Bizarre twist of fate!

We had a fairly quiet day 'cat wise' on Sunday, but nevertheless its still lovely to be driving around and taking in the surroundings, and there is always plenty of other game to enjoy. Sometimes just siting by the river and relaxing is just the tonic!  The quest to find 'our' Mgoro females continued with no luck, but we did come across one of the '4km males' (those that are now associated with the Mgoro girls) under a tree in a deep sleep and we heard some females had been sighted earlier in the day. The male barely moved an inch in the hour or so we were with him, and with a nice full stomach and shade who would in those circumstances! Shortly after we came across two females, one around 7+ years and another no more than 4 years. They were not ones we 'recognised' instantly, the older female was big and bulky and she looked like a real powerhouse of a lioness.

We decided that on Monday we would move over to the North side of the Mara River, after all no trip to the Mara is ever complete without finding a certain male lion, we all know that we are talking about Notch!

However, first we spent Monday morning on another 'Mgoro mission' and game viewing on the south side of the river by 9am we decided we should 'mobilise' for our trip over the river. As we are headed along the main road near Serena Airstrip to get water and fuel before starting the 2 hour journey we were suddenly stopped literally dead in our tracks by the loud roar right by the vehicle, when we say right by the vehicle we make no exaggeration and it was exactly at the moment was passed.  Instantly we knew it was a female lioness, but where on earth was she, close that was for sure. Then suddenly just 3 feet from the road we saw the top of a lioness head pop up from the long long grass. We were totally aghast as to how hidden she was, whilst she was so close to the road the grass was so high making her invisible.

We could only see ears so could not ID the lion, was it Killer Bogey (KB) or one of the other members of the Mgoro pride?  After just a few seconds she flopped down and then again disappeared into the grass. It was amazing as to how close she was but you could not see her, not even a tiny faction of skin or tail. Guides stopped to ask what we were looking at and as we explained but they to could not see her at all. Driving off from where the lioness was Andy and I were convinced they did not believe us when we said there was a lion there! We sat patiently for some time waiting to see if we could get a better look. Then again she moved but that was revealed was a belly, this was not helping! Moments later we suddenly saw more movement, there was 2 lionesses! Quite something to see how one such a large creature can just disappear, let alone two, but as the grass was around 3foot+ in this area so it was hardly surprising. Time pressed on and we knew we had to get water, on the way back we would pop by again in case they had moved.

Returning back they had not moved as hoped, the occasional flick of a tail was all we got to know they were still there. That was until the bush plane from Nairobi came over! Startled by the noise of the low flying plane suddenly the two lionesses were rudely awoken from their slumber and leaped out of the grass and onto the road. At this point in unison Andy and I both excitedly proclaimed "its Killer Bogey'!. Yep, that's right we had found her and one of the other members of the Mgoro pride. Had it not been for the load roar and the plane overhead we would have been none the wiser. Ok, yes its coincidence but even still quite amusing!. Sadly we have no photos of her as she then retreated back to the grass fast, but we had seen her so that was good to see she was doing well. Hopefully when we go back over we will see them again.

The bizarre twist of fate continued on the next leg of our journey.... 'finding Notch'. Just an hour into the journey to the North side we came across 2 female elephants and their older calves. Always being cautious of elephants and especially mothers and calves we stopped around 125feet away, they knew we were there so we decided to sit quietly sat with the engine off and watched as their posture was relaxed.

They started to very slowly move along away from the road and we decided a little after to slowly move forward to pass. We had not even moved 5 feet at snail pace that without any warning one the larger of the two females suddenly bolted full speed at us, this was no mock charge and we were given no warning at all so the moral of the story is don't always think you will get a warning! Andy had no option but to slam into reverse as we watched this elephant run toward us, at this point we could see she was secreting fluid out of her temporal glands on the side of her head. She was not happy about something as this is often a sign of stress (caused by many things) and us turning up was obviously for some reason been'the straw that broke the camels back'!  To say the adrenalin was pumping is a pretty accurate description! She closed the gap slightly as she did not relent toward us, but as we had already some distance away she never got too close, this was lucky we had not decided to get too close and retain a healthy respect and distance. We were lucky in that we were on a nice bit of even and dry track so made it easy to reverse.  After running for around 150 metres she finally stopped. Without panic we then had the opportunity to turn the vehicle around and face the direction of travel in as calm manner as possible and take a different route. However, she decided that even though by now we were a considerable distance away and still moving away from her she was going to start running again after us! We drove slowly knowing at this point we had no need to panic, she continued to run for again another 150 metres. What had upset her was a mystery and the first time we had experienced this. We have come across elephants before who are a little 'stroppy or sensitive' but knowing the signs we have always avoided any issues, but this girl gave us no warning!

