As a recapitulation of Big Cat Live 2008 and,
The Big Cat People Podcast, Series II: Big Cat Diary Uncut
Episode 9 – "2008: A Cheetah Mother Called Shakira"
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE PODCAST EPISODE
Date of Release: 4 July 2023
The Presenters' Panel: Simon King, Jonathan Scott and Kate Silverton with Jackson Ole Looseyia on the roof hatch
Photo Credit: BBC
Presenters before the broadcast
Courtesy: BBC
The legendary Great Migration of wildebeests, joined by zebras on the plains – the iconic view of Mara-Serengeti ecosystem
Photo Credit: BBC
Exalted and degenerated, admired and despised, no animals have so aroused the emotions of man as have the large predators... while man fears the predators, he secretly exults in their power, he feels a contagion, an emotional kinship to them. It is no coincidence that visitors to the African parks watch not the impala and zebra, but the lion and leopard... Our dual past still haunts us. We hear a lion roar and the primate in us shivers; we see huge herds of game and the predator in us is delighted, as if our existence still depended on their presence.
— George B. Schaller, Serengeti: A Kingdom of Predators
THE CHRISTMAS of 2011. It was a roundabout completion of two years since I had been watching Big Cat Diary. It was the previous day only when I picked up the notification from my DTH service schedule that there was going to be an hour-long special broadcast of Big Cat at 8:00 pm on Animal Planet (the dedicated wildlife broadcaster of BBC and all the series were broadcast on Animal Planet here in India). I was a bit surprised! So far, all the programmes of Big Cat Diary happened to be the 30-minutes renderings. Why on earth was there such a notification? Was it going to be, however, a combined broadcast as Animal Planet famously did so often by putting as many as two episodes in any of their slots? Let the time be the solicitor, I said to myself, and waited for the moment. Time came. It was an utter thrill. A glimpse of a couple of camps turning up on the scene. Clouds dispersing across the sky, allowing the sun to peep through, highlighting the logo of Big Cat. A male lion opening up his eyes from a hearty nap. Chui, the young male leopard sitting on a branch, relaxed. Kike running across the horizon and, jumping onto a termite mound. Her gracious body outlining the spectacular silhouette of African plains. Dust flying across as the filming vehicles advance. Again, some pieces of camps and campfire. The headlights of the vehicles turning on – straight into the mission of tailing the cats. Moon emerging in the dark savannah. Bella's slinky advancing on a higher branch in the shiny moonlit night. And as the starting credit drew to an end – appeared the slide – Big Cat Diary Special.
Shakira with her tiny cubs
Photo Credit: Jonathan and Angela Scott
A little did I realise then that it happened to be the Animal Planet version of the original BBC broadcast Big Cat Live: What Happened Next? This was an hour-long special update immediately after the termination of the live broadcast in the UK to bring up-to-date progress of the lives of the big cats, followed during the live session from 5 October 2008 to 12 October 2008. On Animal Planet, however, it was aired as Big Cat Diary Special. Displaying Kate Silverton's name as the narrator of the special broadcast, it represented some of the recapitulations from the past series of the show, and intensified its flow. On his first day out in filming for the Big Cat Live, Jonathan Scott was on the trail of one of his favourite cats. Right from the beginning of the live sessions, Shakira, the mother to five six-week-old cubs, had captured the hearts of all her 'followers'. 'Shakira' is an ancient Arabic word, meaning 'blessing'. She indeed she has got the blessing in the form of these bundle of joys. Jonathan expressed his wonder explicating the probability of the survival of such a large litter of cubs:
I can hardly believe it. Thirty years in the Mara, I've seen this once before – a mother with five cubs of this age. Because it's so difficult for them. I mean, just look at these little cubs. You think to yourself, 'My god! They're not safe to be out in the wild!' And certainly not with the mob of the lions like the Marsh Pride prowling around. And the lions would kill them.
Even though the cubs were small, just out of the den, they could sense the danger as their mother brought them out in the open plains and could give a slip within an instant whenever danger threatened. Despite all their agility, they were vulnerable. This is the struggle for existence that prompt cheetahs to occupy a relatively larger number of cubs in a litter to survive. Shakira, like many other cheetah mothers in the savannah, had got the hardest task to keep her cubs alive, well away from impending dangers.
