19 June 2021

BIG CAT DIARY UNCUT, PART I: COMMEMORATING HALF-TAIL AND ZAWADI

 As a recapitulation of Big Cat Diary 1996, Series 1 and,

The Big Cat People Podcast, Series II: Big Cat Diary Uncut

Episode 1 – "1996: A Leopard Called Half-Tail"

Date of Release: 1 May 2023




The Duo of the Panel: Jonathan Scott and Simon King
Photo Credit: Angela Scott

It is September 1996 when the opening titles of Big Cat Diary roll for the first time, revealing Africa's big cats in all their magnificence. You can feel your pulse racing as the music soars; there is a hint of deep, throaty cry of Masai warriors who still at times test their courage against the king of beasts in this part of Kenya. Two huge male lions go head to head, battling tooth and claw, the dust flying as they manoeuvre for position; a cheetah explodes towards the camera, is feet beating a blistering tattoo on the dry earth, while a solitary leopard climbs higher into a tree, smooth as silk: just a glimpse, nothing more, but with a creature as beautiful and mysterious as this it is enough... (Scott, Stars 8-9)

THE GENRE of wildlife documentary had been undergoing a sea change in the late 80s and early 90s. Several new shifts gradually took place in terms of filming, recording and presentation. Of late, Sir David Attenborough's presence in person in the fields of the wildlife actions unfolded a masterpiece of television presentation but, apart from him and a few earlier generation of presenters, there was a little novelty in the projection. 


The Camerman in Action: Simon King with the Marsh Pride of Lions
Photo Credit: BBC

Invoking the words of famous zoologist and television presenter Jonathan Scott from his autobiography The Big Cat Man: An Autobiography (2016) would be aptly befitting commencement (and it will serve the purpose of an "invocation" too since this is going to be quite a long tale to tell over the course next few days) of the journey of this "Majestic Saga", which would be retelling the story of some of the spectacular feline stars, with whom we developed an affinity through Big Cat Diary. In fact, we are here to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of the programme through this article series. Scott goes on to say:

Big Cat Diary was most significant television opportunity of my career and a major change in the style for wildlife programmes produced by NHU [Natural History Unit]. It was such a simple concept. Go out each day on safari and record what you find, focusing on the big cats. Let their stories unfold in front of your eyes. It was honest- what you saw actually happened- but it was also an animal soap opera, narrated with knowledge and passion (265).


The Opening frame of the first series
Photo Credit: BBC

  Personally, I have come across Big Cat Diary in 2009- quite late, just one year later after the completion of its final series, but the emergence of this very particular television soap opera owes its cradling phase in September 1996. Truly, an excellent "armchair safari" it is,  by which, speculation of Maasai Mara is essentially possible to any spectator in its entirety.


Simon King during filming
Photo Credit: Nature Picture Library/ https://www.mindenpictures.com/search?l=3

  Having been bestowed with the other broadcast names of Big Cat Week and Big Cat Live from time to time, Big Cat Diary happened to be quite a  long-running nature documentary series on BBC television, which had vividly followed the daily lives of three groups of African big cats- lions, leopards and cheetahs in Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya. The first series, broadcast on BBC One in 1996, was developed and jointly produced by Robin Hellier and Keith Scholey,  who turned out to be is the head of the BBC's Natural History Unit. On our first day of the saga of the iconic felines, we shall be dwelling upon this series and, the journey will follow up a gradual progression over the next few days. The entitling of today's episode e.g. "The Big Cat Kingdom" and that of the next eight renderings, however, are solely modelled after the chapter-titles of Jonathan Scott's book Stars of Big Cat Diary (2009).


Jonathan Scott speculating the arrival of annual wildebeest migration at the bank of Mara River

  Due to the torrential downpour (quite unexpected in the Mara in September and October) and flood during the very first filming trip back in 1996, a few tents in the base camp were severely afflicted and one of the tents of the person, who was operating the sound at that moment, was literally uprooted and stashed into the river. But this was not any serious drawback to prevent the further spontaneity of the journey. Eight further series have followed the first one, and most importantly, Big Cat Live, the live broadcast from the Mara from 5 October 2008 to 12 October 2008, turned out to be the most ambitious project of BBC Natural History Unit. The original presenters, Simon King and Jonathan Scott, were joined by Saba Douglas-Hamilton from 2002 onwards; later, Kate Silverton, the British journalist and Jackson Ole Looseyia, the local Maasai guide and naturalist were added to the crew of Big Cat Live in 2008.

