My BBC moments: following Mara predators... and not only :)

[amybatt]

Wonderful series of wet cats! And the ellies so clearly enjoying the mud, you can almost sense the joy!

 

Re: Malaika's missing cub...I think it was Mara Cheetah Project on Facebook where I read that they'd recently seen Malaika leave a spot with two cubs, leaving one cub sleeping soundly under a tree. He awoke just in time to start squawking once he found he was alone and he wasn't too far out of earshot that she heard and came back to get him. They surmised that perhaps that had happened to the fourth (now missing) cub but weren't absolutely certain.

[Kitsafari]

@@Tom Kellie she definitely did.

 

@@bettel What an interesting perspective of all the lions looking at you guys.

[Marks]

Thank you for sharing the quote, it is a nice one and it is so true . However it is so awesome to have a leopard in the open lol

Agreed.

 

 

Look at how close that tooth is to the other lion's eye!

 

Great wet cat series!

Edited September 16, 2015 by Marks

[dlo]

@@bettel

 

More great shots. I don't think I've ever gone an hour in the Mara-Serengeti without seeing a cat. It looks like an amazing trip.

[SafariChick]

LOVE the eles in the mud - they look so happy! What a shame if something has happened to one of Malaika's cubs. Yes @@Tom Kellie the three of us saw Malaika and her cubs together in February.

[Tom Kellie]

LOVE the eles in the mud - they look so happy! What a shame if something has happened to one of Malaika's cubs. Yes @@Tom Kellie the three of us saw Malaika and her cubs together in February.

 

~ @@SafariChick

 

Thank you for confirming that.

I'm very glad that all three of you saw them, as it means that all of you...and I...saw the exact same lovely cheetahs.

Tom K.

[bettel]

@michael-ibk, @amybatt, @@Marks, @dlo, @SafariChick

 

Thank you for being so patient and continuing to read the report and for all your kind words!

 

 

Re: Malaika's missing cub...I think it was Mara Cheetah Project on Facebook where I read that they'd recently seen Malaika leave a spot with two cubs, leaving one cub sleeping soundly under a tree. He awoke just in time to start squawking once he found he was alone and he wasn't too far out of earshot that she heard and came back to get him. They surmised that perhaps that had happened to the fourth (now missing) cub but weren't absolutely certain.

 

Yes, I read this update, I was so hoping that they would find the cub alive and sound. I am still hoping.

 

 

Night on a tree.

 

I was looking forward to this so much but with some doubts . On the one hand, a platform on a tree (!), kilometer and a half away from other people (!) in the heart of Africa (!), it is so cool! You know, the endless starry sky, lions roaring, hyenas laughing, elephants in the bush. Romance! On the other hand, my imagination (which I never complained on), combined with some common sense, drew me a picture of a python, grasping my neck, a leopard chewing on my leg, and thousands of spiders, centipedes and other small horrible creatures, browsing my bed.

 

Everything was much safer

 

 

 

There was a bed packed in a mosquito net:

 

 

Then there was an option to close the house using net or tent. I would certainly want to proudly say that I'm not like that and I left everything opened but I put the net down . Not that I was afraid of predators, rather, I do not really like to share my living space with arthropods.

 

The guide put a tent next to the house:

 

 

There is even a toilet on the tree:

 

 

It is really beautiful there

 

 

 

 

We (guide and I) were given a dinner with us (soup, bread, pasta with meat, vegetables, fruits, tea, coffee, drinks and a box of various alcohol).

 

I was very curious to see what was browsing around (I even had my night vision monocular with me). But I fell asleep very fast and woke up when it was getting light So the only really unusual experience was when I knocked the thick tree branch with my head lol (the tree house is built nicely so the tree is not suffering, all branches are still there). At 6 am I normally have very bad coordination, so my forehead was forced to get acquainted with the nature . I can recommend it: the awakening power of this exercise is much better than coffee.

 

[CaroleE]

@@bettel

I was hoping there would be photos and some tales from the tree house.

It looks fab! I think I may also be tempted to put the net down:-)

Hope your poor head soon recovered from its morning exercise.......ouch!

[bettel]

Hope your poor head soon recovered from its morning exercise.......ouch!

Yes, I forgot about it in a minute My head got used to things like this

 

 

Day 6. Morning.

 

It was a day of my severe brain fart .