As a single mother, Shakira needed to be always on the lookout, keeping an eye on dangers
Photo Credit: BBC
AFTER WATCHING their seemingly thumping success, one question should have arisen – what on earth happened to Honey and her three surviving cubs, who were filmed two years ago in the last Big Cat Week? Well, the fourth rendering of Big Cat Week (on an overall account, the eighth series of the show) had gone out in December 2006, or even in January 2007 in some provinces. After a month, Honey died – "a tragedy participated by a well-intentioned veterinary intervention" (Scott, Stars 151). The Daily Mail printed a full-page cover article on the death of Big Cat's cheetah star. As a result of which, many people across the globe started to think that BBC was somehow contradicting their own ethics of non-interference. A number of times, it had been uttered that the filming crew cannot play the god, they cannot favour. The Daily Mails repeatedly used the word 'killing' to define the tragic predicament of Honey's death. It happened on 17 February 2007 after one of her three surviving cubs was injured and a vet from Kenya Wildlife Service was called for treatment. In order to get close to the cub, the vet needed to sedate Honey. But when he tranquilised her, the dart did not go into her muscle but hit her stomach near her kidneys. The veterinary operations were not a strange entity to Honey. In April 2004, when she and her four cubs (born in September 2003), developed mange, a mite infection that may cause severe secondary inflammations, ace vet Dr Zahoor Kashmiri was called and, by anaesthetising the five cheetahs, he successfully removed the skin encrustations, and they were given a dose of long-lasting antibiotics. That was a successful intervention and a much-needed one. One may recall the predicament of Amber the cheetah too when she and her four brothers were provided with food after they lost their mother in 1987 (See Part 2).
Ace vet Dr Zahoor Kashmiri treating Honey and her cubs for mange in April 2004
Photo Credit: Jonathan and Angela Scott/ Stars of Big Cat Diary (2009), p. 152
Unfortunately, in the article published in the Daily Mail on 3 February 2008, Mike Behr and Elizabeth Sanderson ruthlessly claimed BBC saying: "In fact, Honey was long dead — something the BBC knew when it broadcast the series." The veterinary interventions and the cooperations provided by the park authorities are welcome from time to time since these happen to be the pragmatic necessities to help an animal. What the crew stated over the years regarding their non-interference, was absolutely true from their perspective since all the speculations are but third party observations, looking at nature as it is! Any proclamation defaming the notion of the show are not to be solicited. What a spokesman for the BBC stated defending the ethos of Big Cat, is highly significant:
The BBC Big Cat Production team filmed Big Cat Diary during September 2006. There were no members of the Big Cat Diary team on location in Masai Mara during February 2007, therefore we cannot comment on the specifics of the incident. The series was delivered to the channel ready to be broadcast on January 30, 2007 — before Honey died. It is unusual for any re-editing to be made if a wild animal dies after filming is completed. We plan to inform the Big Cat fanbase of the situation via the Big Cat internet newsletter when clearer details of the incident have emerged.
Misinterpreted Coverage on Honey's death
Courtesy: The Daily Mail
SURE ENOUGH, losing a charismatic cat like Honey was a real blow for everyone, associated with the show — "We couldn't help wondering if Big Cat might die with her" (Scott, Stars 153). Sadly, there was one more tragic end to another of our cats. Kike disappeared in 2006. Shortly after losing her latest cubs that she yielded from the mating which was slipped to be filmed in Big Cat Week 2005 (See Part 7). She failed to raise another litter after her fourth litter of cubs who were well-featured in the 2003 and 2004 series (born in December 2002). When the crew last caught up with Kike, she started to show the signs of poor health. She developed mange and eventually got treated, but never recovered with her full strength. A sad fall of a star feline. Kike became a mother of as many as six times, but only one litter could make it to independence. Earlier, she lost her first three litters to lions. The Bila Shaka Lugga is well-known for the nursery of lion cubs, but it is notoriously an area that can be termed as a cemetery of cheetah cubs. Before the filming of the fourth series of Big Cat Diary was commenced in September 2002, an incident took place over there in the Lugga. In the Introduction of Big Cat Diary Cheetah (2005), Jonathan Scott tells us that in July 2002, Angela Scott was told about a young female cheetah who had given birth to four cubs along the Bila Shaka Lugga, dangerously close to where the Marsh Pride of lions often rest up. She was none other than Kike. A temptation for giving birth to the cubs in the marshy grasslands obviously has its grimmer consequence.
One of Honey's cubs from her second litter (born in September 2003), checking out the lens
Photo Credit: Jonathan and Angela Scott
From one of the tourist vehicles, one little girl accidentally dropped a pair of binoculars among the cubs. Sensing the impending danger of lions being attracted by the traffic, Angela Scott called Dr Richard Leakey, former head of Kenya Wildlife Service and through Governor's Camp and the Narok County Council, he happened to organise a vehicle that would ensure the safety of the small cubs of Kike. But it was too late since some of the Marsh lions already spotted the female cheetah cautiously moving nearby. Early one morning, one of the Blonde Males perished the cubs. Thus, only one litter of Kike's cubs, fortunately, made it to independence. Her last litter was known to be trampled by buffaloes – the notorious danger that would not spare even a cat of slightest danger like a cheetah! Kike's two daughters were known to be two successful survivors. One of them, named Itchy, was known to have her cubs and was featured in one of the sequences of the first series of Planet Earth (2006). Another one, fondly known as Serena, would go on to pass her mother's custom of the climb up on the cars. However, Kike's son too prove to be a successful singleton and was seen frequently bordering his natal territory.
