Wild Adventures: New beginnings and Notch finally poses for the camera!

The morning of the 13th was again dedicated to Olive and her cubs. We were very lucky as unlike the previous morning we found Olive still with the cubs and again located at the exact same spot as the last few days.

We watched with delight as they rustled around in the bushes and playfully bounded around Olive. Jumping up and down the rocks which was clearly great fun! Olive remains so unbelievably patient while the new cubs explore their new and exciting world, but they never ventured far from mum.

Today we managed to identify the sex of the cubs and pleased to report she has had one of each, a male and a female. This now means we can now name these cute little bundles of fluff! I shall leave the announcement of the names that Paul, Angela and I agreed on for Paul to cascade as we feel this should be his honour to pronounce to the world!, but I am sure everyone will like them.....

Olive soon left and disappeared behind the rocks and that was when we lost here, with this the cubs retreated back underneath the rocks.

We made our way back to the Ridge pride, those whom we had seen the day prior. Taking the 'register' all 3 adult females, 4 male subs, 3 female subs and 2 young cubs were present and correct. They still looked rather hungry as they rested in 3 or 4 groups across a small area close to a wooded area. Whilst we still had some nice light we trundled off to see if we could again catch up with Notch and the breakaway Olkiombo girls.

Along with the females he was still at the same location as the evening prior (no other males present) and all lay comatose under the bushes, they were hauled up in this area for the day that was for sure! Getting a clear shot of the big guy still eluded me! The sick lioness was still hanging on to life, but by now had not moved for at least 48 hours. She just had no strength to move. So very sad but at 12 years old she has reached a good age, but now her age was against here in helping her to recover.

We spent a little time with the pride and before heading North to an area where the 4 breakaway females of the Marsh pride had been seen and along the way seeing the most amazing sight of 17 giraffe as they made their way in formation toward the Olare Orok river, quite a sight!

The plains were dotted with small and isolated pockets of game, with the exception of a huge herd of Buffalo. Hidden in the long grass we came across what looked to be a heavily pregnant Thomson Gazelle. However, within a short space of time we all realised that she was not just pregnant but was actually about to give birth!! This was something I had never seen before, she was alone with just a small herd a few hundred feet away. It reminds you how vulnerable they are, they have no midwife and no pain killers, in nature just left to get on with it.

She was in an area of long grass, around 100-150 feet away from the road, the sun was beating down but for the Gazelle this is the best time to give birth, a time when most of the predators had sought some shade from the 'kali' sun and also fortunately at a time when very few vehicles were around. As she lay on the floor she was clearly in discomfort but did not make a sound as we started to see the head of the fawn appear. At this point she then stood up and moved, trying to dislodge her baby. With that she then disappeared behind a mound. We took that as our cue that she needed some privacy. We would return later to see how she was doing.

We came across the 4 females who broke away from the Marsh pride some time ago. They rested under a small acacia tree, panting from the heat and covered with flies. Occasionally they stood, only to flop back down again. They looked in good condition so clearly had been suffering no issues in sourcing food and not skinny and thin as so many lions are at present. One lioness had quite a strange red wart on her left side of her mouth, again something I had not seen before.

I marked GPS coordinates and tried to get a few ID shots (very difficult when a lion is laying down!) and then decided to leave to start heading back to camp. It was scorching hot and we also wanted to check up on our little Gazelle who by now we hoped had become a mum!

As we arrived at the same spot we could see her, albeit behind long grass. There beside her was a tiny, wet Gazelle fawn. Having only been born just less than one hour before the delicate little fawn was now on its feet. It's legs wobbled as the mother licked it clean. Nature had many incredible 'Anti predator mechanisms and being able to stand so fast after birth is one of them. It was a lovely moment and of course we were glad she had made it through and delivered her fawn. The other Gazelle looked on nearby with intrigue.

With that we headed back to the lodge and time recharge our batteries!!

That afternoon we returned back to Notch, I was still really keen to get some decent photos of Notch and also hopefully to try and see the 2 tiny cubs again. The female with the two cubs had moved and we came across her first exactly 1km from the main group. She had cleverly positioned herself and the cubs on small 'island' in the middle of a lugga and where she remained quite hidden with the cubs in the long grass. Moving on to the main group Notch had not moved an inch and the females had moved about 15 feet to some other bushes. So we sat and patiently waited for the temperature to drop, knowing that this would be when Notch and possibly the females would hopefully become a little more mobile.

At least an hour after waiting sure enough and right on cue Notch started yawning, a clear sign that he would move, and that he did. Right out into the open and passing VERY close to our vehicle where he sat and surveyed his land with the confidence and arrogance of male lion that has called the Mara his home for nearly 13 years. There he happily obliged me with some nice shots. It was nice light so that was great and gave me a good opportunity to get some nice 'portrait shots'.

Not long before we had to leave he moved and again moved toward the Buffalo carcass, stopping to scent mark along the way. Surely there could not be an meat on that Buffalo any more but he was going to certainly try. Here we left him, pulling at the rotting skin of the Buffalo, it is no wander he had lost a few more teeth as by now this Buffalo hide must have been liked trying to tear through the toughest leather!

Another action packed day with some great sightings. Does anyone want to ask me again why I travel so much to the Mara!!! The same place but always something different to be seen.......

Notch finally poses