So, after this little episode we continued to re-route on another track, it would still get us to where we needed to be eventually, just a slightly different way. The mystery of what had upset the elephant then became a little clearer when we soon came across a large bull elephant nearby, stomping around the plains, testosterone filled. Perhaps this guy had been upsetting the herd and was why she was easily agitated, one possible theory!.? Or perhaps she had just awoken the wrong side of the 'bed' or decided she did not like green Land Rovers!

So here comes the second 'twist of fate'......continuing the journey we then saw up ahead a lone acacia which clearly had some feline inhabitants underneath. It was indeed lions, two, a male and a female. As we approached closer it took only moments until we both proclaimed "its Notch". Yes, indeed this was the old Mzee himself and in an area we had actually not expected to find him.  He was some distance away but enough to see his familiar face, he looked well fed (having heard that he and his boys had been feeding on Hippo just days before). I hate to say this but now he looked old now and not quite as good as he had done in February when we last saw him. You could see this in his face and his skin condition was changing and certainly showing his age.

As reported recently we also saw for ourselves that Notch has lost a lower canine. Even still  there was still plenty of strength there so we are not writing Notch off yet by any means, he has been like a Duracell battery so far so long live Mzee Notch! Soon he will be feeding on a glut of wildebeest, that will keep him going for sure. The female he was with also looked a little battered with a large older injury to half of her face and was having some issues with her eye as it streamed and barely opened. They really looked a right pair of bruisers! So we have to say thank you to the elephant for having charged us, without this we would have taken a different track and totally missed where the big guy was. Sadly he sat up for only moments and not long enough to get any great images but there was fine with us as it was good to see the old guy again. We decided that after lunch we would return as he was not going to be moving anywhere that was for sure and we knew that his 'bodyguard' (Grimace/Bob) and the other boys could be near by.

Headed back a few hours later he was in the same spot, having moved about 12 inches! They were still flat out and looked almost comotose! Leaving him we headed off to look for the others, just a couple of KM away we came across another familar face, it was Grimace (Bob).  He lay on the open plain with another female and as we cast our eyes around we could see they were not too far from the remains of the hippo that had been their substiance for the last few days but now teemed with three different species of vulture all fighting over the best morsels of meat left over. Grimace was also not 'playing ball' for the cameras but we managed to get a couple of shots but nothing that would make it to the website I doubt!. Enough to see that he has now also lost an upper canine, probably embedded in a hippo somewhere!

So now it was off to try and find the three other boys. We spoke to a guide who mentioned he thought they had been seen a couple of kilometres away so off we went. We soon approached the area and saw three cars under a tree, this meant two things, lions or given the area a cheetah. The flick of a tawny tail with a black tuft gave it away as we moved closer, and then two tails and then three. So we knew we had lions and we knew it was likely the boys. The grass was again long (and in this instance frustratingly long!) so we saw the odd head pop up quickly and then flop back down. It was enough to see that it was the Notch sons (Including the tell tell dark maned 'Notch II') It was incredible to see (albeit briefly as they re-adjusted their position) that they really did look like Notch in his younger days but now even bigger than dad for sure. This had been a great day so far, but in terms of photography was not great given the long grass but we had set a mission to find Notch and his boys and we had succeeded so no complaints there, sometimes that is just the way it happens on a trip. Given the light was rather dull anyway it was hardly an issue and we are happy just to see these handsome and rather 'famous' lions and to see how they have grown up in the years we have followed them.