Kike on one of the filming vehicles in 2005
Photo Credit: B. Bongo
Kike's son paying a visit to the vehicle of Kristina Trowbridge May 2006. Recently in a commemoration, she happened to to recall this moment:
"This happened so fast, we couldn't stop him. And, we were late for dinner, so the manager came looking for us and I handed her my camera and she took the photo; then handed it back to me, still he didn't jump off the vehicle. We just stayed until he did, about an hour as I recall. It was magical."
Photo Courtesy: Kristina Trowbridge
KIKE'S MOTHERHOOD was not in vain. Same was true for Honey. Her three surviving male cubs were fed by park authorities and were briefly attached to a mother with two cubs. But they ultimately got separated and eventually, turned out to be one of the promising coalitions of male cheetahs in the plains. They happen to cross the Mara River and stepped into the fringe of Paradise Plain, the area where Shakira was nurturing her young family. Shakira was not strange to Big Cat. She first made her brief appearance in 2003 as she bumped into Kike and her cubs and eventually backed off. Then her prominent foregrounding was estimated as she appeared two years later in 2005, nurturing her only daughter Duma. Although they were first caught up towards the end of the 2004 series it was too late to add even a cameo role of Duma. In 2005, she let Duma on her own and moved on. Later on, it was confirmed that she was pregnant at that time. Her next litter was sired by the same male, who was much harassed by Kike when she escaped out of his reach and caused much frustration to Warren Samuels and his driver Wilson Wemali, prompted them to wait for long hours suppressing the "nature's call". Now we could piece together the missing links, and conclude why Shakira made a hurry to move away. Marguerite Smits van Oyen first confirmed her identity as Duma's mother, and the crew was delighted to know she was one of the cats whom they had been already following very well.
Above: Two of the Honey Boys marking in their home range
Photo Credit: Jonathan and Angela Scott/ Stars of Big Cat Diary (2009), p. 154
Below: Shakira's small cubs out in the open plains
Photo Credit: Disney Nature
In an area crawling with lions, hyenas, leopards and baboons, Shakira needed to be always alert to pick up the sense of danger because, wherever she would decide to move her cubs, the mighty predators would test her courage and would try to kill her cubs. The nearest lions who were prowling on the horizon of her range were some of Big Cat's old friends, the Marsh Pride of lions. For more than two decades, Simon King had been following this pride and knew each of them intimately. The most striking scene turned up on the screen as Simon went on introducing the members of the Marsh Pride – a quick recapitulation. The beating of music filled the ambience with vibrancy and excitement. Then one by one, there came the legendary faces — the Golden Four, known to Big Cat Diary ever since they were tiny cubs, back in 1998. White Eye happened to be the elderly matriarch, first on the list. As her name suggested, she was blind in her right eye. A devoted mother and less playful, she often turned out to be a bit grumpy towards the cubs. Red, the real powerhouse of the pride. For the last few years, as they turned out to be the pride's kernel, she used to be at the centre of all the actions. A supreme huntress and a committed mother she was. Then there came the integral pair of Lispy and Bibi – cousins to each other, a bit younger than the other two lionesses and more playful with the cubs. After the sketchy introductions to the Marsh females, let us have a glance at the other side.
The Golden Four of Marsh females as the kernel of the pride, with Red leading and White Eye bringing up the rear
Photo Credit: Jonathan and Angela Scott/ Stars of Big Cat Diary (2009), p. 81
Photo Credit: Jonathan and Angela Scott
The two new males, namely, Clawed and Romeo had taken over the pride in June 2007, ousting Notch, the former pride male. Actually Clawed and Romeo used to be assisted with a third male named Pavarotti, but he disappeared in early 2008. Although both the new males were very much in their prime, Clawed, who was nearly ten-year-old at that point, seemed to be a bit beaten up and weary. Romeo, his eight-year-old unrelated colleague, by contrast, was stunning and handsome. These males happened to be the former pride males of Serena Pride who left their erstwhile territory and took over the Marsh Pride. It was a common belief for so many years that this coalition of three males eventually killed Notch's companion in 2005, but there is no basis for this assumption since the three males from the Paradise Pride were the real assassins, as the report says. One of them was fondly called Snaggletooth by the guides and the drivers. However, there arrived a whole new generation of Marsh cubs, fathered by Romeo and Clawed – nine in total – five males and four females (known as Summer, Winter, Autumn and Spring, later formed Topi Plains Pride on their own) ranging of eight to ten months old, full of bumbling activities and mischievous traits.
