Singita Grumeti: February 2022

February 2022

Singita Grumeti: February 2022

February has been an interesting month with reasonable rainfall. We have seen some wonderful herds of topi in the west, elephants in the central regions and good predator numbers throughout the reserve. Overcast days with reasonable humidity has been great for reptiles, like this ‘Jackson’s forest lizard’ seen above, photographed on the Grumeti River. The river continues to flow, the waters a little muddier now as the rains increase further upstream.

Here’s a sightings snapshot for February:

Lions:

The Butamtam pride is looking well and strong and has providing some great viewing this month. They have on a number of occasions hunted buffalo successfully. They have been patrolling between the Old German Bridge and Koroya Hill.
The Nyasirori Pride have been active in the Sabora region, not too far from the camp.
The Bangwezi Pride continue to do well with cubs growing ever stronger. Leopards:
Great sightings of the Grumeti North Female and her daughter along the Grumeti River, close to the Old German Bridge.
We have had some good leopard activity on Sasakwa Hill recently with a large male that frequents the lodge area quite often.
A female has also been seen moving between the rooms of Sasakwa Lodge.
We have had some good sightings of a shy male on the Sabora drainage, just south of Sabora Camp. Cheetahs:
Fantastic sightings of the Sasakwa male this month. The “veteran” male cheetah of the Sasakwa plains continues to do very well. We watched him successfully hunt two warthogs this month.
A mother and youngster have been sighted between Sabora Camp and OP 7 from time to time.

Elephants:

Elephant numbers on the reserve have been fantastic this month with some large aggregations on the open grasslands, as they move from woodland to woodland.
Good groups of large bulls have been seen following the herds with some truly impressive individuals.
We have seen some fantastic herds of elephant bulls in the Chumvi River region of the north-west Ikorongo.
Awesome aggregations of 200 – 300 individuals in the western woodlands, towards Singita Explore’s Marula Camp.

Hyenas:

Very good spotted hyena activity this month, especially in the central and southern regions.
A very active den-site south of OP 7 has been offering some great interactions between youngsters and other members of the clan.
Great hyena activity on the Nyati grasslands.

Buffalos:

Buffalo herds are looking ever stronger here on the Grumeti Reserve.
Herds seem to have been very successful with the rearing of calves and the herds are looking well with the many new additions.

Plains game

We have experienced lovely herds of eland, zebra, gazelle and giraffe on the plains south of Koroya Hill, providing some fantastic photographic opportunities.