As our day came to an end our last twist of fate ends with Cheetahs. Saying goodnight to the boys it was time to head back to camp (having still not moved!)We had made plans for a particular site but for a few reasons we had to make some last minute changes late that day as to where we would stay which was fine. In Africa we 'make a plan' day by day so this was not an issue at all. As we headed to the different site the sun had almost gone and a dark light prevailed. We made out vehicles in the distance, the way we were headed. As we came nearer and in front of the cars we suddently saw two cheetahs running, then three, then four, then five, then six and then SEVEN!!!! It was 'Shingo' and her six cubs, and it seemed almost unreal to see so many Cheetahs together, let alone for a mother to have raised all her cubs to such an age. (I am not sure of their exact age but they looked around 12-15 months old). It was our first time to see these cats in the flesh. They all looked in great condition and well fed, this really was some sight. We backed off as they were obviously chasing something which the cars masked for a few moments, until we saw they had taken down a 'Tommie' fawn. The cheetahs then instantly huddled around the kill and it was dispatched quickly, each one of the cheetahs getting their own piece of dinner.  The cameras were away! (given the fact we were about the exit the park and it was getting dark) but out in enough time to boost up the 'ISO' and try and get at least something to remind us of the fact we had just seen 7 cheetahs. Well done mum, you are a clever girl!

And so that ends our day that was brimming with either many coincidences or a bizarre twist of fate. We had caught up with old and new feline friends so we were pretty happy that night as you can imagine. Welcome to the Masai Mara and all is wonderous glory (except for the bad light and rain!!)

Grimace (A.K.A Bob)

Notch

Storms of Africa

There are many things about Africa, other than the amazing wildlife that we are always in awe of no matter how many times we visit. The skies always seems 'bigger', the stars brighter (no light pollution!) and the storms more dramatic and impressive to those experienced in the UK.

Due to the relative 'proximity' of Lake Victoria in Tanzania and the high Siria Escarpement on the Western edge of the Mara there is always plenty of interesting weather and cloud formations to experience here in Kenya's Masai Mara. This trip being no exception!. So far nature has treated us to some quite spectacular night shows from our campsite and on our afternoon drives so far. Its true that rain and camping really do not mix and it can be particularly unpleasant!. However, the 'inconvenience of rain' is far outweighed by all the other reasons of why we love to camp (when its dry!)  and there is nothing more impressive than an African storm. On both our first and second evening here we have seen some quite 'brutal' weather, the first night was incredible. I can only describe it as saying that you could literally see the build up of pressure in the clouds that were super changed up with energy. Lightning was coming from all directions, vertical, horizontal and hitting the ground on multiple occasions with a load crack not too far from our campsite. The thunder was almost deafening and together with hail meant it was impossible to hear or see anything. Watching the animals behaviour change and as the impending weather approached late in the afternoon was quite something. The wind spiralled in different directions as the gazelles pronked, and the Topi and Eland ran around in what can only be described as a state of confusion/excitement In the same area some cute Hyena cubs played around their den in a frisky manner. 

The next morning after the first storm we found what looked like a perfectly healthy impala, dead, with no signs of predation lying on top of a mound. In the same area that bore the brunt of the fierce lightning. Could he have been a victim of a lightening strike? like many other animals fall victim to in Africa? As we write this again on Day 3, we can see more ominous storm clouds moving in again, another wet afternoon approaches! One thing is for sure is that if the rains and thunder continue this will certainly get the wildebeest moving from Tanzania (depending of course what the weather is doing there).

On to the game update......the grass is long here in the Mara, as you would expect at this time of year and it feels like the 'lull before the storm' before soon the pounding hooves of the Zebra and Wildebeest etc will arrive for the Mara leg of the 'Great Migration'. There is very little plains game around on the side of the Mara we are on at present, aside from a handful of resident Zebra herds, There are reasonable numbers of Topi, Grants and Thomson Gazelle, Impala that are occupying some areas of the plains, but in large there is a vast expanse of empty plains with Red Oat grass that is up to 6 feet tall! 