  The BBC Natural History Unit originally wanted to film in the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, but when this proved too expert eye, they switched to Kenya. Filmings sessions were brilliantly timed to coincide with the arrival of the annual wildebeest migration in the Mara, in which most of the predators gather to take the advantage of the abundance of prey animals. Each series has followed the daily lives of one or two lion prides (and occasionally their neighbours and adjacent prides), a cheetah family and a leopard family. The crew, which was numbered up to sixty people, used specially modified four-wheeled vehicles to travel around the relevant portions of Mara for tracking, spotting and filming the cats. The presenters also travelled in the cars, addressed the camera as the action unfolded in front of them. The feline stars were named and were developed as individual personalities to draw the audience into a close relationship with them, thus, a certain empathy was created. The similarity of soap operas has led to Big Cat Diary being called "the original wildlife soap opera." Notwithstanding the popularity of the show, this technique has drawn criticism from some quarters for trivializing and sanitizing the natural world. But, such criticism has hardly sound footing since the emotional appeal of the show sufficiently coupled up with the factual detailing of the niché.


The Marsh Pride of lions in Mushiara Marsh, having relatively hard times getting sufficient prey
Photo Credit: BBC

KENYA'S MAASAI MARA, perhaps, is the home to one of the most celebrated lion prides in Africa- the Marsh Pride, who have been considered to be the most successful groups to be filmed for Big Cat Diary. They are the family of lions, whom Jonathan Scott has been following since 1977 when he first came to Africa. In September 1996, when the show was started, there were as many as four adult females in the pride- Kali, Bump Nose, Old Girl and Notch. Normally, the lionesses were not discriminately named in the first few series to avoid the confusion of identifying them by the untrained eyes of audience. Though the custom was changed in the subsequent series.


A collage of the members of Marsh the Pride of lions
Photo Credit: BBC

  The shortage of the prey animals really pushed the pride to the edge of trials and tribulations. Simon King was assigned to follow the tales of the Marsh Pride for this series, and for subsequent series to come. Two old pride males were missing. Two one-year-old cubs and three adolescents- two males and a female, were on the verge of getting ousted from their natal home range. Although, the female offspring should be embraced by their mother and aunts to stay as a part of the pride.


Golden Mane and Black Mane, the pride males of Kichwa Tembo Pride
Photo Credit: BBC

  Amidst the hardships, during the first week of filming, two stunning adult male lions were seen patrolling in the Marsh area. Just like the "missing piece of a jigsaw" (Scott, Stars 15), they were initially suspected to be the pride members but soon after their arrival, it was confirmed that they did not have anything to do with the pride. The Golden Mane, as named by Simon King in the series, immediately started to advance towards the females but, he received a hasty retreat from their end. Backed up by his brother, the Black Mane, he chased off all the females and adolescents of the pride, causing chaotic disruption in the apparent stability of the pride.


Hail to His Majesty: Golden Mane in Kichwa Tembo area
Photo Credit: BBC

  As per the report, these "Mystery Males" were the pride males of Kichwa Tembo Pride, belonging to the west of Mara River in Mara Triangle. Says Jonathan Scott: "It is not uncommon for males to try to expand their realm of influence and for as long as I have lived in the Mara males from the Marsh Pride and the Kichwa Tembo Pride have contested ownership of these two territories" (Stars 16). One of the drivers from Kichwa Tembo plains reported that the pride males of their patch had been missing since a few months before the filming session had started. When Jonathan set off to find out about them, the big males were patrolling confidently in their domain. Whenever a chance of expansion arises, the pride males fully try to muscle in and, make the most of the opportunity. They stayed in the Marsh area for a few days and after a few weeks, they were accompanied by a young female, apparently cut off from the group. Later on, two brothers were found courting with that female. Several new cubs were born but due to the hostility and scarcity of potential supply of the prey base, their future seemed to be quite uncertain.


Jonathan Scott presenting the story of Big Pride

  During the filming of the first series in Programme 5, the audiences have witnessed a lone lioness, who entered into the Marsh Pride's domain. She was sternly kicked out by the pride females. Perhaps, she was distantly related with the pride but in such a predicament of utmost nothingness of stock, even the guests too, are ousted so far as the lion society is concerned. At the end of the series, several lionesses were seen nurturing their newborns. It was quite easy to assess why they eventually ganged up to oust the big males earlier. The cubs were in utmost uncertainties due to the lack of prey animals. On top of that, their fathers were nowhere on the horizon, opening up the ground for the constant vigilance of the nomadic males.


