Asilia Camp Sightings for the past week

Hi everybody, the camps had some great and exiting sightings this past week, here you can read all about it, it is good for all the camp, and Arusha based guides to read the wildlife reports so that you know what is happening in the bush and what people are seeing and where. If you are on safari and you have guests on your vehicle that are going onto some of our other properties and they ask "what will or can wee see there", then you can tell them based on the wildlife reports from the camps what they might be able to see. Here we go!

THE SAYARI WILDLIFE REPORT

           This week’s wildlife perspective! The sites were magnificent as usual with little difference, the lion pride seemed to be doing great with the area {LAMAI} we had A Pride of different cub litters which were unstable to count but roughfly estimation was about 24 in general including 2 big males. Breeding herd of elephant and Buffalos.A lot of Yellow- throated long clow,Whitewinged widowbirds HarlequinQual and Jackson Widowbirds. Alot of Zebras,Topis,Thomson gazelles. We herd a rain on 25/06/2011.evening for 45 minutes.

The most facsinating thing was a little cub playing with his father’s manes and tail, which seemed to be enjoyable for both of them.

We also happened to spot a black Rhino around ikunga circuit one male,female and calf

Well, the migration is still an ambiguos subject in a moment, they are still on a move and majority are arround Lobo and Bologonja.

The highlite of the week was a lot games arround the camp Hippos,Hyaenas the guest were so glad to see all of this staff. At old sayari have seen breeding herd of elephant along the mara river, Wagakuria seen Korongo la hewa pride, one male and 4 females sitting on copjes.                                         

Looking foward for the amazing report next week.

Olivers Camp Wildlife Report

This weeks has been good for lions. 8 were spotted close to Silale ( 4 males and 4 females). Another lioness was seen with a cub. She had been stalking a young zebra. Unfortunately the youngster interfered in the hunt and the zebra managed to escape. Guests had also seen a lioness being forced up a tree by elephants.

Elephants are plentiful as always. On some of the walks we have seen anything from 4 to 30 elephants, especially south of camp. One time we were watching a bachelor herd of males with one really old guy. The males were pushing each other around constantly only to be silenced by the big bull. Most of the herds however are still very much on edge and if they catch scent of you will quickly disapear into the thicket.

On one walk we were watching a breeding herd of about 8 elephants. We were just down wind of them and the adults had not caught scent or sight of us. A young 4 year old appeared out of the bushes on the right quite far away from the rest of the herd. He immediately smelled us and gave out silent alarm call to the rest of herd. All the females immediately ran to his aid and made a protective barrier around him.

The giraffe are still hanging around Oliver’s and we often bump into the same two on the flood plains. Big herds of buffalo are along the swamps and cheetah have been spotted at the northern part of Silale.

The hyenas and the especially the honey badgers have been very active around camp and have been digging around the tents and drinking from the showers and the bird baths.

Olakira Wildlife Report

This week the game has been fantastic again we had a good rain on Friday it cool down the temperature and the grass slightly turning back to green.

The herd of zebra they moved away from the plain area around the camp they have came back.

Very interesting thing is the big herd of  Migration is approaching the Mara River at Nyamalumbwa area on very smooth move they are grazing and scattered all over the area. Hope within 4 to 5 days they may cross the river

Special games.

·         Mama Julie rhino and her baby have been seen around for whole week and bull have been sported all around Bolongoja river and on the way to Nyamalumbwa.

·         The resided  Cheetah Mark around the camp area not sported tis week but one cheetah sport on at lamai  on the termite hill.

·         The Mr. & Mrs. Jumanne Leopard with cab no luck at this week but one leopard  has been sported at  Sand river.

·         It has been raining  on the east up hill  and Masai Mara the Mara river has plenty water and it’s not easy cross  to lamai.

·         An usual death of 8 zebra on the way to Nyamalumbwa has been experience in the same area on  Friday we inform Tanapa they came to investigate, we thought they may be poachers but not. The preliminary investigation seem like attack by black mamba.We are waiting the vet may come to investigate.

·         For two day consecutive we were are hearing leopard and lion sound at night not very far. 