Clawed (above) and Romeo (below) as the new pride males
Photo Credit: Jackson Ole Looseyia
FOLLOWING THE Marsh Pride in the daytime had been an activity on daily basis for Simon and the lion crew for so many years in Big Cat Diary and Big Cat Week, but Big Cat Live's ambition was to film at night as well. For this stupendous goal, the crew turned out to be highly effective with the backup of the latest technological developments including the usage of infra-red cameras to capture the happenings under the cover of darkness, and the utilisation of thermal imaging technology to pick up the presence of any warm-blooded wild denizens on the horizon. The live broadcast attempted to catch up with the glimpse of many of the Mara's other creatures. As Simon set off to join the pride in one of their hunting expeditions, the secret world of lions started to be unveiled to us. Earlier, in the first series of Big Cat Diary in 1996, a few episodes were filmed at night featuring the Marsh lions, the Big Pride of lions, as well as Half-Tail and Shadow, the leopard stars. Now, after quite a long pause, the implementation of the night-time filming was offered to be witnessed. Driving in the pitch dark surroundings with the headlights of the cars covered by infra-red filters happened to be a real challenge. As it turned out later, Red was able to grab an adult zebra – a hearty meal for her whole family:
Going live meant big changes for Big Cat. The most obvious was having to film at night if we used to broadcast in a prime-time slot (the UK is three hours behind Kenya, so 8 o'clock there meant 11 o'clock for us), with the presenters assembling back at camp each night for transmission. Nigel [Nigel Pope] hoped to recreate as much as possible the feeling of being on safari, with the traditional campfire as the heart of the story, just as it had been at Big Cat Camp in the past. Simon would operate from 'lion central' — a Land Rover equipped with a bank of TV monitors enabling him to review the live images coming from the field and to talk to the camera operators. Simon has years of live experience; nothing seems to faze him and he put in a masterly performance (Scott, Stars 158).
Simon King is an ace cameraman with years of experience in television, "the right man, in the right actions, with right words" – his sheer joy in filming the wild spectacles is truly inspiring
Photo Credit: Angela Scott
The entire endeavour of Big Cat happened to be a significant extension of what Jonathan and Angela Scott – The Big Cat People had been doing in Mara since the 1970s – witnessing and documenting the fantastic range of wildlife
Photo Credit: BBC
"BIG CAT Live really was breaking new ground," as Kate Silverton asserted, "and to add to our list of firsts, we have someone very special joining our team." While Saba Douglas-Hamilton was pregnant and decided to take a break from Big Cat, Nigel Pope, the series producer, was keenly interested to feature a native face in a substantial role as one of the presenters. There happened to be a number of drivers and guides, preoccupied with the immense knowledge of the wildlife and the ecology of Mara. "The challenge was to find someone whose English was easy on ear and who had the ability to make the transmission to prime-time television, who had presence and could articulate their thoughts on screen" (Scott, Stars 156). All of the team members, who had been associated with Jackson Ole Looseyia, were acquainted with his sheer ability of guiding people about the wildlife of Mara. Prior to his appearance as a presenter, Jackson had gone through some grooming sessions to nurture his compatibility. Having him in the presenters' panel eventually was an added benefit since being a guide, he could add many relevant conservation issues to his narrative wherever necessary, and being a Maasai, there was a great chance for us to know more about their cultural sides, as well as their integrity with the wildlife. He happened to behold a great interest in a wide range, from local primary school to the Wildlife Guiding School which he founded with Ron Beaton. In his deep, rich poetic voice, Jackson introduced himself in a sync piece featuring him flying across the hot-air balloon, speculating a bird's-eye perspective of Mara's spectacular landscape and the wildebeest migration:
Jackson Ole Looseyia – the new face in Big Cat Team
Photo Credit: Aardvark Safaris/ https://www.aardvarksafaris.com/and-youre-travelling-with-6/
Our elders in the very early morning will always teach 'get up early'. Because, when you get the first light of the morning, it is a blessing. And they say "tamiu liwaki telo minak," which means "the rays of the sun give us the blessing of the day." So, the first light is a blessing itself. Since growing up as a little boy, you learn about the dangers that are around you. And the beauty that is around you. My name is Jackson Looseyia. I am a guide and I have guided a lot of people through the beautiful wilderness. That is my office. When you come to over to the plains, not only you will see the migration of wildebeests, also the Thompson's gazelles and the zebras. Wildebeest migration in numbers goes beyond your imagination. I am talking about 1.5 million wildebeests migrating through the grassland into the Mara. It is immense. You just have to be there.
