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.

A morning with the leopards

Binti now looking found today looking for mate

Kali two days ago on the south side of Talek river

Olive killing a young warthog this morning

The Mara is now very green and still wet in most places. Driving around requires one to be cautious enough. The grass is now grown tall very fast due to the rains.
After a short break and being away from the Mara, I just come back a couple of days ago and was really longing to catch up with my cats again.
I was fortunate on arrival to find Kali who had been away from his birth area for long. He has grown big and I am worried he will soon leave this area and not come back again. This is because the His step dad, the Rhino ridge male has now taken over big boy’s territory completely. For the first weeks after he came into the area, we thought big boy will see him off, but now it is many months after and this confirms to us that Big boy has finally let go his grip on his territory.

This morning, I went out on a game drive looking for Olive with the cubs. After about an hour with no success, I stopped the vehicle just to listen to the sounds of the bush and that is when I picked up an alarm call from some guinea fowls. I went to check and found Binti. Another guide from Rekero had been trailing her since early morning. She is obviously looking for the male as she could not stop calling and she went around sniffing on the trail of the male who was in the area yesterday. This has now confirmed to us that she has not been pregnant as thought by some guides. If she pairs with the male now, we should be expecting the cubs by mid May

After spending sometimes with Binti, I headed back to camp and was just called by a fellow guide that he has found Olive and she was hunting. I dashed there just when she got a young warthog. She had a rough time with the mother but managed to ward her off. In no time, a hyaena appeared on the scene, forcing her to hastily take the kill up a nearby tree, which was really a comfortable one, but at least kept its prey safe from the hyaena. I am still combing the area to see the cubs.