Simon Thomsett

Category: Raptor Expedition, vultures | Date: Jan 23 2009 | By: Laila Bahaa-el-din

We had about a week before the Bearded Vulture’s new home would be ready so we decided to take off for the Mara. We had several species that we aimed to photograph and we were also interested in seeing how many vultures were around during this time of year. All the wildebeest are in the Serengeti now so it is down-time for the vultures in the Mara. We hoped to at least catch a few and tag them as part of the ongoing project with the Peregrine Fund and National Museums of Kenya.

We arrived in the Mara to find it very quiet. We drove for a whole day seeing very little in the way of raptors or other animals. We saw a Dark Chanting Goshawk which we managed to bait, catch, ring and photograph. That was one of the key species we needed in the Mara so we were pleased. We moved on to the main Mara River crossing and found where all the wildlife was. Thousands of zebras were there as well as all the cats.

Dark Chanting Goshawk

We found two lions on a zebra kill out on the open plains and stayed with them, hoping that they would eat and move to find the shade. Our plan didn’t quite work as the lions came to lie under our car, using the car as shade. The vultures know better than to approach the kill while the lions are still around (in fact, one cheeky Hooded Vulture approached and one of the lionesses was quick to jump up and the vulture backed off). We ended up spending the whole day with the lions but didn’t catch any vultures.

Lions in our shade

We spent the next few days around that busy area and came across countless lions, cheetahs and a leopard. There weren’t any dead animals around so our best bet was to stick with the cats and hope that they killed something. On our second morning, we found the remains of a Thomson’s Gazelle. There really wasn’t very much meat left on it, and what little was there was being eaten by jackals. There was a White-headed Vulture standing on the outskirts which was another of our key species for the Mara trip.

White-headed Vulture

We had to get back to Nairobi for a friend’s photo exhibition so we set off after four days in the Mara. Just as we got through the gate, we got a phone call saying that cheetahs had killed an impala but it was too late for us to go back. But we do plan to return for another attempt soon. We had spent some time catching vultures in the Mara last year during the wildebeest migration and the sky was full of vultures so it was interesting to see the contrast now that everything is so quiet.

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Tags: dark chanting goshawk, lions with a kill, mara expedition, white-headed vulture