Active crossing in the Mara

There was a heavy crossing activity at the paradise crossing point yesterday as herds cross over to the west of the Mara River. These were mainly the herds that came from the south and crossed the Talek river north. They have been moving en masse across Paradise plain to the River and are now crossing over west. Many have been dying from predation by crocodiles and others from trampling in the stampede in the river. The past two days have been full of crossing and crocodile predation activities at both main crossing and cul de sac crossing points. the crossing startedd yesterday at around 12.30pm then stopped and again at both crossing points at around 4pm, and continued till just before dark. The previous day we had some animals crossing in the full moon night.

 

Wildebeests moving in a zigzag line across the plains

Zebras running across the grasslands towards the river to cross

Wildebeests decending into te river and crossing

Some makes it safely while others perish in the river

A stampede towards the river crossing point

Crocodile feeds on one of the unlucky wildebeests

Update on the wildebeest migration

Map of the Mara showing current wildebeests concentration location

Wildebeests crossing the Talek river

wildebeests at sunrise this morning

The movement of the wildebeests in the Mara over he past few days has really changed. Many of the animals I reported earlier, have left the central plains and either crossed the river west onto the Mara triangle or north towards Rhino ridge.


The herds split just before crossing the Talek river at different points last week. Some animals crossed near Talek gate and headed north, some into Olare Orok conservancy and other just east of Rhino ridge on the border of the reserve. The remaining herds have been crossing the river near Rekero camp. These ones have been moving along the Mara river towards the main crossing and started crossing today. We had about 3000 animals crossing with the crocodiles killing at the least 3 during the 45 minutes crossing.

Down at lookout hill, the crossings continued at different points, with the animals heading due west after crossing the river. The first herds that crossed the river last week are now heading towards the salt lick.

Predation on the herds was quite significant over the week with the Mara prides swinging into action. We witnessed a few kills in the past few days. The 3 male cheetah coalition of honey’s boys killed a few young wildebeest and at least one adult in the past one week and a half.

We anticipate to the crossing to continue for a few days in the south and the loita herds are now pushing south from Musiara area towards the main crossing. This is where it is likely to be busy over the next weeks.