The arrival of the great herds of wildebeest and zebra is but the lifeline of the big predators in the Mara
Photo Credit: Sandeep Aggarwal
He is the person who could really read the whisper of the grass and the intonating wildlife. As a Maasai guide, grew up in the heart of the wilderness with the cats and integrally connected to the soul of the province, Jackson happened to be the ideal person to find out one of the old stars of Big Cat – Bella the leopard. Bella had been featured in Big Cat Week so far, from 2003 to 2006 and proved herself to be a supreme hunter and great mother, tenacious and always cautious for the dangers. But the crew had not seen Bella for two years, after the completion of the last series. As Jackson found out her lying along the bank of Talek River, she did not seem to be well. She was really showing the signs of age, with ears torn and tattered and a grizzled face. Furthermore, she had received a wound under her belly, perhaps from a sharp blow of any prey. Leopards are solitary hunters. They are not preoccupied with the familial back up like the lions. Therefore, being injured really mean a lot of trouble in acquiring food for herself. She was seen barely walking through the grassy patches to seek refuge. Everyone just hoped for her quick recovery. However, Kate Silverton too joined as one of the new faces in the Big Cat Live team. With her veteran knowledge in the arena of journalism and eloquent presentation,
Key to the whole process was Kate's contribution as links presenters. She was on an open talkback through her earpiece, receiving a constant wave of communication and direction from David Weir, Nigel Pope and our other series producer Colin Jackson to keep the programme on track regardless of what gremlins might intrude on the night. Kate needed to have total control of the direction the programme was taking, with a definitive list of cues — up to 50 or 60 per show: those were the threads that held the whole thing together (Scott, Stars 166).
Kate Silverton – the elegant addition to the Big Cat
Photo Credit: BBC
Bella in her twilight, taken in September 2008, two months before she passed away
Photo Credit: Paul Kirui
WITH THEIR resourcefulness and experience in the field for over twelve years, the Big Cat team got acquainted with one fact that out in the open savannah, any danger may lurk behind a vulnerable individual and try to prove to be a nightmare. Two years earlier, we witnessed how Honey bravely scared a young lioness and chased her off from her cubs. Now it was Shakira's turn to go through the same grimmer predicament. This time, it happened to be an adult male lion who would take no nonsense and given the chance, would not hesitate to kill her cubs. Shakira's cubs fled from the termite mound where they were sitting and scattered. They picked up their mother's body language and knew that it was not the time to mess around. Shakira moved straight towards the male. Cameraman Warren Samuels captured the moment with the help of his driver Wilson Wemali by having the best position for all the actions. Tight-lipped and determined in his attitude, he scared the cheetah mother and chased her off. Shakira tried to divert the attention of the lion from the cubs and she turned out to be partially successful. Suddenly, two lionesses charged in and rendered a long chase. Quite fortunately, her cubs were safe and she managed to get back to them before the darkness.
Kate Silverton, out on the trail of Shakira the cheetah with Jonathan Scott
Photo Credit: Angela Scott/ Stars of Big Cat Diary (2009)/ p. 158
While the family was reunited before nightfall, three other cats were unusually active during the hours of darkness. As the infra-red cameras started to pick up activities, happening around the corner, Honey's three sons were caught in the act. They were trying to hunt. A herd of zebra was passing through nearby. The night crew was about to catch up with a piece of tremendous surprise. Honey's sons managed to have a grip of the foal. The mother zebra immediately charged in and was chased by one of the cheetah brothers. To everyone's utter shock, a stallion picked the foal and threw it into the air! Perhaps he was not a family stallion. Might be an outsider, trying to move into the herds and mate with the females that were in season. Whatever the familial dispute between the zebras was, Honey-Boys managed to secure their meal. Formidable coalitions like theirs eventually happened to be a tremendous feline power to be reckoned with. Cheetahs like them can afford to strike out at night and push their luck when the lions and hyenas are around. Lions may be the ruling parties of the night, but things do not always go in accordance with their plan too.
Honey's three sons – Snap, Crackle and Pop, fondly known as Honey-Boys
Photo Credit: Jackson Ole Looseyia
Yet another night expedition, conducted by Simon King with the lion crew, led by Mark MacEwen and Pete McCowen. Red was pioneering her 'hunting party'. No sooner had she managed to grab a wildebeest calf, she found herself totally surrounded by a clan of hyenas. Normally, the balance of power designates at least four hyenas to be equivalent to one lion. There is certainly a lot more than Red could tackle on her own. Without the help from the pride males, it was seemingly impossible for her to get an escape as the hyenas had already started to intimidate her with the minimum force of their bones crushing bites. Simon recalled: "I have seen lionesses killed in situations like these." Hyenas are notoriously known for devouring almost everything of their prey. Red should have been on her guard. When the situation was just turning out to be grimmer, the miracle happened. Bibi, along with White Eye and Lispy, charged in and made the clan scattered. Eventually, they proclaimed their right on the dining table that night along with the nine cubs.
