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Cruel paradise and its spotted angels (8 days in Masai Mara)


bettel

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11 minutes ago, amybatt said:

I'm very happy to see Amani's girls!!!

They are doing very well (knock on wood). They are very good hunters!

 

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Boys were still flat. By this time everybody left as cheetahs did not show any signs of being somehow active. We decided that we would wait more, and if still there was nothing we would get closer so that I could get couple portraits at least (when we wait for cheetahs we normally stay at least 100 meters away so that cats can see everything around them). Boys woke up. Their first hunt even did not go to a chase. Maybe they were not warmed up, or maybe wildebeests noticed them too quickly:

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Then it was raining and they were patiently waiting for it to be done: 

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And then they were hunting and as usually bullying each other. The collared one was very violent that night :(:

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Then there was an amazing chase that was done by the hunt leader. He chased a topi for a few hundred meters from a huge initial distance and almost got to the final point (much closer than the photo below) but he gave up. What a strong beast he is! Fantastic!

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Wildebeests were accompanying cheetahs:

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Some rest and grooming:

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Looking for a new target:

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All five:

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Some "brother" fights:


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And then there was the most dramatic scene for my whole safari!

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That first shot with all five boys lined up looking at the wildebeest is awesome!!!

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I can understand why you wanted to stay with the 5 boys.  Want a fascinating group of action shots.  

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19 hours ago, amybatt said:

That first shot with all five boys lined up looking at the wildebeest is awesome!!!

Thank you!

10 hours ago, mapumbo said:

I can understand why you wanted to stay with the 5 boys.  Want a fascinating group of action shots.

Yes, they are extremely interesting animals to follow!

 

***

Ok, I apologize for the number of photo to follow, but I just could not cut them more, as I wanted to show details and length and emotions and adrenaline.

 

It all started pretty slow, I was watching scenery and cars around and suddenly Meshack told "He is coming!". Who is coming? Where is coming to? I looked around and I could see a running cheetah but  I could not see any target that was cheetah size. He was not hunting a fully grown wildebeest, wasn't he?

 

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There was a moment when the cheetah slowed down and started to hesitate as if he realized that this was too large target but his group mates started to arrive and they continued: 

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Please pay attention to the collared cheetah. He was the second to arrive but he was not in hurry to help:

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His brother was working hard:

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And even the second cheetah was already there to assist:

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The third one was coming, the collared one was still thinking:

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Still walking around:

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It was a fight I would say comparable to lions vs buffalo as cheetahs were trying to drop the wildebeest on the ground and the wildebeest was fighting for its life: 


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The collared one alomst decided to help:

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But nope :)

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He was still walking around and watching

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and controlling the process:

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Everybody else is working hard

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The collared one was checking what was happening around:

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Wow, what an incredible sequence. You were really lucky to see this - awesome!

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The collared one was still patrolling

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Everybody else was using different techniques: they were pushing from the top, pulling the wildebeest head down, biting legs 

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The collared one was still thinking :)

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And here the wildebeest almost got rid of cheetahs:

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But they came back

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The collared guy was finally participating:
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Look how they were biting hind legs to make the wildebeest to lose its balance:
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The wildebeest started to come down...
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It was on its knees:

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But no, he found stamina to come back:

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Edited by bettel
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The wildebeest started to move a lot trying to shake cheetahs off:

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And at some point it managed to get rid of two boys on one side and it ran into the gap. Suddenly a hyena appeared and chased the wildebeest for 100 meters. But it escaped. It was definitely the lucky day.  

I have my hands and knees trembling. I was feeling happy for the antelope, I was feeling sorry for boys: so much effort and no gain. The only thought that was helping me was the fact that the hyena was right there, they would lose this kill any way. They had no chance to keep it.

 

As far as I understand it was their first (or one of first) attempts to bring down that large antelope. they go for large wildebeests (2-2.5 year old) but not fully grown. I am still wondering if they would have been more successful if  the collared boy had participated more...

