TIme for a catch up.......

It’s been none stop in the last few days and also the need to catch up on some sleep has unfortunately taken priority over blogging late int the night so this one is a bit of a catch up of the last few days in the Mara.

Notch made another appearance for us two days ago, we found him along the opposite bank of the Talek from the previous sighting and again with the same lioness as before. However, what we noticed this time is that the female was lactating and sure enough two very small cubs, no more than 6 weeks old made a brief appearance. So he had not been mating as we had first suspected but instead playing guardian over the cubs whilst making the most of the fact that the lioness would be hunting regularly. We sat with him on our own for 3 hours, 2hrs and 55minutes of which he sat deep in the bushes! Playing the family man again, grumbling occasionally as the cubs clambered over him in the croton. It seems as if one of the cubs has an injury to its front legs given it has quite a chronic limp. This does not bode well for the little one, given mamma lion will soon start moving them more frequently. It may be something temporary so we wouldn't want to write this one off yet but its not the best start in life for this little ‘toto’.

Later in the afternoon we had word from a guide friend that Bahati had been spotted , not too far from Rekero and sure enough we found where she was, along with a handful of other vehicles. She had been feeding on a wildebeest kill partially hidden in a small dip and then made a brief appearance for us, before moving into the croton after getting a little spooked by the vehicles. Given her location on this trip and the last one it seems she has taken up permanent residence in what was Binti‘s (her older sister) territory, signaling the fact that as suspected Binti is certainly no longer around, clearly having moved off or maybe worse. It will likely be soon that Bahati herself will start a family of her own as she is approaching the age of which she will be able to start reproducing.

The next day we again saw the most amazing wildebeest crossing. The second one of our trip. They wildebeest were crossing in two locations along the south Mara area, and given this, and the fact that vehicles were spread out along the two locations we were able to get a great position front on to photograph this amazing spectacle. At least 3 crocs were cruising along, at some points bringing the crossing to a stop as they blocked the path of the Wildebeest. The current here was strong and sadly causing some to drown and also several fell victim to the prehistoric ‘monsters of the deep’. So, although the day had started somewhat frustrating, given we waited hours for Notch and the cubs to show their faces it had turned into an amazing afternoon. Later that day we caught up with the Rekero pride, hauled up in the deepest croton possible!, and given the stench coming from the bush they had a kill and certainly had no reason to move! 

This brings me up to  the 19th October in which we took a drive down toward Paradise plains in the hope we would find the 4km male lions. Coming toward the area we paused to take a good scan around with the binoculars and then into sight came not one of the 4km boys but a Leopard! Just sitting on a termite mound and surveying the plains. It’s huge neck and build gave the no question that it was a big male and we figured it must have been the one named the “Paradise male’. Not being familiar with this cat we stopped some way back to take a couple of landscape shots. Leopards are in large very shy and we feared that if we moved too near we may have lost him for good. Soon we saw he was not phased by our presence, helped by the fact that there was no other cars around at all or at the sighting. We edged forward and then a few moments later he casually strolled off the mound and away from us. He moved off, into a slightly rocky area around around 30 feet away from us. We stopped the car, silent and patiently hoping he would track back around toward where there was more game, he had a look on him that he wanted to hunt. Fortunately he doubled back as we hoped, and then completely surprising us by walking right up to the vehicle and in gorgeous light!. In normal circumstances we would be delighted with one coming so close of their own accord. It was a stress free sighting and he seemed perfectly relaxed with our presence. However, this big boy then started coming a little too close for comfort, ending up just 1ft from the right hand-side of the car and stopping to look up at Andy and then I, who at this point was shooting stills out of the roof-hatch. His behavior had altered somewhat and for just a split second we had actually wandered if he was going to suddenly jump on the car! Needless to say we backed away from this big boy and this is probably the first time we have ever felt a tad uncomfortable with a Leopard so close. Needless to we stopped shooting and I sat down whilst he paused, carried on looking and and then eventually continuing on. Leopards do not ordinarily jump on cars but he exhibited some behaviors that gave us slight concern. Later we heard this this male, the Paradise male can be a little ‘tetchy’!

He then tracked into the grass and along a high ridge that was totally out of reach for us, too rocky and no tracks. So we watched from a distance before disappearing in a forested area. Surprisingly still no other cars clocked the fact that we had spotted a Leopard, complete bliss!!!

Leaving the Leopard to its own devices we then continued to track around the river, looking for the 4km males. By now it was getting warm and so we knew if they were around they would most likely be in the shade. Leaving our search for the males we headed off toward the Marsh and where we soon found the famous Marsh Pride of lions. Looking fit to burst with huge stomachs and located under a tree and in one their favorite areas. The pride were laid in two groups, we could see 2 males in one group, that apart from a short moment of movement were lying flat out making it pretty hard to ID and further along in the other group another male, who barely even moved his tail, let alone putting his head up.! 

Present among the two groups were Charm, Sienna, Mapema and their collective bundle of tiny cute cubs that have recently been born in to the Marsh pride and the offspring of the new males who took over the pride one year ago (ousting the longstanding ‘Romeo and Claude’). They occasionally moved around, trying to play with the male’s tails but instead being greeted by a low growl that meant “leave me alone I am trying to sleep”!.  Most of the lions were laid flat but we managed to also just about make out Bibi. It appeared that Scarface was missing from the group, however, this was not uncommon given he is quite often apart from the others. Later we heard that he was away from the Marsh and nearer to the West side of Rhino ridge.

By now it was nearly 12pm and these lions were moving for no-one! So we headed off back to camp.

Drawing the last few days to a close we ended the day before yesterday with quite a nice sighting of the Rekero pride, initially in the same croton as the day before but eventually moving a little further into the open and giving us the opportunity to grab a few ID shots of the 4 sub adult males (Notch off-spring). At 23 months old now they are starting to develop tufts of mane and certainly bulking up. The next generation of Notch coalition who one day may rule their own pride in the Mara.......

On the way back to camp and just before sundown we were then lucky to see a gorgeous serval cat, hunting around in the long grass. Despite being at 850mm and as the setting sun had disappeared from behind the cloud Andy managed to get a quick shot as it paused to pose before it carried on mousing!

Yesterday’s blog coming soon!........