·         The head of elephant have been wondering around mama Kent valley with babies.

·         Lemai and Sand river pride of Lions  lamai have been sported at this week before river get overflow the bridge.

·         We had a two  incident of Puff adder sported  around staff area 1st was sported between staff tent and guide tent in the morning the birds shows  us and second was in the   staff  canteen under the TV table, I worn tha staff to be aware. 

Dunia Wildlife Report

For the past three days dunia camp experinced heavy rain start at evening since then we had big “huge” herds of buffalo may be thousand of them at the front face of dunia camp.

 Group of elephants has been visiting the camp for almost a week which cause guests to be escotted by vehicle in most cases. A lot of accacia tree sorrounded the camp has been broken down by these elephants. Currently, big heards of migration are on western corridor hearding to the nothern circuit!

 Game drive is more exciting, seronera has become the country side of leopards and hundreds of lions with cubs, bad lucky for the gazelles killed about three to five on average per day.

Yesterday (black rhino) mama serengeti was spoted around moru kopjes with a very young baby roughly two months old, we’re about to name the baby “Patena”

 Lions rouring around the camp every day has been another exiting experience. Askari spoted a lion patrolling within a camp two days ago , in the morning we spot a very big foot print close to tent 4.

Hope to have another interesting week!

Welcome to Dunia Camp

Ubuntu Wildlife Report

Although Ubuntu is not yet open, here is some great sounds that they hear in camp at night while building, which gives an idea of whats around.

Elephant
Lion
Leopard (every night)
Hyena
Zebra
Scoops owls
Day time sightings
Elephant 30m from camp

I trust u all understand we have not gone and looked for them.. They have to come to us at the moment as we build Ubuntu.

Well done everybody, this is awesome wildlife, tune in next week for more camp news!!

Asilia 2011 Guide training Programme

Hi all here is a great Asilia Guide Programme report put together by Asilia Guide Trainer, Ethan Kinsey, enjoy!!

GUIDE TRAINING REPORT

MARCH, APRIL & MAY 2011

Guide Training Report

Part 1

New Resident-guide Training

The yearly guide training program was commissioned by Asilia Lodges & Camps to train 10 new resident guides for their camps in Tarangire and Serengeti National Parks.

After screening 150 applicants for driving and English proficiency, 30 were selected for an intensive 3 day interview consisting with the assistance of Arusha Mental Health Dept. Among factors affecting selection were the following: perceived maturity, ability to conceptualize, honesty, natural leadership and cooperative qualities and perceived passion. 10 candidates were selected for the course.

Week 1 was spent in Arusha covering basic concepts such as earth structure, basic understanding of the universe, introduction to ecology, introduction to 

classification, evolution and the history of life. The group then departed to Tarangire for the remaining 5 weeks of the initial course.

The days were structured as outlined below allowing for flexibility depending on sightings etc.

Time	Activity
6:00	Tea
6:15	Game drive
9:00	Breakfast
9:45	Classroom
13:00	Lunch
15:30	Game drive/classroom
19:00	Dinner
19:30	DVD

The candidates were divided into pairs and worked as a team throughout the training period. Game drives were alternated between teams.

The focus on game drives was as follows:

·      Identification of mammals, birds, plants, insects, and tracks.

·      Vehicle positioning

·      Identification of behavior

·      Interpretation

·      Experience

Birds sighted were recorded on a list (only recording birds that all trainees had seen or heard) and some time spent highlighting interesting facts about the birds and also explaining basic behavior.

Classroom sessions focused on the modules in the Asilia Guide Training Manual as well as presentation skills and trainees were required to give 1-5 minute presentations. An emphasis was put on the short presentations and only giving 

key and relevant information. Trainees were often asked to read an article from Swara magazine and base their talk on what the learned from it, and included great topics such as bioluminescence, mimicry, conservation issues such as invasive plants, and the little things like Ant lions, Saturnid moths, and Dung beetles. This worked on their abilities to learn and identify interesting information from resources that are readily available to them in the camps.

