A day with Zawadi, the Leopard

I set out this morning for a game drive at 6.am, with one objective, to see Zawadi the leopard at the leopard gorge. She had been reported to have one cub of about 3 months old. My mission and that of my guests who has been coming here for many years, was to establish the truth, since the leopard in reference is a known character who featured a few times on the BBC’s Big Cat Diary. She is about 16 yrs old by now and for her to have a cub at this age is proving us wrong in what we would have thought is not possible.

Back to the leopard gorge.... when i got there this morning, i found Jonathan Scott, a proffessional photographer in the Mara who has been following this particular leopard since she was a small cub. When we met, we talked of the good old days at the same place when we used to come and see Half tail, Zawadi’s mother in the early 90s. This particular spot was a popular land mark for the driver guides looking for leopards.

When i arrived, before my chat with Jonathan, i looked around and did not see teh leopard though i know she will be somewhere here if Jonathan is also around. It did not take long befroe i saw some movement in the grass on the opposite side of the gorge, and there our anticpiation and long drive was rewarded when she appeared with the cub. Our cameras immediatley went into “rapid fire” mode taking so many of the pictures we later deleted whne she posed nicely giving us the opportunity we wanted. We watched her and around 9am sh eleft the cub and walked away. We assumed she went to hunt and we did not want to spoil her hunt, so we just waited where we were.  She came back and went to where the cub was and just slept! We waited until 5.45pm when she came out with the cub, and gave as some great nice poses, whne she knew well that the light was gone and we could not take any picture; well...tomorrow is another day, an di will be there early enough an dall set to spend another day at the gorge, either taking pictures of her, or waiting! Thats life in the Mara....my office.

 With the tall grass, she has to be on the lookout all the time when her cub is playing

 A lookout from her observation rock

 Zawadi plays with her cub on the rocks above the gorge

The cub playing with mum's tail

Marsh pride brief

I apologize i have notbeen able to update my blog fro sometimes. i have been busy in a different location with guides training and examining.
however, i have been following what is happening in the Mara, especially with the Marsh pride.
the 4 new males are around teh marsh but have failed to this point to bring together the former pride members. Currently the pride has disintegrated, with Joy and her 4 cubs plus one adopted together with her subadult males are now on Topi plains. as of yesterday teh 3 females, Bibi, Charm and white eye were at Bila shaka.
some the rest of teh pride have been crossing the Mara river west into Kichwa Tembo airstrip area, obviously with the absence of the former pride kings, Romeo and Clawed, they now feel vulnerable. of course with a few subadult males in the pride, tehy know that the new males will not tolerate them so they have to move away.
Clawed was seen last week near paradise crossing, but have not been seen since then. Romeo has not been seen, and this raises concerns.
i will keep updating as usual.

The Marsh pride- JOY'S story (June 2011)

Joy’s story (June 2011)

While so much has been happening lately with the Marsh pride, there is one individual that stands out as my favourite. That is Joy.

When she had her now sub adult sons in early 2009, she separated herself from the rest of the pride since she was the only with cubs at that time. The main reason was to feed her cubs away from the rest of the pride where competition may not have allowed them to eat enough.

She would always be found on the fringes of the prides home range. As some other cubs were born in her absence, they grew up not seeing her with the rest of the pride, and this was why when she tried coming back in June this year with her now 7 month old cubs, they could not accept her. Her only link to the pride were the 2 males Romeo and clawed (at least one must be the father of the cubs)

I observed her trying to bring her cubs into the pride but none of the other members, except the males would  allow her. I saw her fight a lot with them especially when there was a kill. What was interesting to observe when all this was happening, was that her sub adult male cubs would always come to her aid whenever she had a confrontation with any other pride. The boys have also been assisting her in hunts lately. Towards the end of last month, the boys had left her, obviously to start nomadic life. I saw them once fighting fiercely with hyaenas that wanted to take their kill.