The Marsh Pride females with cubs
Photo Credit: J. Woodbridge
Charm, one of the Three Graces greeting the pride male, Romeo
Photo Credit: Jonathan and Angela Scott/ Stars of Big Cat Diary (2009), p. 65
ONE MORNING Jackson was out on the trail of Bella and found a Thompson's gazelle kill hanging from one of the fig trees by the Talek River. The assassin was not far away. Bella was found resting on a thick branch and seemed to be contended. Her wound seemed to be significantly recovered, making her able to grab a kill for herself. Jackson's cordial commemoration of a universal feeling of goodness must not be overlooked at this point: "It is a good news for all of us. Good news for me, good news for the Mara. Good news for Kenya. Good news for the world, for the people who love to view these beautiful animals." Over the last few years, Bella's dominant presence literally overcast the profiles of the other leopards nearby. And, the next one close to Bella's home range, was not only one leopard but four in total. Bella has got a supreme legacy. Before Chui, she had a daughter whom the crew called Olive. In fact, as said earlier, Olive as a six-month-old cub, with her mother, turned up in the third series of Big Cat Diary in 2000 when Shadow and Safi went missing. Now it was Olive's turn to grace the show with her presence, along with her daughters and son.
Olive, the Big Cat's new leopard star
Photo Credit: Jackson Ole Looseyia
Bella's extended family – a legacy of three generations
Developed by: Helen Kavanagh
Two years ago in 2006, Olive gave birth to twins – two daughters called Binti and Ayah. Binti was more feisty and independent while Ayah, by contrast, was more of a mummy's girl. But that was not the full family frame of Olive because just eight months before the filming was started, Olive gave birth to a son named Kali, mischievous and energetic. Much like his maternal uncle, Chui. Together as a feline group, Jackson referred to the three generations as "Jackson Five". Olive and her cubs' names were given by ace leopard spotter Paul Kirui, who had joined the crew since 2005 as a leopard behaviour consultant. So, at thirteen years of age, Bella had turned out to be a dame – a grand old lady, a proud grandmother. Meanwhile, Kali seemed to be much keen to prove how an idiotic boy he was when it comes to hunting. Olive was seen concentrating on a herd of impalas and seemed to be on the right track. Almost at a prior moment of launching an ambush, Kali bumped into the scene, alerting the grazing herd about the presence of the predators. Jackson immediately involved in his verbal twists and drew an imaginary conversation, transcreating Olive and Kali's thought —
Kali: Mum, what do you think of that?Olive: Oh, get out of here boy! We have gone hungry as the result of you!
However, Kali was quite a character. The next day he killed a hare on his own. To add Jackson's twist: "Mum, aren't you proud? Yesterday I was not doing well. And today, I'm doing perfectly alright!" Sure enough, he was going to be an impressive and powerful hunter in the days to come.
Binti
Photo Credit: Maggy Meyer
Ayah
Photo Credit: J. C. Downey
Kali
Photo Credit: BBC
TURNING THE page a little more, we learn that the picture of a contented family was not destined for all our cats. Shakira had managed to save her five cubs even after their shivering encounter with the lions, but did they manage to befool her and kill two of her cubs? That was everyone's guess at the moment since a few days after the incident, Jonathan found her with three of her cubs, not five. She was desperately calling her babies, but no response was heard. There was a painstaking undercurrent of screaming in her calls: "We've heard those calls, up to this point, nurturing those little cubs; calling them to her, gathering them up. And, you can hear just a slight change in the tone of that call. And it says, 'Something is wrong here. Where are my cubs?" Shakira searched high and low for her two missing cubs. She just could not find them. And, the situation could not turn out to be worse for Shakira. One morning after the loss of two cubs, she hunted successfully but was tracked down by some hyenas who desperately tried to snatch the kill. Shakira, however, managed to raise an alarm and put a distance between the cubs and the hooligans. She single-handedly diverted the attention of the hyenas by threatening them and, clawing on their hills at some points because if she dared to attack any of them face to face, there probably would have been one serious consequence — she could have died doing this. Immediately after this incident, as she was moving from one place to another, she was discovered by three young male cheetahs — The Honey Boys tracked them down.
