This past year must rank as the most difficult in living memory. Companies destroyed, livelihoods turned upside down, families torn apart – and yet we managed to get through it, and there might be light at the end of the tunnel.
We had some very heavy storms from the 10th, triggering the migration back into the Serengeti. There was a particularly heavy storm on the 16th and then scattered storms throughout the remainder of the month.
We had scattered showers and thunderstorms throughout the month, sufficient to keep the grass green and some wildebeest herds around. However, most of them moved off by the 20th.
It was very dry until the 13th when we had sufficient rain to settle the dust, we than had some heavy storms intermittently until the end of the month. Sufficient to send the wildebeest into the main Reserve and back into the Serengeti.
July was dry for the most part, with only the occasional shower in the evenings. This meant that the Mara dried out exceptionally quickly and triggered the migration after the 15th.
For the most part June was dry, with a few days of very overcast, drizzly weather around the full moon – 8 -16th and again towards the end of the month.
We have had a fraction under 1,800 mm (70”) of rain between November and the end of April – virtually rainforest levels of rainfall - and approaching twice the annual average for Serena.
The rains returned with a vengeance around the 12th, flooding areas, destroying sections of the road network and ensuring that all the grasslands were waterlogged.
We continued to have heavy and destructive storms in the first five days of February, we then had a slight respite for two weeks, with beautiful sunny days, before the rains returned with a vengeance.
There were some heavy storms throughout January, making road repairs very difficult. This was definitely some of the heaviest and most sustained rainfall in many years.