Spot of the Week
Spot Meter
Of all the animals it is the spotted ones that vie for the most podium time: leopards leaping like Moses or Beamon and cheetahs sprinting like Bolt or Blake. Currently there is a surfeit of them in the Mara. Olive's remarkable leopard dynasty in the reserve shows little sign of slowing down, she currently has a relatively new cub, Acacia (Olare Orok) also has a young charge and another reserve animal has two younger cubs. There are a few monstrous males in all conservancies as well as the aged Zawadi and her own adult offspring. Stop Press…… new mother with two youngsters found very close to Mara Camp yesterday.
The plains are changing from bright green to a billowing Boris blonde and the cheetahs are coming out of their oatgrass closets. Laikipia's cheetah crèche we know about, but a slender mum has four near Bush Camp. Mara North Conservancy has seven cubs within a javelin throw of Mara camp and there are enough single females in throughout the reserve and conservancies to satisfy the rampant Romeos of the roaming three male coalitions. Exciting times for these phenomenal athletes.
Wildebeest can be incredibly frustrating but the moment you try to predict their movements you have lost. Sometimes they ford the rivers with the ease of an eleven year old gaining air miles without a passport but other times thousands will cram onto the launch points only to be sent packing by a single guinea fowl. Frustrating, infuriating, but this is part of their million-strong charm offensive, some call them stupid, but this just makes me 'cross' :
and just in case you missed this: Animal Olympics as featured in last weeks Telegraph.
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