Habari gani?

The days in the Mara have continued to be beautiful and sunny and not too mention extremely hot, the river has dropped considerably which has meant the Notch clan have been hopping backwards and forwards! We have not yet seen the 'legend' himself yet (Notch) but this morning we are fairly sure we saw him across the river near to the main crossing point. The distance was very great to be 100% sure but the walk, the posture and the behaviour, (and not to mention a huge mane) looked to suggest it was him.

Further to my earlier post we are now not 100% sure that the lone young cheetah is actually one of Sitas cubs.We have seen her again and she has been seen looking as if she may want to cross the Mara. We have had further opportunities to take some more close up stills and a few pointers (indicative markings) are now suggesting it may not be one of the cubs. To resolve the mystery we have supplied some photographs to some contacts who have followed this family since the cubs were born. Hopefully the next few days will provide some conclusive evidence. At the same time there has been much talk in the Mara that one of her cubs had succommbed to 'nature' a few days ago and we dearly hope this is not the case.........watch this space for more news.

On a more happier note we can report the the 9 lion cubs we photographed back in December (sired by either Notch or one of the boys) are all still well and alive and have been seen for the last 3 days in the same spot. Given there appears (and reports that we have been given) to be a little tension between the Notch boys and Notch (lots of testosterone!) we think that the females are choosing to keep the cubs in a safe area where they can be well hidden, whilst 'food' and water is readily available.


Sita (Shakira) and her two cubs are doing well and have been hunting daily and have remained in the same area for the last 3 days. Hyena have been following their movements closely so sadly they have not managed to keep all of their kills but they are still looking well fed and healthy. This morning they caught an adult impala, we left them alone to to feed on it so not too alert any hyena to their presence. Black Rhino sightings have also been particularly good here, one monring we were lucky enough to have a great view of a rhino on the open plains and this morning we could again see another across the river at the main crossing area. We have also enjoyed some lovely moments of Hyena and their young which have, as always been fascinating to watch.

Of course the animal encounters are not restricted to just the day time and every evening we have had some interesting vistors to our campsite, including Buffalo, Elephant and a very cute Genet!

Thanks to all who are following this blog and we will report more news as it comes through.....