Friday, March 27, 2009

Cheetahs kill zebra


MASAI MARA WILDLIFE UPDATE

27 March 2009

The three brothers kills a Zebra

Today at about 5pm, I was following the three male cheetahs who are Honey’s cubs. They had been lying under a balanite tree almost the whole day due to the heat.

At around that particular time, one of the brothers noticed some zebras walking in a distance. He begun to stalk, and with the aid of the long grass, he was able to get very close to a good striking distance for a cheetah. His brothers who were left behind quickly read his body language and also moved closer.

The lead male made a dash for a sub adult zebra and gave chase. Since he was reasonably close he got up with it. He went straight for the throat avoiding vicious kicks from the zebra. Soon his brothers joined and surprisingly they went on to tear the rear side of the zebra while the other male kept trying to choke it on the throat. It took about 14 minutes for the zebra to die, all the while the two cheetah were enjoying a meal.

This is quite unusual for cheetah, since they are known to kill their prey before eating. However, the cheetahs have come to learn to feed quickly while in this area due to the presence of a large pack of hyaenas and a 16 member strong pride of lions who can easily displace the cheetahs from their kill.

This was the third zebra in weeks killed by the brothers. It seems they have developed a liking for them. We just hope they will be careful enough, otherwise an approach from the wrong angle can earn one a deathly kick.

These three have now graduated to going for bigger prey, which is easier for them since they are staying together.
Paul Kirui
Masai Mara Game Reserve

Monday, March 23, 2009

wildebeests with calves

Olkiombo prides female & sub-adults



WILDLIFE UPDATE-02

23-Mar-09

March Game Report from Masai Mara:

Overview
The months of February and March have been the best in terms of game viewing in the Mara. Though it has been dry from the beginning of the year, the intermittent rains we have got has given the grounds enough water to produce the much needed grass which has in turn attracted many herbivores.

The Mara would be almost empty at this time traditionally; but it seems times are changing going by what we are currently witnessing.
There is a high concentration of wildebeests and zebras to the north of the reserve around Musiara gate, Rhino ridge and paradise plains. These herds are part of the local migration commonly referred to as the Loita migration. These herds normally heads to the Loita plains at the end of the migration in November, when the main migrating herds are going back to the Serengeti.

Their re-entry into the reserve is usually around June, just weeks before the main migrants from the south enter the Mara. The movement of this easterly migration into the Mara at that time is an indication that the main migration from the south is just about to enter the Mara.

The sight of the mini migration type of animals concentration in the north Mara has brought life to the would be otherwise empty plains.
With these herds, are accompanying predators, lions, cheetah leopard etc.

The wildebeests gives birth at the end of February and early march in their traditional calving grounds in the Loita, east of Masai Mara and southern Serengeti. However due to the above situation, we witnessed many births in the Mara this year, and that is unusual.
This presented a lot of hazards to the young wildebeest from the Mara’s predators, mainly Hyaena and cheetah.

The inconsistent rain has made the herds settle here due to availability of grass.
The change in the land use in their traditional calving grounds, coupled with the climatic changes has contributed to this change of habit.
The big question now is; could we be the beginning of a change in their migration pattern?


Big cats:
The big cats in the Mara have been seen throughout the season. Lions have been seen in their territories as usual with no changes in the habits especially for the northern prides due to the availability of food. Otherwise in other parts especially central and south Mara, where there are not many herbivores, the prides in these areas have now adopted a lean season strategy.
Leopards are not affected much since they are adaptable to a variety of food. They have been seen throughout the season, with the usual family of Olive, Binti, Kali and Ayah seen regularly along the Talek river. They have however, extended their territory beyond Mara Explorer camp upstream. The riverine forest between Mara Intrepids/Explorer camps make it difficult to follow them throughout, but it is good because they don’t stay there too long unless they have a kill. The family of Mr. Shah, who were staying at Mara Intrepids recently had the opportunity of seeing these leopard family and several others. They were able to count 12 leopard sighting over their one week stay, beating their own earlier record of 10. This is not unusual on this side of the Mara. Here with permission, I quote their testimonial:

‘’I cannot believe that we beat our leopard sightings this time round, really did not expect that. It was fantastic. Kali is a real character, although he is too confident with cars…and when he was scratching the door on Dixon’s driver side and peering up was quite scary and too close for comfort. I’m glad he did not jump on our car bonnet. A few of our highlights were: seeing the hippo run and jump into the river; leopard (kali I think) jumping out of the bush right next to us while we were taking pictures of dik dik; seeing koori bustards (incorrect spelling); olive and kali walking/running together etc.’’ Sonal Shah

Cheetahs have also been seen regularly. Shakira, the Big Cat Live program star has been roaming the plains between Musiara, Paradise and Olkiombo area. She has managed to keep the remaining three cubs safe and they are growing healthy. The three brothers (The late Honey’s cubs) have also been in the same area as Shakira, and occasionally been harassing her just as seen during the Big Cat Live in October last year.
The female that had 7 cubs in January is now remaining with two. She has been moving between Olare-Orok Conservancy and Olkiombo.

Sunday, March 22, 2009


NEW YEAR WILDLIFE UPDATE


Wildlife Update.

Welcome to our New Year wildlife update!

Big Cats:
Cheetahs: Cheetahs in the Mara have been seen through out the beginning of the year. However, there have been a lot of misfortunes on the cheetah front. One female that had three cubs near Mara Explorer was killed by Olkiombo pride of lions together with two of the cubs on 4th January. The surviving cub then wandered alone vulnerably in the same lion territory until we rescued it on the 7th of January. The cub only 3 months old could have just died as it was still dependent on the mother. We took the cub to the camp where we made it a nice cage a small playing ground. We are now rearing the cub which has come to be known by the staff at Mara Intrepids as ‘Namunyak’ in Maasai meaning a blessed one. It has adapted well to the new environment and we hope to release it once we believe is able to survive in the wild. This may not be soon since cheetahs take long before going on their own. They take upto 18 months being with mother as they acquire hunting and survival skills before they go on their own.
The other cheetahs continue to be seen but it seems it has not been a good season for the cheetah with cubs. One other cheetah with cubs survived a lion attack near Musiara gate later in the month. We watched in horror as a single lioness went after her with the cubs. Luckily she lost her somewhere in the croton bushes and the cheetah managed to get out of danger with her cubs.

Lions: Lion prides in our game viewing areas are still intact and active. This is because of the availability of food in their territories. The lion prides in the Mara normally split up when food gets scarce and this is usually from March till the arrival of the first migrating herds.

Leopards: Olive and her cubs, Ayah, Binti and Kali are still in their usual area. They can be found along the Talek river next to Mara Intrepids camp. However, lately, they have extended their range to the forest between Mara Intrepids and Explorer. This sometimes makes their sighting a bit difficult since the place has a thick cover. The good thing is that they do not stay too long in this new place before going back to where they are usual found down stream from the camp. There have been very successful hunts by these cats in the past month which made our leopard sighting exciting. Our guests even witnessed some of the hunts while on game drive.

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