As a recapitulation of Big Cat Diary 2002, Series 4 and,
The Big Cat People Podcast, Series II: Big Cat Diary Uncut
Episode 4 – "2002: Cubs Galore – Marsh Pride, Honey and Zawadi"
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE PODCAST EPISODE
Date of Release: 23 May 2023
The Legendary Trio: Simon King, Saba Douglas-Hamilton and Jonathan Scott
Photo Credit: BBC
The 2002 series – our fourth – would prove to be a watershed. By now we knew what worked and what didn't. We were beginning to see what made a good story – where the jeopardy lay to keep people watching. [...] On the technical side, having a DV director operating a hand-held digital video camera in the vehicle with each presenter every moment of the day provided an immediacy that was lacking in earlier programmes. This change in style meant the audience had a greater travelling with the presenters – you're in the car with us. The Natural History Unit had realised that there was room for a more 'popular' approach to natural-history filmmaking, and Big Cat was proving to be an important part of that (Scott, Stars 69).
SO FAR, all the three earlier series were preoccupied with quite a constant crew. New faces were welcomed from time to time in the production team. "The biggest change in personnel was scripted by our executive producer, Fiona Pitcher. Fiona had made a name for herself finding new talent, and she produced a masterstroke by introducing a female presenter" (Scott, Stars 70).
Saba Douglas-Hamilton with the lion crew
Photo Credit: BBC
"In the jungle, the mighty jungle the lion sleeps tonight": Blondie taking a nap
Photo Credit: Saba Douglas-Hamilton
Born to Ian Douglas-Hamilton and Oria Douglas- Hamilton, Saba Douglas-Hamilton was born in Kenya and pursued her Master's degree in anthropology. While her father, the renowned conservationist, pioneering the first behavioural research of African elephants in the wild, her mother campaigning successfully for many years to ban the ivory trade, and with her intuitive and integral knowledge and passion for wildlife, Saba proved to be a shining beacon in the crew of Big Cat Diary. On her first trail of presenting this feline legacy, she had to cut her teeth on the Marsh Pride's story. In the 10th anniversary special broadcast of the show called Big Cat Diary: The Big Story (2005), Simon King commemorated and congratulated the joining of Saba in the presenters' panel: "When Saba first joined Big Cat, first of all, it was wonderful to have more female company on the team. It's a testosterone-loaded team. There were more males. There no good reason to be honest with you."
A collage of the adult members of Marsh Pride featuring Kali, Notch and White Eye in the first row; Red and Bibi in the middle and, Nusu Nusu, Split Nose and Lispy in the final one
Photo Credit: BBC
Blondie and Simba as the new males of the Marsh Pride
Photo Credit: Jonathan and Angela Scott/ Big Cat Diary Leopard (2003), p. 11
When Saba ventured out as a presenter on the trail of the Marsh lions, there were a lot of changes in the family to watch. Saba passionately relishes her enthusiasm: "This is so exciting for me, the chance to follow one pride of lions for the next two months and spend every day in their company, getting to know them intimately." Much change happened during the last couple of years. Scar, the old pride male was gone and, those two new tough and bold adult males, whom the crew later named Blondie and Simba, were in charge, taking the supreme place in the domain and displaying their solidarity. Bump Nose, the older generation female was nowhere to be seen and some of Scar's daughters would have to go on as the formidable core of the pride along with Kali and Notch, two persisting older females. White Eye, Red, Lispy and Split Nose (The Blonde Sisters), and Bibi were the next constellation to be reckoned with. A new generation of the cubs, fathered by Simba and Blondie, was born belonging to White Eye, Red and Kali in three crèches around the Marsh. Nusu Nusu used to hang out with two youngsters- one was ten-month-old and another a bit younger, about seven-month-old (known as Maridadi and Young Girl). Alongside these cheeky cubs, there was a male called Kijana (whom at times Simon referred to as Roary) who was about one and a half years old. This splinter group was hardly seen with the other females and, loved to spend time on their own.
