September 2007
Morning Game Drive

Humid and hot Selous morning drive towards Sonongo area. The open patches of grassland surrounded by the sweet scent of the Terminalias framed a lazy morning filled with Zebras, Impalas and colourful Birdlife. Although in this harmony we heard an odd noise, a Baboon barking his alarm.
A barking baboon means predators and normally one of the two, a Lion or a Leopard. We started to look around for something but no signs except the persistent alarm call of the monkey. Then on a lone Jackal Berry tree we noticed the carcass of a female Impala. We knew that the Leopard was around, we knew it was close, in the thicket around a small pool of water, but we could not see it. We gave up but decided to come back in the afternoon.
And there we were again in the afternoon, same car, same place, same tree but to our astonishment in the shade of the Jackal Berry there was a Lioness eating the remains of an Impala. Golden evening light underlining the beauty of the Lioness, our ears listening to the crunching sound of the meal and our eyes looking somewhere else. Looking to the handsome male Leopard on the top of the tree. The Leopard had obviously lost the Impala to the hungry Lioness and found himself cornered in the branches. We remained there for more than one hour until it was almost dark.
We were watching the Lioness eating, watching the several attempts of the Leopard to climb down the tree, watching another amazing interaction between two of the super-powers of the bush.

Impala Camp, Pietro Luraschi

10th August 2006
Hello to everybody,

the park is dry, now, much more then it was last year in the same period. Mdonya has been full of animals in the last month, particularly elephants, buffaloes and lions. All these animals go to drink in the river bed, were there is a large deep and almost dry pool with some water remaining in a couple of small caves under the steep bank of the water hole. These caves are surrounded by deep and sticky mud. Our story is about the mud and the elephants.
Some days ago we went in an afternoon game drive just around the camp. We headed towards the mud hole as it is always a rewarding site. There were buffaloes, big males, two lionesses 200 meters away and elephants coming from the opposite direction, among them a tiny tiny one. We got close to the water hole and we noticed a small elephant stuck inside one of the caves. I thought it was dead, we could see the back half only with the legs spread out. Then Moses, the guide, noticed that its tail was moving. The herd which had been drinking there for a long time was already moving away, the calf still alive and still there. It was very sad, looking at the herd going, the calf still stuck there, the mother following the herd, not knowing what to do The calf, hearing the vibrations of the herd leaving made a frantic effort to get out and managed to pull back very slowly. It took almost 5 minutes for him to walk his way out of the mud, but then he was free.
He started moving towards the herd, 200 meters away but then decided to come back to the water. It was obviously confused and lost. The herd was going and the lions were too close, looking at it, we were losing hope. Then the young and inexperienced mother glanced back to the mudhole and saw the calf. All the herd came back and surrounded the calf in a very protective way. It was incredible, one of the most touching moments, filling us with emotion.

Pietro
Manager, Mdonya Old River

26th June 2006
Good morning to everybody

We are again here for a new adventurous season The camp was opened the first days of june, Malcolm started and now I am here - also Daphne is back as assistant manager. The park is very beautiful, even if I always tell you so, it is the pure truth. The grass is still tall and a bit green but the yellow is already starting to dominate, the wonderful thing is the flowers, there are a lot, the last goodbye of the rainy season. The animals are fit, still widespread due to the abundance of water that is around. There are also plenty of birds making Severything more joyful. But even more beautiful are the diurnal insects that we find near the flowers. This is the reason why I am sending you the picture of the most incredible insect we have seen so far. The name already tells everything, it is a Picasso bug.

Ciao ciao to everybody
Pietro

15th February 2006
Here comes the rain again!