 

The day started slowly, because we had to walk from the tree house and it could be done when it was light and all hippos were back to the river. After a breakfast in the camp we went for a drive. We quickly found our lions but they were already sleepy and did not want to move:

 

 

Then we found a male lion lying in the middle of the valley in the sphinx pose. We thought that maybe he was thinking to hunt, but he watched a female (probably, he thought that it would be nice if she hunted, and he could accidentally walk by )

 

 

Then there were some buffalos:

 

 

And again a quick visit to the jackal den:

 

 

 

 

 

We also spent some time with a few striped horses:

 

 

 

As a surprise, we found one of Mara tuskers. That is why he wears a collar. The guide said that this elephant had the largest tusks in the entire Mare, but it's possible that he says it about each elephant wearing a collar

 

In any case, the bull was huge and impressive:

 

 

 

 

 

We had a pretty quiet drive, when on the way to the camp we saw 3-4 cars watching a hunting lioness (this lioness did not know what she was supposed to hunt early in the morning or late evening when it was cool, so she was hunting at noon in the heat). The scene itself looked calm and did not promise anything in the near future. The grass was high, and we could see only little bit of her back, she was approximately 200 meters from wildebeests and some topis (so it was almost guaranteed that she would get noticed). I did not even think to prepare a camera... (yes, I was stupid). And then right in front of the lioness (literally 5 meters) a reedbuck jumped out of the grass and ran for his dear life. The lioness what right after the antelope. It was almost a miracle that she did not kill (she was VERY close, maybe only one meter away). You would think it taught me something?

 

Everybody left, we stayed with the lioness. She lied down in the grass to rest. And then suddenly out of nowhere another reedbuck appeared galloping and he was running straight to the lioness. The antelope did not see the cat. The normal person would have prepared the camera, I was sitting and just repeating "Oh my God! Oh my God!". As soon as the lioness noticed the reedbuck she moved again into the hunting mode but she was little bit impatient so she jumped out of the grass too soon but it was again a very good chase and very close to the car. It was another very lucky reedbuck. S/he was only 2-3 meters away from the death.

 

The lioness rested more and then she decided to hunt wildebeests. It was a pretty unlucky try right from the beginning as the herd was pretty far but it was cool to see the lioness stalking and hiding. But it was hot and wildebeests suddenly changed their direction (they did not see the lioness) so she gave up herself.

 

And it was only now when I remembered that I had a camera . I made a picture of topis watching the lioness

 

[Marks]

Sometimes it's nicer to have a memory and a story than a photo, anyway. Sounds like watching the lion was exciting!

 

Also, a very impressive elephant.

Edited September 20, 2015 by Marks

[amybatt]

I've found lately when taking photos anywhere, sightseeing, safari, concerts, I'm either taking photos or enjoying the moment. As much as I think you'd love to have captured on film (and we'd love to see!) what happened with the lioness, I bet you absorbed it all 1000 times more not behind the lens. Your telling of it was well done, I was right there with you waiting for what's next and wanting to dope slap those antelopes!

Edited September 22, 2015 by amybatt

[bettel]

Sometimes it's nicer to have a memory and a story than a photo, anyway. Sounds like watching the lion was exciting!

This is what I am saying to myself , but it was such a great opportunity for photos

 

 

I've found lately when taking photos anywhere, sightseeing, safari, concerts, I'm either taking photos or enjoying the moment. As much as I think you'd love to have captured on film (and we'd love to see!) what happened with the lioness, I bet you absorbed it all 1000 times more not behind the lens. Your telling of it was well done, I was right there with you waiting for what's next and wanting to dope slap those antelopes!

So true! Actually when I have a stressful sighting a camera helps me as things seem to be not so painful through the viewfinder.

 

Day 6. Evening.

 

The path from the camp to the lion country lies near a hyena den, so usually we were checking if something interesting was happening there. This time we were lucky. The smallest occupant was outside. The cub could not decide if we were scary or not, so he was running between the den and his mom.

 

 

 

 

Sometimes his mother suffered (it makes me think about my cats they do exactly same thing at 6 am )

 

 

 

Then we came across elephants. Yellow high grass reminds me of wheat / rye / oats, so periodically I had cognitive dissonance for elephants in wheat:

 

 

 

We found lions quickly. But heavens again forgot that it was the dry season. It was raining hard but I was thinking that it would be short so we did not close curtains. It was a bad decision . Due to the wind the only dry spot was right in the middle of the seat . But after the rain ended and we were rewarded for the patience by active lions:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everybody wanted to play. Even adult lionesses were running around and provoking cubs to "hunt"

 

 

 

 

There were a lot of synchronized exercises, such as yawning:

 

 

or slugging

 

 

But more and more cubs attention was moving to buffaloes grazing nearby.