The first 24 hours in the Mara were busy with some nice cat sightings, not ones where we were able to get any good images but still its not always 'about the shot'. Within minutes of entering the Mara we came across 3 males lions, around 4-5 years old and not too far as the crow flies from the Musiara Marsh area. Along with two other females they were mating. We think its quite possible that these handsome guys were the same males that have recently left the Marsh pride. Just fifteen minutes later and some 50-75 metres from the track we saw the remains of what looked like an impala dangling eerily from the branch of a tree. This meant only one thing.....Leopard!. We scanned wardering if he or she was nearby. It was in an area that was closed to any off road driving and in this instance there was not a track nearby so we looked hard through the binoculars. There was definitely no leopard in that tree, as we scanned we were alerted to another tree, even further away, another 100 metres or so behind the first. There it was, what we could just about make out to be a male Leopard, simply awesome to see!. Reaching for the cameras we stopped and decided it was a little pointless given the distance so we sat and gazed as he made himself comfy with a huge rotund and full stomach! I have attached an image below taken with a 'point and shoot' camera, can you spot him!? Normally we would have waited for him to come down, as inevitably he would as the afternoon cooled, but having just driven 6 hours from Nairobi, the distance away and the unlikely event that he would come onto the plains rather than back toward the Mara river we decided it was probably not the best course of action to wait. 

Only another 20 minutes later and not too far from the Migration crossing points opposite Paradise Plains we then came across another male lion, this looked to be 'Male 1' (we really must give this guy an identity!) from our Feb trip. 

Our Leopard luck continued into the evening with another Leopard sighting, just perched high up on a rock at the base of the tree line on a large hill south of the Mara river. This guy was HUGE and looked quite a mature Leopard, again it was way too far to get any decent images for the website but we took a couple of shots. Its always hard to see Leopards in the Mara Triangle but 2 in one day, amazing!!! 

Having followed the Mgoro pride of 5 females for some time now we are always keen to relocate them when we return. When we left them in February they had two remaining cubs (from the nine that they had in Sept 2010) and the females were mating with the new males. We had heard that shortly after we left in February one more cub was killed by the new males so we knew by now we were probably back to looking for just the females now. So far in the three days we have been here we have neither seen or heard them in their normal area, hunting high and low no sign at all, including no evidence of any pug marks, old kills or other tell tale signs. We still have some areas to cover but so far no sign, there are around for sure somewhere we are sure.  This is not unusual either as they would often go 'missing' for  a few days at a time and their territory is a big area with many places to hide and the grass long right now.  Their biggest issue is that within their usual territory there is literally no game so its quite likely they have become a little more transient and have had to expand their area in search of food. This would also explain why at night we are hearing very few lions, far less than 'normal'. A lion/group of lions that is forced to cross into the area of another lion pride does certainly not want to advertise its presence and when the prey is sparse we have seen that lions in the Triangle seem to affirm their territory far less than in times such as the Migration period when they are fiercely protecting their abundant food source by the Mara river against any lions that may 'follow' the migration..."My Land"! Also given some of the Mgoro lions  were mating on our last trip (110 day day gestation period) its also very possible they some of them are either denning cubs or shortly due to give birth, another reason why we or no-one else has seem them for a little while now. Its still only day 3 so we may be lucky and find them.

No sign so far either of the Serena/Paradise pride, they often cross the river so it is likely they are either in an area that is not accessible by track or as they often do may have crossed the River to the North side of the Mara river. So aside from the males and females that we encountered on entering the gate to the Mara Triangle it is quite sparse on the lion front at present in this particular area. One thing is for sure is that being back in Kenya is making for a happy Mr and Mrs Skinner indeed.

Can you spot the Leopard!

Storm Clouds forming 

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Video of the cutest Hyena cubs!

Short video captured last week at a Hyena den in the Mara Triangle. These guys were adorable beyond belief, and anyone that thinks Hyenas are anything but utterly fascinating needs to rethink please!. Awesome creatures, that are too often misunderstood.

Short video of Olive & Nkayioni

As promised here is a very short video of Olive and her older 'cub' male cub Nkayioni (who I believe is around 19-21 months old now). Apologies for the poor quality and inability to hold the camera still, a mixture of sheer excitement and trying to do three things at once! More short videos to come in the next few days.

Kitties galore, the Mara in the last few days.