Kijana, the young male
Photo Credit: BBC
Of the three nursery of young cubs, Red's three youngsters were the youngest of all. In Programme 1 of this series, they were harassed by the splinter group of Nsu Nsu, causing too much frustration to the new mother because the cubs of such tender age usually get hurt by their boisterous older cousins at times. Soon after this familial encounter, Red seemed to have lost her cubs and, they were adopted by White Eye and Kali along with their seven cubs, forming a combined crèche of a total of ten cubs of almost the same age. While her cubs were adopted by her pride mates, Red got confused and in her mind, she thought that the cubs were lost. She started mating with Simba. She was a first-time mother and, her inexperience was flickering by such novice behaviour. However, White Eye and Kali seemed to be well in maintaining the new crèch but, having a little stock of food around the corner, they were often pushed to their limits. On one occasion, Kali was seen with a few wounds in her teats caused by the needle-sharp teeth of the little cubs. It seemed that the sooner those cubs were introduced to meat, the better.
Above: White Eye getting annoyed by the boisterous mob of cubs competing for milk
Photo Credit: Jonathan and Angela Scott/ Big Cat Diary Cheetah (2005), p. 14
Below: Kali with her four-month-old cubs, now introduced to meat
Photo Credit: Jonathan and Angela Scott/ Stars of Big Cat Diary (2009), p. 78
While the mothers were involved in raising their youngsters in the nursery at Bila Shaka Lugga (meaning "without failure" in Swahili), the others were to provide some of the most dramatic actions:
One morning [as seen in Programme 4], rubbing the sleep from our eyes, we hear Saba calling on her car radio. She is still in the camp and so are two of the Marsh Lions – Split Nose and Lispy, also known as Blonde Sisters: 'Just goes to show, you can look for these lions all day long, then they pitch up in your camps first thing in the morning' (Scott, Stars 82).
Blondie, the Marsh Pride male resting in the shade of Saba's car
Photo Credit: BBC
Towards the end of the series, in Programme 7, the Marsh Pride was on the verge of experiencing an encounter with buffaloes, just as they witnessed it back in 1998. The cubs got scattered frightfully. The lionesses, the very same ones who themselves experienced the harrowing massacre when they were cubs, endeavoured their best to keep them safe from harm. Luckily, this time no harm was caused and all the ten cubs were safe. At the end of the series, Blondie turned up in the Marsh and offered a vibrant scene, Saba recalled from her memoir:
I think one of the most meaningful and awesome moments for me was when right at the end of my first year on Big Cat- a male whom we used to call Blondie, came and lay himself right down next to my car parallel with me. And, he suddenly started roar and as he began roaring, that was just so loud and sort of echoing in your chest cavity. He got up and he turned around... he faced me, and stood about two metres away and just roared straight into my face. I just had tears in my eyes. I was speechless and took it totally personally. I was absolutely convinced, he came to say goodbye because he knew we were leaving.
The Affinity: Blondie seeking a shade
Photo Credit: BBC
In the meantime, Jonathan Scott caught up with the Ridge Pride once again. The crew was wondering what on earth happened to Solo. He had been nearly five months old when they finished filming the last series two years ago. They wondered whether Solo survived the rainy season when prey becomes much scarcer and, the competition for food turns out to be more intense. "But against all expectations, we soon located a strapping two-year-old, with the beginnings of what promised to be a fine mane sprouting from his neck and chest" (Scott, Stars 74).
Jonathan Scott and Andy Chastney in the camp to confirm the identification of Solo
Photo Credit: BBC
Simon and I had been keeping our own big cat diaries over the years, so I was able to turn to the page where I had pasted in Solo's picture. My son David had also carefully drawn the cub's whisker-spot markings – these remain the same throughout life and are as individual as human fingerprints. The audience were able to witness our identification for themselves: I sit with our editor Andy Chastney as he pulls up an image of Solo as a cub on laptop so we can compare the footage we have just shot of our young male. It is Solo. And not only has he survived, he is stirring up storm with one of his older male relatives (Scott, Stars 74-75).
Solo gazing one of his relatives
Photo Credit: BBC
Ridge Pride sub-adults at the bank of Mara River
Photo Credit: BBC
Solo, along with his coalition partner in the making, seemed to be an individual to be reckoned with. With no pride males in the Ridge Pride, the pride members and their domain were completely exposed to the other invading lions. Solo and his chump had a little chance at this young age to hold on to a patch of the ground like these. It is quite a customary happenings with lions – the young males are pushed out of the pride either by their fathers or by the new intruding coalitions. The same thing of ousting they do when it comes to taking over a pride for themselves. Occasionally, the cubs, sired by the previous pride males, get killed by new males. Fortunately, in 2002, the Ridge Pride was not nurturing any new crèche and, keeping in mind the advancement of having no guardians to protect them, the Marsh Pride males make an endeavour. The territories of lion prides often overlap each other's and, with an abundance of the prey, the Marsh Pride could take it easy. Furthermore, the males might maximise their chances of proclaiming a new domain by muscling in. In Programme 4, Simba, the younger of the Blond males, were seen chasing off the females and the youngsters while his coalition partner seemed to enjoy a wildebeest kill, almost certainly snatched from the females of the Ridge Pride.
