Wild Adventures: Cute babies and lots of mud!

They say things come in 'threes' and on the morning of the 2nd it most certainly did.! Fortunately the association was a positive one (although life in the bush never comes without a few issues...more on that later!)

The morning started with a lovely sighting of the Rekero Pride (AKA Ridge/Maternity pride) and located in the same spot as the evening prior (south of Mara Intrepids). Up until now seeing these lions clearly had evaded us because of the long grass. Finding them at first light we were the first ones at the sighting (always nice!). They were fairly active enabling us to count up who was there. In total 11 members were present, 3 Adult females, 4 Sub adult males, 2 Sub Adult Females and 2 cubs. This differed to the numbers we had seen in March, when there were 12 members, so it appeared one sub adult female was 'missing' from the group. The young males and two younger cubs were captivated by a vulture positioned at the top of the Acacia that they were sat under, their big eyes gazing up with playful curiosity as they scratched on the tree with their big clumsy paws!

The three adult females were not wishing to get engaged in any playful antics and softly vocalised to the cubs in order to group them together, clearly the lionesses were looking to move off and so it was the signal that playtime was over. As they formed together as a group in the road the females began to vocalise with increased intensity and began roaring loudly in order to reestablish their territory, with the males joining in. One day these males would be out on their own and in a few years doing the same yet this time not under the protection of their mothers. A lions roar is such an iconic and evocative sound of the African bush and it has to be said one of the most awesome sounds you could ever hear!

The pride looked in relatively good health, one of the cubs in March had looked quite sick and those who read this blog regularly may recall that the mother was consistently reluctant to feed her cub as she herself was not in the best of health due to such sparse game. The good news was that all members now looked good, and apart from one sub male all looked well fed and in much better shape than a few months prior. This was certainly good to see.

The 'bush telegraph' soon brought news that Olives one remaining cub had been sighted so we left the pride, who started to move off and we headed across to the area where it had apparently been seen.

Expecting to see many cars at the Leopard sighting we were lucky in that only a few cars were around and not long after arriving we caught sight of the little cub, nestled safely on a branch high up in the tree. We sat and watched as it fidgeted around on the branch and at some points looking like it was going to tumble out, certainly this little one needs to hone tree climbing skills. It was hard to see in between the leaves but it looked as if this was a female cub, and the one named in March as 'Saba' (meaning 'seven' in Swahili). Olive had given birth to two cubs in early February, one male and one female, so it seemed it was the female that had survived and so now aged 4 months so still very small and vulnerable.

Olive was not present but we had heard she had been sighted not too far away and would no doubt return to the cub later to where she has safely stashed her precious little bundle of fluff. We managed to grab a few shots before we left as again more news echoed around the Mara that a cheetah and 2 cubs had been spotted, around 30 minutes from our current location.

We soon found the female Cheetah and were told by our good friend Onesmus that this was a female called 'Maliaka' (sp?!) who indeed had two cubs, around 2 months old. The cubs were nowhere to be seen but as the female looked like she was going to hunt she had most likely stashed them in a safe place while she went about securing herself some food. We saw she was 'locked on' to a young Grants Gazelle and within just a few moments of being there she launched through the long grass and made a successful kill. The grass here was very long and indeed much longer than a Cheetah would ordinarily prefer to hunt in but in order for her cubs to survive and provide them with milk she had to take any opportunity, instead relying on cover to hunt as opposed to speed. We were unable to see the actual hunt with any clear view but could see he through the grass dispatching her quarry with a throat hold.

It was vital that she move the now deceased Gazelle into cover, in order to avoid any attention from Hyena or Lion who could easily steal her efforts. We watched as she battled with the grass and dragged the kill around 20 metres to a small Croton bush. As she recovered from the short chase and hauling the kill to safety we knew that now she would likely call the cubs and just 10 minutes later she started 'chirping', signalling to the cubs that they must join her. For a good 10 minutes she did this and wandered around the area looking high and low, travelling quite some distance. For a while we were slightly concerned as in the area in which she called and searched a large herd of Elephants had gathered. The calling then stopped and she started to return to the bush, we assumed she must have found the cubs and hoped that they followed her, knowing how small they would be at that age it would be hard to see them with the grass height. Then with a playful bounce one cub suddenly appeared at her tail, and then followed by another. Certainly a sigh of relief from all that they had no been 'displaced' by the Elephants. The bounded along after her, as you could just make out the tops of their bodies and the white fluff they display at this age along the top of their backs (This is not only camouflage but also a possible natural defence in which they resemble the appearance of a Honey Badger so to deter any predators)

The cubs quickly disappeared into the bush, giving us just a few moments to get a couple of shots, it was so awesome to see these tiny little bundles of cuteness and it's been so long since Andy and I have seen such young Cheetah cubs. With the population in the Mara under so much pressure at the moment we hoped that she would see these though to adulthood. The light was by now far to harsh to even entertain the idea of photography so we left this picture of maternal bliss for some peace and quiet.

So it had been a great morning and although the Mara is famed for its predators we are never ones to take for granted seeing 3 cat species in one morning and it had certainly been 'babies galore'!!

The afternoon saw us again return to the same area again to look for the Cheetah and cubs, ordinarily after feeding a Cheetah will leave the area of the kill, in order to avoid any other predators that would want to also enjoy the spoils of the kill. To our surprise she was in the same position, still some four hours later. We could just make out the group hidden in the bushes, but given by now there were many cars we decided to move off, she needed space in which to move and 'bed' for the night and we were not keen in staying and causing any pressure, frustrating in some ways but for the best for the Cheetah.

Some of the Notch coalition had been seen not too far away (but far far away from their last reported location south of the Talek River) so although we knew given the afternoon heat they would be hauled u in a bush somewhere we gave them a go. As expected they were as we found them just North East of Double Crossing. We arrived to see for a nano second one male, just the side of his mane so again could not ID who he was by this alone, but just enough to see it was not Notch himself. We were told earlier that day Three had been present and so we assumed there were still three around.

By now it was starting to get late and we needed to be back in camp by 7pm so we started the journey back. We had crossed a wet area several times already that day and had to do the same to return and this is where the 'slight hitch' came to the end of our day! As we started crossing the deep mud Andy accidentally stalled the vehicle, we knew at this point we were doomed and yep, sure enough we had lost the power to continue through and sat deep in mud, wheels spinning! Just part of life in the bush! Fortunately our vehicle is equipped with a winch and the equipment to get out alone. Andy started getting out the winch pins to pull ourselves out but at that moment our good friends, Aatish, Aashit and Dixon turned up to help and so we decided instead to make life easier and use their vehicle as the anchor, rather than the hassle of using the pins. It was our turn today to get stuck after pulling the guys out a few days ago at anther wet location. Just 15 minutes later we were back high and dry although most of us looking like we had been rolling ourselves in mud! It was no big drama and just something you have to accept when driving around. However, the biggest issue we then encountered when we returned to camp was we had somehow developed a small leak in one of the two diesel tanks. Although it was small leak it was something that we would need to attend to and although it would not stop us going out in the morning we knew we would have to abandon the idea of moving our base to the Musiara Marsh until Andy had checked out what the issue was. So as I type this blog Andy is attending to the vehicle and checking its nothing to major and making some minor repairs and just hoping that when he comes back with news it not too bad in that we have developed a major issue! This is where we are lucky that he knows the Land Rover better than anything else and a skilled mechanic so lets hope he can apply his practical expertise in applying a solution! No doubt in the day when we had encountered some rough terrain something had been knocked and caused the problem.......again, just part of life in the bush!!

Rekero/Maternity Pride