Firstly, profuse apologies for the lack of blogging activity in the last few days. A mixture of busy days and a few Internet connection issues have hindered updates in the last 72 hours. So sadly the last update of the previous 3 or 4 days comes just as we have arrived home to the UK this evening

Let's start with Notch and the boys. The afternoon after we photographed Notch in all his glory (last post) we found 3 of his boys not too far away doing what lions do best, sleeping! They lay under a shady acacia tree and in the three hours that we sat with them they moved a grand total of about five foot, just enough to re-adjust their position away from the scorching sun. Clearly not even the setting sun and cooling temperature was going to budge them from their horizontal state.

The next few mornings were dedicated back to 'Operation Leopard', so each morning we started off very early scanning the luggas and riverbeds for any sign of movement. It always seems that despite hunting high and low for Leopard we always come across them when we least expect it, almost when you feel you have 'given up' on a chance of seeing them. We had two mornings that were exactly like this!. On one morning it had got to around 8.00am, the heat was rising with rapid intensity and the light already starting to get a little 'harsh', despite it still being early. We both commented that as the time heat was rising our chances were slowly decreasing. This did not stop the 'Skinners' in continuing the quest for a while longer as Leopards don't always follow the 'text book' of when they are usually active, especially in this part of the Mara.

As I (Sarah) continued to scan far and wide out of the roof hatch and as we came around a 'blind' corner  I felt a tug at my leg! Andy was trying to get my attention as I was looking at something to my left. As I looked at Andy he beamed with a big smile and frantically pointed to his right. Not even 8 foot from the track sat a young male Leopard! Scrambling for the cameras, thinking he would skulk into the bush away we wanted to at least get a shot or two before we lost him. He ambled off very slowly and very relaxed in our presence. Much to our delight he repositioned to a nearby mound and happily posed for us for at least 15-20 minutes. He looked less than 2 years old and lacked the build of an older male, given the area we were in we knew its was fairly likely this one one of Olives older sons (Nkayioni) and later we had confirmation that it was. What a delight, as not only was this a Leopard but one of the very same  that Andy had photographed as a tiny cub in Sept 2009.

It was not long until we were joined by other vehicles and at this point the boy wanted a little more peace. He moved away slowly, stopping to roll around in the dust, leaving his scent along the way. All in all it was a great sighting and gave us the chance to capture some nice images.

Another particular morning we again found a Leopard as we almost started to 'give up'. This time it was later, gone well past 9am and again very hot. The dust was immense so we broke the photographers golden rule today and put away our cameras. Especially given that I had sadly damaged mine the day before, increasing the chances of getting dust where you don't want to get it. You can guess exactly what happened next! We came down to the Talek river crossing point, which is steep incline down to the river bed. Just as we negotiated the harsh articulations a Leopard suddenly darted across the river bed. In a mad panic, as Andy slowly negotiated the incline I scrambled to at least get Andy's camera ready. Stopping at the bottom it happened again, to Andy's right sat a Leopard just metres away and it was Olive! She sat for a matter of seconds as she then got up and slowly moved away from us. The next moment another Leopard appears, the young male we had seen the day before (Nkayioni). Olive growled at his presence. Soon he will be pushed away for good as Olive has other more important priorities now in the form of two much younger cubs.

In the next moment we then saw a tiny cub, who quickly darted across to be with mum, with most of this time they had their backs to us making getting any really decent images hard (not helped by the fact that we were also not ready!). Andy managed to fire off a few shots and I did manage to get a little video footage on the 'point and shoot' camera, thinking I may as well given I did not have time to 'clamp up' the camera which takes longer to 'mobilise' (especially when you are stupid enough to have put it away!)  So, we sat and watched them disappear in the distance, far upstream along the river bed. jumping from rock to rock. It was just too far away for photography so putting the cameras down again we delighted in watching for nearly an hour and witnessing from a distance truly natural behaviour as the little cub bounded around with such innocence on the bed of Talek