Whne the new males came in to the marsh recently, she has managed to keep her cubs safe. She has now moved further away from the new males and the rest of the pride. Though her cubs may be safe for now, they are still in danger if she encounters any other males outside the marsh territory. she was seen today near double crossing area and that is not far from where notch and gang have been roaming. there are also some nomadic males that transits through the area.

She has also adopted another much younger cubs from another female from the marsh, sienna. She had lost the cub 2 days ago when she moved to her new location, but the rangers yesterday found the cub alone and took it to her and are now united.

NB: the 4 new males are still at eth marsh. While the other 3 are still with Bibi, Scar face this morning was seen with one of white eye’s daughters, with white eye nearby. Clawed and Romeo and the lone female are still on the rocky area of the Ridge, looking a bit better after the rangers fed them 2 days ago.

One of the younsters from the main pride approaches Joy to feed on a wildebeest she killed

Joy runs to fight off the unwanted visitor. she ignored the youngsters' submissive behaviour:

Joy's sub adult son rushes in to mum's rescue and badly fought the intruder

The intruder got a real beating from the two

With the help of her son, they saw the intruder off

Romeo came to investigate  what was happening and the young male obligedly left to avoid confrontation with dad, who may thing he is the trouble maker; but Joy and the young cubs had no problem

The Marsh Pride update- Things ease off

It appears now that the takeover at the marsh may not happen as soon as we thought. Things seems to have slowed down over the past week and now almost back to normal except for the absence of Romeo an dclawed close to teh females.

The four new males that came into the marsh and mated with Bibi, for almost 2 weeks, have now left the area in teh last 2 days. We could not find them since Wednesday and we think they may have gone back to Olare-Orok conservancy.

This has brought about a sigh of relieve to many from teh worry of Joy lossing her cubs to the new males had they found her. Now though the cubs are safe, at least for now, the two males, Romeo and Clawed bored the brunt of the of the aggression of the new males and are now both nursing their injuries with Clawed being worse off. He seems at least better than a week ago but still seemingly in pain, sleeping in the same place he has been for the past week( though he has a shallow breath) Romeo is still around manager’s crossing(near where Bila shaka) joins the Mara river

Currently Joy with her 4 cubs an d1 of Sienna’s, have been on the lugga between Silanga and Topi plains. She has now been rejoined by her two subadult males who had gone away briefly recently. Tehy aqre now on her side, perhaps having sense larking danger. I have seen the two boys come to her aid to chase away any naughty The rest of the females and subadults had retreated into the long reeds bytb e windmill but today a couple of females, White eye and Sienna moved back to Bila Shaka, i guess to scout around if safe now to call the others.

Now we never know if the four males will come back into the marsh again soon.

Good thing to be a kid! here Joy's cubs plays, totally oblivious of all the dangers that was close to them from the new males. Good news they are safe, for now......

Charm and the subadults walks away after feeding off a wildebeest one morning recently after a fight with Hyaenas

These are the Hyaenas that ganged up and managed to snatch some food from the above members of the marsh pride

New males taking over the marsh pride,

The history of the marsh pride in the Masai Mara game reserve is about to be re-written. The pride has been dominated by two males Romeo and clawed.

Four days ago, some 4 young males, thought to be 4yrs and one slightly older moved inot the marsh area from Olare-Orok conservancy. They have been moving around the border of the park and the conservancy. I remember, 2 weeks ago they gave us rough time when they came and moved through our camp for almost 3 nights in a row, forcing us to go to bed early.

These new males whne they arrived at the marsh they almost got up with Joy and the cubs, btu Joy managed to take them to safety. They only settled whne they came across Bibi, one of the females whom they went ahead to mate with. One of the males seem to be dominant to the other 3. When they came in, we knew it was a take over in process. I remember my fellow guide, Simon Chebon comment  ‘’this is a take over already’’

Normally when new males take over another pride, they will kill all small cubs. We got worried imediately these males came into the marsh that they will kill the young cubs. Currently Joy, one of the females at the marsh has 4 young cubs, about 6 months old and has lately been looking after a 3 month old cub belonging to on of the other females. I have been spending the whole day at the marsh since these new males came in, just to watch teh unfolding changes.

