by nomad
27 February 2008
The rains have carried on in their unenthusiastic way, this season. Some heavy showers but mostly localised and not sustained. Consequently the main Migration herds are quick to move where the best options for food and water are. In the last two weeks, they have spent time in the Loliondo, Gol and Sanjan area but as soon as it started drying up, they moved south and west, passing through Ndutu onto the mid grass plains the other side.
Since the Migration does not move as one, there are still pockets of wildebeest to be found all over this area but the main concentrations are in the south and west. The forecast shows light showers towards at the end of the week, though these are unpredictable. The calving season is also nearing an end with the majority of the babies already here. Despite this, the other game remains excellent throughout the whole south and eastern areas of the eco-system, with plenty of cheetah and lion sightings.
Update 5th February 2008
Despite coming a little early this year, the rains in the Serengeti eco-system have been rather light so far, in fact, worryingly so. January was characterised by lots of dusty drives, as the plains dried out. There have been showers, and some quite heavy, dotted throughout this time but no real sustained period of rain. It is green across the short grass plains now and some more showers are predicted, so hopefully the grass will receive a prolonged boost.
The wildebeest calving season has started - in fact the first babies appeared around mid/late Jan and it is in full swing now. This is where we really hope for regular rainfall to keep enough nutritious grass for the babies to survive. The carnivore sightings are plenty, as they all crowd in for the fest and the terrain makes for good photo opportunities.
So long as the plains do not dry out, we would expect the herds to remain around the short grass and medium grass plain area from now till mid April.