Knowing that it was unlikely that she would tolerate the older male cub near her while she nursed the cub we took a chance of going back up to the top of the river bank in the hope that we would see the male again. This paid of as within 10 minutes and after hearing a few growls at the bottom of the bank he appeared as we had hoped. All this with no other cars! He had spotted some Impala who were moving into the thicket away from the scorching sun (by this time it was gone 10am and getting REALLY hot) but  he was still seriously interested in hunting. We then witnessed something we have never seen before, a Leopard stalking its prey. He sat there with immense patience and silence, absolutely nothing was going to distract him. In an attempt to move closer he would shuffle on his belly through the croton thicket, moving just a few feet at a time and with absolute silence, being cautious not to alert the Impala to his presence. His shoulder blades pronounced as he crept along, we were witnessing the pure stealth that Leopards are so famed for and we were in total awe watching this. This behaviour went on for nearly one hour as he shuffled deeper into the croton bushes and nearing the Impala. However,  the sun was beating down on him and you could seen him beginning to pant uncomfortably in the heat. He was faced with a dilemma of wanting to hunt but just looked to be getting so very hot. It was at this point that the temperature superseded his desire to hunt and so he moved away from the Impala and just disappeared into the deep dark bushes at the top of the river bank. It was incredible to watch and neither of us would have swapped that sighting for anything!

There were also a few other really nice sightings in our last few days on this side of the Mara, including one with a cheetah and its older cub 14-16 Month old cub, who had recently killed a Grants Gazelle. We also had another nice, but brief sighting of Mzee Notch with one of his new families (the lionesses that will feature in the new Disney movie) The cubs played around him in the morning sun, stopping to occaisonally glance at him with a mixture of respect and in sheer awe of his size and stature

On the last day we also found 4 of Notch's boys near a Hippo kill. When we came across them three sat in the bushes (including 'Grimace') as one guarded the Hippo, by now most of the remaining meat was rotting and little remained of this once huge adult Hippo. The four males were fit to burst and could barely even walk with stomachs so huge! Sadly just a few feet away a dead lion cub was also found and had been killed in the evening/early morning, (perhaps possibly by Grimace?). Jackson Looseyia's blog has more detail on this.

It was soon time for us to leave this side of the Mara, but we had one last quick stop to make back in the Mara Triangle before we left for Nairobi and that was again to see the 'Mugoro Pride'. (see previous blogs). On the last afternoon we failed to find all the lionesses, but instead found one of KB's fellow lionesses (likely to be her sister/cousin) mating with one of the new males. In respect of the previous post on this we confirmed straight away that she was mating with 'Male 1'. So now that meant at least 2 of the adult females were now mating with at least 2 of the three males. Perhaps in approximately 110 days days new lion cubs will soon arrive, or are the females still just keeping the males happy for now?  ('false oestrus'). Something tells me that soon the patter of tiny feet will once again adorn the territory of the Mugoro pride and hopefully restoration of the pride can begin.

As we bring an end to our time in the Mara its a big thanks from both of us for reading our blog. Its always a pleasure bringing news from the Mara and our time there never seems long enough! It was a great trip and we are glad to say this time we were not hindered by flight cancellations or illness like the last trip!  You can bet though we will be back in a few months after the long rains to bring more news on our feline friends.

In the next few days we will load onto the blog a few videos on from some of the sightings from our trip. For now we leave you with a few images of the above sightings and will crack on with getting
our the new images loaded onto our website in the next couple of weeks.

Kwaheri for now......

Cheetah mum and Cub

Notch Boy with Hippo

 Notch & Cubs

 Stalking Nkayioni

One of Olives cubs

Mzee Notch

With all good intentions Andy and I had planned to dedicate yesterday morning to a serious leopard mission. However, by 3.30am in the morning this was all to change! Waking to the sound of grumbling and grunting we soon knew we could hear several lions on a kill that sounded as if it was not too far away. There was a light breeze as the sounds were carried over to our direction, far and wide over the plains. You could almost picture the tension at the carcass, lions fighting and scrabbling to get their portion of meat. Half of the excitement in listening was to paint a 'mental picture' of what was going on. How many were there, was it males or females or both, and what had they killed?. At this point there was no way that either of us were going to go back to sleep, this was far too exciting!!!

