Author: Anglebert Mrema

Guide Report – Thrilling Safari with the Habitat for Humanity Group

This is ADS driver-guides David Chando and Anglebert Pantaleo with our latest bush report from Tanzania. We have just concluded guiding a group of 10 persons who had just been in Ethiopia building houses for the Habitat for Humanity Charitable Organization.

We enjoyed an extraordinary safari (dates were February 13th, 2015 to February 21st, 2015) with lots of fun, and rare sightings. We covered the Central Serengeti with two nights at Seronera Sametu Camp, the Southern Plains of the Serengeti where we spent three nights at Ndutu Woodlands Camp, one night at Lions Paw Camp on the Ngorongoro Crater and a final night at Maramboi Camp in Tarangire National Park.

The Central Serengeti was great and we had an amazing sight of a pride of 17 lions feasting on a zebra just next to the road. Another highlight in this area was a mother cheetah with a cub of about eight months old near Sametu Kopjes. The baby cheetah was very playful and entertained our group.

We also visited the Moru kopjes in Southwest Serengeti where we found huge herds of zebras. These zebras seemed a little confused because they were heading north due to the lack of rains on the southern plains of the Serengeti. The Barafu kopjes and Gol kopjes in the East Serengeti were unusually dry for this time of year.

The southern plains of the Serengeti were extraordinary. We had sights of a mother cheetah with four cubs of about six months old in Hidden Valley and a coalition of two big male lions in the same area. Most of the migratory herds of wildebeest were in the woodlands near the Maswa game reserve and on the deep Southern Serengeti Plains around Matiti Hill (Twin Hills). There were lots of wildebeest babies even further south on the Makao and Kakesio plains.

We had a very exiting visit to Tarangire National Park at the end of our safari. We came across a big herd of over two hundred elephants together along the Tarangire River. They were migrating to areas outside of the park.

However, the highlight of the entire trip was coming across a pack of over twenty wild dogs in Tarangire National park near Gursi Swamp. The wild dog is critically endangered and it is extremely rare to see one. They were very healthy and it looked like they had just eaten. The alphas were in good shape and there was a good number of sub adults, which is an indication that they had puppies last year.

We are attaching some pictures of the trip and we hope you will enjoy viewing them.

A young cheetah (about eight months old) enjoying the sunrise view of the Serengeti plains near Sametu Kopjes in the East Serengeti.

A pride of 17 lions feasting on a Zebra in the Seronera Valley of the Central Serengeti.

Migratory zebras at Moru Kopjes in the Southwest Serengeti.

Martial Eagle preying on a baby gazelle very close to Seronera Sametu Camp. The Martial Eagle is the largest raptor in the Serengeti with an eight foot wingspan.

Egyptian Geese with chicks at Sametu Marsh.

Male Lion in Hidden Valley, South Serengeti.

Baby Cheetahs of about six months old in Hidden Valley, South Serengeti.

Wild Dogs in Tarangire National Park near Gursi Swamp.

A lioness on a log in the Seronera Valley of the Serengeti.

Another beautiful picture of the young eight month old cheetah near Sametu Kopjes in the East Serengeti – Isn’t the view amazing?

Regards,

David Chando
ADS Driver-Guide

Anglebert Pantaleo
ADS Driver-Guide

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By Anglebert Mrema With Rusty And Connie – Amazing Photos

Jambo from the bush! This is Anglebert Mrema, a guide for Africa Dream Safaris, with a report on the northern part of Tanzania. I am just back recently from a safari (September 26, 2013 to October 4, 2013) with Connie and Rusty from Georgia, USA.

Our safari together was fantastic as shown by the amazing pictures below. We had nine days on safari covering the Serengeti, Ngorongoro and Tarangire ecosystems with one night at Kuria Hills on September 26th in the North Serengeti , two nights at Buffalo Camp on September 27th and 28th in the Northeast Serengeti, 2 nights at Sametu Camp on September 29th and 30th in the Central Serengeti , one night at Ngorongoro Lions Paw Camp on October 1st and our last two nights on October 2nd and 3rd at Swala Camp in Tarangire National Park.

