Believe lots had to do with the strange weather these past two years. Calving is usually over a 2-3/week period in February. But with last year's drought, and too much wet this year, the rutting season was skewed. March is usually late for calving.

As to the wildies in the Crater, I believe, and it's only a guess... because this is a protected area the game here have their own schedule versus those out on the open plains. The crater wildies were calving in early and mid-February.

Not unlike a group of gals in college dorms, who would normally have their cycles at different times, when living together they often get their cycles at the same time.

It is 6pm on the 18th and I find myself enjoying a red wine while looking over Lake Ndutu from Millenium2 Camp site ( I am a guest at Simuyu Camp - http://www.go-safari.com/Serengeti/TWCSimiyu.htm )

It has been raining daily with big thunderstorms - roads were bad this morning and we gave up trying to drive towards Kusini in search of the big herds. A good thing because I think the herds are actually north of Ndutu I believe. But if there are some towards Kusini it is hard to get to them with the daily rains.

In fact, there are ZERO wildebeests at Ndutu! They are scattered towards Oldupai but with limited game drive roads I have not been close to those groups.

Late today we heard that the biggest herds are way north past Gol at Lemuta Hills so we are driving up there at 7am in the morning.

We also saw ZERO cats in 2 days here at Ndutu! Amazing.

On Monday 19th we are going to Loliondo to Nomad and Suyan for some wild dog action.

Last night there was a MASSIVE thunderstorm at Ndutu. The wind blew several tents down at different camps in the region and this morning we saw a couple of tents from a nearby camp in the Acacia Trees! No tourists were hurt.

All the big camping outfits are at Ndutu now but nearing seasons end and the camps are not full - A&K, CCA Under Canvas, Nomad, TWC, Unique Safaris, Flycatcher, Wildlife Explorer, Olakira, Kirurumu, Firelight and then some!

It has been great to see all these camps in full display in the same area - in many ways they are the same but a few are in a class of their own.

Thans Eben and enjoy the wine.

So all the big camping outfits are in Ndutu, but no wildebeests.

Have they not moved to where the wildebeests are because the roads are too bad to do so?

Eben: thanks for the report, I hope you have great luck with the dogs and looking forward to hearing about all the camps when you return.

Thanks for the update. Good luck with the dogs!

Eben - Thanks for the update.

I'd love any more info you can give on conditions around Loliondo, Serengeti and Ngorongoro. We arrive on Sunday for two weeks to stay mostly in camps (Olakira, Suyan etc.), and are planning to go ballooning. Your comments about a camp being blown away made me a little nervous!

Thanks, and best of luck with the dogs (I'm more excited about them than anything)

WILD DOGS and WILDEBEESTS!
Tuesday 20th 3pm local

I am at Suyan for a few days. My suspicion was confirmed! There are 100s of thousands of wildebeests between Nasera Rock and Suyan camp. And these are the breeding herds so babies everywhere!

I am told there are some herds towards Kusini but I cannot verify it since the road was too bad. It has been raining heavy near Ndutu.

Lynn, no the tented camps are at Ndutu because from there they can game drive in all directions! A week ago all the herds were near Ndutu and there were none here at Suyan! So things happen quickly and sometimes you hit it right and other times not.

We followed the wild dogs for 3 hours this morning until they went to rest. At 4pm we willl go to their resting point to see if we can see a hunt! They are incredible - especially against the backdrop of the long lines wildebeests and the scenery here in the southern Loliondo.

It rained hard here last night but now it is bright sunshine and green everywhere - and only 2 cars (both from Suyan) so we have the whole place to ourselves - the migration and the wild dogs - the only place on earth to see this incredible combination!

I am a bit overwhelmed to say the least. It is an incredible experience and good luck to you who are coming this way soon. If the rains keep up the herds should stay here for a while longer. And they see the dogs almost every day. They are catching mostly baby wildebeests now.

More later after our next wild dog meeting!

BTW, the strong thunderstorm of a few nights ago was freakish so don't worry about the tented camps!

Eben, Perhaps you are the Serengeti Good Luck Charm! How exciting to see the wild dogs.

Good News Eben

how many dogs?

seems, it is the same group (Piaya area)i got pictures of from a friend last year;
& the same Nikao has reported about:
"Watching Wild Dogs killing a wildebeest"
http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...p;tid=34943839
with some pics at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nikao/s...7594525161323/

PS - Eben
r u preparing a home-range map using your GPS ?? ...
aby

Perfect viewing Eben, awesome! I'm glad to hear the dogs are staying consistenly in the area. Hopefully they will den again next year in that vicinity and I will get to see them in February at Suyan.