Not too long after listening to the fracas at the kill some of questions were answered as soon enough 1, 2, 3, 4 and then 5 males started to roar, a spectacular sound that sent goose bumps all around! The noise, even at a distance was overpowering. We could not hear anything other than the males, any female roars would have been drowned out in the cacophony of roars that resonated far and wide. However, one roar was rather distinctive and one that we have blogged about before. We could hear the trademark whiny/gurgly roar of a cat that has become a star the world over and our most favourite lion in the Mara, having followed his life for the last 5 years. Yes, you guessed it, it was Notch! So this meant Notch and the four boys, awesome!

We were like two children waiting for Santa to arrive as we waited for the time to tick on ready to get up and go! We lay there and listened to them moving away from the carcass, roaring as they walked, just imagining the pure 'majesty' of them all as they pounded the plains.  We could tell they were getting closer and kept pinpointing their direction, there was no debate here, Leopards were abandoned, 'Operation Notch' had begun!

We spoke with Jackson on the phone, he had also heard them roaring from his camp and we set about to find them together, covering different areas. A lioness that was clearly lactating was the first to reveal herself and closely followed by Notch. He looked in excellent health, must be some kind of 'anti ageing' properties in all that hippo meat he keeps consuming! We knew that his pride must have been nearby (one of many) and so we knew she was leading them back, and Notch was coming to. (This is the other pride with tiny Notch cubs, that we have had a glimpse of only so far)

He walked across the plains with a gait that exuded confidence and dominance, he was looking as good now as he did 2 years ago, if not better!. We were curious where the other boys had gone, probably loitering not too far behind him. We anticipated where Notch would go, drove far ahead. He soon came to us as hoped and it was gorgeous light! As he came towards us he stopped on a mound just metres from us, just gazing around and totally comfortable with our presence, after all he had come to us. What an amazing moment, truly a magnificent lion. No doubt he scanned the area, wandering where his marauding sons were!

Notch passed us and so we let him continue his way, still following the adult lioness. She moved down into a lugga and deep thicket where we could see tiny tawny coloured shapes. She was back with the cubs. Notch soon joined them, but the bushes totally obscured our view and we were some distance away so we did not even attempt to go down to where they were. This was time for a family moment!

A few moments after leaving them, whilst imagining these tiny little cubs scrambling over mum waiting for the milk bar to open we then spotted another shape over the hill. Coming from the same direction of Notch it was no mistaking who this was! It was 'Grimace' the lighter male and the one with a torn left upper lip. He moved fast and gave us no time to get a shot, soon after he too disappeared into the bushes, followed closely by another lioness.

So we had three sons unaccounted for, but not for long. We headed back toward the direction of where Notch came from, upon coming around the corner we saw a vehicle parked up and looking into a Lugga 150 metres away. There lay three piles of adult male lion fluff. There manes being so dark now and big it just merged into one big mane! They were not moving for anyone and the heat was rising so time for us to retreat.

What a morning, happy 'Skinners' all around!

Night cam action around the campsite

For the last two nights we have had a bit of fun with our remote infrared cameras to see what nocturnal shenanigans are going on whilst we diurnal folk get some rest in our bush campsite. We have had a far bit of luck, coupled with some thoughtful consideration as to where best to sight the cameras.

We both absolutely love the anticipation waking up in the morning to see who has visited us during the night, its like unwrapping a present every day! Below are the results, 4 mammal species so far.

Spotted Hyena

 Spotted Hyena

 Porcupine!

Buffalo smelling the camera!

Buffalo

 Hippo

From Panthera leo to Panthera pardus

As mentioned in the last blog Andy and I are now across the river after a sweltering 2 hour drive across the south of the reserve, the plains around 'look out hill' were devoid of any plains game. Just a handful of giraffe and a worthy of a mention HUGE heard of Buffalo seeking shade in a deep lugga. It was not until we neared the centre of the reserve that the numbers of Impala, Thomson Gazelle and Topi increased.

After leaving our campsite for some well needed shade we met with our good friend Jackson Looseyia, it was great to see him after so long. We chatted with Jackson on what was going on in the 'bush telegraph' in the local area and knowing that we were in the middle of one of the best places to see Leopards (very habituated!) we were greeted with the news that Olive's older male cub was often seen nearby where we had met Jackson.