The Great Migration seems to be heading south through the northern regions of the Serengeti ecosystem. There were big herds of gnus and zebras moving from the extreme northern areas including the Lamai triangle, crossing southbound at the Mara River and heading to the woodlands area around Nyamalumbwa Hills in the North Serengeti. We also saw a lot of these migration herds at the Togoro woodlands and plains as well as around Banagi hills and the Sametu marsh and plain in the Central Serengeti areas. We may end up seeing the herds at the southern plain of the Serengeti a little earlier this year than normal, and it could be due to the rain showers scattered in different corners of the Serengeti.

At Kogatende in the North Serengeti we had a great number of highlights, and obviously the first one was an amazing number of wildebeests crossing the Mara River heading south. We saw four good crossing and all of them were over 40 minutes long.

The other noteworthy sight was honeymooning leopards at Wogakuria hills in the North Serengeti. The female leopard had an interesting behavior because it had babies on the other kopje just nearby the area. To see her mating again with such young cubs was probably one way of defending the babies.

Near Buffalo Camp in the Loliondo game controlled area we had an interesting coalition of seven male lions with one big male and since these animals are territorial, to see seven males together was something. Probably the big male had to tolerate the young ones in his pride as a survival strategy within a competitive territory.

We had interesting sights at Seronera valley as well as Sametu marsh and plain in the Central Serengeti. We had a leopard drinking at a pothole near the road. We also had a pride of 18 lions with four very young cubs of about 5 weeks old at Maasai Kopjes. This pride tried to hunt zebra with no success. At Sametu marsh and plain we had a great sight of cheetahs on a termite mound during our early morning game drive. The cheetahs tried to stalk a gazelle nearby but also with no success.

Hereby are photos to share with you.

Mama lion with four cubs of about ten weeks old at Seronera Valley, Central Serengeti.

Gnus crossing the Mara River, North Serengeti.

Leopards cub of about 12 weeks old at Wogakuria Kopje, North Serengeti.

A two year old leopard drinking at Seronera valley, Central Serenget.

Cheetah with two cubs during an early morning game drive near Sametu marsh, Central Serengeti.

Leopard near Silale Swamp in Tarangire National Park.

The Great Migration in the Northern Serengeti.

More shots of the wildebeest crossing the Mara River in the North Serengeti.

Thanks,

Anglebert Mrema
ADS Guide

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By Anglebert Mrema with Patty and Kevin – Safari Highlights

Greetings from the bush! I am Anglebert Mrema guiding for Africa Dream Safaris. Having completed my safari with my clients Patty and Kevin, I would like to share some highlights from this trip with the ADS family. The safari started on August 4, 2013 and ended on August 11, 2013. We spent 4 nights in the Serengeti split between the North and Central Serengeti areas at Buffalo and Sametu Camps, 2 nights in Ngorongoro Crater at Lion’s Paw Camp and a final night in the Tarangire National Park at Kikoti Camp.

At Lobo Valley in the North Serengeti we had a great sight of a male leopard just by the road. This leopard was trying to stalk gazelles on the other side of the road.  However, the area was too open and it wasn’t easy for the leopard to get much closer for the strike. We moved to the Central Serengeti where we had a great sight of pride of lions at Sametu Kopjes. Although the Sametu Kopjes area was dry, the pride was very healthy and that is due to the presence of a big herd of Thomson gazelle in the area.

Ngorongoro Crater was great. We had a good sight of lions feasting on a zebra. The two females probably made the kill at night because just near there was another lion pride that came to realize that there was a kill around dawn.

Another interesting sight at the caldera was a black mane lion on honeymoon just by the road. It was interesting to see this big male lion immediately go behind to the back of the ADS vehicle and scent mark the logo printed on the tire covers.  Hope you will enjoy the pictures below.