Sisterhood: The females of the Big Pride
Photo Credit: BBC

  While the fractious slice of activities on part of the Marsh Pride provided the show with a minimum edge and crux of action in the first series, the Big Pride of lions (who were also known as Gorge Pride) was a sheer joy to watch. With four adult males as the guardian, seven females as the heart of the pride and sixteen boisterous cubs, grown up in a tightly formed crèch, the pride was witnessing that phase in their life when everything falls into place. A young female tried desperately to bridge up with the members of her natal pride but was occasionally received with rude hostility by them. The pride had reached the optimum capacity of members. Jonathan was assigned to share their story and he says: "I did one piece to camera with virtually the whole pride crowded round my car, nearly 20 lions perched on a termite mound. You could feel the energy; they exuded such confidence that they appeared invincible" (Stars 19).


Big Pride at dusk, giving a way for the elephants
Photo Credit: Jonathan and Angela Scott/ Big Cat Diary Lion (2002), p. 28

Simon King's greatest challenge in the first series was to keep in touch with the two cheetah families whom they were following. The Maasai Mara in Kenya is also home to the fastest and most fragile felines on earth. But being the fastest does not mean that they always have their way to conquer the struggle for existence. In such a hostile domain where lions and leopards proudly prowl the turf, cheetahs really do have a little chance of getting everything right.


Kidogo, the cheetah
Photo Credit: BBC

  Big Cat Diary followed several cheetah mothers and their cubs in its twelve years and, every single creature's predicament is taken into account. It is only because of their fragility of existence. To know them intimately, we have to be on the verge to know their trials and tribulations, as if, we entered their world - the threatened world of cheetahs. Cheetah mothers are solitary creatures. In the first series in 1996, the show followed the first time mother Kidogo and her highs and lows to protect her two cubs of three-month-old. Of the two cubs- one male and a female. While most of the cheetahs focus on their hunting during the day, Kidogo was noted for waking up and hunting late in the evening. A few episodes of the first series were filmed at night with the help of its finest infra-red technology and the Cheetah Crew watched her unknowing close encounter with the Big Pride of lions during a hunting occasion. One of the most dramatic events in this series was when the female cub got her left front leg caught in a tree for several agonising minutes. Kidogo could do nothing at that moment. However, the cub finally freed herself with no apparent damage to the limb. Let us have a flashback and try to feel the tension of the moment:

  A far less pleasurable experience soon tested Simon's resolve never to interfere with what happens to our big cats. One morning Kidogo's two cubs were scrambling about in an acacia bush, having a riotous game of 'I'm the king of the castle', when the little female slipped headfirst in the crotch of the bush, trapping her front left foot. We see her hanging there, her leg grotesquely twisted, squealing in pain. Her brother mistakenly thinks this is all part of the game, an invitation to the play, and he grabs and tugs at her while their mother watches, unsure of what to do. 'I was in a complete panic,' says Simon. 'There was nothing I could do with Kidogo nearby — it would cause her dreadful upset — but my instinct was to dash over to try to help the youngster. I felt sure her leg would have been permanently damaged by the force of the fall.'

  After what seems like an eternity the little cub manages to struggle far enough back up the tree to free herself and no sooner is she down than she is charging around with her brother again. 'Any time any of the cubs goes near a tree. I have palpitations,' Simon comments. We were beginning to express our emotions (Scott, Stars 20).


Fundi, the cheetah and her two sub-adult offspring
Photo Credit: BBC

  Kidogo's cubs turned out to be frank enough to climb up the bonnet of the filming cars, proving to be a forerunner of many car-climbing cheetahs for both Simon and Jonathan in the years to come. While these cubs were young, just started to explore their horizon, Fundi's two cubs of nearly ten-month-old. "Fundi" is a Swahili word, which means " the craftsman". In her hunting approaches, she truly was crafty enough. She was habituated to hunt down prey in the thick acacia woodlands, proving much difficulty in filming. Soon after the beginning of filming, Simon noticed that the male cub was limping. The damage was not a serious one. The crew lost the track of Fundi and cubs time and again. Later on, in Programme 4, they reappeared once again with the usual picture of contentment. Both the cheetahs, Kidogo and Fundi, were the focus of the first series of Big Cat Diary, they were never featured in the further series of the show.


Cameraman Richard Matthews filming Fundi, the cheetah in the first series of Big Cat Diary 

The format of documenting Big Cat Diary proved benevolent enough for its long-running success in mainstream television. When the three cats got nonchalant, there was always an opportunity to switch between the three: "if the cheetahs go quiet we can always focus on the leopards, and if they are lying asleep in a tree then it's time to see what the lions are doing" (Scott, Stars 19). While the lions in the first series were least loaded with the storyline for the presentation, prompting the crew to dig out a backup; to everyone's expectations, the shyest of the cats turned out to be a real showstopper of the series. Big Cat Diary followed only one leopard family during the filming of each series. This legacy started with the 9-year-old female called Half-Tail, born in 1988, erstwhile known as Paradise Female. Jonathan Scott personally knew Half-Tail since she was about 6-year-old. It was believed that she had lost the front part of her tail after having a clash with baboons. Some say that it was a consequence of an altercation with lions.


