Mugoro pride, habari gani?

The weather continues to bring very hot dry days, and in the last 48 hours temperatures in of 37 degrees have been recorded in the Mara. Today is by no means an exception and by 8.30am this morning the intensity of the heat was already beginning to start building for what is no doubt going to be another scorching day in the Masai Mara.

Andy and I are now across the other side of the river and continuing our quest to catch up with 'old' friends, those of the two and four legged variety. However, before we update on the latest happenings on this side in the last twenty four hours its time to provide an update on the Mugoro pride since the last post.

The morning after we found KB mating with 'Male 3' we returned again to the same area and scouted it high and low looking for both the males and the Mugoro pride females and cubs. After around one hour we spotted a shape that looked like a termite mound far far in the distance, however on closer inspection with the binos it revealed this one was moving! It was clearly a male lions head that stood out from the parched red oat grass that gently blew in the magnificent orange morning light (sadly this awesome light never hangs around for long!)

Scanning the area more lions could be seen so off we trundled n that direction. As we approached we were not surprised to see the 3 female lions, two cubs and the 'new male ('Male 2') that belong to the Mugoro pride. We were also not surprised that KB and 'Male 3' were not there and obviously still engaging in a bit of feline love elsewhere and hopefully creating a new generation of 'KB's'!

Less than 2/3 minutes of being at the sighting and as we continued to scan the area Andy suddenly exclaims "theres another male". Low and behold out from the long grass popped another male lion head that until now had been totally hidden due to his horizontal state! Questions were starting to get answered - it was 'Male 1' (who we had seen the day before acting subdued and some distance from the main body of the Mugoro pride) and so yes he was part of the same 'coalition' as we had suspected. The 'new' Mugoro pride has now two males and highly likely a third ('Male 3' mating with KB).

The females and cubs were restless so they soon decided to mobilise and wander in the direction where the game was a little more plentiful and where there would be more shade for when the sun become too intense. With some reluctance the males decided to arise from their seemingly comatose state and so too followed the females. 'Male 1' continued with his threatening stare at the cubs if they so much as caught his eye, the females keeping them in between them and the males and at a healthy distance. 'Male 2' walked with the posture of a dominant male, stopping to scent mark often and also smelling where the females had walked through, obviously looking for signs they may be approaching oestrus.

However, 'Male 2' was not exhibiting quite the same authoritative behaviour and no did we see any signs to scent mark, given his behaviour the day before we are starting to piece together that he was certainly the less dominant male and I would not fancy his chances against 'Male 2' when the other females are ready to mate (assuming they have not already?) However, its early days and more time would be needed with them to really understand the dynamics here.

We decided not to follow them as its always good to provide lions with some peace and quiet. There was a degree of cover to where they headed and in no way did we want to alert potential prey to their presence! Although we are no on the 'other' side of the river we may well return in a few days to see if KB and 'male 3' have rejoined. Furthermore to see if the '4th male' appears as we are virtually 100% sure these guys are the from the coalition of four males referred to in the last blog ('4km males')

Below is a photo of the two males, 'Male 2' is in the front, trailed by 'Male 1'