Cruel paradise and its spotted angels (8 days in Masai Mara)

[bettel]

26 minutes ago, pomkiwi said:

And I thought my time at Porini Lion was amazing! Excellent report and images.

Thank you very much. Some luck together with Meshack's hard work were doing miracles .

 

 

Imani was sleeping and we .... ok, I was impatient and Meshack suggested to check lions nearby. Lions were pretty much in the same mood as Imani so we went back to the cheetah (I am still not sure how Meshack managed not to throw me out of the car)

That was a cute calf on our way:



As if Imani were waiting for us, she got up as soon as we arrived. I only managed to say "There is a tommie baby over there" and the cheetah started to run. Got it:

[Geoff]

I've reached the end of the first page.

 

A special giraffe moment in post #7 and the landscape with the 5 cheetah boys caught my eye in post #21 ~ lovely.

[optig]

I can only say that I just loved all your photos of the cats-especially the cheetahs.

[bettel]

On 11/25/2017 at 1:00 AM, Geoff said:

A special giraffe moment in post #7 and the landscape with the 5 cheetah boys caught my eye in post #21 ~ lovely.

Thank you for reading and commenting!

On 11/25/2017 at 5:29 AM, optig said:

I can only say that I just loved all your photos of the cats-especially the cheetahs.

 Your kind words are greatly appreciated!

21 hours ago, Antee said:

Just for the record. The Hare was African Savannah hare and not a Scrub hare  

Thank you! I am not good with small species so it is nice to learn new things.

 

 

Continuation:

 

When Imani was well through her meal, Meshack asked if I want to see a leopard. I don't know why he still asks, I don't think ever in my life I refused to see one of these beautiful cats. This time it was another queen of Mara - Lorian. She was trying to hunt some reedbucks, so she was absolutely silently appearing from bushes and disappearing in them. It is amazing how fluently leopards can move as if they were made out of water.

[bettel]

 

[AKR1]

This trip report just gets better and better. I’ve said it before- the Mara never fails to deliver,  but I don’t think I have seen another report with such an abundance of cats. Not only cheetah, leopard and lions galore but also plenty of hunts and start to finish kills. You were both well prepared with a great guide and very lucky, although luck favors those with good preparation. Excellent photography throughout. Really enjoying this. Thanks again. 

[bettel]

15 hours ago, AKR1 said:

I don’t think I have seen another report with such an abundance of cats. Not only cheetah, leopard and lions galore but also plenty of hunts and start to finish kills.

Lol, that is why I am almost afraid to plan next trip to Mara, I just can't imagine how it can be comparable (I am not even saying better).

15 hours ago, AKR1 said:

Excellent photography throughout. Really enjoying this. Thanks again. 

Thanks a lot!

 

End of day 6:

We spent with Lorian couple hours. She settled under the bush and was having some rest, when we got a message that Musketeers started to wake up and we went back to them. These guys are unpredictable, they can easily hunt with the full stomach  But not that day :), that day they were just browsing around and enjoying themselves. . 

Bee-eaters on the way:


Musketeers: 








Well, it is hard to jump when your belly works together with gravitation:  

[bettel]

Some last pictures for the day:

[pomkiwi]

@bettel Lovely images of the leopard - I love the description of them moving as if made of water - so accurate!

[bettel]

2 hours ago, pomkiwi said:

Lovely images of the leopard - I love the description of them moving as if made of water - so accurate!

Thank you. I love to watch leopards in hunting mode. The way they move is fascinating.

 

Day 7.

We went straight to Musketeers. I mean we left them right before night so it should not be that hard to find them first thing in the morning. Right? Wrong!!! These cats are just machines and they can easily move a lot and even at night. They even hunt a lot at night. You need a social net to find them if you are targeting them specifically (or lots of luck :))

That is exactly what we were doing in the morning. We were driving around, checking all bushes, watching all antelopes, talking to all guides. We found lots of lions (a few prides, couple unknown coalitions, a few individuals)  and no sign of Musketeers. We did not give up but we spent a few minutes with 3 nomad golden mane boys:

[bettel]

Continuation.

Finally, somebody found Musketeers. They were running away from a lioness that flushed them. I can't say they looked scared or stressed. They were moving fast especially through bush areas but that was pretty much all.