Blondie being greeted by one of the cubs
Photo Credit: Jonathan and Angela Scott/ Stars of Big Cat Diary (2009), p. 75
In Programme 8, two new adult males were filmed in the Paradise Plains. Earlier, some of the sub-adults were seen scampering with a black rhino. If these new males would eventually intend for a takeover, these youngsters were likely to be pushed out. But, whether there would be a fresh chapter in the predicament of the Ridge Pride in near future, was anyone's guess at the moment.
The iconic sensation of Big Cat Diary
Photo Credit: BBC
Last time on Big Cat Diary, it was quite a scattered representation of the cheetah story, gathering several pieces of the jigsaw to form up a concrete deliberation. But this time, there was new incorporation, who would have to go on to be one of the foremost stars of Big Cat in the years to come. "This is perfect cheetah country. Huge open plains with plenty of games. Long grass and cover to hide young cubs. And, trees for shade. New territory for Big Cat Diary, and full of promise," narrates Simon King. He was well acquainted with the harshness of rough and tumble in cheetah families. So, he was not quite surprised to come to know that there were three, rather than four cubs with the young mother cheetah whom the crew was going to follow in Series 4. But it is indeed a joy to catch up with new feline stars always: "It's always a delight to start watching a new family of cats, and cheetahs are without a doubt my favourites: Ferraris of the animal world, full of feline grace, built on a greyhound chassis. And the cubs have to be contenders for the cutest animals in Africa." The Mara Triangle is situated in the west of the Mara River and, to track down the cheetahs, Simon and the cheetah crew had to park their vehicles over there and, broad ferry to reach. After having been acquainted with Amber's story – how she struggled to raise her three adolescents four years ago, it was time to get involved in the trials and tribulations of a new cheetah mother.
Honey, the cheetah
Photo Credit: Xavier van der Veken
Simon on the trail of Honey and her cubs
Photo Credit: BBC
The female was often called Misha by the Mara Predator Project and the guides. Simon King named her Honey, just as he had named Amber, for the colour of her eyes. Indeed, the large, decorated and liquid eyes of a cheetah are one of the most mesmerising speculations to experience. Honey was born in 1998/99 and was about four-year-old. This could well be her first litter. With Honey turning up as a promising mother of three cubs- one female called Cleopatra and, two males called Borris and Bruno – the series itself turned out to be a classy one:
Simon was driven by specialist camera guide David Breed, with Pete McCowen operating the DV camera for the sync pieces. Joining us for the first time was Duncan Chard, who would be Simon's producer. The boys were up to every trick in the book, such as very slick rotating shot around Simon poised behind the camera; split-screen images so you can see both the prey and the cheetah in the build-up to the hunt; funky camera moves including time lapses, and much more besides – as I was to find out, we presenters were barely able to to move out someone recording it. Simon had a new mega telephoto lens so he could zoom in on hunts, and quality back-up in Warren Samuels, who was operating the second long lens. Warren turned out to be a star in the making, producing some extraordinary footage in the years to come. The cheetah team were laying down the challenge to the other crews to up their game. Each night we would gather in the production tent to check the storyboard on which our producers posted key sequences, highlighting how our cats were performing. It was very competitive – everyone wanted their contribution to be memorable and engaging – but that was no bad thing: there was a lot at stake for all of us (Scott, Stars 73).