After chatting on other news we left for an afternoon drive. It could not have been any more than 90 seconds after saying farewell that Andy casually says "oh, there he is". Momentarily I (Sarah) was rather confused at what he was talking about, wandering if the heat had done some lasting damage! I then looked straight ahead and to the right and there was a leopard, 2 metres from the track and under a small croton thicket (and of course we did not park that close, holding back further up the road) The Leopard failed to move a muscle as we sat quietly expecting it to dart away any moment. However, it was not the young male we had just talked about and expected it to be. We are almost 100% sure its our lovely lady 'Olive'! The car was silent as we took this in, for a moment it was quite surreal. In total we had 15 minutes with this beautiful cat until other vehicles arrived. Not long after she casually glanced at the vehicles and slowly and confidently moved into the thicket, in a split second the Olive was as gone.

Later we checked whisker/spot patterns (albeit on some low res images which were not overly useful!) and still as we write this are fairly sure it was Olive, looking regal as ever and in good health. Later we will check the identity to be sure with Jackson, so if we have made any 'school boy errors' here we will update accordingly! Where her small cubs were we are not sure, but likely to be stashed out of harms way until Olive returns after a well earned break from the kids!

Lets hope sightings like this continue throughout the week!

Mugoro pride, habari gani?

The weather continues to bring very hot dry days, and in the last 48 hours temperatures in of 37 degrees have been recorded in the Mara. Today is by no means an exception and by 8.30am this morning the intensity of the heat was already beginning to start building for what is no doubt going to be another scorching day in the Masai Mara.

Andy and I are now across the other side of the river and continuing our quest to catch up with 'old' friends, those of the two and four legged variety. However, before we update on the latest happenings on this side in the last twenty four hours its time to provide an update on the Mugoro pride since the last post.

The morning after we found KB mating with 'Male 3' we returned again to the same area and scouted it high and low looking for both the males and the Mugoro pride females and cubs. After around one hour we spotted a shape that looked like a termite mound far far in the distance, however on closer inspection with the binos it revealed this one was moving! It was clearly a male lions head that stood out from the parched red oat grass that gently blew in the magnificent orange morning light (sadly this awesome light never hangs around for long!)

Scanning the area more lions could be seen so off we trundled n that direction. As we approached we were not surprised to see the 3 female lions, two cubs and the 'new male ('Male 2') that belong to the Mugoro pride. We were also not surprised that KB and 'Male 3' were not there and obviously still engaging in a bit of feline love elsewhere and hopefully creating a new generation of 'KB's'!

Less than 2/3 minutes of being at the sighting and as we continued to scan the area Andy suddenly exclaims "theres another male". Low and behold out from the long grass popped another male lion head that until now had been totally hidden due to his horizontal state! Questions were starting to get answered - it was 'Male 1' (who we had seen the day before acting subdued and some distance from the main body of the Mugoro pride) and so yes he was part of the same 'coalition' as we had suspected. The 'new' Mugoro pride has now two males and highly likely a third ('Male 3' mating with KB).

The females and cubs were restless so they soon decided to mobilise and wander in the direction where the game was a little more plentiful and where there would be more shade for when the sun become too intense. With some reluctance the males decided to arise from their seemingly comatose state and so too followed the females. 'Male 1' continued with his threatening stare at the cubs if they so much as caught his eye, the females keeping them in between them and the males and at a healthy distance. 'Male 2' walked with the posture of a dominant male, stopping to scent mark often and also smelling where the females had walked through, obviously looking for signs they may be approaching oestrus.

However, 'Male 2' was not exhibiting quite the same authoritative behaviour and no did we see any signs to scent mark, given his behaviour the day before we are starting to piece together that he was certainly the less dominant male and I would not fancy his chances against 'Male 2' when the other females are ready to mate (assuming they have not already?) However, its early days and more time would be needed with them to really understand the dynamics here.

We decided not to follow them as its always good to provide lions with some peace and quiet. There was a degree of cover to where they headed and in no way did we want to alert potential prey to their presence! Although we are no on the 'other' side of the river we may well return in a few days to see if KB and 'male 3' have rejoined. Furthermore to see if the '4th male' appears as we are virtually 100% sure these guys are the from the coalition of four males referred to in the last blog ('4km males')

Below is a photo of the two males, 'Male 2' is in the front, trailed by 'Male 1'