I used the following diagram to explain natural history of living things and tried to get trainees to ask the questions of why. During game drives I would ask three questions:

1.     What is it?

2.     What is it doing? and

3.     Why?

The 48 guides were divided into 8 groups of 6 (the maximum we could have had was 56 due to space in vehicles). Different sessions were conducted by teams of trainers and groups of guides rotated between sessions using the following timetable.

Day	Robin Peterson & Moira Earnshaw	Allan Earnshaw & Jackson Looseiya	Colin Beale & Markus Coerlin
1	1, 2, 3, & 4	5 & 6	7 & 8
2	1, 2, 3, & 4	5 & 6	7 & 8
3	1, 2, 3, & 4	a.m. 5 & 6 p.m. 7 & 8	a.m. 7 & 8 p.m. 5 & 6
4	1, 2, 3, & 4	7 & 8	5 & 6
5	1, 2, 3, & 4	7 & 8	5 & 6
6	5, 6, 7, & 8	1 & 2	3 & 4
7	5, 6, 7, & 8	1 & 2	3 & 4
8	5, 6, 7, & 8	a.m. 1 & 2 p.m. 3 & 4	a.m. 3 & 4 p.m. 1 & 2
9	5, 6, 7, & 8	3 & 4	1 & 2
10	5, 6, 7, & 8	3 & 4	1 & 2
11	ALL TOGETHER Q & A SESSION WITH COLIN, MARKUS AND ETHAN
12	EXAM
	BREAK CAMP Robin Peterson, from the Arusha Mental Health Department taught a program on self-awareness, different personalities, effective communication, and dealing with conflict. Moyra assisted with relaxation methods and exercise including Yoga, 5 Tibetan Rites, and deep breathing relaxation as well as drawing. Allan Earnshaw and Jacksoon Looseiya brought together 60 odd years of guiding experience and worked on skills such as briefings and handling clients. Their sessions were motivational and also emphasized a professional work ethic and culture within the company. Colin Beale, an Ornithologist and expert on Savannah ecology and climate change, and Markus Coerlin, a walking guide at Oliver’s camp, concentrated on the more scientific aspects of guiding and focused on ecology of different habitat types- grasslands, woodlands, kopje systems and swamps and in addition to this covered their top 10 things to talk about if you can’t find the charismatic Big ‘5’. You can read more on the blog: safari-ecology.blogspot.com On day 5 & 6 Ken & Michele Dyball joined us and did a short photography workshop covering the basics of how a camera works and trouble shooting problems with cameras including the basics of photographers vocabulary to assist guides in helping their clients get better photographs.

Lunar Eclipse

Just over a week ago we got to experience an amazing sight in Tanzania, which was a total Lunar Eclipse, and I hope most of you got to see this amazing phenomena. The eclipse happened on Wednesday the 15^th of June 2011, it was the longest and darkest lunar eclipse of the century and lasted for almost a full 100 minutes.

Lunar Eclipse, 15 June 2011 as seen from Arusha. You can see have the moon in shadow.

The lunar eclipse could be seen not just from Tanzania and Africa but people in Europe, South America, Asia, and Australia got to enjoy the sight.

What is a Lunar Eclipse and why does it happen? A lunar eclipse takes place when the moon passes behind the earth, and the earth blocks the sun’s rays from reaching the moon. This kind of eclipse however can only happen if the Sun, Earth and moon are exactly aligned or very close to exactly in line, and the Earth needs to be in the middle. The time the eclipse will take place or how long it will be visible for depends on where the moon is in relation to its orbital nodes.

A lunar eclipse is great as it can be seen from almost anywhere on the right side of the earth, where as a solar eclipse as impressive as it is can only be seen from a relatively small part of the world and generally only lasts a few minutes.

Types of Lunar Eclipse: (credit, and taken from Wikipedia, The Free encyclopedia)

The shadow of the Earth can be divided into two distinctive parts: the umbra and penumbra. Within the umbra, there is no direct solar radiation. However, as a result of the Sun’s large angular size, solar illumination is only partially blocked in the outer portion of the Earth’s shadow, which is given the name penumbra. A penumbral eclipse occurs when the Moon passes through the Earth’s penumbra. The penumbra causes a subtle darkening of the Moon's surface. A special type of penumbral eclipse is a total penumbral eclipse, during which the Moon lies exclusively within the Earth’s penumbra. Total penumbral eclipses are rare, and when these occur, that portion of the Moon which is closest to the umbra can appear somewhat darker than the rest of the Moon.