Last night these new males fought the resident  males and badly injured clawed, but Romeo managed to take off and was today found up on Rhino Ridge, while clawed lay the whole day below the airstrip with a fatal injury on his spine sustained from the fight. He also got injured on upper and inner thigh. He can now barely move or even roll over due to much pain.

The new males seem to be in no rush now, especially that clawed is helpless and and Romeo has fled. Our hearts goes to Joy and the cubs as we know only well that the ineviatbel will happen if the new males come across them.

I will keep documenting the unfolding tomorrow and sharing here, the new development.

Clawed in great pain from injuries sustained from fight with new males. his injuries are too bad ha can barely move

Clawed lying out in the sun today; he is injured and could not even move to look for shade

One the run: Joy with one of the cubs run away from danger of the new males

Joy taking the cubs to safety when the new males almost killed them 3 days ago

Two of the four new males at the marsh

The dominant male among the 4. He is the one that claimed Bibi and fought off the off the others

Romeo, with white eye next to him and charm plus some of the sub-adults feeding on wildebeest carcass yesterday morning not far from the 4 intruders

Masai Mara Big Cats Update

Honey's boys two days ago; still together and even stronger

One of the ridge pride female scouting for prey from a termite mount

One of the males from Notch's gang fedding on hippo they killed yesterday

The weather in the Mara now is clear hot days and cold morning. The average temperatures we have been recording for the past one week are about 13-14ºC in the morning and about 35 ºC in the afternoon.


When the temperature is this high in the day, most big cats restrict their movements and often go into the bushes or under trees to take shade. This makes game viewing only at best in the morning and late afternoons. Besides this, the grass is now growing very fast and is already tall in some places, a condition which is forcing most animals to congregate in certain areas only.

I have been following some of the big cats this past week. These were, the Olkiombo, paradise, and Ridge prides. The ridge pride killed an ostrich 5 days ago near the Mara river just opposite Serena pump house on the eastern side of the river. At the same time, Olkiombo pride killed two Buffaloes along the Talek river. Two days later two of the males from the same pride killed a Hippo along Olare-Orok river. Yesterday the ridge pride with over ten small cubs with the males killed another hippo near paradise crossing point.

These unusual hunts have been necessitated by the absence of medium sized prey, i.e. Zebras and wildebeests. The Mara lions normally have to adapt very fast to the change food availability.

The Mara cats update

Shakira & Daughters on paradise plains earlier

One of the males in Notch's gang

One of Olive's cubs

Olive & one of her cubs

The Mara cats are having their easy meals this month before the last of the easy prey leaves. Many skeletons still lie across the plains as an evident of a big feast that was in the last season. From now on lion prides will be seen highly mobile in search for food especially the ones with cubs. Some prides go to an extend of splitting up because there is barely enough for them all at one go.
Over the past couple of weeks, the ridge pride have been roaming between around the southern base of Rhino ridge, Mara Intrepids and the Mara river area. There is one female with 3 month old cubs and one with 2 month old. They made very successful if not easy kills in the past months when the wildebeest were all over their territory.

Olive, our female leopard star and her 3 month old cubs are still around the junction of the Talek and Olare-Orok rivers. They have lately been moving between this place and the little forest between Mara Intrepids and Explorer camps.
Binti, her daughter is just downstream from where Olive is. They also took the opportunity when the wildebeest are streaming down south through their territories. We saw few young wildebeests’ carcasses in trees along the river.

Shakira, who for the past two years has been our main female cheetah star, is still around and still with her 3 daughters. she was seen the last two days at the border of Mara-serengeti on the south Mara Triangle. The many gazelle fawns born since the past 3 weeks have been providing her with some easy meals. The 3 brothers who are Honey’s cubs continue to roam far and wide from Musiara to paradise and south to Burrungat plains. There is another cheetah between Talek and Olkiombo airstrip with three very little cubs. This is not alama which we reported earlier. In general cheetah sightings have been the best this season.