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By Anglebert Pantaleo – Five nights on the Serengeti Plains

Jambo again. This is ADS driver-guide Anglebert Pantaleo reporting from the Serengeti plains. I had had five adventurous nights with a family 4 adults from Alabama, USA (Angelo and Beverly C. and Haywood and Stephanie B.). This time we started our trip at the northern part of Serengeti for two nights at BushTops Camp, two nights at Buffalo Camp, and one night at the Serengeti Four Seasons. The Mara area, Lamai triangle and Nyamalumbwa plains were amazing. There were huge herds of gnus and zebras at Lamai triangle and they were all heading east to the Nyamalumbwa plains. We saw them crossing the river twice and that was one of the highlights of the safari. Another highlights we had during the trip was a baby leopard (see picture below) we spotted in the Seronera valley of the Central Serengeti. The baby was so close to the road and we had great photo ops. Again I would like to share with you three of my pictures I took with this family of 4 persons while on safari. The safari dates were July 28th to August 2nd, 2013.

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By Anglebert Pantaleo with Dan and Lisa G. Family

Jambo from Serengeti. My name is Anglebert Pantaleo and I am a safari guide for Africa Dream Safari. I presently had an eight day family safari with Lauren, Blake, Ryan, Lisa and Dan G. and it was so great. They were from a city called Newport Beach in California, USA and the safari dates were July 19th to July 26th, 2013. This time we started our tour at Ngorongoro crater at Lions Paw camp where we had great adventure. We did see Many lions and they were very active at early hours down at the caldera.

After our one night at the caldera, we move to the endless plain of serengeti and we had two nights at Semetu camp, two nights at buffalo camp and the last two nights was at the Lemale Kuria Hill. The Serengeti was so adventurous. At Seronera valley we had a big pride of 18 lions under the tree just by the side of the road. As it is so dry there was nothing for them to hunt but the gazelles. We watched them try to hunt the gazelles with no success.

The highlights of the northern Serengeti were two sets of three brother cheetahs at the Mara river. First, we had two young brother cheetahs at Wogakuria Kopjes and they looked very unexperienced with the whole surroundings. We had another sight of three brothers at Lamai triangle and they tried to hunt a baby gnu with no success. Generally we had a great family trip and I would like to share 3 pictures which we took during this trip with the entire ADS family.

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By Anglebert Mrema – A Delightful Experience

I have just completed my trip with Marla and Lauren and we had such an exciting experience in the Serengeti ecosystem.  The year looks to be unusual due to the lack of rains and the rivers have no visible water supply, but unforgettable safari experience are still to be had in the dry season. The cats, ungulates, birds, and great migration crossings are among the life time experiences one may never forget.

One of the highlights of this trip was spotting a mama cheetah with two cubs of about 16 months old feasting on a gazelle. We watched them for a while having our breakfast and later one of the cubs jumped on top of the car and spent over 30 minutes.  We also had a lot of lion sightings at Seronera valley and Sametu Kopjes in the Central Serengeti. At Seronera valley we had over 12 lions crossing the road during sunset and we had a beautiful backlight for pictures.

Other highlights were two baby leopards of about 4 months old at the Loliondo Kopjes. The babies were very playful and were wandering around learning about their environment. At one point they even tried to hunt a dik-dik antelope which was moving around the area with no mama’s presence. We also had a very intelligent baboon nearby our vehicle. This baboon got surprised with the ADS logo that has a lion picture on it. The baboon was gazing at the logo and thinking it is probably a real lion. Later after realizing that it was just some sort of imagination, he walked carefully up to the vehicle to touch the logo.

I have few pictures taken from the trip and it’s again my honor to keep posting them for all the ADS family to see. I hope you enjoy them.

Regards,
Anglebert Pantaleo Mrema

Lions at Seronera Valley.
Cheetah on the hood of the car.
Marla and Lauren with cheetah.
Cheetah on top of the car.
Great light.
Mama cheetah with two cubs at Boma Kopjes near Sametu.

