One of Honey's cubs from her second litter (born in September 2003) investigating the filming vehicle in early 2005. This shot eventually turned out to be the cover page of Jonathan and Angela Scott's Stars of Big Cat Diary (Evan Mitchell Books, 2009)
Photo Credit: Angela Scott
I sincerely hope that everything that we've been lucky enough to witness for the past ten years, goes on, more or less unchanged for the next ten, and the ten after that, and the ten after that. [...] I don't think we need to get on a soapbox to say there's an important conservation message in Big Cat, I think that is inherent in the amount of care, attention and emotional investment that we and I believe, the audience has given to the individual creatures that we followed — I hope so.
— Simon King
We have a unique situation here, which is that for the last ten years, BBC have been following known cats and their family dynasty... a very few selected handful of scientists has the privilege of being able to do. It's part-entertainment but on the other side, it has a real value, which is making people care about the animals and hopefully, helping to conserve them in a long run.
— Saba Douglas-Hamilton
I mean who wouldn't be thrilled, when people come up to us as we drive around and say, 'Hey, you know why we're here? We're here because of Big Cat Diary. We heard about Maasai Mara through your television programme! ' Now, that means we're helping to protect the wildlife because the revenue of tourism is so important to countries like Kenya in maintaining the areas such as this, and keeping them free, keeping them wild.
— Jonathan Scott
SUMMED UP the three presenters in Big Cat Diary: The Big Story (2005). Now, it is time for the lights to be turned off, and the cameras to stop rolling. For the moment at least. Nine parts of The Majestic Saga is drawing to an end. An end, in terms of its spatiotemporal range and activities. Big Cat was not recommissioned again. Viewers from different corners of the world raised their voices through social media to appeal to bringing the show back. It would take a few more years for yet another fantastic resurrection of the big cat legacy. We will be certainly cherishing those moments too here on The Wild Tales: Secrets of Sylvan Eyes. For the time being, keeping all the notes and scribblings, the primary and the secondary materials preserved and aside for the moment, let me share with you a flashback. Down memory lane, let us be back in those days when the seed of paying a humble tribute to my most desired show was first germinated.
The Leopard's Tale (Bradt, 1985, reprinted in 2013) by Jonathan and Angela Scott — one of the refined accounts of sharing the time and space with the ultimate big cats of contrast
Over the years I have been highly enchanted by the ethos of the show. It is not just a nature documentary, not only a wildlife soap — it happens to be a life lesson for those people around the world, who love to share their company with these supremely enigmatic creatures. Solo's tough determination to hold on to his patch of ground amidst all his bigger cousins, Duma's venturing on the uncharted realm of independence, Bibi's commitment as a mother, Shadow and Bella's slinky and mysterious hide and seek – a coat with dappled rosettes moving through the bushes — all sensibly render their impact on the growth of the mind. As I said, not only speculating the wildlife, it is, rather, acquiring some essence of life to live.
Instances from the television pages of Anandabazar Patrika, one of the leading Bengali dailies featuring the broadcasts of Big Cat Diary on Animal Planet — some humble replica of my earlier investments of interest in the programme
Ever since I first started taking notes on the background and several information of the show, I always had a thought in my mind to render a homage to the programme with a lofty sense of regard for those people, who have been associated with it. Twelve years – from 1996 to 2008 – happen to be quite a long temporal span. As Jonathan Scott said in The Big Story: "I've grown old with Big Cat Diary. You know, ten years [as recorded in 2005] — that's a long time not just in television, that's a long time in your life." Finally, I dared to etch my endeavour on the show in July 2012, coinciding with an occasion of our classes on biology, featuring evolution. I was a student of the 10th standard then. Fortunately, Anandabazar Patrika, one of the leading Bengali magazines too upheld the broadcast of the show from time to time in one of their dedicated television pages, as you can see here in this interface, causing much to my initial incentives. Those were the days of weekly waiting to watch even the repeat broadcasts on the screen. The raw, green passion! The Majestic Saga turned out to be a journey from viewing the series to chew the secondary materials; a transition from taking down the notes to penning down the renderings; a metamorphosis from being just an audience to one of the crusaders who care about conservation.
I first have a chance to interact with Jonathan Scott last year on 10 October on a live session, conducted by Parimal Deshpande on behalf of Earth is Our Witness, featuring the experience of The Big Cat People in the Mara with the legendary Marsh Pride of lions and the other felines — that was the initiation, now I feel immensely fortunate to have the explanations of my queries on big cats from him, "The Big Cat Man" of the heart!
The series collection was duly completed in 2019, not so long ago. From the television screen recordings, done in a 2-megapixel camera to the proliferated arrangement of the series and the snippets on a hard disk — all are the essence that eventually resonates my passion for Big Cat Diary. If there happens to be one programme that has made me obsessed over the years, it is Big Cat. I have been fortunate enough to have interactions with a number of passionate hearts, who, over the years, have backed me up with immense incentive and content. Conveying my heartfelt gratitude to Victoria Garcia for incorporating me in the profoundly conservation-based forum called BIGCATFANZ in 2012. She happens to be a real storehouse of several uncommon and least seen photographs of our big cat stars, and I have tried my best to ornate my rendering, namely, Big Cat Diary: The Majestic Saga, although, several frames could not be used here due to the stipulated space.
A few glimpses of the permission of using the incorporated shots in the article. Although, the deliberations on Big Cat Tales are yet to arrive here on this platform.
Thanks to the guide and presenter Jackson Ole Looseyia for his kind concern and enlightening backups. I will be cherishing in my hearts forever those moments of conversation between us regarding the integration of Maasai culture and wildlife. Thanks to all the photographers mentioned here as the contributors of this super long write-up. And above all, to my most pleasurable fulfilment, having the introduction with Jonathan Scott, my godfather of wildlife; first through their dedicated Facebook page, Jonathan and Angela Scott, and then in person in one of the live sessions on Marsh lions, has made my dream true by adding the most precious topaz on the furnished trail of my speculations on Big Cat and the spectacular Maasai Mara. I have never been returned vacant after presenting my queries to him. Humbly dedicating this rendering to Jonathan and Angela Scott – The Big Cat People. The little notion of presentation that I ever managed to learn, is due to their elegant way of explicating the heart of the matter. As Chris Packham pens down: "Great naturalists are rare but when they are superb storytellers and exceptional photographers, they are unique ..." It is a crusade of survival for the big cats, for our wonderful biodiversity and for the fast-disappearing landscape that beholds us. How they turn out to be the victor, that is the real story.
My collection of some of the legendary works of Jonathan Scott, still, there is more to be added to the list:
1. The Leopard's Tale (Bradt, 1985 and 2013 reprint)
2. The Big Cat Diary- A Year in the Masai Mara (BBC, 1996)
3. Big Cat Diary Lion (Harper Collins, 2002)
4. Big Cat Diary Leopard (Harper Collins, 2003)
5. Big Cat Diary Cheetah (Harper Collins, 2005)
6. Stars of Big Cat Diary (Evan Mitchell Books, 2009)
7. The Big Cat Man: An Autobiography (Bradt, 2016)
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