They even decided to hunt almost immediately (I think they know how lazy normally lions are  )

 

Sorry for the quality, but these are cropped badly











It did not work, and a jackal was not happy with this performance, he wanted some meal:

[bettel]

One of the most stressful moments:

Elands were definitely not targeted by cheetahs but they still joined the overall chaos caused by boys:



Bustard was watching:



And then I was stressed as cheetahs were walking straight to bushes where we left 5 or 6 subadult male lions. And not only this but some ( a lot of!) drivers were parking vehicles creating a wall that would not allow cheetahs to see lions in time. I was ready to interfere myself (OK, I will be honest, I was ready to yell at those drivers as cheetahs killed by lions sighting had never been and never will be on my list)  when Meshack started to organize vehicles that were close to us and a guy from NatGeo was trying to move vehicles that were close to him. Together they created a corridor that was giving Musketeers a clear view of bushes. Vehicles:



One of lions:



Cheetahs were coming:



And they noticed the lion:



They started to produce a very special sound (I even don't know how to call it... maybe internal groan) warning each other that there was a danger:

 

Grouping together:

[bettel]

They watched lions for some time and then they turned and left...

And I almost got a heart attack as they moved straight to bushes where we left 3 golden mane lions. They were a few hundred meters away from sub adults. But thanks God, lions were probably deep in a gullet as they never noticed cheetahs (or maybe they were too lazy to react) 

[AfricIan]

Lots of vehicles @bettel, including a little hatchback.  I assume this was in the NP & not in the conservancy

[bettel]

1 hour ago, AfricIan said:

Lots of vehicles @bettel, including a little hatchback.  I assume this was in the NP & not in the conservancy

Yes, it is the reserve. Unfortunately, Musketeers prefer the reserve as the concentration of lions in conservancies is very high.  

[bettel]

Musketeers continued to move looking for hunting opportunities or at least a quiet place to rest: 



Some of them were trying to adopt leopards techniques. And I finally realized what one of my coaches meant when he was saying that my posture on a horse reminded him a dog on a fence.













Is there somebody who can resist temptation to take a billion of photos of drinking cats? I can't!

[Atravelynn]

Everything including the ostrich eggs.  Love those reptilian kills. A powerful page 1!

[Atravelynn]

Page 2 is extraordinary too.  How did that wildebeest get away?  Baby jackals and baby bat eared foxes, oh so cute.  You do have exceptional leopard luck.  Lots of drama that continued to page 3. 

 

I can see why you think this trip was #1!

Edited November 30, 2017 by Atravelynn

[bettel]

10 hours ago, Atravelynn said:

Everything including the ostrich eggs.  Love those reptilian kills. A powerful page 1!

Thank you!

10 hours ago, Atravelynn said:

How did that wildebeest get away? 

Аt some point two cheetahs on one side took a pause to regroup and the wildebeest pretty much ran into this "gap".

 

***

Almost immediately boys started to hunt (but halfhearted):


Reading news:





On a way:



And then they finally found good bushes to sleep and settled down. And we were sitting and discussing with SafariLive car where boys would go next. There were not too many options around. There was a small herd of elands not far and they had a very young calf with them. But they soon hid the calf in bushes and left. And then there was a small herd of Thompson gazelles nearby too. And they had a tiny tiny baby but thanks God when the baby stood up cheetahs were sleeping, when cheetahs woke up to check surroundings the baby was on the ground. 

[bettel]

In couple hours Musketeers woke up and continued to look for a hunting opportunity:

 

 

They were very kind to pose for us:



A bird (this is just to prove that I am taking not only cheetah photos  )

 

More posing Musketeers (I am biased but I think they are the most beautiful coalition ever): 

[bettel]

And then there was probably the saddest sighting of the trip.

Cheetahs were walking through the plain, where elands hid a calf. But a calf was hidden well and we did not expect cheetahs to ever notice it. We were taking pictures of my favorite bird (saddle-billed stork):

 

And then we saw a side stripped jackal (first in my safari life):



I was taking photos of jackals (there was a pair of them) when Meshack yelled "The baby is running now!". One of vehicles, not knowing that there was a baby hidden, flushed it out. There was a moment of hope, that baby was running fast, that cheetahs were far ( couple hundred meters), that they were sitting and thinking... and then they started to run and the hope died as this baby had no single chance to over run them and his mother was far to protect him.

 

The end was as expected















And as if it was not tragic enough, while one cheetah was suffocating all others started to eat fast so the one that was doing a job gave up and started to eat it too... 

[bettel]

Bloody cheetahs:

And then mother came. She was calling for her calf and running around trying to find it. It was heartbreaking



A bull:





Scavengers were gathering:

[bettel]

As it was a long drive from Talek area back to OMC, we left cheetahs soon. But we stopped for some sunset photos and bat eared foxes (they ran away quickly  )

 

 

 

[bettel]

The end of the day was very positive as after the sunset we met a lioness with two cubs. Lioness was trying to hunt but her cubs were thinking that they were the main pride hunters so they were taking it seriously. Only a blind antelope would not have noticed these hunters. There were no blind antelopes in a herd

[Alexander33]

On 11/30/2017 at 7:55 AM, bettel said:

More posing Musketeers (I am biased but I think they are the most beautiful coalition ever): 

 

I have to concur. This is just a great shot!