We had 41 mm on the 11 th of January and 37 mm on the 14 th. All the animals were waiting the rain, life was too hard; there was some water around but the grass was finished. You could see very thin and weak animals, expecially the buffaloes. Then the rains stopped again and all the new grass started drying, the life was hard again.
Eventually yesterday, after one month we had a big night shower of 60 mm. Now, in only a few hours the grass is lush again, new life from the apparently dead leaves.
It is amazing how nature can regenerate fast, lots of birds are back and in the camp we can hear all through day the calling of the woodland
kingfisher.... ki-krrrrrrrr ki-krrrrrrrrrrr
It is a very special bird, electric blue, white and black with an orange and black bill.
You can see it hunting in the same way as its cousins who live on the river, but instead of fish our Kingfishers have mainly insects and instead of water they have grass. I love them because their singing all around expresses to me the joy of all the animals for the new rain.

Pietro Luraschi Camp Manager Mdonya Old River Camp

27th September 2005
Hello to everybody...

The park is drier every day… the only water remaining is in the great Ruaha river. The animal’s concentration is absolutely unbelievable, elephants, giraffes, zebras, impalas, buffalos and lots and lots of other species are obliged to stay nearby the river, the only source of water. That makes the predator’s life much easier, specially the lions have only to stand and walk a few hundred meters to have their hunting chance. Some days ago we were on the road bordering the Ruaha when we saw a big pride of lions sleeping very close to the water on the other side of the river. After some minutes the lions stood up and started slowly to cross. Within about ten minutes all the 18 lions had climbed the bank and passed ten meters from the car. The only visible prey were a group of 4-5 giraffes slowly moving some 200 meters from the lions ... straight in the direction of the road. The lions started walking slowly, spread on the plain, stopping every now and then to get some shade, but all of them with a precise direction: the giraffes. It was amazing to see them proceeding with a clear target. A family of warthogs drove the attention of a lioness away for a while; she attempted a totally useless short run but then gave up. The unaware giraffes entered the bushes, the lions followed slowly, we remained behind on the road not to disturb the hunt. After 5 minutes the advanced lions attacked, we could see only dust but we drove immediately following the road towards the point where the last lions had gone. A small giraffe was covered by a mass of growling lions, it was still alive but it didn’t last long. The show was impressive, red faced lions full of blood and a terrific noise; a constant background of growls of different volumes and tones. After about ten minutes everything got quieter, the lions started eating with more calm and it was also ftime for us to go back to the camp. We left the the stage of the drama of the daily struggle for life lit by sunset rays.

Ciao ciao Pietro

Pietro Luraschi Camp Manager
Mdonya Old River Camp

Thursday 24 March 2005 Selous Impala
Beautiful Enemies

In the morning after watching the two beautiful male lions of Sonongo pride for an hour, we were driving towards Nzerakera lake, when something focused our attention.... impalas, a big group running fast, too fast not to be followed by predators.... and here they were, wild dogs.
It was the Siwandu pack, 11 dogs. They failed to catch the impala so they started to sleep.... then suddenly they ran and after ten metres a hyena jumped out of the bush: the dogs surrounded it and chased it away. After half an hour we decided to leave but returned to the same spot in the afternoon at 16.30. The same dogs were there. Just before 18.00 the dogs started greeting each other and moving on to hunt. We followed them, losing them several times in bushy areas, but luckily we always found them again. After following for more than 5 km, we were near to losing them again when a young and small dog passed in front of the car and it saw a male impala. The dog started running fast now and the impala was doing the same: it was a competition to survive. The dog was faster and managed to bite the impala at the neck. We were on the road 10 meters from them ... they were still, both standing, the dog holding the impala from the neck... and whooping, whooping, whooping. It was calling the others, holding, whooping and waiting. The wait was short, another dog appeared and immobilised the impala, biting the back legs.... soon all the dogs were overpowering the impala, they rolled it down and started biting and eating meat from the soft belly of the herbivore. The Impala was still alive and struggling to stand again.. but it had no chance, in one minute it was dead with all the dogs feasting around it. We were astonished... amazed... the wonder at what we had seen was unbelievable.... We looked at each other in the car... wordless witnesses of the African drama, of the struggle for life between a common herbivore and one of the world's most endagered species. Impalas and painted hunting dogs, beautiful enemies.

Pietro Luraschi, Denis Mchopa B. Masare, A.Ali Selous Impala Camp