So PB - already booked for Feb 08 ?
u know what i sould consider it too...

Aby: very happy to say YES! I have a small group to lead and deposits are already in for a couple nights at Suyan and four nights for Olakira for the migration. With great luck we may have dogs and then calving. Will be my first trip to Tanzania and I'm excited -- chimps of Mahale too.

im looking forward to more dog sighting stories ... they really caught me in a spell when I watched them..

PB - it's about time... {{just saw a book about Einstein with that name}}
Serengeti is PBs-Land; for years it was a kind of a "promised land" for me, as i was prevented from entering, so crossed the border-stones in Mara & fantasized about GB Schaller's books

Nikao - you lucky ... ...
how many dogs have you seen in that pack ?

aby

there were 8 adults and 10 pups...

at the first day 7 adults were out on the hunt.. and we followed the female back to the pups..

the second day the whole pack was out hunting..

Yes, it is the same pack but they are wandering about a bit. The adult females (the "singles&quot have left a few days ago and we have not seen them since. Maybe they are looking for “love” but who knows! I just hope they stay away from the Loliondo Maasai who doesn’t like them much. I respect the Maasai but they have shown no mercy for lions and dogs in Loliondo in the past and it is known that they kill both species when given a chance. I also saw many Maasai with their house dogs trying to chase the migration towards the west (the Serengeti) to save the grazing grasses!

Anyway, the pack was left with the alpha male and female and the pups which are rather inexperienced.

On day one we watched the pack hunt tiredlessly for several hours without success. They would dart into the wildebeest herds but the wildebeests would not run - they would form a protective front which confused the dogs.

So that night they tired themselves out - especially the pups which chased everything from birds to hares to even Hyena!

The next morning we saw the pack chasing a big herd down a hill and then they got lucky! A female wildebeest tripped in a hole and rolled down the hill basically breaking either her neck or back. The little calf then stopped and was immediately grabbed by the alpha dog around the neck and basically strangled within 2 minutes - with some shaking and pulling by the pup dogs.

The female wildebeest was down and moaning so the alpha dog grabbed her by the nose and then throat and she was strangled in about 8 minutes. During this time the pups were too scared to approach the wildebeests because she was kicking still.

After the death they disemboweled her rather clinically all while even finding time to play like dogs do!

By 8:45 am it was all over. I managed to film it all in High-Def so wait for the movie!

BTW, although I have the GPS tracks of all their movements over 3 days I will not release it. Last thing we want are the safari taxis from Arusha chasing wild-dogs all day long with cars full of tourists. This experience at this time are best done by the guides at Suyan and while we cannot avoid the tourism growth in this area, I will do my best to slow it down.

I have a private camp from tomorrow onwards at Nasera Rock which is now surrounded by wildebeests and while I will be looking for other cats (not dogs) for the rest of the week, I do hope that the dogs show up at Nasera Rock at some point!

Wild dogs in the midst of the migration - incredible. I did notice that the baby wildebeest biggest disadvantage is actually their mothers! The babies can run like hell while the mothers trot along an swerve and duck which slows the babies down and then the dogs grab them.
By themselves the babies run every bit as fast as the dogs but eventually they will tire and that is the key to the success of the dogs.

And at times the wildebeests don't run - that is really their best defense as the dogs are rather timid and scare easy.

BTW, I saw NO OTHER CARS IN 3 days in the midst of the migration - it appears very few companies know (or care) about the location of the herds.

Also, I learned from a driver that there are no herds near Kusini - just horrible roads. In my estimation the full migration is currently where I am located.

My internet connection broke down - we just had a rain burst!

I wanted to add that maybe there needs to be a program much like he Rhino in the Serengeti to protect the dogs.

1. Educate the Maasai
2. Promote tourism in a constructive way to bring revenue to the Maasai
3. Protect against inexperienced guides causing problems by having rangers posted in the area, control access by closing some roads and maybe assign senior guides to track the dogs and call other vehicles for a sighting period while being supervised.

I don't know. Tourism is much needed to convince the Maasai of the good but out-of-control tourism may become a big problem.

Or maybe we shall just wait and see. Most budget safari outfitters won't spend the extra costs anyway in terms of fuel, etc. So maybe things will be just fine.

Eben:
Thanks for the report. Do I recall correctly that Suyan is relatively close to Nomad's camp?

Nope, Nomad is located at least 75 mins west near the Serengeti border. While they can certainly game drive everywhere, there is a gentleman's agreement between them to avoid running into each other.

The migration is currently closer to Suyan than Nomad; so are the wild dogs.