A Cheetah Adventure
On our way to see the Great Migration at Masai Mara National Reserve in western Kenya we first stopped off at the Naboisho Conservancy and stayed at the stunning Asilia Naboisho Camp.
We really recommend adding a stop at a conservancy like beautiful Naboisho, as it all helps to support their mission - conservancies have become extremely important for wildlife and especially endangered animals. For example, elephants need a lot of space and rely on their established migration routes in search of fresh food and water.
If their habitats become too small, they move into farmland and destroy the trees there causing themselves huge dangers of being killed. So lots of conservancies work together to create more protected land – just the area surrounding the Masai Mara National Reserve has doubled in size in the past few years bringing it to over 3000 square km!
Naboisho was established in 2010 when 425 Masai landowners created a conservancy of 200 square kilometres. These conservancies started involving the local communities and have developed a successful anti-poaching strategy all around Kenya. Thanks to their hard work the survival of elephants in Kenya is now looking more promising. Since the poaching-peak in 2012, elephant numbers are again on the rise - from 16000 in 1989 to currently around 35000 in Kenya.
On our first game-drive our guide asked: 'So what would you like to see the most?' We replied – anything and everything 😊 but a big highlight would be cheetahs for sure! Pretty soon our wish actually came true and we spotted a female cheetah basking in the golden light. This encounter turned out to be one of our most memorable wildlife experiences of these graceful animals.
This was Naborr which means 'the peaceful one'. Her distinctive facial markings running from the corner of her eyes to her mouth were clear and sharp. These markings deflect the sun and makes it easier for the cats to hunt during the day - unlike most other big cats who prefer the darkness of the night. Naborr was around 5 years old and she was not alone! Her 3 cubs were with her too and these beauties had survived the first crucial three months of their life – very sadly, 75% don't!
Cheetah cubs have a ‘mantle’ that looks like a full body mohawk. This is nature at its best again as it helps them blend in with the tall grass, acting as a camouflage to help protect them from predators like lion and hyenas. It was amazing as we were able to experience the effectiveness of this the next morning! Slowly, three lions started to approach ‘our’ cheetah family and we could see that Naborr was devising her plan. Normally the cubs would all remain together but Naborr had conveyed to them to scamper away from the lions separately. She then deliberately started moving slowly and by doing so gained all of the three lion’s full attention.
And so the hunt was on… With an adult cheetah being the fastest animal on earth - they can run 100m in 5.95 seconds at a top speed of 100 kph, these three lions had no chance of catching her. And because the cubs were so well camouflaged, they didn’t notice them either.
Naborr then waited patiently for a while to ensure the lions really had given up. Only then did she go in search for her babies. It was amazing to watch her finding one by one and to see them sitting happily back together again. When we returned to camp we had a lovely dinner there but couldn’t stop thinking about this hungry cheetah family in the wild. Usually cheetahs need to eat fresh meat every two to five days but with cubs, the mother needs a catch every day. Naborr hadn’t been successful for 2 days running, so we were hoping that she would be very soon.
As it happened, she was and early next morning we saw a now happy family enjoying a fresh catch. When cheetahs run, they use their tails to steer and change direction, and after a chase, they take about 30 minutes to catch their breath before they can eat.
Once they can eat, they have to gobble it down quickly before aggressive predators like leopards, lions, jackals, and hyenas turn up and basically force them to give it up. At Naboisho, in addition to the amazing experience of observing life in the wild of cheetahs, we caught one of their competitors who’d just finished dinner too…not a very pretty sight not having washed up after his meal!
Baboons and vultures can also chase away cheetahs from their own catch. We saw plenty of vultures during our visit. Although cheetahs are fast, they’re not strong or aggressive enough to drag their catch away or protect it from fierce competitors.
Further on we saw a pride of lions. These three lazy youngsters were enjoying the view from their shady place under a tree. Thanks to organizations like the Big Cat Project the Mara region has one of the highest populations of lions and cheetahs in Africa.
Another of our favourite animals is the giraffe. Here in the Mara region we saw the Masai Giraffe who are larger, darker and sport vine leaf shaped markings in comparison to their counterparts in Kenya’s northern parks, the Reticulated Giraffe, who have striking white lines.
This young giraffe was looking at us and seemed to be telling us he’s actually a lion in disguise… what with his mane and all... 😉.
Often it’s the smaller animals that are more difficult to find. We found our passion in doing guided walking safaris which can be done in the conservancies in Kenya because they are privately owned, unlike the National Parks and Reserves. Setting out with an armed guide it is a fantastic way to experience the true feeling of the wild.
The guides are passionate and knowledgeable and there is so much to learn and listen to! One of our biggest highlights was seeing this bushbaby in a tree. These nocturnal Babes with their saucer-sized eyes are just too cute for words!
The birdlife is also very spectacular - and taking good photos of birds is quite a challenge - especially if you want to catch them in flight. With a bit of prediction and a quick trigger finger Aaron managed to get some brilliant shots – this is one of our favourites:
The Naboisho Conservancy limits the number of tourists and vehicles. All our wildlife encounters during the game-drives were just for the two of us and made the whole experience perfect – no trying to find a spot between other vehicles to get a good view. On one of our picnics, our guide stopped at a beautiful place and just as we were ready to sit down and enjoy lunch, a gigantic hippo came out of the bush! We quickly threw everything back in the vehicle and off we went again. Never trust a hippo 😊!
This trip was another unique one for us and we had a brilliant time. Especially the unforgettable experience with the cheetah family. It’s estimated that there are only 1500 cheetahs left in Kenya (and about 7000 in the world) – we were so very lucky to have had this magical wildlife adventure. Back at home and a few years later, we learnt that one of the 3 cheetah cubs was a female called Nebaati.
Life as a mother cheetah in the wild is really hard and Nebaati would have learnt the best from her Mum, Naborr. Nebaati was also successful in bringing up her own cubs. Now, at the age of 5 she’s already had two litters (with a total of 6 cubs) and all have made it into independence. On reading about this, learning they survived and that the family has grown too definitely gave us a perfect and happy ending 😊.
Our other African blogs so far:
"One crowded hour of glorious life is worth an age without a name"
(The Call - Thomas Osbert Morsdaunt, 1730-1809)
Travel blog and travel guide by Aaron Matzinger & Clare Walker
© 2021 by Aaron Matzinger & Clare Walker
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