Mara Big cats update

An inquisitive cheetah cub

Olive with one of the cubs this morning

A Male lion from paradise pride

All lion prides in our game viewing territory are still present in their home ranges. There were interesting sightings of these cats in the past week, hunting wildebeest, zebra and warthogs all to the excitement of our guests. One lioness from the Ridge pride with her cubs has been at maternity area for the past week, and has been very nice seeing her little cubs play in late afternoon. There are other lionesses with cubs as well. These are from Paradise, Olkiombo and Musiara prides. You simply can’t see time passing here! When watching these lions.

Leopard sighting have been very good if not better than the previous weeks. The most exciting moment was when Olive and her two cubs showed up occasionally. She has made a few kills in the past couple of weeks with some being witnessed by our guests. She killed an impala two days ago at the Olare-Orok crossing and dragged it into a bush before going to fetch her cubs. When coming with the cubs, it was nice to see her carrying one occasionally in her mouth so as to increase her walking pace to get to the kill. She gave us the sighting of the week, with her cubs coming out in the morning and late afternoon and playing endlessly. Binti, her older daughter was seen a few times near the rocky bend on the Talek river, a place which has been her area of abode for long.

Cheetah sightings were also good and a few successful hunting were also witnessed. Shakira has now moved up from lookout hill to paradise plain where she has been for over a week. The three brothers are also in the same location. There was drama yesterday, when the three brothers engaged her and her three daughters in some fight that lasted almost an hour before the boys decided to leave the poor ladies alone. The sight of the seven cheetahs was quite unusual and our guests were treated to this rare show.

There is a cheetah with three small cubs (not alama, the one mentioned in our past report) which is found to the east of Explorer, where she has been hunting over the past week. There is also one pregnant female in the location which we think could give birth any time.

The Big Cats This Week

Herds of wildebeests moving towards the river. These currently forms bulk of prey for our cats

Binti killing an Impala fawn

Alama's 3 cubs

Olive watching her cubs drinking in the Talek river

Some of the Marsh pride females and cubs at Bila shaka

We had a great week now ending, in terms of big cats sightings.
Topping the list of the big cats which we saw over the week, was Olive, the female leopard with her two cubs on the Talek yesterday morning. She had disappeared briefly but emerged again on Friday with her cubs in good shape. The two cubs whose sexes we have not yet established are in good health and have given us over the past two days, great sightings playing on the sand in the Talek just before where Olare-Orok joints it. This particular area is cover by a thick bush which gives her and the cubs a good hiding cover. Today she moved the cubs in the morning further upstream towards Mara Intrepids camp and settle in the small forest on the south side of the river.

Binti is still in her mother’s territory and was seen a few times over the past week. I saw her kill a young Impala on 7/9/09 in the morning. I had been following an Impala with a young one who were running along the edge of the bushes in the area where I had heard earlier that Binti was seen. While concentrating on the Impala, I did not know that she had seen them, she came out of the bush and chased the two and managed to catch up with the fawn and killed it 30 feet from my vehicle. The action was too fast for me to take any picture of the chase.

At the Helicopter crossing on 9/9/09 Kali was held hostage in a tree the whole day when lions who chased him up there killed a zebra nearby therefore just settling near the same tree. The poor boy stayed there until night fall. When I visited the area, the next morning he was down. He may have come down early in the morning when the lions moved just a little away.

There is a female cheetah named Alama by the guides, due to a prominent black spot on her left cheek, has 3 small cubs (roughly 2- 2.5 months old). This is the female that lost her cubs earlier in the year when buffalos killed them. she can be found east of Olkiombo area.
Shakira is still in the southern part of the reserve, near lookout hill. Still doing very well with her cubs. It is great watching her with her daughters hunting.

We saw all the lions prides in our game viewing zone over the week. The marsh pride is still at Bila shaka and has been having great time hunting now that there is a concentration of wildebeest it the area. The paradise pride with a number of females having small cubs is now near the main wildebeests crossing.
There was a big drama on the morning of the 7/9/09 when notch and one of his sons fought and chased off one of the Olkiombo pride males near Rekero camp.

More to come from the Mara

Wildebeest migration status

Map of Masai Mara showing location of the wildebeest herds

The wildebeest migration is still on in the Mara. Most of the animals are now spread out on the Mara triangle plains. There are very patchy concentrations in the north of the reserve around Musiara gate and Topi plains. It is still dry and hot during the days and most temporary pools have dried up, making the animals converge at watering holes or streams to drink in during the day. The higher concentration on Mara triangle is mainly due to some light showers that have occasionally been going through area.

This area is still teeming with grass and much of the plains was not burnt earlier as it was in other places, thereby sparing the grass for the hungry herbivores for the dry period. The most dominant species of grass here is mostly the red oat grass which is an increaser. The more it is fed upon, the more it regenerates soon after the rains and therefore overgrazing here is beneficial to the maintenance of this species.
There were crossing activities at the river, but only a handful animals crossing in either direction at the main points near lookout hill and paradise crossing points. The predation on the crossing herds by the crocodiles has gone down due the low level of water which is making it difficult for the crocodiles to approach the crossing animals unnoticed.