Mzee Notch

With all good intentions Andy and I had planned to dedicate yesterday morning to a serious leopard mission. However, by 3.30am in the morning this was all to change! Waking to the sound of grumbling and grunting we soon knew we could hear several lions on a kill that sounded as if it was not too far away. There was a light breeze as the sounds were carried over to our direction, far and wide over the plains. You could almost picture the tension at the carcass, lions fighting and scrabbling to get their portion of meat. Half of the excitement in listening was to paint a 'mental picture' of what was going on. How many were there, was it males or females or both, and what had they killed?. At this point there was no way that either of us were going to go back to sleep, this was far too exciting!!!

Not too long after listening to the fracas at the kill some of questions were answered as soon enough 1, 2, 3, 4 and then 5 males started to roar, a spectacular sound that sent goose bumps all around! The noise, even at a distance was overpowering. We could not hear anything other than the males, any female roars would have been drowned out in the cacophony of roars that resonated far and wide. However, one roar was rather distinctive and one that we have blogged about before. We could hear the trademark whiny/gurgly roar of a cat that has become a star the world over and our most favourite lion in the Mara, having followed his life for the last 5 years. Yes, you guessed it, it was Notch! So this meant Notch and the four boys, awesome!

We were like two children waiting for Santa to arrive as we waited for the time to tick on ready to get up and go! We lay there and listened to them moving away from the carcass, roaring as they walked, just imagining the pure 'majesty' of them all as they pounded the plains.  We could tell they were getting closer and kept pinpointing their direction, there was no debate here, Leopards were abandoned, 'Operation Notch' had begun!

We spoke with Jackson on the phone, he had also heard them roaring from his camp and we set about to find them together, covering different areas. A lioness that was clearly lactating was the first to reveal herself and closely followed by Notch. He looked in excellent health, must be some kind of 'anti ageing' properties in all that hippo meat he keeps consuming! We knew that his pride must have been nearby (one of many) and so we knew she was leading them back, and Notch was coming to. (This is the other pride with tiny Notch cubs, that we have had a glimpse of only so far)

He walked across the plains with a gait that exuded confidence and dominance, he was looking as good now as he did 2 years ago, if not better!. We were curious where the other boys had gone, probably loitering not too far behind him. We anticipated where Notch would go, drove far ahead. He soon came to us as hoped and it was gorgeous light! As he came towards us he stopped on a mound just metres from us, just gazing around and totally comfortable with our presence, after all he had come to us. What an amazing moment, truly a magnificent lion. No doubt he scanned the area, wandering where his marauding sons were!

Notch passed us and so we let him continue his way, still following the adult lioness. She moved down into a lugga and deep thicket where we could see tiny tawny coloured shapes. She was back with the cubs. Notch soon joined them, but the bushes totally obscured our view and we were some distance away so we did not even attempt to go down to where they were. This was time for a family moment!

A few moments after leaving them, whilst imagining these tiny little cubs scrambling over mum waiting for the milk bar to open we then spotted another shape over the hill. Coming from the same direction of Notch it was no mistaking who this was! It was 'Grimace' the lighter male and the one with a torn left upper lip. He moved fast and gave us no time to get a shot, soon after he too disappeared into the bushes, followed closely by another lioness.

So we had three sons unaccounted for, but not for long. We headed back toward the direction of where Notch came from, upon coming around the corner we saw a vehicle parked up and looking into a Lugga 150 metres away. There lay three piles of adult male lion fluff. There manes being so dark now and big it just merged into one big mane! They were not moving for anyone and the heat was rising so time for us to retreat.

What a morning, happy 'Skinners' all around!