Big Cat Update:Mara, Kenya Wednesday 11th January 2006

Happy New Year, and welcome to our first Big Cat Update of 2006! There has been no shortage of predator action in the Maasai Mara in recent weeks – fuelled by the extraordinary wildlife movements caused by the drought currently gripping much of East Africa. In particular, there remains an unusually large number of wildebeest and zebra inside the reserve, which have returned from their usual grazing grounds in the Serengeti due to the lack of grass there. Most of the herds are currently concentrated in the Mara Triangle, as well as around Musiara Marsh, Rhino Ridge, the Central Plains and Sand River.

Lions
All of the lion prides in our game-viewing territories have been busy hunting through the high season – much to the delight of Intrepids and Explorer guests. We have seen many kills in recent days, particularly in the mornings and late afternoons when the sizzling daytime temperatures have cooled enough for the lions to engage in their high-energy hunts.

Over the past couple of weeks, the Ridge Pride has been roaming between the southern base of Rhino Ridge, Mara Intrepids and the Double Crossing area. There is one female with six-month-old cubs and one with four-month-old cubs. All of the lions had a productive festive season, preying on the large numbers of herbivores coming to the watering points to drink. With most of the plains now dry and bare, many of the herds are now also grazing along the riverbanks – and there is no more perfect place for lions and leopards to lay their ambushes.

Leopards
Bella, our female star, and her male cub are still together and continue to patrol their old territory along the Talek River. They have also been busy targeting the wildebeest that come down to the river in large numbers to water. Ntito, Bella’s female cub from her last litter, has also been seen quite regularly between Mara Intrepids and Explorer. It is encouraging to see that she is becoming more relaxed at the presence of vehicles. She treated us to an eventful morning one day last week, playing hide-and-seek with a female cheetah that had inadvertently wandered into her territory.

Guests at our Siana Springs camp over the Mara’s eastern boundary have also been enjoying regular sightings of a female leopard with a sub-adult cub in the Kissinger area, as well as one of the largest Mara lion prides in the Keekorok area.

Cheetahs
Kike, our beautiful female cheetah, who also plays a starring role in the BBC’s Big Cat Week, has been spotted only occasionally in recent weeks – leading some guides to speculate that she may have given birth. We will try to confirm this rumour for you in our next Update. In her absence, three male cheetahs have given us several sightings in the recent past – showing themselves to be daring hunters, targeting large ungulates such as topi. We are hoping that this year will continue to offer the record-breaking cheetah sightings of the past season.

Thank you for following the antics of our favourite animals with us over the past year, and please keep us posted of any interesting sightings you may have had while on safari in the Maasai Mara. Emails may be sent to our head guide, Paul Kirui, at pkirui@mitsuminet.com.

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News from the Maasai Mara, Kenya Saturday 26th November 2005

Just as we had expected, the wildebeest began trickling back into the Serengeti earlier this month, leaving only a handful of herds on the Kenyan side of the border. Looking around as you drive across the Mara, this is hardly surprising: most of the plains are now almost devoid of grass. A combination of poor rains and overgrazing has meant little grass on this side of the border, and encouraged the herds to continue their great march south.

The wildebeest will now be away from the Mara until next June at the earliest, when the long rains will once again have coated the plains in lush new grass. In the meantime, the Big Cats and our other famous predators will have to devise new and smarter means of tracking down prey from their thoroughly depleted menu. They will also have to go for longer between meals, although they have proved themselves easily adaptable to this challenge. Once again, Nature will bring its ‘survival’ processes to bear, for it is only the fittest predators that will survive into the next season – ensuring the passage of the strongest genes to the next generation...

Predators
Over the last fortnight, the Mara cats have been having their last easy meals before the final migrating animals leave. Many wildebeest and zebra skeletons still litter the plains in evidence of the last season of plenty. From now on, the lion prides will become more mobile in their search for food, particularly those with young cubs. In recent days, the Ridge pride has been roaming around the southern base of Rhino Ridge, Mara Intrepids and the ‘Double Crossing’ area. One female has four-month-old cubs in tow, while a second has a one-month-old litter.

Bella, our female leopard star, is still together with her cub, and the pair continue to patrol their usual territory along the Talek River - much to the delight of Intrepids guests. Kike, our female cheetah star, is still around and looking ever more pregnant. There is also a second cheetah on the Paradise Plains with three very small cubs, which have provided our guests with record sightings this season.

