Naboisho Conservancy is only one of many conservancies that make up the well-known Maasai Mara and border the famous national reserve. Right next door, to the East, is the Ol Kinyei Conservancy, which is smaller than Naboisho but also an important part of the Mara ecosystem.
Because there are no fences in between the conservancies, animals often roam back and forth over the conservancy boundaries, as they should be able to do. This provides an interesting and exciting dynamic for the volunteers and researchers here in Naboisho, as we can see many animals whose home rangers are not exclusively in Naboisho.
One of these animals is a cheetah, who has been appropriately and fondly named the “Ol Kinyei Female”. Her range is primary in OKC but she will venture into Naboisho as well, and this fact was very exciting when the staff here realized she had three cubs! Cheetah cubs are perhaps the cutest animals that have ever walked the face of our planet. Although bringing up cheetah cubs is difficult, the Ol Kinyei Female managed to raise her offspring to maturity. They successfully avoided lions, hyenas, and all of the other dangers that face a cheetah here in the Mara. The four cats were seen together on July 18th, 2013, but by then the cubs were ready to be on their own.
Not long after, a volunteer group was driving back from one of the area primary schools, and saw the cubs, by themselves, calling for their mother. They ran back and forth, trying in vain to find her. The Ol Kinyei female had left. She knew she had been successful, and the next step for her cubs was to strike out and find territory of their own.
The cubs stuck together until January of 2014, but since then, only the two females have been seen occasionally by researchers here. This is not abnormal, oftentimes female cubs will stay in a territory adjacent to their mother’s, whereas the males will travel farther distances. But even for the females, African Impact did not have any pictures personally on file, so a discovery my team made last week was very exciting.
We had three cheetah sightings by this point, and none of us thought anything of the fact that we had seen two females and one male. None of the cats were together, but all individually were fantastic to see. The first female has five cubs, and we were able to spend some time with her trying to get pictures of both cubs and mother, in between “oohs” and “ahhs” at the precious babies who had not yet opened their eyes. The second female had killed a Grant’s gazelle, our first kill, and a good meal for her, as she chowed down. The male we found in our headlights one night, sitting by the side of the road, and were all enthusiastic about getting pictures and admiring him from the car.
It did not occur to any of us that the three cats we had seen may be the Ol Kinyei Female’s cubs, and we had not verified with pictures. We were all excited by the possibility, however!
Further verification from other cheetah researchers confirmed. We found Ol Kinye’s cubs! We “adopted” them and welcomed them (as if we had any say in the matter) and were excited that they had graced us with their presence. The first female cheetah we saw, who now has cubs of her own, does not have a full positive identification, because no one has been able to take a picture of her broadside to confirm. However, facial spots seem to indicated she is the sister of the other two.
Just the opportunity to see cheetahs here, in Naboisho, is a fantastic experience, and to be able to continue the story of one family of cheetahs is a wonderful gift. The research being done here at the African Impact Mara Project, and everything we find out about the cheetahs now, will be used in the future to help protect these big cats and enable others to have the experience of meeting them as well.
Because there are no fences in between the conservancies, animals often roam back and forth over the conservancy boundaries, as they should be able to do. This provides an interesting and exciting dynamic for the volunteers and researchers here in Naboisho, as we can see many animals whose home rangers are not exclusively in Naboisho.
One of these animals is a cheetah, who has been appropriately and fondly named the “Ol Kinyei Female”. Her range is primary in OKC but she will venture into Naboisho as well, and this fact was very exciting when the staff here realized she had three cubs! Cheetah cubs are perhaps the cutest animals that have ever walked the face of our planet. Although bringing up cheetah cubs is difficult, the Ol Kinyei Female managed to raise her offspring to maturity. They successfully avoided lions, hyenas, and all of the other dangers that face a cheetah here in the Mara. The four cats were seen together on July 18th, 2013, but by then the cubs were ready to be on their own.
Not long after, a volunteer group was driving back from one of the area primary schools, and saw the cubs, by themselves, calling for their mother. They ran back and forth, trying in vain to find her. The Ol Kinyei female had left. She knew she had been successful, and the next step for her cubs was to strike out and find territory of their own.
The cubs stuck together until January of 2014, but since then, only the two females have been seen occasionally by researchers here. This is not abnormal, oftentimes female cubs will stay in a territory adjacent to their mother’s, whereas the males will travel farther distances. But even for the females, African Impact did not have any pictures personally on file, so a discovery my team made last week was very exciting.
We had three cheetah sightings by this point, and none of us thought anything of the fact that we had seen two females and one male. None of the cats were together, but all individually were fantastic to see. The first female has five cubs, and we were able to spend some time with her trying to get pictures of both cubs and mother, in between “oohs” and “ahhs” at the precious babies who had not yet opened their eyes. The second female had killed a Grant’s gazelle, our first kill, and a good meal for her, as she chowed down. The male we found in our headlights one night, sitting by the side of the road, and were all enthusiastic about getting pictures and admiring him from the car.
It did not occur to any of us that the three cats we had seen may be the Ol Kinyei Female’s cubs, and we had not verified with pictures. We were all excited by the possibility, however!
Further verification from other cheetah researchers confirmed. We found Ol Kinye’s cubs! We “adopted” them and welcomed them (as if we had any say in the matter) and were excited that they had graced us with their presence. The first female cheetah we saw, who now has cubs of her own, does not have a full positive identification, because no one has been able to take a picture of her broadside to confirm. However, facial spots seem to indicated she is the sister of the other two.
Just the opportunity to see cheetahs here, in Naboisho, is a fantastic experience, and to be able to continue the story of one family of cheetahs is a wonderful gift. The research being done here at the African Impact Mara Project, and everything we find out about the cheetahs now, will be used in the future to help protect these big cats and enable others to have the experience of meeting them as well.