The Season End: Masai Mara 2015

Much to our groups dismay, 7 days in paradise flew by in no time at all. This may have been due to the fact that every single game drive was filled with some sort of action packed wilderness theatre.

To start off the string off exciting events that where to follow our arrival, we were treated to an aerial crossing of about 3000 wildebeest bounding their way through the Talek River. To say the least, the sighting really set the tone for the rest of the trip. Some of our highlights over the next 7 days included:

·         Viewing the famous cheetah Malaika and her three, 12 week old cubs.

·         Watching a female Cheetah kill a Thompson’s gazelle from start to finish, folloed by her 3 tiny cubs practising the art of hunting

·         Lions, lions, and more lions, seen around every bush and on every single game drive

·         4 Wildebeest crossings

·         3 fantastic sightings of Lorian the leopard and her 2 month old cub playing out in the open, of which all 3 sightings where almost exclusively enjoyed by just our 3 vehicles

·         The endless skies and stormy breathtaking sunsets, that seemed to improve by the day

·          Viewing a relaxed bat-eared fox out in the open plains.

·         On our last morning witnessing a clan of 16 Hyena taking down a young wildebeest.

·         Hundreds and hundreds of animals dotted throughout the open plains of the Mara.

·         The incredible and friendly staff of Entim Camp

·         Traditional Masai song and dance around a campfire on our last night

·         Mostly, the fantastic group of clients that we had the privilege of guiding in this magic destination

To top off the incredible time we had whilst on game drive we were always welcomed home to the friendly faces of Entim Camp. With the private camp to our selves we spent our afternoons editing images, sharing stories and just relaxing to the chorus of birds around camp.

The following is a selection of images from the trips photo guides, Shem Compion, Andre Cloete, Kyle de Nobrega and Ruth Nussbaum:

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C4 Photo Vehicle Experience, Part 2 - By Kyle de Nobrega

Part 2 to our gallery of our epic photographic experience at Mashatu Game Reserve, thank you to ranger Fish for the fantastic sighting! See more about the C4 Photo Vehicle.

Male lion stretching in satisfaction

 

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C4 Photo Vehicle Experience, Part 1 - By Kyle de Nobrega

Just a few days back Mashatu resident photographer Kyle de Nobrega hosted guests on the C4 photo vehicle for an awesome four day experience.

The four days where jam packed with world class sightings and photographic opportunity. Everything from mating lions, new born hyena relocation, multiple leopard sightings and two great mornings spent in the C4 hides including birds and elephants galore.

Here is part one of a two part series of images by Kyle taken over the four days spent on the C4 photo vehicle:

Mating lions

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First Day Of The Best Month!

August is by far our favourite month at the C4 Hides. Animal activity has really been picking up around the waterhole, with daily visits from the elephants and an array of bird species visiting for their daily drinks.

Yes, we are only one day into the month, but take a look at the awesome sightings the first day of August has already provided us with...

 

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A Productive Morning at the Hide

After a night of strong winds, we were unsure of what the morning would hold for our regular Matabole Hide session. We set off from the lodge before dawn into the crisp morning air, all wrapped up for our 30min drive towards the hide. As the sun slowly rose where excited to see the many puffs of scattered cloud cover slowly illuminate creating a fantastic backdrop to what we hoped would be a great hide session.

On arrival to the hide we set up our camera gear, we even experimented with a more artist approach to shooting with a Go Pro that we had lodged inside the waterhole. All set up and ready to go, and right on queue an elephant bull arrived. The bull gave us a good show before meandering off back into the Mopane. He most certainly set the tone for the morning with great birds following pursuit, as well as, herds of impala, a troop of baboons, a terrapin and a shy squirrel.

Feeling very content with our morning spent at the hide, we decided to head back to camp for brunch. Jokingly we mentioned between us that all we needed to top off an already top class morning in the bush would be a leopard ... and in true Mashatu style a leopard we did see!

 

Clouds making a perfect backdrop for the morning activity

 

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C4 Valley Hide

It’s been an impressive start to the establishment of our newest hide edition on Mashatu Game Reserve, The Valley Hide.  The hide has been created using the same design principles as the existing Matabole Hide, which has served many photographers in capturing the renowned low angle intimate shots the hide is known for.

The Valley Hide is no different, and in its first few weeks of operation has proved to be a very active little waterhole drawing a variety of species to the hide. The visitors include; multiple visits from the valley’s resident leopard, giraffe, zebra, jackal, hyena, steenbok, impala, eland, warthog and of course a variety of bird species.

We look forward to witnessing the Valley Hides first full year in the bush, and capturing and sharing the cycle of visitors the waterhole attracts to it.



Drinking giraffe close up

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Mashatu Photo Workshop - November 2014, By Trevor Kleyn

Some more great feedback and images from C4’s last Mashatu Photo Workshop of the year. Some incredible moments where shared in the bush during this workshop, despite the ‘far from ideal’ weather conditions.

With a little bit of applied patience and excellent guiding, shots such as these by workshop host Trevor Kleyn where achieved.

Hide activities

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C4 Workshop, Mashatu Game Reseve - November 2014

With the onset of the rainy season and the first rains the weather proved to be challenging in terms of photography, but there is one very famous saying, “Mashatu always delivers”, and that it did indeed.

In anticipation for the bad weather, we all decided to head into the underground hide on our first morning with the hope of getting lucky before the rains. Luckily we had 3 different processions of elephants come down, who where elegantly dwarfed by the moody skies.

 

Elephants at the underground hide with moody skies

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The Hide's Gone Cuckoo

Over the past 2 weeks here at Mashatu Game Reserve, there has been a huge influx in bird species as all the migratory birds start returning for the season. This change has brought the underground hide some special new faces in the form of a variety of cuckoo species. Knowing that this festival of cuckoos at the hide has a very fragile time limit, photographers visiting the hide have been going wild at the opportunity. As soon as the first solid rain falls arrive in the area the concentration of cuckoos will disperse around the reserve.

This far spotted at the hide: Klaas’s Cuckoo, African Cuckoo, Diderick Cuckoo, Great Spotted Cuckoo, Levaillant’s Cuckoo and Jacobin Cuckoo.

Heard at the hide, but not yet seen:  Red-chested Cuckoo

Also seen at the hide:  Burchell’s and Senegal Coucal.

 

Great Spotted Cuckoo take off

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Mashatu : Photo Workshop with C4 Images and Safari's - By Astrid and Juerg Bluemel

We were here before, little over a year ago. It was so absolutely fabulous that we had to come again, come and share it with friends. So we booked a photo workshop with C4 images, hoping to learn a little more and improve our photography, and we did ! Plus we made some new friends, had a great time, fantastic wildlife sightings and a very enjoyable stay at Mashatu Tented Camp.

Mashatu Tent Camp Tents
 

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