 

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By Anglebert Mrema – A Great Family Safari

My name is Anglebert Pantaleo Mrema, guiding for Africa Dream Safari, and I have just completed my safari with the De Jonge Family from Seattle, USA.  We covered the Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater and Lake Manyara National Park.

We started our trip at the western corridor of the Serengeti for two nights where we visited the Grumeti River and the surrounding plains. It is the beginning of the dry season and in the Serengeti most of the ungulates animals were moving in long lines to the northern part of the Serengeti Ecosystem, which will mark the beginning of the crossing season.

There were still herds of wildebeests and zebras at Kirawira in the West Serengeti and we had great opportunity to see them rushing to the river while huge crocodiles were waiting. We did see two prides of lions at Kirawira and they were very healthy. One of the prides, tried to hunt but one of the unexperienced young males ruined the hunt.

After our two nights at the western corridor of the Serengeti, we moved to the Central Serengeti and spent two nights at Sametu Camp where we had two great sightings. The first was the Mama Leopard with two cubs on a tree and it was very interesting to watch the cubs feeding on a gazelle and later drop the kill from the tree. This was in the Seronera Valley.

At Sametu kopjes we had a great sight of the Sametu pride with a wildebeest kill. There were no signs of gnus at the area and it was probably one of the lost ones. It was nice to see two big males in the area.

Ngorongoro was great in the early hours. We spotted two nocturnal animals (porcupine and white tailed mongoose) and there was also a pride of lions with a buffalo kill with over fifty hyenas waiting to clean the carcass.

We covered a big area of Lake Manyara National Park and the highlight was to see the black mamba blocking the road.

At Crater floor, a big bull elephant.
Hyenas chasing young male lion from the kill at Ngorongoro.
A huge hippo.
Rare Huglins Courser.
Gnus drinking at Grumeti River.
Sametu Pride.
Sametu pride enjoying their meal.
Sametu pride.
Lions at sametu marsh.
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By Anglebert – Green Season Over The Serengeti

My name is Anglebert Pantaleo, a guide for ADS. Having completed my last safari started from March 25th to April 03rd, the entire Serengeti was so extraordinary with regard to the wildlife viewing. We had a well planned safari with a great pace starting from the Central Serengeti at the Four Seasons Lodge for two nights, then we moved to the Eastern Serengeti Plain at Sametu Camp where we felt real close to nature. We had three nights at Lake Masek Camp at the southern plain of Serengeti and Ndutu forest, as well as one night at Ngorongoro Serena Lodge where we had a great experience visiting the caldera.

It is the green season on Serengeti Plains as well as the Ngorongoro Crater and although it is raining, we had an incredible game viewing experiences. We always recommend the green season because it’s so picturesque with diverse flora and fauna, including the migrants birds. Also, there are very few vehicles around, which makes the game viewing more private and thus more rewarding. This is always the best time for guiding.

The game viewing my group had was unforgettable and I would like to share with you some of the pictures that I have taken.

Lanar Falcon perching on a rock at the crater floor.

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You never know what’s around the next corner by Anglebert Mrema

We were on a game drive in Seronera Valley watching a pride of six lions stalking a hippo which was passing through the area. As there were some other safari vehicles approaching, we decided to move on with our game viewing with a mission of heading for Sametu Kopjes before it gets too hot. Up around the next corner, we came across another pride of lions (this time there were 16 lions in the pride). They were looking at something we did not know on the other side of the Seronera Valley. After waiting for a while we realized that there was a buffalo which was giving birth with the herd moving a little far from sight. This buffalo with her baby of just a few minutes old got up and were trying to catch up with the herd and did not know what was around the corner, and both were taken down just five yards from the road by the pride of sixteen lions.

From ADS Driver-Guide Anglebert Mrema on January 10, 2013

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