On our way back home we stopped near Malaika and her boys. There was a fight there too, but joyful and easy :)

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12 minutes ago, michael-ibk said:

Wow, what an incredible sequence. You were really lucky to see this - awesome!

Yes, that was definitely a huge highlight, but very emotional! I truly did not know which side to cheer for.

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Amazing sequence of five cheetahs on a wildebeest and the incredible fact the gnu actually managed to escape. Shows the lack of power in a cheetahs jaws to actually penetrate thicker skinned animals. Yet the inability of five grown cheetahs to bring down one gnu is astonishing- maybe if they had a female with them she would have managed what the others could not- getting a kill hold on the gnu’s throat. 

 

@bettelYou were here indeed very fortunate to have witnessed this. The Mara always delivers but this time went over and beyond. Great photography!

 

I would be interested in our resident cheetah experts views on all this- @madaboutcheetah Hari have you ever seen 5 boys on a gnu and they were unable to finish the job. 

Edited by AKR1
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It appears the five musketeers were eventually successful! 

 

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3 minutes ago, AKR1 said:

Shows the lack of power in a cheetahs jaws to actually penetrate thicker skinned animals. Yet the inability of five grown cheetahs to bring down one gnu is astonishing- maybe if they had a female with them she would have managed what the others could not- getting a kill hold on the gnu’s throat. 

I am not an expert. But I was told by the Nat Geo guys that this was the biggest gnu they were trying to get. 

 

Actually here is the video from Safari Live (only 3 month old) and they took much smaller wildebeest and nevertheless the guide says that it is the biggest wildebeest they had got so far. Maybe they are still mastering their skills? I mean they are still very young boys.

 

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wow, amazing photos. I am not sure I could have watched that Wildebeest sequence.  A fast kill is easier to bear!

 

Never too many cheetahs, that's for sure. I am definitely pondering a return to Porini Lion asap :) 

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madaboutcheetah

Great stuff @bettel

 

@AKR1 - just the fact that the coalition is a combination of males from 3 different litters is pretty interesting. The closest I've seen to big game being brought down is 3 males in their prime bringing down an adult Tsetsebe (took them about an hour) 

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1 hour ago, madaboutcheetah said:

The closest I've seen to big game being brought down is 3 males in their prime bringing down an adult Tsetsebe (took them about an hour) 

 

@madaboutcheetah  If that's the 3 males I'm thinking of I remember they also brought down a pregnant tsetsebe & a wildebeeste bull.

 

@bettel Sorry for going slightly off topi in your TR. 

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21 hours ago, janzin said:

wow, amazing photos. I am not sure I could have watched that Wildebeest sequence.  A fast kill is easier to bear!

Thank you! I am the same, it is very hard to watch a slow kill or when a prey is eaten alive. But I must say a camera works for me as a filter, it is almost as if I watch video. 

11 hours ago, madaboutcheetah said:

The closest I've seen to big game being brought down is 3 males in their prime bringing down an adult Tsetsebe (took them about an hour) 

Musketeers are very good in bringing down topis, there are some recent videos on Safari Live FB page on this.

9 hours ago, Geoff said:

Sorry for going slightly off topi in your TR. 

If there is a word "cheetah" it is not an off topic :) 

 

 

The interesting thing about this coalition is nobody knows if they stay together. There are a lot of speculations that they will split when they start to mate. Quite a few people believe that when they lost one of them recently for a day or two it was because of mating (by the way they are still limping). I really hope that they will learn how to be together no matter what. They are such a powerful group and so much fun to follow.

Edited by bettel
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2 hours ago, bettel said:

 

The interesting thing about this coalition is nobody knows if they stay together. There are a lot of speculations that they will split when they start to mate. Quite a few people believe that when they lost one of them recently for a day or two it was because of mating (by the way they are still limping). I really hope that they will learn how to be together no matter what. They are such a powerful group and so much fun to follow.

 

I remember when they first got together, everyone was saying it wouldn't last that long at all and was surely a freak of nature.  And here we are almost a year later!  You were very lucky to get to see them and such action, before they disperse (IF they disperse!).