 

 

 

 

 

Their mothers did not share their enthusiasm:

 

 

Buffaloes were slowly approaching. And at some point, they became very mad about their neighbors. It was a first time I could hear an angry buffalo. They were growling! Lions had to run :

 

 

 

Bushes helped cats a lot. Because they were growing on rocks and buffaloes preferred not to go too deep, as they were afraid to break legs. Cubs enjoyed the game (can you see a lion cub in the picture below )

 

 

This was a very nice sighting: growling buffaloes running through bushes and crashing them, lionesses calling for cubs, cubs running back and forth. At the end the whole family gathered on the rocks behind the bushes:

 

 

 

 

Buffaloes checked bushes a few times and decided to leave. Lions waited little bit and went in the opposite direction, and we went back to the camp.

Edited September 23, 2015 by bettel

[Earthian]

@@bettel

The title is apt. BBC moments. You tell a good story.

The frontal shot of the lions (watching the buffalo) and then the shot of them watching with the buffaloes in the background: Did you quickly go around ?

[Earthian]

@@bettel

And the shot of the two of them cheek to cheek. pure class. One can see the bonding, nay great affection between them.

[bettel]

The frontal shot of the lions (watching the buffalo) and then the shot of them watching with the buffaloes in the background: Did you quickly go around ?

 

We did move a few times but it was not quickly. Lions were watching buffaloes for quite some time (close to an hour probably)

 

The title is apt. BBC moments. You tell a good story.

 

Thanks a lot!

 

 

Day 7. Morning.

 

We spent the whole day in Mara reserve. The morning goal was cheetahs.

 

Our first cheetah found was Amani. She was very kind to wait for us. As soon as we arrived she started to hunt. The interesting thing is gazelles were pretty far away but nevertheless suddenly she started to gallop, and then turned into a rocket mode and went after a Thompson baby. We were thinking that the hunt would be successful as not only Amani got very close but she actually knocked the baby Thompson down but then something happened (we missed that part) and the chase continued. It was a very long hunt (I believe close to 0.5 kilometer). I did not even know that cheetahs can have such a good stamina. But eventually Amani gave up and fell on the grass to rest.

 

I only have pictures of the initial (warming up) gallop as we did not follow her during the actual hunt (not to interfere) and she ran pretty far:

 

 

 

Resting:

 

 

*excursus* I have a system. Do not ask me how it works, but it works pretty often (knock on wood). I ask the nature to show me something. It can be something not day-to-day, but not super rare too (though with rare it also works, but not every day ). Then I focus on this thought and ask, ask, ask. Some reasonable effort to find also should be invested. The only downside is the wish should be formulated pretty well otherwise the nature can demonstrate pretty black sense of humor . Once I asked to show cats, dogs and a kill, the result was lions killing the dog. Or I asked to show me a kill thinking about cats as a result I saw the kill made by crocodiles. Or I asked to show me something cool .... but more on that in the next post .

 

Back to the story seeing that Amani still looked interested in hunting, I began to ask Mara to help Amani to hunt successfully. Please, please, please! Amani got up and walked little bit but she was so stiff that almost looked lame. It did not look that she would be able to hunt any time soon:

 

 

 

 

 

We decided to continue the drive. We were told about another cheetah with two cubs. We went there, but when we got close I saw 10+ cars and immediately told “No way that we are joining this!”. We turned around and drove back to Amani (we were absent for an hour!!!), Amani was completing a baby Thompson:

 

 

I guess Mara delivered what I asked for lol. After spending a little more time with Amani, we went to another cheetah. It was Rani and her three cubs. This is the first time when her cubs survived to the age of 3 months. On the way to the cheetah:

 

 

These mongooses were looking for insects on the old carcass:

 

 

Warthogs... this day we saw all stages of their life (spoiler!)

 

 

 

Rani was also on a carcass:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While watching cheetahs we could also see wildebeests gathering near the river. We were thinking that we would drive there if they began to cross but suddenly I could see that all of them started to turn and run. I took a binocular and indeed those were lions hunting. They did not get anything but they chased the whole huge herd away. I was feeling sorry for some tourists who spent a few hours waiting for crossing to happen

 

On the way to the lunch spot we saw a sad scene: four small dead warthogs were lying near the whole (just tiny, about the size of a man's hand), Jonathan said it was lions that were not hungry but they did not lose the chance to kill piglets. Cats are cats.

[bettel]

Day 7 evening.

 

Warning: this post is graphical.

 

After lunch we went to the Marsh area searching for the Marsh pride. I had already completed my safari wish list (cheetah cubs, leopard cubs, hyena pups, etc.), so I was not sure what to wish for. I would still want to see a lion hunt but I realized that it was a question of quite a big luck. So I was just asking “Mara, show me, please, something amazing". From a distance we noticed a group of lion sub adults: a pair of cubs around year and a half old, one looked like a two-year old and one was around 3 year old. All of them were stuffed with food . I immediate crossed the kill out of my list as these lions were too fat to move. Two lion cubs were resting; other two were circling around a bush, clearly there was something interesting. Wow! Is it another tortoise?! That would be great!

