Maasai Mara Safaris on 20th of December 2012

Game viewing in the Mara with lions is always a fascinating  behaviour to study,on the 20th of December 2012,we came a cross a young male lion of about 2 years that he was living on their own with his brother,in the Lion kingdom when the pride is taken over by new male lions,the young cubs would either be killed or their mum will run away with them and this was the case with the boys above.....When marsh pride of lion was taken over by the 4 muskateers,their mother moved them away to safety and when it was time to be on their own they came close to the core of the pride and one was killed by the new dominant males of the pride.Great to see they had just taken their breakfast and one was going for a drink...Near the same area we spotted a lioness who was following the pride members who they were coming back from the Night hunting.
Down to Marshpride the four boys were wel fed,and they were sleeping by their kill.I reckoned  this was their second or third kill the same night for they had partially eaten it,and if they were hungry one whole zebra would not last longer for 4 male lions,too alot of vultures were seen scavenging on some fresh abandoned carcasses.The  pride's cubs who are also the first cubs for the new pride holders were very healthy.It was very charming to see them cute-playing with the old Wildbeest skull.
The rare Black Rhino with some Giraffes made our afternoon trip to paradise plains....The Rhinos are very much territorial in Mara and you would see the same individuals in the same area very often,although they are few which translates to one owning big territory/home range.
Not a good capture of the sunset with the Grey Crowned Crane when we were driving back to the camp,But it was good capture and i remember my guests getting the best photos.The cranes were having their last hour of their busy day feeding before they go spending their night together on a tree.They are known to work and live as a pair.

On Safari on the 6th of November 2012.

The male lion in the photo above is called Notch,it took  several days to find him together with my guest,Donna,who she really wanted to see him.She was overwhelmed after we got him in the thick bush thickets with his two of the four sons along Talek river.Notch with his sons managed to own a huge vast of land in the Mara with about 5 prides of lions and this is one of the reasons to why he was always hard to find him. For the last two months this year(From mid August 2013 to date) Notch has been missing but his four sons are strong and moving on very well,but they are seemed to be settling on one big pride that occupies huge tract of land in Maasai Mara called Olkeju Rongai,Ol kinyei Talek area to Hamerkop.
On the picture above is a Silver backed Jackal with a kill on its mouth.Jackals are scavengers but when they find newly born babies of smaller species of antelopes they do not spare them.I have seen them always on the move trying to poke into every hole or taller grass area trying to find baby gazelles that their mothers have left them to go and feed,and if they find one they will try to divide into two equal pieces,one of the very unique behavior of a pair of Silver backed/Black backed Jackals
 We also came across four lionesses who they left marsh pride,and settle on the edge of their parents territory.When lions' pride becomes too big they will split and others would leave to form their own pride.On the picture are some of the cubs who are the very first on this new pride to which  some called Breakaway pride.The 4 males who are currently dominating the marsh pride also owns this four lionesses,isn't it special seeing these four boys serving the daughters of the Marsh pride females who are also served by the same boys?To me and you it is immoral,but to them it is very much acceptable.
Elephants feeding made our afternoon,It take elephants approximately 18 hours to feed and when you spot one you will never stop getting fascinated by these iconic mammals of Africa.Seeing a young baby elephant learning to use its trunk would leave you,"wow'ing".And as always when you go to Musiara marsh you will never miss these lovely antelopes called Defassa waterbucks that i came to understand of late that they are not spread in the Mara like other antelopes because you find them in the  Marshes or Swamps for they will never have their day passing by without a drink.
And again we had a drama to witness when we came a cross a Cape Buffalo that she had just given birth only to be got by the hyenas and lions,by the time we got their her calf was already dead but the drama was watching both lions and hyenas trying to go for the baby while the brave mother was  tirelessly protecting it not knowing that the baby was already gone.We later on came to know that it took her more than 10 hours protecting her dead calf.She later on left before darkness came in,lions for sure would have taken her down that night and lucky that she followed her herd.what a drama to witness but poor Cape buffalo and lucky hyenas and lions...this is nature and we could not intervene.Buffaloes are cooperative when they are under attack and very few brave lions will try to attack a big herd and in most cases with very minimal success,but one thing that they have never done is waiting for one of theirs to finish giving birth and seeing the calf on its feet then they leave!!!

Safaris On the 15th to 20th of December 2012,Lions Baby boom,Birdwatching in the Swamp,Waterbucks Bachelors Group,Leopard Tortoise Vs Lions cub,Feeding Cheetahs and Masai Giraffes amongst Tall Trees.

                                  