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News from the Maasai Mara, Kenya Wednesday 2nd November 2005

Defying time and tradition, huge herds of wildebeest are still to be found in the northern Mara, where Kenya’s most celebrated visitors have continued to enjoy a busy ‘second migration’. With the rest of the Mara left largely bare of grass from the first migration in July/August, the northern area was spared – providing a handy grazing reserve for the wildebeest on their second run through. Over the past week, most of the herds have been congregating in the northern part of the ‘Mara Triangle’ near Oloololo Gate and the Olpunyata Plains. To the east, there are still some herds around Rhino Ridge, Paradise Plains and Musiara, while sporadic herds can also be seen in transit between the Talek River and Roan Hill.

Earlier this week, our visitors were treated to several mass river crossings at the Paradise point, with thousands of animals passing west into the Triangle in what is believed to be the first sign of a mass exodus. Although river levels are normal, the stampeding animals have left behind a lot of casualties, providing a feast for the few crocodiles that still have an appetite left over from August. There was a moment of drama when the river current swept a handful of wildebeests towards a pod of hippos, causing considerable consternation (but no casualties) among both parties!

Predators
With another season of plenty upon them, all of the big cats in our game viewing territory have been having their fill a second time over. The Ridge pride of lions recently killed 10 wildebeest near Mara Intrepids’ airstrip over two nights – a record for our area. The ever opportunistic hyenas and vultures also had a field day, giving rise to several fights between the lions and hyenas. Cheetah sightings have also been good, with several gazelle fawns falling easy prey to these fleet-footed cats. Bella and Chui the leopards have been very active, placing themselves strategically along the Talek River to ambush crossing animals. We have also witnessed a couple of daytime hunts, which is a rarity among these usually nocturnal cats.

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News from the Maasai Mara, Kenya Tuesday 11th October 3005

After one of the longest migrations on record, there are still some large wildebeest herds on the central and western Mara plains – with patchier herds towards the north of the reserve. The last two weeks have been dry and hot, forcing the animals to converge at the larger watering holes or streams to drink during the day. The higher concentration of wildebeest on the central plains is largely due to the availability of grass; unlike other areas, these plains were not burned during the dry season, thus sparing the grass for the hungry herbivores. The red oat grass that dominates the central plains also regenerates faster the more it is fed upon – definitely a beneficial relationship for all species!

Recent days have been quiet on the Mara River, with only a handful of animals crossing in both directions at the Lookout Hill and Paradise crossing points. Predation by crocodiles has also gone down, after the feeding frenzy that followed the recent mass drowning of wildebeest (fuelled by rising water levels after unexpected rains at the source of the river), which had given the crocs an easy meal. On dry land, the predators have been more fortunate, with the mass birthing of topi, hartebeest, impala and gazelles offering the Big Cats plenty of easy prey. The cheetahs have been particularly busy, with their habit of catching gazelle fawns and bringing them to their cubs to train them how to hunt.

The continuing presence of the migration will depend completely on the arrival – or failure – of the short rains, which are usually due in the next two weeks. If the rains come, more grass will grow and the animals will stay. If they don’t, the animals will probably move south in their constant search for fresh pasture.

Predator News
All of the lion prides in the Intrepids and Explorer game-viewing territories have been busy in their home ranges. In the past week, our guests have seen all three prides hunting, either for wildebeest, zebra or warthogs. A lioness from the Ridge pride gave us our sighting of the week, coming out in both the morning and the late afternoon to play with her four young cubs just 1km from Mara Explorer. Leopard sightings have also been excellent, with Bella providing a show de force for some Explorer guests when a herd of wildebeest came looking for shade beneath a tree in which she was resting – only for her to drop out of the tree straight onto a wildebeest calf. One guest who has visited us 30 times said this was the highlight of all his safari experiences to date!
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News from the Maasai Mara, Kenya 29th September 2005

The Maasai Mara is continuing to witness the full wild glory of a comprehensive 'second migration', as sweeping herds of wildebeest and zebra paint the plains south of the Talek River a million hues of black, white, brown and grey. The crossing points on the Mara River below Lookout Hill have been the place to be in recent days, with thousands of animals crossing westwards into the Mara Triangle, often as early as 8am. With the grazing herds have predictably come the predators: lion prides basking in a new and unexpected season of plenty. The Olkiombo pride - named for the distinctive dominant male with a black foreleg, born near Mara Explorer - has been particularly busy, hunting in the Olkinyei area in full view of our guests.

