July was, for the most part, very dry, with a few isolated showers to settle the dust.  However, there was a very heavy smoke haze and poor visibility for much of the month, caused by fires in the Main Reserve and Northern Serengeti.

The rains stopped in early June, giving us an opportunity to repair most of the damage done to our roads. 

We woke up on the1st to hear that the Talek River had flooded to unprecedented levels and that the river was lapping the Gate House. 

The rains continued throughout the month, with some very heavy and sustained storms along the escarpment – making work on the road to Ngiro-are virtually impossible and sections of the road impassable.

Two weeks of dry weather from the 10th was very welcome.  The rains returned with a vengeance on the 23rd but, at least the dry period enabled us to catch up on road repairs to Ngiro-are – very much needed as it had been too wet to work on since December. 

The rains continued into February with some heavy storms through the middle of the Reserve in the first half of the month. 

We had a total of 1,111.87 mm (44.5”) of rain in 2023.  January will go down as the wettest in recent years, with over 275 mm (>11”) at Serena. 

We had. A very heavy rainstorm between Mugoro and Oloololo Gate on the 6th, this flooded the Olpunyatta Plain and caused sone damage to the bridge at Sankuria.

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.