Lunar Eclipse as seen from Arusha on 15 June 2011, here you can see the moon approaching full eclipse

A partial lunar eclipse occurs when only a portion of the Moon enters the umbra. When the Moon travels completely into the Earth’s umbra, one observes a total lunar eclipse. The Moon’s speed through the shadow is about one kilometer per second (2,300 mph), and totality may last up to nearly 107 minutes. Nevertheless, the total time between the Moon’s first and last contact with the shadow is much longer, and could last up to 4 hours. The relative distance of the Moon from the Earth at the time of an eclipse can affect the eclipse’s duration. In particular, when the Moon is near its apogee, the farthest point from the Earth in its orbit, its orbital speed is the slowest. The diameter of the umbra does not decrease appreciably within the changes in the orbital distance of the moon. Thus, a totally eclipsed Moon occurring near apogee will lengthen the duration of totality.

The timing of total lunar eclipses are determined by its contacts:

P1 (First contact): Beginning of the penumbral eclipse. The Earth's penumbra makes contact with the outer limb of the Moon.

U1 (Second contact): Beginning of the partial eclipse. The Earth's umbra touches the outer limb of the Moon.

U2

Greatest eclipse: The peak stage of the total eclipse. The Moon is at its closest to the center of the umbra.

U3 (Fourth contact): End of the total eclipse. The Moon's outer limb exits Earth's umbra.

U4 (Fifth contact): End of the partial eclipse. The Earth's umbra leaves the surface of the Moon.

P2 (Sixth contact): End of the penumbral eclipse. The Earth’s shadow no longer makes any contact with the Moon.

A selenelion or selenehelion occurs when both the Sun and the eclipsed Moon can be observed at the same time. This can only happen just before sunset or just after sunrise, and both bodies will appear just above the horizon at nearly opposite points in the sky. This arrangement has led to the phenomenon being referred to as a horizontal eclipse. It happens during every lunar eclipse at all those places on the Earth where it is sunrise or sunset at the time. Indeed, the reddened light that reaches the Moon comes from all the simultaneous sunrises and sunsets on the Earth. Although the Moon is in the Earth’s geometrical shadow, the Sun and the eclipsed Moon can appear in the sky at the same time because the refraction of light through the Earth’s atmosphere causes objects near the horizon to appear higher in the sky than their true geometric position.

The Moon does not completely disappear as it passes through the umbra because of the refraction of sunlight by the Earth’s atmosphere into the shadow cone; if the Earth had no atmosphere, the Moon would be completely dark during an eclipse. The red coloring arises because sunlight reaching the Moon must pass through a long and dense layer of the Earth’s atmosphere, where it is scattered. Shorter wavelengths are more likely to be scattered by the air molecules and the small particles, and so by the time the light has passed through the atmosphere, the longer wavelengths dominate. This resulting light we perceive as red. This is the same effect that causes sunsets and sunrises to turn the sky a reddish color; an alternative way of considering the problem is to realize that, as viewed from the Moon, the Sun would appear to be setting (or rising) behind the Earth.

The amount of refracted light depends on the amount of dust or clouds in the atmosphere; this also controls how much light is scattered. In general, the dustier the atmosphere, the more that other wavelengths of light will be removed (compared to red light), leaving the resulting light a deeper red color. This causes the resulting coppery-red hue of the Moon to vary from one eclipse to the next. Volcanoes are notable for expelling large quantities of dust into the atmosphere, and a large eruption shortly before an eclipse can have a large effect on the resulting color.

Lunar Eclipse as seen from Arusha on 15 June 2011, here you can see the moon now in full eclipse, and later it went even darker.

So there you have it, as word goes the next full Lunar Eclipse will be on the 10 December 2011, so if you missed the one on the 15 June, then be sure to try and see the next one.