Sitting on the deck at the pool looking out at the breath-taking view, I have also been watching a family of Marico sun-birds as they busily and happily gather nectar from the wild flowers that are growing in abundance. In the background, I can hear the drone of bees as they too collect pollen from the acacia tree which is so pretty at the moment, with its dainty yellow powder puff flowers.
The past week has been quite warm at Lamai, but two days ago, we had a welcome storm which swept across the plains, filling the rock pools and crevices and making life that much easier for the resident hyrax families, mongooses, lizards which all give us so much pleasure.
Our lion sightings continue to be amazing and on an outing with Gabriel just a couple of days ago, guests were lucky enough to see several sightings of different groups, including the mating of a lion and lioness, and if that wasn't enough, there were plenty of elephant in the area and guests witnessed another mating, with lot of trumpeting and interest from other members of the herd!
One sadness for us is that out on a drive a few days ago, we came across the young pride that live near the camp. We noticed that the young female had a snare around her neck which was obviously causing her much distress. Vets from the Parks department kindly agreed to come out with a view to darting her and removing the snare. However, on the day they were here, neither the pride nor the young lioness were anywhere to be seen, despite search teams being sent out with our guides. Then two days ago, a young female lion was spotted just below camp. We weren't able to see if it was our girl with the snare around her neck or not, and just hope if it is, she has been able to feed herself and is not in too much pain, as in a case like this, the rest of her family would almost definitely leave her to fend for herself. We hadn't seen this lioness for a couple of months and presumed she and her brothers had followed the wildebeest herds out of the area in November. After seeing her again, it is obvious that she wandered into the area surrounding the villages where she must have picked up the snare. Hopefully she stays close by now and doesn't wander off again.
There have been lions seen almost every day in the area and one pride has very small cubs, approximately 2 months old. It is a common sight to see either a male or female lion lying resting on top of a rock, admiring the glorious view laid out in front of him/her.
The lodge is being spruced and polished today, awaiting the arrival of thirteen guests. There is a positive vibe and air of excitement, and all our staff are worthy of a pat on the back.. YES – Lamai Serengeti last night won the award for “Best New Safari property in Africa”. We are all very proud and delighted!