With all the action in the southern Mara, the northern section of the reserve has slipped into a quiet period, with the area around Musiara Marsh hosting only a few wildebeest and the northern Mara Triangle virtually devoid of game. Indeed, most of the herds in the Triangle have recently been crossing en masse eastwards at the Paradise Crossing points. With the plentiful grass still covering most of the southern Mara, we expect most of the herds to stay on the Kenyan side of the border at least until early November.

Predators: Intrepids and Explorer guests have been spotting cheetah on an almost daily basis for the past two weeks. With the gazelles having their fawns in large numbers, the cheetah are having a good time - particularly the new mothers, who have been seen catching young fawns and bringing them to their cubs in an effort to train them how to hunt. Leopard sightings have also greatly improved, assisted by the crew of BBC’s Big Cat Week, who have been spending a lot of time with Bella and Chui in the past few weeks - and showing us just why the world's best leopard sightings happen right on our doorstep! The lions have also been busy, with the Ridge pride killing three wildebeest near our airstrip last week, and yesterday digging out a poor warthog from its hole.

In other recent sightings, two hunting dogs were seen 9km east of Mara Intrepids on our walking trail last week. It appears this beautiful animal is making a comeback in the Mara, with some local residents recently reporting a pup in an old den used by the dogs before they disappeared from this area in the late 1980s. This and other previous reports to the east of the Mara are a good portend of the return of this critically endangered species.

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News from the Maasai Mara, Kenya 13th September 2005

As we predicted last week, the wildebeest have made a dramatic comeback over the past eight days – filling the plains of the southern Mara in an amazing ‘second migration’. It appears that most of the herds have, in just over two weeks, made a complete cycle from the eastern Mara into the Mara Triangle, south into the northern Serengeti, and east from there before reentering the Mara near Sand River Gate – for the second time since July! In fact, the pattern of the whole migration appears as it did at the very beginning, with the westbound herds spreading out over the Central Plains and some animals already crossing the Mara River near Lookout Hill.

A few herds are also heading north, with the first ones now just south of Mara Intrepids. At Musiara Gate, the northernmost herds have settled on the short, previously burned grass on the border of the reserve, where they are grazing side by side with the local Maasai cattle. The unseasonal rains have played a crucial role in the sprouting of the grass here. Although the crossing points around Paradise Plains have been almost empty for the past week, if what is going on in the south is anything to go by, it is just a matter of time before these crossing points come alive again.

Predators
The brief absence of migrating herds from much of the Mara had not stopped the predators from their hunting, particularly the local lion prides, which had already started to adjust to lean-period hunting tactics. However, the return of the herds has brought a period of bounty back for these and the other Big Cats. The Ridge pride has remained in its territory; two days ago, they were seen between the airstrip and Intrepids – with the exception of two males, which have gone in pursuit of the females of the Olkiombo pride. This may place the Ridge pride’s cubs at risk should new males try to sneak in. Cheetah sightings were also fantastic, and Bella the leopard has also been performing like a true star, with regular appearances for most of our guests.

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News from the Maasai Mara, Kenya 5th September 2005

The migration took a dramatic new turn at the end of last week. Most of the excitement at the crossing points died out when almost all of the wildebeest herds from the eastern side of the Mara River crossed over to the west – and turned south back into the northern Serengeti. It was a very speedy exit, as most of us had expected the wildebeest to stay in the Mara until November, as is usually the case.

We believe that the changing rain patterns and the burning of the grass in the northern Serengeti played a significant role in this change of events. Driving along the border showed a high concentration of animals on the recently burned plains, which last month’s rains have carpeted in nutritious new grass. Most of the central Mara is now almost empty of migrating animals, save for a few herds to the north around Musiara Marsh and to the south by Lookout Hill.

However, all is not lost! Many of the herds in the Serengeti may be bound back for the Mara, as some herds are already showing signs of returning via Sand River Gate once they have traversed the burned plains. Last Friday, in what may be the beginning of a ‘second migration’ like that witnessed in 1998, several herds crossed back into the Mara at the traditional points below Lookout Hill. However, the changes in rain patterns and the confusion brought by sporadic burning of the grass could cause yet more unexpected changes in the concentration and duration of the great migration.

PREDATORS
Although the sudden departure of the large herbivores from most parts of the Mara has had a calming effect on the Big Cats, we have still had some good sightings in the past week. Bella the leopard and her two-year-old cub have both been witnessed several times along the Talek River, while Kike the cheetah was also sighted a few times – and has been seen mating with a new male in the past two days. The Ridge and Bila Shaka lion prides, meanwhile, remain in their respective territories, where they are also undoubtedly hoping that fate will deliver a ‘second migration’…

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