Sita and the Girls

Fortunately the clouds have lifted in the Mara (for now!) and a brisk wind is keeping the temperature reletively cool and pleasant. For the last two days we have spent some time with Sita (cheetah.....AKA 'Shakira') and two of her cubs. In fact as I start to write this we are parked 100metres or so away as they rest under the bush so we thought we would take this opportunity for a quick update from the Mara.

Sita actually has 3 cubs that have survived to adulthood and they are now around 20 months old. Given their age independence for the cubs is imminent. The latest on Sita and her cubs is that only two cubs are with her at present. The third appears to have either left, or was possibly split from the family unit a few days ago. Whether this is temporary or permanent is a little early too say, the location of the single cub is not too great a distance to possibly 'reunite'. The good news is that yesterday we saw the single cub in ther evening with a fully belly, having taken down a young Impala & Thomson Gazelle fawn earlier in the day. She did have a rather close call with a group of 8 sub adult lions (3 females and 5 males) who were only 150 metres away, who spotted her returning to feed on the second carcass. Fortunately she was being vigilant enough and ran away immediately upon their advance. Even if this split is now permanent she has demonstrated that so far she is able to fend for herself.

Coming back to Sita and the girls......yesterday also provided some interesting interaction with a hyena who persisted in moving incredibly close to them as they rested on the plains, Perhaps waiting for them to make a kill so the hyena could steal it!  Hissing and spitting while advancing toward to Hyena the gutsy cubs showed that the hyena's presence was not wanted and it finally it gave up.

Meanwhile, this blog has taken some time to write!! being interrupted on two occasions by the cheetahs trying to hunt, the first an attempt to catch a scrub hare, the second a failed attempt to take a male Thomson Gazelle. Despite it coming only 20 feet from the bush where they hid they were not successful and have now retreated back to the confines of a croton bush some 200metres away to see out of the afternoon sun. its now 4.20pm and we have been with them at a distance since 10am.... lets see what happens and if they will be third time lucky before night falls?