Shakira with her three surviving cubs
Photo Credit: Jonathan and Angela Scott
Male cheetahs often harass mothers with small cubs in order to get close to the mother and check out whether she is ready to mate. Honey Boys' intention was the same. They charged in, jumped on Shakira and extended the harassing hour for quite a long time. The cubs did exactly what they should have done at the moment. They scattered and hid amidst the long grass. They did nothing to attract the attention of the big males. At some point, the three males climbed up on a termite mound and spotted the cubs. Another charge, yet again. Two of the cubs escaped and one flipped on her back and slapped on the ground. Loaded with testosterone, the males showed them off. Realising there would be no scope of having a courtship, they backed off and went away. Shakira was trying to control the situation which she could not at that moment. Despite offering such a disruption, one thing was clear — they would not kill the cubs. Having no menacing presence like lions or leopards, cheetahs are not known for infanticide. A massive disruption might have taken place, but nothing worse than that.
Shakira's cubs playing around the filming vehicles
Photo Credit: Jonathan and Angela Scott (above)/ Stars of Big Cat Diary (2009), p. 159; BBC (below)
LION CUBS too can be vulnerable at times as their biggest target of appetite often turns out to be their nemesis – the buffaloes. Again at one point, Red pushed her luck by clinging on to a fallen tree in front of a charging mob of buffaloes, giving the time to the three other pride mates and the cubs to flee from the spot. Ultimately, she too lost the nerve and followed the pride and one cannot blame this. While the main pride was going through the familial ups and downs, there emerged a few more characters. At the fringes of the Marsh Pride territory, there were three young females, scampering in the marshlands, lost in themselves. Once they happened to be a part of the Marsh Pride, but they were eventually segregated and were living life very much like a satellite group – a splinter formation. These three females were named Charmed, Joy and Sienna (Referred to as Beauty by Simon at some points) – fondly known as the Three Graces. They were born in the pride in 2005 and happened to be the legacy bearers of Notch and his companion.
White Eye with the cubs
Photo Credit: Olivier Delaere (above) and J. Woodbridge (below)
Of the eight cubs born three years ago, some of them were definitely Notch's own offspring. Three Graces were about three-year-old at that point and, though grown up enough to start a family of their own, waited silently on the periphery, keeping themselves out of trouble. Although the adult females were related to them, they might be aggressive towards their presence. There lies always a fair ecological balance between the land and the number of lions in a group that it can sustain. An average one in number, the Marsh Pride was certainly not ready to intake more lionesses than their capacity. Though for the Three Graces, there might have been the chance to find a place in the pride, for the time beings, it seemed impossible since Lispy, one of the Blonde Sisters, literally snarled at their presence within the proximity of two adult males and happened to attack one of then, and chase them off, making her dominance clear even in front of Clawed and Romeo, the pride males. Meanwhile, Red seemed to be amiable to her younger relatives, of whom, Sienna and Joy might be the daughters of her own. Charm happened to be the submissive and the youngest one of the Graces who, in 2005, was fondly called Moja since she happened to be the youngest one of the eight cubs.
Three Graces on a zebra kill
Photo Credit: Colin Jackson
WHILE THEIR cousins and sisters seemed to be contended in their own world of gambolling and play-fighting, the five male cubs of the Marsh Pride stepped out of their home lang and one of them eventually paid Simon a familiar visit by rubbing his head and body in his vehicle. They were grown up around cars. Such a friendly but close encounter often leaves one with utter surprise, but the greatest surprise of all was just around the corner. They happened to share their space under the guidance of a much older escort! The crew had a close look at him – and guess what? He was none other than Notch! After being ousted by Romeo and Clawed, he was hanging up with the lads. It is not ideal for a male lion to end up with his heirs, his next generation, but Notch and his younger relatives — named Notch II, Caesar, Grimace, Ron and Long — his sons and nephews so to say – to everyone's delight and awe, went on to become one of the most formidable coalitions of male lions in the Mara.
Notch and his male heirs, spending time on their own as a newly developing coalition
Photo Credit: Jackson Ole Looseyia (above); B
Christine et Mitchell Denis-Huot (below)
THE CREW could not incorporate their story since it would have been exceeding the core storyline of the main pride and the Three Graces. Later on, Tamu and her two surviving male cubs too had been reported to be joined by Notch and his heirs for a short period. With the wildebeest migration moving towards the end as the phase of late October came, the lions' predicament seemed to be tougher than ever. As Simon narrated, they would need to be selective and crafty in their choices of prey – concentrating more on the resident species like buffaloes and warthogs. The cubs, however, seemed to have the advantage of "being a cub" since they decided to add milk as their supplementary diet even at the age of nearly a year old. Despite facing seemingly odd, the Marsh Pride was doing well.
