Mara but wasn’t sure if really they existed. It was only in 2004 when then Saruni’s guide Isaac Rotich (also KPSGA Silver) confirmed this to me after encountering the trio or three other lycaons for he mentioned that all were males. Isaac wasn’t able to take any pictures to prove his unusual sighting, so we left it just like that until our recent encounter again. Our guest Sofia Crain, from Mexico, lent us some of her pictures as a proof to resolve this problem of wild dog encounter no photo taken. Our sighting consisted of two males and one female. They even mated at our scene to prove that there was no worry.

Probably, the last time wild dog, Lycaon pictus, was in the spotlight in the Mara was in 1970s. With the outbreak of canine distemper disease, that kills dogs and cats, their numbers dropped drastically and finally their disappearance in early 1980s. The last time I personally saw them in Kenya was sometime in 1984 when we were scouting in Narok High School. We did not even know they were in danger of extinction. We counted 23 of them. Our second trip into Narok forest was also resourceful; we found sixteen of them this time round. I only learnt later that they were disappearing due to a certain new disease. In the old days, we knew them to be vicious creatures that once they find their prey, it was seized and devoured instantly; never to let it drop down on the ground until all was finished. Not even a drop of blood, the story went. They were also believed to have had a reputation of throwing junks of meat from one dog to the other. These scary stories were common in the rural villages where the animals shared their world.

Were the stories true? Not at all! The fact is that they have a habit of destructiveness and have been known to pursue their victim until it burns out. Packs of up to 40 individuals need a lot of meat and therefore if Maasai sheep were left unattended and found, their shepherd wouldn’t leave the massacre field without regret. No wonder Paul Kirui of Mara Intrepids Club once heard a Maasai saying, “So those devils are still in this region?”. We hated them in our area too and obviously killed them on sight. No one has ever been heard mentioning about wild dogs in Trans-Mara since mid 1970s. Let us hope that in the Northern Mara region, where Saruni Lodge is located, individuals are in good enough number for a sustainable livelihood and viable gene pool. Now, after seeing the Saruni pack mating, the question is: what can we do to help the “painted wolf” to made a real come back?