Edited by amybatt
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Wow, that wildebeest sequence was amazing!  Collared one "supervising" = not doing his job!!  What a lot of work goes into staying alive, on both sides. Thanks for sharing!

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2 hours ago, amybatt said:

 

I remember when they first got together, everyone was saying it wouldn't last that long at all and was surely a freak of nature.  And here we are almost a year later! 

I am keeping my fingers crossed for them to stay together. They are such a treat for any safari lover :).

 

2 hours ago, AmyT said:

Wow, that wildebeest sequence was amazing!  Collared one "supervising" = not doing his job!!  What a lot of work goes into staying alive, on both sides. Thanks for sharing!

Thank you for kind words! 

 

Day 4.

 

That was one of saddest morning for me. But first things first. I don't remember why we did not go to boys. Either they were not found or they got something the night before (after we left) or maybe Malaika was hunting and we decided to join her. In any case we went to Malaika. We stopped near bat eared fox den and fox cubs are the cutest cubs ever :)

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Then we met a topi herd with some youngsters:


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And right after this we came across a new born topi. It was so great to watch the calf. The mother seemed to be very inexperienced as she did not allow a baby to suckle for quite a long time. She was pushing it away but after like 30 attempts she figured this out:

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I told Meshack that as things seemed to be settled here we could continue our way to Malaika. And I was shocked when he replied that we did not have to move as Malaika was very close and she would appear here very soon. I almost got a heart attack, as this calf had no chances and even more I was afraid that Malaika would not even kill it and just would allow her boys to play with it. Sure enough Malaika arrived. Here she is, watching the herd and the new born baby (the one on the right):

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We all decided that this deal was done, Malaika would get it as she had two sons to trick the mother topi. And Malaika started to run:


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... wait a minute! What was going on? She was running after the "wrong" calf. She ran after the one that was older (on the left, on the photo above). She did not notice the younger one or maybe she lost it when whole herd started to run. It was a very dramatic chase, Malaika got the other baby, but the mother pushed her away... then Malaika's son joined the chase and ran after the baby, the topi mother was trying to catch, but she tripped and fell over her head. Malaika boy approached the calf.... and did nothing. He got confused, sat and was checking what Malaika was doing. The herd and the calf ran away.  But where was the new born calf? It stayed unnoticed and lied on the ground: 

 

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It was lying without any movement but it was quietly calling for the mother. It was heart breaking. I was told that normally topis come and check later if their calves are alive. But in this case the mother was way too inexperienced she could have decided that the calf was eaten. It was also a new born calf so the mother did not have that strong attachment. All in all the chances were high that she would never come back. We stayed in the area for a few hours (we could see the spot with binoculars) and she never came back. The sun was very strong, then it was raining, I could not stop thinking about the baby. I am still having tears in my eyes. Sometimes nature is such a bitch.  

Edited by bettel
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Day 4 (continuation)

Malaika walked little bit, chose nice bushes and fell asleep. And we were sitting there, and sitting, and sitting. Good thing I had my book with me :).  

After a few hours of sleep and a good shower (I love rains, they make cats to move :)) the family started to move:

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Some drink:

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One of sons was posing. As far as I know Malaika had already made one attempt to push them out (it is suggested that she went to mate), then she returned, she will probably push them out completely within a few weeks.

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Pipit:

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The hunt has started:

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Hiding:

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Day 4 (still not the end)

Ironically, they again met topi herd with day or two old calves (different herd). And there were again some inexperienced mothers there. Usually experienced mothers start to run away with their calves as soon as they see a predator as they know that a calf will not be able to overrun a cheetah on a short distance. If it does not work they run from a cheetah being close to their calf because they can try to fight a cheetah or two. However in this case not only mother topi did not bother to move her calf earlier (cheetahs were seen in advance) but she ran away herself and left her calf behind the herd alone.  The outcome was predictable, it was an easy hunt and not even for Malaika, one of her boys did it start to finish:

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Got it:

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Nothing got wasted:

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I promise the end of the day will be more positive.

Edited by bettel
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