The Golden Four — White Eye, Lispy, Bibi ane Red (from left to right)
Photo Credit: BBC
Bella, resting along the bank of Talek River
Photo Credit: Donna and Bob Safaris
Alongside, Jackson managed to track down Olive, expecting that her two bigger cubs must have been taken their first steps to independence while Kali was expected to be around. Shortly after filming them and almost after eight long weeks of searching, he caught up with Bella – recovered and well, "looking almost as well as she did here in 2005." And, three more cats were also making most of the situation — Honey Boys. Supremely confident and having the gut to take down even an adult wildebeest, they were thriving. They were seen killing a wildebeest calf, but that could be the last wildebeest that Honey's sons killed for many months in the Mara. The migration drew to an end for that year as the great herds headed south to Tanzania's Serengeti National Park, bidding a notion of heavy-hearted farewell, and Jackson commemorated:
In our culture, we always believe that God loved the wildebeest. Whenever the wildebeest are, it's always rain. So, when they come to the Mara, we know, it is going to range. And, if you listen to their voices, when they are calling [imitating the sounds], it seems, 'Ai, ai, ai, ai, ai' – which 'Ai' in the Maasai is 'God'. These animals, when they gather in thousands and millions, where else you get such big gathering apart from people went there on prayer?
Honey-Boys passing through the filming vehicle
Photo Credit: Angela Scott
Producer Lizzie Bewick, out on the safari with Jonathan Scott
Photo Courtesy: BBC
It is indeed always a laden feeling to bid goodbye to wildebeests from the Mara for the next ten months or so until the next trail of migration returns, but how were Shakira and her three cubs doing? Since the filming for Big Cat Live was ended, she moved ten kilometres east from the area where she was last filmed. While Jonathan scanned the plains having no result at all, towards the end of the update, she found him, and relaxed; while her cubs – all females — engrossed in boisterous play sessions around the car. The crew had chosen three Swahili names for the girls – Moja, Mbili and Tatu, meaning 'one', 'two', and 'three'. Still, it was difficult to distinguish who was who but as they would grow up, their spots would be clearer and the naming would be endowed as per their individualities. Jonathan heaved a sigh of relief that if they would manage to survive through the next couple of months, they were going to be safe. The live chat sessions of Big Cat Raw extended from 10 minutes to 22 minutes on the final broadcast, commemorating heartfelt nostalgic moments. It was the time for the Big Cat Team to leave Mara. But they were leaving with robust optimism in their hearts, cherishing the progress of their beloved feline friends.
Exploring the Horizon: Two of Notch's male heirs in Paradise Plain
Photo Credit: Jonathan and Angela Scott
Romeo with White Eye and some of the cubs
Photo Credit: WOC
References
Scott, Jonathan. Angela Scott."End of an Era". Stars of Big Cat Diary. United Kingdom: Evan Mitchell Books, 2009. 150-169. Print.
Credits
Presented By
Simon King
Jonathan Scott
Jackson Ole Looseyia
Kate Silverton
Acknowledgement
Patrick Beresford
Annick Mitchell
Collin Welensky
Governor's Camp
Maasai Mara National Reserve
Mara Conservancy
Narok County Council
Viewfinders
Photography
John Aitchison
Luke Barnett
Mark MacEwen
Pete McCowen
Scott Tibbles
Toby Strong
Warren Samuels
Sound
Andy Hawley
Camp Engineer
Andy Milk
Editors
Nick Carline
Darren Dunbar
Chrissa Geering
Gary McMath
Deborah Williams
Melissa Warren
Communications
Colin Meban
Camera Supervisor
Colin Hazelwood
Remote Camera Specialist
Jo Charlesworth
Sound Supervisor
Louise Willcox
Graphics Operator
Helen Ringer
Vision Mixers
Sara-Jayne Phillips
Roger Sutton
Floor Managers
David Brazier
Royston Horsley
VT Supervisor
Peter Shannon
Engineering Manager
Ian Dewar
Music
David Poore
Graphic Design
Burrel Durrant Hifle
Production Team
Lisa Asch
Pete Blackwell
Natasha Breed
Chris Brennan
Paul Kirui
Willy Gitai
Leanne Hamilton
Jacob Lelesala
Sammy Munene
Andrew Karanja
Angela Scott
Wilson Wemali
Production Co-ordinators
Jenni Collie
Rebecca Coombs
Researchers
Giles Badger
Chris Howard
Rowan Musgrave
Producers
Scott Alexander
Stuart Armstrong
Ben Aviss
Lizzie Bewick
Production Managers
Lynn Barry
Anne Varley
Executive Producer
Sara Ford
Director
David Weir
Series Producers
Nigel Pope
Colin Jackson
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