Thursday, August 27, 2009

Olive with cub

Olive carrying her cub: Photo Courtesy of Evelyne Meijssen

I had promised to post here a picture of Olive with her cub. The above picture was taken at the Talek river on 15/8/09 courtesy of Mara Intrepids guest Evelyne Meijssen

Olive ws een mating with a male a few days ago as per my previous post. this new development has casued us confused because we have since seen her with cubs yet we thoguht for moment maybe they were dead. Her story since she last year has been a very unusal one after she managed to live with her two litters. it took me and a friend, Federico, a professional photgrapher and Mara resident, quite sometimes to figure out what wa s going on. we first thought the young cub Kali belonged to Ayah.


I will keep updating you on Olive as we try to understand this interesting behaviour.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Olive's riddle

Olive mating with Rhino Ridge male

Olive and the male

Olive, the Mara female leopard is now mating, a few days after she is seen with small cubs on the Talek river. She was first seen on 27th July carrying a small cub at the Olare-Orok river crossing. The cubs were not seen after that, but Olive kept being seen around that location for a while. She was again seen on 15th August carrying a cub on the Talek River Bank where she proceeded to hide it in a hole under a tree on the bank of the river. After a few minutes she went back and brought a second cub. She then continued to be seen in the area until 19th August when she moved upstream of Olare-Orok river.

On the morning of the 21st August, she was seen at the double crossing area mating with Rhino ridge male. There was also an unidentified female in the vicinity. In the evening when I went there, the two were mating, sometimes in the open. This was my second time in my 17 years of guiding to see mating leopards clearly. When it was getting late they moved to the adjacent stream, where they got into a bush. At this time another female leopard emerged from the bush and Olive ran away. It was getting dark and I could not tell what happened again. However they were at it again the following day.

This morning I saw them at the smelly crossing heading to the location of the cubs. We now wonder whether the cubs are indeed still alive and if they are, what is going to happen when the male sees them.
The territory where the cubs are belongs to another big male leopard called Big Boy. I believe, when Olive disappeared briefly earlier in the year, she must have mated and conceived from the Rhino ridge male because when she final appeared, she was coming from the direction where this male normally stays. And if this is the case, the current development could be a bid to lure him closer to the cubs so that he protects them. while this is happening, a guide reported seeing the cubsOtherwise I remain to observe what will happen.

Masai Mara past week

Current wildebeest concentration

Paradise pride lionees carrying cub

Lion from ridge pride with Zebra kill

Wildebeest crossing at the Cul de sac

The wildebeest migration is still ongoing in the Mara. The concentration of the migrating herds is now almost spread out across the whole of the Mara triangle, with quite some big herds on paradise plains as well. The Serengeti herds in the past week kept streaming in from the south with the leading herds pushing further north and others west wards into the Mara triangle. These kept crossing the River by look out hill over the week. The recently burnt grasslands on the Mara triangle seems to have and still is an attraction, as more herds are still heading there.

There have a heavy crossing activity at the paradise crossing point over the past week as herds cross over to the west of the Mara River. These were the herds that were crossing east from the Mara triangle last week. Now they are going back. The crossing activity however is not exiting as usual since the amount of water in the river is very low, which actually makes the crossing just like a walk across. The animals are having it easy due to the low water level. The situation in the river is now unfavourable to the crocodiles who are really struggling to make any kill. They cannot stalk anything in water since they can be seen approaching. Deep water usually helps them drown their prey easily.

The lions are having an easy time now with the availability of prey almost on daily basis. A few lion pride s have small cubs at the moment. We witnessed great hunts and kills in the past two weeks.

Cheetahs were also seen over the same period. Shakira has moved south of Talek river and even lately has been beyond Olkeju-Rongai. Her three cubs are now quite active and have been witnessed to make their own kill. The three brothers (honey’s sons) have lately been roaming between Musiara marsh and the Talek river.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

The wildebeests are back

Wildebeest crossing the river below lookout hill

The crossing at paradise point

Map of the Mara showing the location of the migration

The wildebeest have made another dramatic come back. Over the last few days, the concentration in the south of the reserve swelled to an enormous number. Most of the herds as per our previous update have made a complete cycle in the past two weeks. They moved from the eastern part of the river, crossed west onto the Mara Triangle, then south into northern Serengeti and east from there before re-entering the Mara, crossing the Sand river south of look out hill. Though some of the animals are entering the Mara near Naima-Lumbwa hill, the reentry is not through the same point as they did in July when they first came. Looking down into northern Serengeti, just beyond the border, one can see thousands of animals on the plains heading north into the Mara.

Everything now on the migration front is just like last month when the wildebeest first got into the Mara. I can only say of the present activities, the migration has started again. There is a higher concentration around lookout hill and east to the central plains. The westward bound herds have spread out on the south and north of lookout hill again and many animals have started crossing the Mara River west. For the past three days, our guests have witnessed many animals crossing below lookout hill. The animals are crossing over into the Mara triangle just as before and others heading north from lookout hill, with the first ones now around Olkeju-Rongai and lower Burrungat plains. The western concentration is around Oldoinyo Olkineji and south to the border of Serengeti, while others are heading to the escarpment.

Most of the herds here have settled temporarily on the short grass from a previous burning. The unseasoned rains have played a crucial role in the sprouting of the grass. The crossing points in the north around paradise plains have been teeming with activities, with most animals crossing back and forth. The water in the river is quite shallow now, hence easy crossing by the animals. We are glad it is happening all over again.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Olive Has New litter



Olive, the female leopard star of the Big Cat Live program has a new litter. She was spotted on the 27th July 2009 at Olare-Orok crossing by Mara Intrepids guides, Tappen & Simon with their guests in the morning carrying a cub. She headed to the junction of the Talek and Olare-Orok rivers where there is some thick riverine forest. She has been seen in the location very often from that day. It is not clear yet if she has another cub. We are monitoring her closely to establish this.

This will be her 3rd litter in a row after the twins, Ayah and Binti, Kali and now the new litter. It will be of great interest to observe how they will all interact. The interaction of Kali and his sisters has been an unusual behaviour among leopards and will be good to observe how they will all behave with an additional litter.

I will post a picture of her with cub here as soon as i get it from the guests who took it that morning.

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