Above: Honey and her cubs
Photo Credit: Jonathan and Angela Scott/ Big Cat Diary Cheetah (2005), p. 23
Below: One of Honey's cubs enjoying a nap
Photo Credit: BBC
In fact, this was the first time in Big Cat Diary, the 3D graphics of the maps were used to highlight the preoccupied areas of the cats, as well as of the presenters. Being the single provider to their cubs, cheetah mothers are extremely vulnerable and when danger threatens, they push their lucks. In Programme 3 of this series, Honey and cubs encountered a male lion in the Mara Triangle. She flattened herself against the ground, while the cubs crawled in a crab-like gesture to slink away. Honey stood the ground and, faced off the lions, distracting his attention from the cubs. This tendency looks suicidal at times, but often rendered as an effective way to secure the cubs' safety. The cheetahs are so smaller and weaker than their fragile body simply cannot afford to put up a fight against their stockier rivals. At the end, the lion lost his interest and moved away. Simon breathes a sigh of relief: "That is what I call a joyful reunion."
The projection of Mara in 3D graphics used first time in Big Cat Diary
Photo Credit: BBC
A male cheetah, later on, turned up in the scene and, he was believed to be the father of the cubs. Honey had a fractious encounter with her, showing no interest in his presence amid the family. As the series drew to an end, Honey's cubs turned almost four-month-old and by tackling a live prey on the scene, they proved that they were some of the fast learners on the block. Theirs was a transformation from timid infants who were afraid of a prey animal to fearsome beginners in the course of hunting. Honey had a habit of bringing live prey to introduce her cubs to the lessons of taking down their queries. The trick eventually turned out to be successful.
Honey with one of her cubs
Photo Credit: Jonathan and Angela Scott/ Big Cat Diary Leopard (2003), p. 114
Alongside finding out Solo alive and well, Jonathan Scott was on the trail of Shadow, the leopard, the star of the last three series of Big Cat Diary. The leopard crew, however, has a real cause of celebration. Three weeks before the filming began, Shadow had given birth to three cubs in Leopard Gorge: "Can you believe it, no sooner have we arrived in the Mara than we get word that there's a leopard, possibly with cubs right here in Leopard Gorge? It's got to be a leopard we know," Jonathan expresses his exuberance. Shadow's cubs were too small to be out in the open and, there could be no better place like a fortress of a cave in the mouth of the gorge.
Shadow carrying her youngster
Photo Credit: Jonathan and Angela Scott/ Big Cat Diary Leopard (2003), p. 66
A happy coincidence took place during the earlier weeks of filming when the leopard crew was engaged in filming Shadow with her cubs and, a family of visitors from America approached Jonathan Scott and the crew. They happened to be the same people who had bought a copy of a CD-Rom called Safari which was produced by Jonathan and Angela Scott, the Big Cat People. They were pleased to meet both the leopard and the presenter on the same ground. But soon after the filming was started, everyone's enthusiasm suffered a shock. Shadow decided to move her cubs from her old den site to a new one but, the new place that she had chosen for her offspring was too much exposed. Not only it offered a good entrance point to any other predator, but the hyenas could also easily reach here by tracking down the irresistible smell of any kill that Shadow made. Quite clearly, that happened to be a deadly toss on part of Shadow. Jonathan had last saw Shadow in September 2001, soon after she lost her third litter of cubs and a year later in 2002, she was nurturing her fourth litter. Shadow shared the patch of Leopard Gorge with Safi, her elder daughter from her second litter and the very same female who was featured in the last Big Cat Diary. But, Safi was independent and, Shadow cautiously marked her range to announce her presence so that Safi and any other neighbouring leopards could understand who belonged to that domain.
Shadow and her cub in Moses Rock
Photo Credit: Jonathan and Angela Scott/ Big Cat Diary Leopard (2003), p. 66
These rocky outcrops outside the Mara Reserve are often frequented by hyenas or mother lionesses to hide their cubs. In Programme 4 of the series, Shadow seemed to have lost her cubs to hyenas who intended to a disruption in the familial peace of nursery just on the previous evening. Later on, it was confirmed that one of the three cubs had survived. Perhaps, Shadow was only able to grip just one cub in her mouth and flee, sacrificing the other two to the jaws of death. Later on, she moved her cub 10 kilometres away to an area called Moses Rock, another beautiful landscape of ridges (the place where she raised Safi), allowing the crew to capture some of the poignant moments of tenderness between mother and the cub. A few weeks before the end of the series, a grass fire swept an area where Shadow had last hidden her remaining cub- the solo survivor. The cub was presumed to have died under the rage of the flames but, it was quite a great stroke of luck that the fire eventually could not catch the dense thickets where the cub was hidden.