 

 

When we got close, we realized that the lions were interested in a warthog burrow. From time to time soil was erupting from the burrow so somebody was home.

 

Wow! Amazing! I still did not expect anything. I was just having fun, thinking that this was pretty much the same as to see lions with tortoise. They would not be able to get the prey.

 

And them everything changed ... for some reason, the warthog lost patience and flew out of the hole. Both cubs were hanging on his tail. I still thought he could get away as it was an adult male warthog (quite tough prey for well-fed sub adults)

 

 

 

 

But they caught him:

 

 

 

OMG, he was squealing so loudly!!! I can still hear it. This is the case when a camera helps a lot as it separates you little bit from the scene.

 

For some reason, the eldest boy decided that he would just observe the work of youngsters. He would just keep watching.

 

Right:

 

And left:

 

 

Then he came closer (and I, being a naive soul, even decided that now that horror would be over), looked at the team work and said: "Work harder, guys! Work harder! I am feeling for you! " and then he left

 

 

 

The rest of the lion cubs were actively biting. The warthog was screaming and trying to escape.

 

 

 

 

Finally one of the smaller cubs decided to try to strangle the prey:

 

 

The warthog began to fight, and the lions had to spend some time to bring him back down:

 

 

 

 

Then the cub tried again:

 

 

 

But his mouth was so small that he could not grab the throat. We did not only see it but we also heard it very well (the squeal did not change and did not get interrupted even for a second)

Edited September 27, 2015 by bettel

[bettel]

The cub gave up, the second cub grinned at him, maybe he meant to say "Loser!"

"Do not fight, girls!" the second oldest cub said and began making his way towards the throat:

The squeal started to break and I began to hope that it would end soon. I was feeling so sorry for the warthog, it was being eaten alive . It was very hard to watch:

He did not have chances to escape and he already had so many bad wound:

But this cub could not finish the job either!

Having made a few circles, the biggest male returned to cubs and delicately poked the warthog with his paw. In response one of sub adults growled at him . Perhaps he wanted to say: "Idiot, you must help us! Now! ".

"Oh, do you need help?" the young male wondered, "Why did not you tell me?!". He slowly and gently laid next to the warthog head and carefully grabbed the throat:

The sound finally broke.

A few minutes later it was all over

Big brother said: "I did everything so now I am leaving... with my prize". Everyone else said: "No way!" and grabbed the carcass:

"It did not work!" - the big brother replied and and went to check the burrow. Maybe there was somebody else there:

Lions were feeding:

Two males were playing tug war trying to push the other one away:

On the way back we saw a rhino. It was a great surprise:

[michael-ibk]

I must try your system. Incredible sightings, awesome photography!

[xelas]

@@bettel

 

Graphical indeed ... but also natural.

[Marks]

Lovely shots of Amani. Very good of you to give her space to hunt.

Very intense lion kill, too.

[amybatt]

Yes, I will be trying your trick too! It worked very well for you!

 

Your photos are incredible. Amani especially is dear to me (my favorite photo of her is hanging over my sofa at home) and you captured her so very well, but the lions with the warthog. The photos and your words, I could hear that squeal too! Such a very good retelling. I'm waiting for the next installment.

[CaroleE]

I too will be trying out your system. It seems to work. Great photographs. Yes the lion on the warthog are somewhat difficult viewing but it is nature.

Fantastic spot of the rhino on the way back to camp!

 

Re the 'brain freeze' of forgetting you had a camera. Your description of the lion hunt was so good I don't think photos would have added anything to it. No photos but that memory is in your head and it will be there for ever!

[Alexander33]

"This is the case where a camera helps a lot as it separates you a little from the scene."

 

That's a very astute and well-put observation. Incredible lion sequence. The photos of them feeding and snarling are especially compelling.

 

Like you, my heart goes out to the squealing warthog. But it would also go out toward starving lion cubs. <sigh>. Nature can be so cruel and yet so beautiful at the same time.

 

Thanks for sharing your experience. Looking forward to more!

[Game Warden]

@@bettel Please do consider writing a review of the properties in which you stayed for the new Lodge and Camp review subforum. Thanks, Matt.

[bettel]

I must try your system.

 

Yes, I will be trying your trick too!

 

I too will be trying out your system. It seems to work.

 

I am feeling no pressure

 

 

 

Thank you for all your support, guys! I am almost done. It is only one drive to report on.

 

But it would also go out toward starving lion cubs. <sigh>.

 

Had they been hungry, it would have been easier , but they were full already. You can see the size of their bellies on the first photo

Edited September 30, 2015 by bettel