Wild Adventures: Return to the Mara

Returning back to the Mara is always something we look forward to. Although before we embarked on the trip we knew this trip would be marked with some sadness. It had not been long since the horrific event at Westage Mall, a terrible incident that sadly affected many friends of ours in Kenya. In addition knowing that we would be no longer have the opportunity to find two of our favourite cats we have followed for many years. Early September brought news that 'Notch' had not been sighted now for sometime and feared dead, a general consensus amoung the guides. This was followed by more sad news just a week before we left that Olive, the hugely charismatic and exceptionally 'tolerant' female leopard was killed by lions, literally just a couple of weeks before she was due to give birth. So terribly sad. However, whilst we were indeed saddened by this news we also knew that both events are part and parcel of life and death on this plains and whilst this would undeniably leave a big 'hole' for us there are plenty of other characters we were keen to catch up on, life goes on in the Mara as new generations are born and will become the new 'stars' of the Mara. Named or unnamed each and evey creature in the Mara brings us immense pleasure and no less important than the iconic characters who are sadly no longer with us. We had a mission to complete and that was to catch up on all the bush news and we had new cats to 'catalogue'!

Leaving Nairobi early Sunday morning and after the usual 6 hour bone shaking drive we were once again reunited with the Mara. Suddenly our tiredness faded and our spirits lifted! It felt so good to be back. The plains a lush green following recent rains, the short grass highlighting the many new trails carved by the the recent migrating wildebeest and zebra herds. We decided to enter by one of the Southern gates to get a feel for where the herds were now. Before we arrived we had suspected that most had moved back toward the Serengeti and indeed this seemed true. A few large herds could be seen at the border to Tanzania and were tracking their way back south. On our way in we were also greeted with a brief but nice sighting of two approx 14month old cheetah cubs and their mother. What made this sighting even more special was that we were quietly confident (although we were by no means 100% on this) that this mother was infact 'Sita', the very same cheetah mother who had featured the feature film African cats and who Sarah was lucky to have followed as she worked on the film as a spotter with the cheetah team back in 2009. However, to be 100% we have more ID files to check back home. Regardless of who she was it is always great to see a cheetah mother raising cubs to adulthood.

Our first morning was just spectacular! We took a balloon ride from the North end of the Mara Triangle with our friend Christian who is now a qualified pilot and soon to be flying commercially within the Mara. Seeing the Mara from the air provides such a different pespective. We soared above the plains, drifting close to the canopy of the beautiful riverine forest, passing an incredible amount of 'big game', including Elephant, Hippo and also seeing two male lions and three cheetah. Geez! hold on we are also forgetting a rhino and calf here to!!! It was so peaceful and serene and actually quite an emotional experience seeing the place we love from a different viewpoint. At some points we were flying literally 3-4 feet above the plains, really quite a surreal experience! The absolute highlight though was not the animals believe it or not, but the experience of floating low over the Mara river, you could fully appreciate the extent to which the Mara river carves through the landscape with perfect oxbow formations. As a river that is quite young it was clear to see how it was constantly changing. The landing was good, we were practically in hysterics as we bumped along the ground, with the basket laid over on its side down as the balloon came to a halt (eventually!) Videos could not do justice to what was a fabulous experience.

Although it was getting late in the morning to find much action from the predators, we took a drive out at 10am following our balloon trip. We had half expected a 'cat free' morning on the drive but were proved wrong as we found two groups of sub adult lions from the Oloololo pride, totalling 7 individuals. ranging from the age of 12 months - 2.5/3years old, both male and female, plus a slightly older adult female. Making 8 individuals in total. They were lounging around under the shade of two different trees but later came together in a huge heap of lion under the one small tree. One of the older females becoming quite annoyed with the lack of space and then suprisingly climbed the tree to find shade. Lions are not the most agile climbers, compared to the agility of the leopard and she proved no exception to this. She spent around 30-45 minutes attempting to get comfortable, several times looking like she was going to topple off the branch. Quite a comical sighting in which you could see her becoming more and more aggrevated by her ungainliness and inability to find a comfy spot! Although the lions were inactive it did give us a good opportunity to get some more ID shots of these lions we had not chronicalled in our personal 'ID file' as yet.

Leaving the lions we then went to look for the cheetah we had sighted from the balloon and found three near to where we had seen them from the air so presumed they must have been those seen from the air given they were almost in the same proximity. 2 cheetah both at least 18 months+ rested below the tree with another close by in the long grass, but unfortunately barely moving and preventing us to be able to even identify the sex despite sitting there for 2.5hrs waiting for 'it' to reveal itself, hopefully we will fund them again to confirm the sex and age of the other. We did fortunately manage to get some limited ID shots of the two others.

As well as the Cheetah, the afternoon was filled with more of the feline kind, yet sub adult lions (1 female and 2 males) although this time we were not entirely sure where they had originated from or who they were. Age wise they matched that of the remaining Mugoro pride cubs and this evening would be time to check of any ID files confirmed this. They were in an area that borders two prides (Oloololo pride/Mugoro Pride) and given their has been some instability of late with regard to the males controlling the Mugoro pride it would have also made some sense that they had ventured away from the core pride area.

Although photos were impossible we also saw another Rhino resting deep in the croton, such an amazing creature that similar to the African elephant now sadly faces the threat of extinction within the next 7-10 years, unless the poaching epidemic is controlled. We just hope and pray that the rhinos in the Mara ecosystem remain safe.

The evening drive soon drew to a close, ominous clouds moved across the sky rapidly, blocking out the usual 'golden hour' of light. This signalled time to move on back to camp after what had been a great first day back in the Mara. More updates to follow in the next few days.....

Cheetah mum en route to the Mara