Above: Shadow drinking from a water hole near Leopard Gorge
Photo Credit: Jonathan and Angela Scott/ Stars of Big Cat Diary (2009), p. 57
Below: Safi on a tree
Photo Credit: BBC
But sadly, Shadow eventually lost her last cub too. How it disappeared, was unknown. Shadow turned out to be a solitary female once again and, disappeared shortly. With the main star nowhere on the horizon to be seen, it was quite a frustration to the leopard crew. In Big Cat Diary: The Big Story (2005), Saba recapitulates the moment: "I remember in 2002 the biggest problem that we had was the leopard Shadow just completely disappeared for three weeks and, I just remembered watching that team coming back every night way after everyone else got back to camp." Jonathan Scott added, "And of course, for us, it was a nightmare because the audience doesn't want to see too much too much searching [...] 'Hey, give is the action, you're the expert, find the leopard,' it isn't as easy as that." Meanwhile, the crew had caught up with a male leopard sitting upon a tree. As a female warthog turned up in the scene, the cat got animated and eventually came down with an attempt to hunt the pig but failed. Jonathan Scott mentions in the series that this one could be the same male who came in Leopard Gorge in 1997 (mistakenly narrated in Programme 8 of the series that the male came and killed the cubs in 1999) and killed Half-Tail's cub- a time that was referred to in the second part of this series of write-up.
Male leopard in Shadow's turf
Photo Credit: BBC
Invading male leopard in Gorge in 1997
Photo Credit: Jonathan and Angela Scott/ Big Cat Diary Leopard (2003), p. 102
Record from Jonathan Scott's scrapbook
Photo Credit: BBC
Soon after, another younger male appeared, trying to hunt impala and on that very same day, the tram found Safi, Shadow's three-year-old daughter who was living life on her own. Towards the end of the series, Shadow dramatically reappeared, providing us with one of the most exciting spectacles. By then, it was confirmed that the last cub was gone and, she was living an independent life. She started stalking towards a small group of warthogs, launched an ambush and grabbed a piglet. No sooner had she caught the grip, the mother warthog charged with rough aggression, prompting Shadow to take refuge on a balenites tree. Shadow received a nasty blow on her underparts by the frustrated mother but got no harm. The bark of the tree was scratched by her claws. Normally, the barks of these trees are so hard that it literally gets no harm, but Shadow just managed to hold the grip of the bark with just one forepaw and the consequence was transparent. The bark got tattered. In the termination of the series, the crew bade goodbye to Shadow. With no cubs to raise at the moment, she could pretty much enjoy the exclusive and solitary life of a leopard before nurturing her next litter. Soon after the ending, Shadow disappeared once again. Big Cat Diary had been successful enough to catch up with the dynasty of Leopard Gorge for many years. Shadow's disappearance was just a customary reminder of how elusive a leopard can be- the undisputed big cat of contrast.
Shadow with the piglet after being delivered with a blow from its mother
Photo Credit: Peter Blackwell/ https://www.mindenpictures.com/search?l=3
Scott, Jonathan. Angela Scott. "Swift and Enduring". Stars of Big Cat Diary. United Kingdom: Evan Mitchell Books, 2009. 68-85. Print.
Credits
Presented by
Simon King
Jonathan Scott
Saba Douglas-Hamilton
Photography
Martyn Colbeck
Simon King
Warren Samuels
Gavin Thurston
Ian Johnson
Pete McCowen
Aidan Woodward
Sound
Andy Milk
Andy Hawley
Chris Watson
Editors
Andrew Chastney
Steve White
Mike Chichester
Online Editor
Tony Osborne
Music
David Poore
Dubbing Editor
Ian Bown
Dubbing Mixer
Andrew Wilson
Graphic Design
Burrell Durrant Hifle
Acknowledgement
Maasai Mara National Reserve
Governors Camp
Mara Conservancy
Narok County Council
County Council of Transmara
Production Team
Mandy Knight
Jenni Collie
Zoe Kerr
James Taggart
Lisa Asch
Pete Blackwell
David Breed
Natasha Breed
Adam Chapman
Angela Scott
Wilson Wemali
Joanna Verity
Robert Yeoman
Producers
Duncan Chard
Marguerite Smits van Oyen
Matt Thompson
Roger Webb
Production Executive
Anna Thomas
Series Producer (Kenya)
Richard Matthews
Series Producer (UK)
Wendy Darke
Executive Producer
Fiona Pitcher
A BBC/ Animal Planet Co-production
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