DUBA NEWSLETTER April has been amazing month in the Duba Plains concession, with fantastic sightings, hard working guests and inspired guides. A large group of Australian guests arrived for their fourth visit to the area and were not disappointed on their first night when they were greeted by a large herd of elephant in camp [...]

“Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams”. Ashley Smith   In April Kenya received a huge amount of rain, and in some regions the flooding [...]

Mara Camps Have Two More Silver-Level Guides In April 2013 Kevin Siayalel and Duncan Lenjirr sat for the Kenya Professional Safari Guides Association’s Silver Level certification and we’re very pleased to announce that they both passed! CONGRATULATIONS, Kevin and Duncan.   Duncan Lenjirr Duncan was born in 1977 in the Narok area of the greater Maasai Mara region [...]

oL Donyo Lodge: The Kopjes and Kilimanjaro   Exploring The Chyulu Hills is a magical experience and  ol Donyo Lodge acts as the perfect starting point to explore this amazing area which rises up to 2,174m. The surrounding area is one vast volcanic geological outcrop covered by scenic and mysterious acacia forests which are the perfect place to [...]

April is the cruellest month….as the temperatures continue to drop on a daily basis, I was almost tempted to believe TS Eliot but in fact April has been anything but cruel in terms of its safari this month. It all started with African wild dogs who decided to appear at early morning breakfast and kill [...]

Driving back to camp after a splendid morning tracking a lone Lioness for two hours, eventually finding her plus four two and a half month old cubs. We were just passing an area locally known as Jouberts Island. Here the flood plains are drying up awaiting the seasonal flood to return. It has left pools [...]

If you are asked to sum up Duba Plains in a matter of words then more often than not Lions, Buffalo, exceptional photography, Dereck and Beverley Joubert and National Geographic’s The Last Lions come to mind. The Lion and Buffalo interaction is world famous and we are one of the top places in Africa to [...]

Selinda Explorers Camp – Private Safari by Safari Architects Day 1 My guests and I had been waiting for this trip for the last 6 months! After a lot of banter and excitement, the day had finally arrived when we would be leaving for our Selinda adventure.  Both myself and Brad were leading the trip, [...]

In life there are so many situations that may be defined as the mundane, they happen once, twice, one hundred times.  Even some beautiful sights like a picture by the masters can be viewed over and over.  A discovery is a moment that will never happen again. You are the privileged individuals to see that [...]

27th March 2013 – 6.10am “we hear erratic splashing coming from the water in front of tent 4″. “In the cool of the early morning our guests had been watching the moon set from the main deck.  When there is a full moon you can enjoy its last hanging moments reflecting off the Zibidianja lagoon [...]

While there’s no doubt that being alluded to as the Brangelina’s of the safari industry is quite a compliment, there’s much more substance to the work of Dereck & Beverly than appearances. Tiara Walters of South Africa’s Sunday Times weaves a story which we hope will “turn around a billion Chinese”. But it requires your [...]

March News – Plains of Change – ol Donyo Lodge, Kenya There is a fresh feeling at oL Donyo this month with the start of the rains that have brought welcome change to the Chyulu Hills. The land has awoken from a long, dry slumber and is celebrating with sounds and sights we haven’t seen for [...]

“Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in it’s beauty” Albert Einstein Happy Easter to you from the team on the plains of the Masai Mara and Kenya, where the elections and appeals have gone smoothly and peacefully.   [...]

Last year we witnessed some extraordinary sightings involving a rather eccentric Cheetah we called Sehema, this  means silly in Setswana. Two of the highlights came in as many days.  The first involved some of our Selinda Camp guests who came across what seemed to be a Cheetah stalking something.  Cheetah are our rarest cat so [...]

Meet Bokamoso The Leopard, she is using this tree to scan for prey not far from Zarafa Camp The Young Female is almost 3 and half years old so she will have left her mother around two years ago. Bokamoso, meaning future in Setswana, is a very appropriate name for this endangered animal. Protecting these species one [...]

Staying Active While on Safari – oL Donyo Lodge, Kenya                 Concerned about too much leisure and good eating while on safari? You needn’t worry about that at oL Donyo Lodge where we often host friendly volleyball matches with guests and staff. First, the pitch is set up… including tracing [...]

A large python, close to 10 feet, was seen last night by tent 1 at Duba, the housekeepers were “awakened” to it during turndown…Nick, the Duba manager, went to see what he could do to calm the ladies and found the snake  busy hunting  under the deckboards…. All of  a sudden the hunter became the [...]

A new Wild dog pack on the Selinda Reserve has been discovered.  We have named it the “Explorers Pack” which consists of just 4 individuals.  Led by an Alpha female we suspect  that they have split from a pack from the north, possibly the Kwando area. They are incredibly distinct being very dark.  One of [...]

Caught on Camera, Ride Kenya Seems that still Kruger is full of beans at the stables after a recent horse safari.                 Ride Kenya has set up a camera trap at the stables to keep an potential predators – and see what the horses are up to during [...]

    A Masai Mara sunset with topis and an ostrich As some of you may know from previous reports, as of a month ago there has been a slow and steady stream of wildlife moving into the central Mara from the east.   Impala and Eland silhouette Three weeks ago we reported of these large [...]

“When the stars threw down their spears, And watered heaven with their tears, Did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the lamb make thee?” William Blake In the three weeks it has been since our last report when we mentioned the wildlife moving south into this area, the herds have now [...]

There are few perfect places in the world, but Zarafa (for want of a piano in the main area) is certainly one of them. I shouldn’t hanker for music with so much wildlife abounding but it’s such an inspirational place that the dulcet tones of a (non ivory) keyboard would not be misplaced at sunset. [...]

The breeze coming off the spillway in February helped cool the residents of Selinda reserve and the insects were given haven in the long grass, this has lead to some pretty fantastic birdwatching in the area and the lush greenery adds to the feel of really being out in the bush. There is nothing like [...]

This was the month that we completed the first ever Great Plains Conservation aerial survey over Duba Plains.   We have collaborated with Elephant Without Borders’ Mike Chase and Kelly Langden for what will be two annual survey, one in each the wet and dry seasons.  Each May, we will then release a full report [...]

SWEET-TOOTHED GIANTS   Elephant reaching up for marula fruit (Sclerocarya birrea) near oL Donyo Lodge, Kenya.

On the 1st March we re-opened Selinda Explorers Camp for its second season. It was extremely exciting for us to see the spillway flowing with water, over the summer months it does dry up. The waters have come from heavy rainfall, throughout the wet season, coupled with the flood waters from Angola flowing in from [...]

The Undertakers at oL Donyo Lodge, Kenya   Vultures spotted near oL Donyo Lodge, Kenya, hovering over a recent lion kill. Two different species: AFRICAN WHITE BACKED VULTURE & RUPPELL’S GRIFFON VULTURE

We all talk about the “magic hours” of photography.  Those golden soft light periods, just after and before sunrise and sunset. It is often said that the harsher light of midday is just not good enough for great images as it is too bleached and flat.  One tip maybe then to convert to black and [...]

To all our managers, staff, colleagues, and tourism friends in Kenya Our thoughts are with you all in Kenya this week for a peaceful transition in government and on the streets. Despite CNN and BBC wanting to show footage of the old election unrest, their efforts have largely been thwarted so far and there is [...]

Fred is back at Zarafa, with  an absence of a few months but he has returned! Good ‘ol Fred, the sleeping elephant.  If you can remember Fred from last year?   He was the famous elephant who liked to sleep on the termite mound in front of camp – all the time and made famous [...]