Some familiar faces!

On the morning of the 11th we set out at 6am on a mission to again try and see Olive and her cubs. As we arrived at the current den site is was clear that our early start had paid off. Within just five minutes of arriving Olive revealed herself, but lying deep inside a bush and against a low lying rocky area, the same area we had visited the afternoon prior. The only frustration was that it was still very dark, the sun had barely begun to rise so getting shots was almost impossible. Anyone who is into photography will understand the frustration of only achieving 1/10 sec at 500mm and that was at ISO 6400!! Scanning the rocks it was not long until two tiny little cubs appeared. Staying close to Olive they dashed back and forth, clambering over Olive who remained incredibly tolerant with the fidgety little cubs. It was very hard to get a really clear view as many overhanging bushes shielded them from a clear site and obviously why Olive chose this as the area to keep her cubs safe. The smallest of gaps under the rock allowed just enough room for them to squeeze in their minute bodies, and providing good protection from predators.

The cubs just around 6 weeks old were about the length of Olives back paw, they seemed so small and delicate. As the light slowly rose it revealed they had the most amazing blue eyes and a fluffy dark mottled coat that kept them well camouflaged against the dark Granite rock. Even as the light improved it was very hard to get anything in focus of these little cheeky cubs (sex unknown at this point!) but at times like this even with the frustration of not being able to get a decent shot I had to remind myself that I was looking at leopard cubs and just so young at that, just fab!!! Such a sight is certainly not a daily occurrence!

At best I managed to achieve 1/100th sec shutter speed so I  struggled to achieve anything half decent, especially as my camera wanted to focus on everything but the cubs. However, I managed to get enough of a shot to post here on the blog, even though these ones will sadly be sharp enough for the website. sometimes thats just the way it goes (although  yes, very frustrating!!) So, thats my way of apologising for the slightly out of focus images below!! (sorry Andy, I tried my best!)  but hopefully they are enough to see that they are just the sweetest little things and so tiny!!

We had around 15 minutes with them as they played around, disappearing and then reappearing. Olive then started to get a little unsettled and with a large yawn we knew she was going to soon be on the move. When she yawned we also noticed she had a lower right canine missing.

Right on cue she moved off, behind and into the croton, with that we knew our time with the cubs was up as when the mother moves away they know to go back and hide all the while that they don't have the protection of Olive.

We tracked Olive for a short time, enough to get a reasonable shot or two of her walking. She was clearly on a mission to  hunt. It was not long though until she also disappeared and into an area that was just not accessible, perhaps she was going to try and cross the river. We waited for some time but after a little while decided it was time to move off. 'Mission Olive' a success but of course we really hoped that we could get another opportunity to photograph her and the cubs, but this time with a little more light we hoped!! 

Paul then advised us that he had heard that a male lion had appeared at the same site as the lions we had seen the previous afternoon. Andy and I follow all the animals in the Mara (particularly the predators) with great interest but in particular spend a lot of time with the lions and very interested in the pride dynamics of the Mara as the evolving stories that unfold with each pride.  So of course I was really keen to see who this male was and so were Paul and Angela. 

As we approached the exact same location as yesterday it took about 2 milliseconds for me to ID this boy. It was 'Grimace', one of the infamous Notch boys and one who we are rather fond of. Although admittedly he is one of the more troublesome members of this 5 male coalition (Including Notch) as he had been responsible for killing many cubs in the Mara, even those from prides they have control off.  The exact reason of this is unknown to an extent but I suspect its due to the fact that he has not mated with many of the females bearing cubs and therefore will kill any cub that he knows is not his. He is one of the only Notch boys that rarely seems to gets the opportunity to mate and the females view him with a degree of distrust,  In addition, even if he has mated with females and sired cubs because he spends a considerable amount of time away from many of the cubs he has sired and therefore its possible he loses the scent that the cubs are his and therefore potentially driven to kill them. Just two of the possible reasons. In a nut shell Grimace is a lion with 'issues'! 

As we approached he was feeding on the now even more rancid Buffalo carcass that still lay in the deep lugga, but soon moved off and toward a female, one of the sub adults who was 2-3 years old. Despite her age, being a little too young to bear cubs he followed her with interest, sniffing her and advancing with a keen interest! Although she may have been starting to give off the necessary pheromones as she is starting to mature and the scent that was attracting Grimace she made to clear to him that any sexual relations at this point were not on her agenda, but they were on his! Getting the hint he then settled down alone, not before he scent marked bushes near by. She moved away and unsuccessfully tried to hunt a warthog, staying around 25-50 metres away.

The concern on all of our minds was where are the cubs?! Knowing his track record we were understandably worried. None of the cubs, nor the adults were to be seen. Only the sick female lioness who had barely moved at all and the sub. Searching further up the lugga we had no joy in locating them. One of two things had happened, either the cubs had been killed or more likely (and we hoped) the lionesses had moved to another area. It was clear we were not going to get the answer to this until someone could confirm if they had seen the cubs elsewhere. 

It was time to leave Grimace under a tree but not before I managed to get a couple of nice head shots, and in these it's clear why we had given him the name of Grimace!

We trundled on toward Topi Plains to see what else was around, not too far from the Double crossing area we came across a young sub adult lioness, she was thin and alone. Again evidence that times are really tough right now and not just due to the lack of prey. Paul advised that its likely she is a breakaway female from the Ridge pride.

At this point we had a call from our good friend Simon who advised s that 3 of the '4M's' had been sighted not too far away. As we approached they were doing what Lions excel at, sleeping! The three males, Hunter, Sikio and Morani were flat out and refused to even lift their heads. Scarface was the only male from this coalition that was missing. By this point it was  hot and they needed shade so we took a couple of shots of the big piles of tawny fluff and then headed off. It was clear they were moving or not going to show their faces properly for anyone! 

It was time for us also to get some shade as by now it was approaching 12:30pm and the sun was starting to beat down with a ferocious heat, it seemed a storm was possibly building as Cumulous clouds began to form and the heat becoming quite oppresive. Hopefully the rains would wait until later that night!!!

Just as we approached our camp Paul spotted some lionesses, deep inside the Croton bush. It was soon clear that it was some of the adult lionesses from the 'breakaway Olkiombo pride'. It was very hard to see but at this point no cubs were to be seen, however it seemed that not all of the lionesses were here. So the questions around where are the cubs remained unanswered..

Our next adventure was going to be leaving for another drive that afternoon at 3:30pm and would hopefully reveal answers to the location and fate of the cubs. So just a brief time to seek shade and try and catch up on the blog before heading back out.

Olive and the cubs

 A very tolerant mother!

Grimace

 Grimace scent marking