More missing cubs...

So we are starting to think that Ana, Lady, BilJ, and Crim are all dead also. Uzi is still questionable because he’s the oldest and might really not be at the den anymore. However the parents of these four cubs in addition to Dr.P have not been at the den and though these cubs are old enough to be graduating they should still be spending time at the den. Likely lions got them. There are many many lions over here in Serena. I’m starting to regret spotting them because it means that we will have to ‘waste’ valuable research time driving over to them and waiting for them to lift their heads so that we can get ID shots. It’s still pretty cool to see lions but they are really really boring sometimes. They will not even twitch an ear for hours. On the other side of the mara there are a lot less lions because the human disturbance is so high. Conversely because of the disturbance (cattle grazing and tourism) the hyena population has exploded to over 100 animals in a single clan, the largest clan in recorded history. Over here the largest clan is maybe 30 animals. It’s very strange to think that these cubs that I spent so much time getting to know may never be seen again.

Today I drove out to the Oloololo gate with Jorgi to get water. Oloololo is beautiful, great to see some different scenery. We haven’t had too much rain in the last week and we are out of drinking water. We can drink the serena water but it is dirtier and tastes salty. Still potable, but just not tasting very good. However the rain water isn’t amazing either because it tastes like tarp.

Been having a lot of fun with the IRES students and Julie. Moira, Julie, and I named a track and a plain the seven dwarves track and the snow white plain. We’ve been giving landmarks dwarf names, we have Happy Umbrella Tree, Sleepy Lion Mound, Grumpy Baby Elephant Crossing, and Sneezy Trees so far. Been playing a lot of pombe pong, drinking Stoney’s, singing songs, and being goofballs. .

Also saw a lioness hunting today. She didn’t make a kill but it was still super cool to watch her muscle tense and she very carefully placed each foot in front of the other. Her target was a topi laying down for a nap. However the impala saw the lion and spooked which alerted the topi who eventually saw her also and trotted off.