It was great to find three different prides in our core game drive area with new litters of many tiny cubs. Closest to us was the Enkoyani pride with three females with 8 cubs between three and five months-old. We found them a couple of mornings on the Ntiakintiaki river banks, and we enjoyed some furious playing and great interactions.
One morning the three Lionesses left the cubs early, clearly keen to make a hunt. Their body language and the intensity in their eyes as the scanned the surroundings were chilling. They headed north along the river hoping to find some Wildebeests or Zebras coming to drink at the river, but no luck there. So in the afternoon they came back nearer to the cubs and found a Warthog. They were nicely spaced out and the unaware Warthog walked in right among them. I was sure it was going to be a successful hunt but it wasn’t. The Warthog ran away on the only open side. But luck was on their side as a small group of Wildebeests came down to cross the river in the late afternoon. We got a great position to see the chase and the catch, I couldn’t photograph the action as I have been driving into position. Later we realized that a second Wildebeest had been cought inside the bushes by another Lioness. A well deserved meal for them and their cubs.
Also the Topi Plains pride had three tiny cubs. Another female was seen on top of the Rhino Ridge with more tiny cubs, we only saw her from a distance but she was in a very rocky terrain where we couldn’t reach her.
On the last day we had the information that the Rongai pride also had a new litter of six tiny cubs, approximately two or three months-old. We spent a nice afternoon with one of the Lionesses nursing all the six cubs. She was really struggling to keep order, changing location repeatedly to ensure that all cubs got a chance to nurse. The next morning we returned to the area but couldn’t find them again. We found the males instead.
Back on the Topi plains, it was interesting to find a new den of Black-backed Jackals, with six beautiful tiny pups. We spent a great evening with them, watching the mother returning to the den to bring them food and nurse them.