Half-Tail and Shadow
Photo Credit: Jonathan and Angela Scott/ Stars of Big Cat Diary (2009), p. 39/ https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10222056637138953&id=1052514656
 
  In the very series of the show, Half-Tail appeared with her seven-month-old daughter Shadow in the Leopard Gorge, a rocky outcrop in the Northern part of Mara, outside the reserve. Shadow was bestowed with a Swahili name "Zawadi", which means "the gift". However, keeping her alive and securing her meal was a real challenge to Half Tail. In her entire life span of twelve years, Half-Tail had only managed to raise three cubs to adulthood. One of them was Beauty, born in 1992, who was shortly featured during the final week of the filming of the first series. She was having courtship a large resident male, who covered both Beauty and Half-Tail's home range and was father to Shadow. She had also raised a male cub called Mang'aa, born in 1993 along with his sister Taratibu, who was killed by a lioness a year later in 1994. Finally, she successfully managed to raise Shadow to adulthood. At the end of the series, Shadow was proving herself to be quite a promising character. Half-Tail was the only leopard, who, during the series, was never shown hunting down any large prey on screen.


Half-Tail climbing up a balanites tree in Fig Tree Ridge
Photo Credit: Uschy Fillinger

In the "Epilogue 1: The Paradise Female" of The Leopard's Tales (1985, 2013), Jonathan Scott says:

  By the end of the first series of Big Cat Diary, everyone was talking about Half-Tail and Zawadi, whom the production team decided to name Shadow to cater to an English-speaking audience – much to our irritation. At home in Nairobi, Angie and I had a Labrador called Shadow, a lovely creature who was part of the family and as domestic as they come. Zawadi, by contrast, was a wild leopard with an African name, free to live the life she had been so perfectly designed for. So to the drivers and guides – and Angie and me – she would always be Zawadi (200).


Half-Tail and Shadow at Fig Tree Ridge

Photo Credit: Jonathan and Angela Scott/ https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=356910382472762&id=100044614081365 

  At the end of the series, 

It was with real sadness that Simon headed back to camp. Angie and I are fortunate to live in Kenya and think of the Mara as our second home. While we waited to hear if there would be another series of Big Cat Diary we could continue to follow the lives of our favourite wild creatures" (Scott, Stars 31).


The Power Nap: Shadow in Leopard Gorge
Photo Credit: BBC


References
Scott, Jonathan. Angela Scott. "The Big Cat Kingdom". Stars of Big Cat Diary. United Kingdom: Evan Mitchell Books, 2009. 14-31. Print.

— "Big Cat Diary". The Big Cat Man: An Autobiography. United Kingdom: Bradt Travel Guides, 2016. 263-287. Print.

— "Epilogue 1: The Paradise Female". The Leopard's Tale. United Kingdom: Bradt Travel Guides, 2013. 185-200. Print.

Credits

Presented by
Simon King
Jonathan Scott

Photography
Martyn Colbeck
Richard Ganniclifft
Alan Hayward
Simon King
Richard Matthews
Gavin Thurston

Sound
Dickie Bird
Mike Burgess
Kevin Meredith
Andy Milk
Chris Taylor

Editors
Andrew Chastney
Mark Fox

Online Editor
James Cawte

Music
David Poore

Dubbing Mixer
Jonathan Jenkins

Graphic Design
Burrel Durrant Hifle

Acknowledgement
Kenya Wildlife Service
Maasai Mara National Reserve
Lemek and Koyiaki Group Ranchers

Field Assistants
Lisa Asch
Peter Blackwell
Charles Mohea
George Roumeguere

Production Team
Graham Booth
Lizzie Bewick
Tania Dorrity
Marguerite Smits van Oyen
Matt Thompson
Mandy Knight
Louse Heren
John Ruthven
Anne Bamber
Lisa Menikides

Series Producers
Robin Hellier
Keith Scholey

A BBC Production in Association with The Discovery Channel

2 comments:

  1. A very livelier remark! I can feel your passion and how much you have been scrupulous in terms of searching each and every bit of information. It is surly research-oriented approach no doubt! Waiting humbly for next composition 🙂🙂.

    ReplyDelete
  2. So overwhelming an appreciation! This series is meant to incorporate a total of nine episodic renderings on Big Cat Diary. Two have already been published. Stay tuned.

    ReplyDelete