Masai Mara Big Cats Update

Honey's boys two days ago; still together and even stronger

One of the ridge pride female scouting for prey from a termite mount

One of the males from Notch's gang fedding on hippo they killed yesterday

The weather in the Mara now is clear hot days and cold morning. The average temperatures we have been recording for the past one week are about 13-14ºC in the morning and about 35 ºC in the afternoon.


When the temperature is this high in the day, most big cats restrict their movements and often go into the bushes or under trees to take shade. This makes game viewing only at best in the morning and late afternoons. Besides this, the grass is now growing very fast and is already tall in some places, a condition which is forcing most animals to congregate in certain areas only.

I have been following some of the big cats this past week. These were, the Olkiombo, paradise, and Ridge prides. The ridge pride killed an ostrich 5 days ago near the Mara river just opposite Serena pump house on the eastern side of the river. At the same time, Olkiombo pride killed two Buffaloes along the Talek river. Two days later two of the males from the same pride killed a Hippo along Olare-Orok river. Yesterday the ridge pride with over ten small cubs with the males killed another hippo near paradise crossing point.

These unusual hunts have been necessitated by the absence of medium sized prey, i.e. Zebras and wildebeests. The Mara lions normally have to adapt very fast to the change food availability.

A morning with the leopards

Binti now looking found today looking for mate

Kali two days ago on the south side of Talek river

Olive killing a young warthog this morning

The Mara is now very green and still wet in most places. Driving around requires one to be cautious enough. The grass is now grown tall very fast due to the rains.
After a short break and being away from the Mara, I just come back a couple of days ago and was really longing to catch up with my cats again.
I was fortunate on arrival to find Kali who had been away from his birth area for long. He has grown big and I am worried he will soon leave this area and not come back again. This is because the His step dad, the Rhino ridge male has now taken over big boy’s territory completely. For the first weeks after he came into the area, we thought big boy will see him off, but now it is many months after and this confirms to us that Big boy has finally let go his grip on his territory.

This morning, I went out on a game drive looking for Olive with the cubs. After about an hour with no success, I stopped the vehicle just to listen to the sounds of the bush and that is when I picked up an alarm call from some guinea fowls. I went to check and found Binti. Another guide from Rekero had been trailing her since early morning. She is obviously looking for the male as she could not stop calling and she went around sniffing on the trail of the male who was in the area yesterday. This has now confirmed to us that she has not been pregnant as thought by some guides. If she pairs with the male now, we should be expecting the cubs by mid May

After spending sometimes with Binti, I headed back to camp and was just called by a fellow guide that he has found Olive and she was hunting. I dashed there just when she got a young warthog. She had a rough time with the mother but managed to ward her off. In no time, a hyaena appeared on the scene, forcing her to hastily take the kill up a nearby tree, which was really a comfortable one, but at least kept its prey safe from the hyaena. I am still combing the area to see the cubs.

Happy New Year

The 3 brothers on a termite mount before the rains

One of Olive's cubs up in a tree this morning

The trio having a drink after a hunt recently

The Ridge pride: males drinking while females feed on hippo in water

Happy new year to all:

It is another year, everyone making new resolutions for the year and all with high hopes for better things ahead. Here in the Mara we are no exception; we do hope the year will be better than the last especially on climate. The past year has seen the Mara river drop to lowest level ever, and this made last year’s wildebeest crossings just like a joke, because the animals could easily walk across. We therefore missed the usual action that goes with such activity. That was last year. Now we do hope that this year will be different climate-wise. We have just started the year with lost of rain over the Mara and many other places in Kenya, which is actually good news. In fact just as I write this, at 1400hrs Kenyan time, it is raining, and has been going on since 1.00am

The lions have to move around and follow the herds which are now congregating on drier higher grounds. The past two days we have seen the Olkiombo pride split into two by the Talek river which has suddenly gone up. They can’t now cross easily to either side. The ridge pride has now moved towards the southern side of Rhino ridge, away from the Mara river area where they have been for sometimes. It was nice seeing them recently feeding on hippo in the water. The sub-adults are still moving around on their own. The last two days, the almost had a confrontation with Olkiombo pride when they ventured into their territory.

Olive is now near Olkiombo airstrip with her two cubs. We found her this morning near Olare-Orok crossing, and now with eh two rivers full, they will have to stay around longer. The three cheetah brothers (Honey’s boys) are still around between the two rivers. They killed a young warthog yesterday after a dramatic hunt;