Rains started in earnest on the 2nd, stopped for a while and then resumed towards month’s end.  There was one exceptionally heavy storm near Oloololo on the 30th.

October was exceptionally dry, with only 42 mm recorded at Serena, some parts of the Triangle had more but other areas missed the rain completely.

We had widespread rain in the first 15 day, this resulted in most of the wildebeest leaving the Triangle – a number crossed into the Main Reserve, the first time in three years and several hundred drowned. 

July and August have been the driest since the Conservancy started operating in the Mara, with only around 5 mm recorded at Serena for August. 

July was one of the driest months in the past 20 years, with only one heavy shower recorded at Serena on the 29th. 

The first half of June was dry, giving us the chance to burn an area along the escarpment and a small block near Mugoro. 

Heavy rain at the beginning of the month resulted in the Mara River flooding – a fuel tanker went over the Bridge near Mara Rianta on the 6th – one person was rescued but two people were washed away. 

The first part of April was relatively dry, enabling us to do a lot of work on the new roads in the Main Reserve and also within the Triangle. 

Rain in the first few days hampered road work, we had a few days of sunshine mid-month before the rains returned with a vengeance, with heavy storms around Oloololo and Mara Bridge. 

We have had reasonable rain (>110 mm), with green grass throughout the Triangle and the western portion of the Main Reserve. 

We had some rain in early January, but for the most part the month was hot and dry.  We are very fortunate, there is ample grass, there is more than a green tinge and grass is actually growing. 

The first half of December was very dry and there were real concerns that the short rains would completely fail. 

November was un-seasonally dry, with a little rain around the 15th. This does not bode well for much of Kenya – including the eastern portion of the Mara.

October was the driest month of the year, we had intermittent showers at the beginning but then it became very hot and dry.

We had a week of intermittent showers from the 14th, sufficient to keep the grass green and bring the migration back into the Triangle.

We had an unexpected shower of rain on the 2nd, followed by four weeks of hot sunny weather, before we had rain on the 29th, making July one of the driest months in years.

We were very sad to hear of Nigel Pavitt’s death, he was 86. He was a renowned photographer and author. Nigel was one of our Board members until August 2009 and acted as Chairman in 2005 and 2006.

The rains continued until the 10th, flooding several areas, before the rains disappeared for ten days before returning with heavy storms causing extensive flooding.

The first two weeks of April were hot, windy and dry, this enabled us to burn two areas before the rains started on the 16th.