All of eyes were peeled as we scanned high and low. The grass was short in this area and populated with many Thomson Gazelle so perfect cheetah country, very much in contrast to much of the Mara at present which is characterised by tall red oat grass and certainly not idea Cheetah hunting ground.
It was rather sad to see that this area was also home at this point to more grazing cattle than I care to mention. Herdsman moved the cows through the area and as we arrived looked to be headed back toward their manyattas in the bordering conservancies. Sadly, its very much reality in the periphery of the park boundaries at present and whilst this is a lengthy and also somewhat controversial debate, at present it just has to be accepted as reality, with hopefully a solution sooner rather than later to relieve such pressures on the area, However, at the same time reaching an amicable solution for the local people.
That withstanding, we continued to scour for the Cheetah when after around 45 minutes of searching we came across the mother and two cubs. The cubs being around 12 months old, but by no means ready for independence.
It appeared they wanted to hunt, but sadly much of the game was on guard and disturbed by the grazing cows as they moved through the area and back to their home ground. The Cheetah also watched the herds and accompanying herdsman with caution. It was clear that despite initial attempts to actively hunt they would have to abort these plans now.
After getting a couple of 'record shots' we decided to leave these guys to their own devices and could only hope that the Cheetah party would have an opportunity the next day to hunt. They looked hungry but certainly not desperate for food.
During this time word had spread to a few that two other male cheetahs had been found, not too far from Rhino Ridge and the pair had been identified as 'Honeys boys'. Once this was a coalition of 3 strong and fearsome males but now sadly after one had been killed by lions in October 2011 so now only two remained.
It was not long until we found them, they were highly mobile and we had quite a job to keep up with their fast pace. We moved far ahead of them as there behaviour was going to be quite predictable, as anticipated they continued to pace across the plains, stopping only to scent mark and scour the plains using termite mounds in order to gain a better vantage point to survey any potential prey. They were in hunting mode for sure.
The grass was high in this area but this did not deter the advances of the boys across the plains. The light was nice, not too harsh and with a very soft orange glow, although a slight haze meant we were not lucky enough to get that deep orange 'golden hour' that you often get shortly before the sun sets. The tips of the grass glittered in the light, the plains were silenced and marked only be the noise of the grass under their feet. We shared the sighting with only 3 vehicles at the sighting so it was a lovely moment to spend with this guys.
Prey was scarce here, albeit apart from the occasional vigilant Topi that gave away the boys movements to other game nearby. They approached an area where more appropriate prey (Impala/Gazelle) scattered the plains but a Hyena nearby meant that hunting tonight in this area would not be a viable or sensible option for the boys. They would potentially expend all of that energy, only to lose it to a hyena at the mere 'bleat' of their prey being dispatched. They would have to move on and either hunt in the night or wait until daybreak (Whilst Cheetah are diurnal and in most cases hunt in the day it is not uncommon for these boys to hunt at night and had been recorded several times, especially on nights marked by a good moon)
It was interesting to watch the behaviour of the two, clearly one was more dominant and he had now learned to be the leader after the original dominant had lost it life some months early. We also noticed that the less dominant of the boys had an interesting left upper lip that seemed to look like he was Grimacing. Seems to be a trend in the Mara these days! Perhaps the result of an injury during hunting. It had long healed but was quite obvious and not something we had every noticed on this boy before.
The light dropped and it was time to head off, it was one of those lovely sightings, silent and peaceful and in the company of two beautiful cats. I did not want it to end, but it had to so off we headed and left the boys as they continued on.
So, already I had been in the Mara just 24 hours and had some lovely sightings, but already it felt like I was back home......
One of the 'Honey boys' with old injury to the upper left lip
The two remaining Honeys boys
sad to learn one of the Honey Boys was killed by lion, life is tough for Cheetahs.
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