It was now time for us to head back over the the South side of the Mara, to the Mara Triangle. We were still keen to get a view on what was happening with the Mgoro females as after all we had only so far found 2 of the 4 females (originally 5 but we fear that the 5th possibly perished defending the cubs when the new 4km males appeared a few months back)
Before we left we spent a little more time with Shingo and cubs. During which one of the cubs decided to rather cheekily and intentionally approach our vehicle, stretching up on the bonnet and then moving around the back of the vehicle to chew on our back tyre! As more cars arrived we decided to leave the cheetahs. After all they had hunting school to continue and the less vehicles the better. We had another brief amble along the Olare Orok River and again came across Nkayioni. Once again we were alone as many of the game viewing vehicles had headed to Shingo and Co. We soon found him again, enjoying the morning sun in the long grass. He remained relaxed and sleepy for around 15-20 minutes, occasionally glancing around and shifting his position. By now the sun was increasing in intensity and it was not long until he retreated back into the vegetation and this signaled our time to head over the Talek and Mara river and back to the Mara Triangle.
Once back in the Triangle we again caught up with some of the 4km males and much to our delight we found KB (Killer Bogey) with her daughter, Junior Bogey (ok, so no bonus marks there for original names!). So now we had accounted for 3 of the Mugoro females now. We still wanted to hopefully leave having found the 4th.
On the last afternoon Andy was left to his own devices as I went out on evening ‘obs’ with our friends. the Hyena researchers. Three adorable cute Hyena cubs popped their heads out of one of the study dens and I was lucky to see them suckle, revealing vital information to Dave and his student researchers that confirmed this particular mother had 2 cubs and not just one. As darkness fell it was quite a sight to see so much activity around the den. Whilst we concentrate a lot of our efforts on the lions. understanding the pride structures/compiling ID charts etc it was really interesting to view so much behavior, quite a contrast to spending time with lions! I have to admit that ‘Hyenas rock’ and I will happily debate this subject with anyone who disagrees!
It was the last morning and our last opportunity to find the 4th Mugoro female. As we started to ‘wrap up’ and think about heading back to Nairobi we were distracted by some movement coming from the long grass near the ‘4km sign’ toward Serena. One lioness pops out, then 2, then 3 and then 4. How is that for last minute luck! We confirmed it was KB, Junior Bogey and the other two remaining Mugoro lionesses. They ambled along the road for a few hundred metres before taking a right turn and into a low lying area below the airstrip which they seem to love. This put the final piece of the puzzle back together and we had now taken the ‘register’ for our females. Happy days! Now we could travel back to Nairobi having caught up with many familiar faces from the Mara and having spent a great time with our good friends across the Mara (of the two legged variety!)
Curious Shingo Cub
Tasty Tyre
Killer Bogey (KB) and her daughter 'Junior Bogey. Must have been a good night!
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