Few days to Christmas and once again the swamp is very much alive with many bird species and booming lion cubs in the Mara and cheetahs feeding on impala were some of my significant sightings.At paradise plains here in the Mara was a lioness with two cubs of about 4 months old,she is a very experienced mother but most of their prey species were not plenty on the plains where she was raising her cubs and  members of her pride were on the other side of the Mara river,hunting for her cubs were very much,nobody was there to offer even  little help and her cubs were very much hungry  as she was,they might have not have eaten for couple of days but few days later they made a kill and they were back on their beautiful look.Again i thought she couldn't cross the crocodile infested Mara river with the cubs to get to her pride members.If a suckling mother lioness is hungry and she goes for several  days without food especially at the times of scarcity,and her cubs are too small to accompany her to find meal,she will abandon the cubs behind and chances of the cubs' mortality are very high from starvation,but for the el paraiso lioness hers were past that stage and they could follow their ever struggling mother.
When male lions born to any of the family get to in between the age of 2 to 2.5 years,and to some at 3 years,they are kicked out by their dad/s to go and start their own lives.They can leave the pride as a group commonly referred to as a coalition or if born as a solo boy still he would have to leave on his own to hook up with other male/s of his age.We came a cross two boys who they had just ventured into their new stage of their lives and to them everything was new,with very little experience of hunting and fighting to protect themselves they had to move on.They were very healthy and wel fed at the time we saw them.We wished them good luck with their nomadism as we depart their new place.
On one of the mid-mornings a cheetah with her three cubs had made a kill and they were enjoying it when we found them,it was a beef(Impala). The cubs were no longer suckling but still dependent on their mum to feed them,and on that day they had a yummy meal that was to push them for another two or three days.This cheetah had tried 3 times to make a kill the previous day and twice on the day of their kill(as per my fellow guide),that is 4 times unsuccessful and 1 time successful!!,the reason was the cubs were inexperienced and they always spoiled the mum's chances of getting hold of the prey for they would walk straight to their prey thus being seen prior to starting sprinting!,she has to go extra mile to feed 3 cubs and herself until when the cubs would leave her at the age of about 2 years!,Good luck mama and we  bravo your efforts of bringing your cubs to their age,you are such a adorable cat.
I have followed the famous Marsh pride of lions for several years since when i started guiding and they have always been my favorite pride in the Mara,although we have other smart prides.On December their were hundreds of Zebras at Bilashaka and towards topi plains,and it was here that the Marsh pride with their close relatives(Breakaways) were bringing up their cubs.What a great time they were having compared to the struggling paradise pride of lions,they were feeding almost on daily basis which it was very positive for the little cubs,and for the 4 males (nicknamed the 4 musketeers by the very experienced guides from Governors guide),they were also getting well fed by their lovely wives from both prides.
The same pride (Look at the two last pictures above) has caught leopard tortoise and because of their very hard shelled body(--carapace--),it was very impossible for both adults and cubs to break it to access the fleshy part.It was a experience to share with other people watching both one of the big five and one of the little five all together,if you were a tortoise what would have been your heart beat rate,for me i would have been sweating and shivering a lot,good enough that it was very much protected by their outside body shell.But again my worry was the tortoise might have got dehydrated,this is simply because they excrete a fluid from their organ called bursa which are very corrosive and by doing so they lose a lot of water and they will later on die,and for this reason people are advised not to pick tortoises especially when it is too dry and their is no nearby water.
Yes,i love musiara marsh from deep inside my heart when it comes to birdwatching and from the experience that i've got after doing safaris on all corners of maasai mara,there is no place that over rides Musiara marsh when it comes to watching birds especially when it is full of water,and on top of it are other 10s of mammals species here that will always ice cake game viewing on the marsh.On the pictures are some of the common marsh birds from the Black headed Heron,hammerhead like birds called hamerkop,Immature Saddle Billed storks and African spoon bills respectively.If you are a birdwatcher to the Mara,do not miss your visit to Musiara Marsh.Also some of the regular visitors  here are the Defassa waterbucks.On the picture are four males all from Bachelor's herd who they have no patch to defend and wait for the girls to pay a visit,and for them when they get to defended patch they have to be subordinate to the defending male.Long live Musiara marsh.

On safari on the 5th and 6th of December 2012,time well spent with Cranes,Male lions patrolling,Playing lion cubs,Mating ostriches to Feeding spotted hyenas.

It was on the first week of December year 2012 when we set out on safari and as usual looking for interesting stuff for the guests who they have come to mara to enjoy what it offers.The two days did not let us down.The two Grey crowned cranes were perched up on a tree enjoying the very beautiful sceneries of the mara,in most cases these birds are found on ground foraging on insects,grasses,small seeds and also other small inverterbrates.Their population has declined and they are now endangered,although we still have quit good number in the mara, and not far from cranes was a lone male lion,patrolling its territory and perhaps looking for his brother who was mating few kilometers from where he was.This was at paradise,near the main migrations' crossing point.
One of the cubs from Marshpride was playing and not with the rest but on its own up on a small tree,learning to climb up(on a small branch)and when it went to rest,it was on the same branch!,lions do not have very good climbing abilities but some do climb,not very slopy tree to escape the heat of the day and the disturbing flies.
One very good day was spotting Mating ostriches,Male lion on his own,cubs and feeding hyenas all very close to each other.For me the special one was the mating dance of the Ostriches,we all enjoyed witnessing it.It all started with the female dropping her wings while the male was running after her,and soon they were into it.They both seemed to enjoy the affair which lasted for few minutes,and very awesome watching the mating dance whereby the males swings his pink neck from side to side while the throat is slightly ballooned.And afterwards,it was allover and they continued feeding to get some more energy for the job,which it looks to be very tiresome for the male!
One of the dominant males of the Marsh pride was on his own at around 0730Hrs and previous days he was with his three other brothers,he looked well fed and he might have killed one of the wildbeests who were roaming the Bilashaka area(part of their territory) all the way to double crossing area but all scattered ,the kill was at that time under the hungry,vey vocal and vicious spotted hyenas.The king of the jungle has had enough and it was the turn of the Maasai mara's scavengers(Hyenas and Vultures),and on the feeding hierachy at the carcass,hyenas were on top and later on to be followed by the vultures,Jackals were missing.