Every time I explore the vast Mara-Serengeti ecosystem I’m reminded that it truly does hold the greatest wildlife viewings on Earth. We’ve preserved some really fun and memorable moments of this magical place during a recent safari. Depending on the time of year, the Mara or the Serengeti is an absolute must for any inaugural safari, and perhaps even for a second or third safari as well! A few days under canvas in the heart of this region will be rewarded with outstanding big cat viewing, and always the chance of witnessing their mesmerizing predatory behavior.

We do not typically go on safari in the Masai Mara in May. It is often raining, the black cotton mud is horrible, the grass can be six feet tall, and the migration is still in the Serengeti. But this year we made a trip to fisi camp, and we are very glad we did!

Stephanie first spent a few days teaching the fundamentals of science writing to students participating in the Michigan State University study abroad course Behavioral Ecology of African Mammals and to a couple of the research assistants at The Mara Hyena Project, where she did the field work for her PhD. Fisi is the Swahili word for hyena, and we were lucky to spend some quality time with the Talek hyenas at their den and on a fresh kill. Steph even saw an old friend – Yogurt, daughter of Moonpie! Yogurt was the last cub born in the clan before Steph finished her field work in 2002, and the last cub she named. The Talek clan is now the largest it has been since research on these hyenas began in 1988, and we are looking forward to catching up with the hyena researchers to get the latest news this safari season.

We were amazed by how many wildebeest and zebra were there -unusual for this time of year. It turns out that the smaller, local “Loita” migration was already in the reserve. The larger migration from the Serengeti has also just started crossing into Kenya, making it an early year for the migration – and a fantastic time to be on safari! Of course, for the kids ANYTIME is a great time to be on safari….

Howard’s car amongst the Loita migration of wildebeest.

The next generation!

Lamu feeds on a freshly killed gnu….while the lower ranking members of the Talek clan wait for some scraps.

You can see just how strong a spotted hyena is when it carries a carcass with ease.

A young adult lioness of the Fig Tree pride, who was hiding a large cub in the grass of Horseshoe Lugga

An incredible group of ostriches.

Lots of fun on safari in the Mara – where Howard and Steph first met 14 years ago!

The Mara is one of our kids’ favorite places!

A sunset picnic dinner.

Another incredible Mara sunset.

Elephants near Amboseli National Park, Kenya.

Two of Stephanie’s stories have recently been published, and both are about conservation issues in the Amboseli area. In February, “Can Mock Hunts Save Lions’ Lives,” about a unique method being used by the Lion Guardians program, appeared in Ensia magazine. You can read it here.

Earlier this month, Steph’s story about Nick Brandt’s art and the creation of the Big Life Foundation was published in a new Scandinavian magazine called The Collection. It is not yet available online, but you can access the pdf here: Hope for Big Life in East Africa

I am proud to work with both of these organizations through my position at the Kenya Wildlife Trust, and I hope you enjoy reading about some of the conservation solutions in action in one of our favorite safari destinations.

Between January and March each year, the Serengeti produces some of the most dramatic wildlife scenes imaginable. This is when the vast herds of wildebeest camp out on the short-grass plains, and the females collectively give birth to hundreds of thousands of calves over a two-week period.

The wildebeest calving season in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania.

The synchronized birth of so many little gnus is a sight in and of itself, but it is just the beginning of an action-packed season full of baby antelopes: and fields flooded with prey allow the local carnivores to showcase their hunting skills out in the open.

Early one morning during a safari in the Serengeti this March, we found a female cheetah and her two large cubs out amongst the countless wildebeest near our camp in the Ndutu area. Over the next two hours we were privileged to witness a hunting lesson unfold as the mother cheetah flushed a young Thomson’s gazelle from its hiding spot and proceeded to allow her cubs to practice their hunting techniques, using the fawn as their toy. After letting the cubs repeatedly trip up and catch the fawn for what seemed like an endless hour, the mother finally instructed the cubs on the final blow and they devoured the kill. While we of course felt some sadness for the fawn, it was incredible to see young cheetahs learning behaviors that are critical for their survival.

A mother cheetah lets go of a Thomson’s gazelle fawn in order to give her cubs an opportunity to practice their hunting techniques.

Learning to catch a gazelle on the fly!

We finished the day with a spectacular Serengeti sundowner, which was made even more enjoyable by an impromptu visit from Ingela Janssen, one of the local lion researchers. Ingela told us about the new work she is doing with the Serengeti Lion Project, trying to understand the threats to lion movement throughout the greater ecosystem, especially between the Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Crater. You can learn more about lion research in Tanzania here.

The Mara-Serengeti ecosystem continues to deliver, in my opinion, the greatest wildlife viewing anywhere on earth. There are exciting scenes all year round, and biologists out in the field rain or shine. We maximize our chances of being in the right place at the right time for these experiences with our choices of location for camps, game drives, and walks. And we always enjoy reliving the stories in the comfort of our camp or lodge at the end of the day.

The view from the pool at Sayari Camp in the Lamai Wedge of the northern Serengeti.

My next update from the Mara-Serengeti will be in July or August, when we will be camped in the Kenyan part of the ecosystem for several safaris….along with more than a million gnus, zebras, and gazelles that will congregate there during the dry season.

Stephanie collects data on lion numbers in the Masai Mara in 2005.

Stephanie is one of more than 50 authors of a scientific paper on lion conservation that is published today in the journal Ecology Letters. “Conserving large carnivores: dollars and fence,” includes lion count data from more than 40 sites across Africa and analyses to test what management options will work best to conserve lions. Stephanie has also written a guest blog post about the paper for Scientific American, “From whisker spots to paradigm shifts: how to save the lions.” Have a look and let us know what you think. I’ll certainly be discussing the issues raised in the paper this week as I guide my guests on a safari through Tarangire, Ngorongoro Crater, and the Serengeti – hopefully while we are enjoying observing some of the lions that were counted for the paper!