Run Free Lipstick!

Lipstick was one of the pride males of the famous ridge pride that live north of Mara Intrepids/Explorer camps between rhino ridge and double cross area.

Born around 2006 in the Mara triangle area, Lipstick and his brothers have managed to move and conquer many territories, they have also lost more territories to other rival males in the Masai Mara ecosystem.

Lipstick and his brother Blackie took over the ridge pride sometime in 2015 and that is the same pride that he ruled until his death.

On the 19 July 2018 the guides found him dead in his territory. He has been involved in many fights while trying to defend the prides territory and also sometimes when trying to expand their current territory and this often leads to conflicts with other lions.

Lipstick got into a fight with other lions probably from the Enkoyanai pride males and has been injured and limping badly for the last couple of months. With his injury, he couldn’t keep up with the pride when they went hunting and so he got very weak as he would get to the kill mostly when there was not much left. With his age catching up with him there wasn’t much chance of him recovering in the wild.

Lipstick sired many cubs in the Masai Mara and his genes have been spread across the Mara. He lived a great wild and free life that many other lions don’t usually live. He was about 13-14 years old.

Blackie his brother now has the sole responsibility to protect the pride which is a big challenge as there is always other younger and stronger males trying to challenge and take over the pride.

RIP Lipstick, You brought so much joy to us and all around the world and will surely be missed. You surely left a great legacy.

Run free Mighty warrior.

Compiled by Kang’ethe Mugwe.

Chef George’s Haute Cuisine

Ravioli of Lake Naivasha Crayfish, Served with Leek and Asparagus Vinaigrette

Ingredients

Fresh Ravioli Pasta [standard recipe]

Crayfish tails –

Chopped dill and parsley for Herb oil

Common cap mousse

Blanched and refreshed asparagus and leek

Herb oiL, Chilli oil

Balsamic vinegar and olive oil

Method

Make the pasta dough as per the standard [100g flour to one whole egg and tsp. olive oil]

Make some Naivasha Common Cap Mousse – by using Boneless, Skinless Fish Flesh.

Dice the fish flesh well – add in the blender and blend with egg white til totally smooth then add a little cream. Do not  over blend  the cream

Season well and put to one side.

Marinate the crayfish tails in garlic, fish sauce and grated lemon zest, and fresh parsley.

Blanch the crayfish tails and Refresh  and then mix with a little common Cap Mousse , add a little more fresh chopped parsley– this is your filling for the ravioli.

Make the pasta using the standard recipe and roll out into circles.

Place the filing on the circle, brush with egg white and Place another circle on top – seal blanch and refresh.

Ensure the pasta sheet is very thin

Trim the baby leeks and prep the asparagus – boil in salted water – refresh in cold water once cooked, marinate in olive oil and balsamic once cold, season well.

Make the herb and the chilli oils.

Masai Mara Occurrence 2

Weather

Very wet, heavy rains.  It gets sunny in the morning followed by thunderstorms in the afternoon. Nevertheless there have been some spectacular sunsets and sunrises and on some clear nights, the moon rise.

Temperature:  12ºc -18ºc.

Wildlife

Fantastic.

The park is lush with grass and all the watering holes are full. The elephants are having a great time with big herds that have never been seen before including the big bulls with big tuskers who we believe are not resident in the park but come from the Nyakweri forest on top of the Oloololo escarpment north-west of Mara Intrepids and Mara Explorer Camps.

There are also many female elephants with some very young calves.

Buffalos are also having a great time and most of them are with calves. There are hundreds of them around.

The smaller antelopes like the Thompson gazelles, Grants gazelle, impalas, and the topi have moved to higher grounds where the grass is a bit shorter. It’s safer for them.

For bird watchers this is a very good time.  The Widow birds are in breeding plumage. Easily seen are Pin tailed whydahs, European white storks, White-faced whistling ducks with ducklings, Saddle-billed storks, and Secretary birds.

Predators

Lions

Olkiombo Pride

It is slowly falling back to its original territory along the Talek River. The pride has been moving to the north where the grass is shorter and easier to hunt. The lions have attacked some cows from the herders in the park. The dominant males, Maridadi and Kaka are still in charge of the pride.

Ridge Pride

Intact with Blacky and Lipstick in charge.

The pride is still at Topi Plains on the northern side of Rhino Ridge.

The grass is taller here so the lions are having a difficult time hunting. But they have had some success with warthogs and topis.

Enkuyanai Pride with Oloolpapit and Olbarnoti are doing okay. It killed a buffalo on the eastern side of Ntiakitiak River and devoured it in three days.

It then moved back across Ntiakitiak River and is now at Kaboso trying to hunt zebras.

Leopards

Bahati seems to have separated from her cubs. She was last seen mating with one of the resident males along the Olare Orok River. She may have another litter sometime in August.

Bahati’s cubs Hatari (male) and Bella2 (female) named after her great grandmother Bella are doing very well, hunting smaller prey like baby impala.

The Kaboso female is also doing great with her cubs in their territory along Kaboso River and Nkorbob. The river is very high and impassable but when we managed to cross the river, we saw them with a warthog up on a tree.

Cheetahs

The five male cheetahs are at Maji ya Fisi. They were last seen with a female cheetah named Nora after which they separated from the female.

They moved across the Talek River into Olare Orok Conservancy but didn’t stay long there because of the number of domestic cows that have been allowed to graze in the conservancy.

Imani has lost three of her four cubs. She is trying very hard to protect the surviving cub. They crossed the Talek River in late April and are around Murram ya Fig Tree and Lugga ya Njoroge.  Imani has been successful in hunting on several occasions.

Malaika’s male cubs are around Rekero and Lugga ya Ndege, trying to hunt, getting better by the day.

Sightings by Raphael Koikai, head driver-guide