Mara Big cats update

An inquisitive cheetah cub

Olive with one of the cubs this morning

A Male lion from paradise pride

All lion prides in our game viewing territory are still present in their home ranges. There were interesting sightings of these cats in the past week, hunting wildebeest, zebra and warthogs all to the excitement of our guests. One lioness from the Ridge pride with her cubs has been at maternity area for the past week, and has been very nice seeing her little cubs play in late afternoon. There are other lionesses with cubs as well. These are from Paradise, Olkiombo and Musiara prides. You simply can’t see time passing here! When watching these lions.

Leopard sighting have been very good if not better than the previous weeks. The most exciting moment was when Olive and her two cubs showed up occasionally. She has made a few kills in the past couple of weeks with some being witnessed by our guests. She killed an impala two days ago at the Olare-Orok crossing and dragged it into a bush before going to fetch her cubs. When coming with the cubs, it was nice to see her carrying one occasionally in her mouth so as to increase her walking pace to get to the kill. She gave us the sighting of the week, with her cubs coming out in the morning and late afternoon and playing endlessly. Binti, her older daughter was seen a few times near the rocky bend on the Talek river, a place which has been her area of abode for long.

Cheetah sightings were also good and a few successful hunting were also witnessed. Shakira has now moved up from lookout hill to paradise plain where she has been for over a week. The three brothers are also in the same location. There was drama yesterday, when the three brothers engaged her and her three daughters in some fight that lasted almost an hour before the boys decided to leave the poor ladies alone. The sight of the seven cheetahs was quite unusual and our guests were treated to this rare show.

There is a cheetah with three small cubs (not alama, the one mentioned in our past report) which is found to the east of Explorer, where she has been hunting over the past week. There is also one pregnant female in the location which we think could give birth any time.

The Big Cats This Week

Herds of wildebeests moving towards the river. These currently forms bulk of prey for our cats

Binti killing an Impala fawn

Alama's 3 cubs

Olive watching her cubs drinking in the Talek river

Some of the Marsh pride females and cubs at Bila shaka

We had a great week now ending, in terms of big cats sightings.
Topping the list of the big cats which we saw over the week, was Olive, the female leopard with her two cubs on the Talek yesterday morning. She had disappeared briefly but emerged again on Friday with her cubs in good shape. The two cubs whose sexes we have not yet established are in good health and have given us over the past two days, great sightings playing on the sand in the Talek just before where Olare-Orok joints it. This particular area is cover by a thick bush which gives her and the cubs a good hiding cover. Today she moved the cubs in the morning further upstream towards Mara Intrepids camp and settle in the small forest on the south side of the river.

Binti is still in her mother’s territory and was seen a few times over the past week. I saw her kill a young Impala on 7/9/09 in the morning. I had been following an Impala with a young one who were running along the edge of the bushes in the area where I had heard earlier that Binti was seen. While concentrating on the Impala, I did not know that she had seen them, she came out of the bush and chased the two and managed to catch up with the fawn and killed it 30 feet from my vehicle. The action was too fast for me to take any picture of the chase.

At the Helicopter crossing on 9/9/09 Kali was held hostage in a tree the whole day when lions who chased him up there killed a zebra nearby therefore just settling near the same tree. The poor boy stayed there until night fall. When I visited the area, the next morning he was down. He may have come down early in the morning when the lions moved just a little away.

There is a female cheetah named Alama by the guides, due to a prominent black spot on her left cheek, has 3 small cubs (roughly 2- 2.5 months old). This is the female that lost her cubs earlier in the year when buffalos killed them. she can be found east of Olkiombo area.
Shakira is still in the southern part of the reserve, near lookout hill. Still doing very well with her cubs. It is great watching her with her daughters hunting.

We saw all the lions prides in our game viewing zone over the week. The marsh pride is still at Bila shaka and has been having great time hunting now that there is a concentration of wildebeest it the area. The paradise pride with a number of females having small cubs is now near the main wildebeests crossing.
There was a big drama on the morning of the 7/9/09 when notch and one of his sons fought and chased off one of the Olkiombo pride males near Rekero camp.

More to come from the Mara