Episode 2 Big Cat Diary

During the whole of our first week in Kenya's Masai Mara

we had torrential rain.

It didn't do the big cats any harm!

We left Kidogo the female cheetah

and her two young cubs

surrounded by hostile neighbours,

among them the leopard family

who, though enjoying the cool, were starting to look hungry.

And this week, it's STILL raining!

Almost every afternoon

we're getting downpours - more rain than there's been for 30-odd years.

It has made driving difficult - the ground's very soft, now.

Using the video cameras in these conditions is also very hard,

but for the cats, it's perfect!

The middle of the day is chilled and many have been unusually active.

But food is harder to come by.

The prey has spread out over the new grass on the plains,

making the lions extend their hunt.

The rain didn't stop Half Tail the leopard finally making a kill.

Half Tail must have killed the impala last night.

She's already fed on its rump.

But it's urgent she gets the kill into cover as quickly as possible.

She may try to get it into a tree after navigating the rocks.

It's a very heavy carcass.

I would think a male impala like that might weigh 60 or 70 kilos.

Probably she weighs 40 or 50 maximum.

The carcass is considerably bigger than her.

After quite a struggle,

she stashed the impala under a patch of croton bush, the perfect hideout.

Half Tail stayed with her kill here on Fig Tree Ridge till early in the afternoon.

Then she set off,

keeping to the cover of the long grass.

We assumed she was fetching her cub

while the lions and hyenas rested.

SHE CALLS The moment she called,

the cub emerged from her hiding place among the rocks.

SHE CALLS BACK

It's at least 12 hours

since Half Tail left her cub and it's always great

when they get back together again.

CUB GRUNTS

The cub wanted to play, but Half Tail wasn't so keen.

She started to lead the way back along Fig Tree Ridge.

Now that she's seven months old,

the cub is more boisterous - she even dared to take the lead!

INSECTS CHIRRUP

But it's Half Tail who checks it's safe to return to the carcass.

By hiding the kill, Half Tail and her cub should have enough food for a few days - good news for them,

and good news for us!

The big cats are a challenging subject.

Filming them requires field craft and specialist photographic techniques.

All day every day, our six camera teams kept track of our stars, in all conditions.

Every evening, the events of the day are reviewed and edited

to ensure that we bring Big Cat Diary to the screen within the week.

Last week, two male lions invaded the Marsh Lions' territory near our camp.

They caused chaos, chasing the females

and intimidating the young males.

I hadn't got a clue who they were.

Last night, I was talking to a driver from the Kitchwa Tembo Plains.

He said that earlier this year, their males had disappeared.

Two days ago they reappeared. So we're on our way to find out the identity of our mystery males.

We'd set out early in the morning - the best time to catch lions in the open.

These are definitely the two males

that were in the Marsh Pride area last week.

The one nearer me is the black-maned

and the one in front the brown-maned lion.

It now seemed clear

that these males have a pride on THIS side of the river.

But pride males constantly try to expand their domain and, if they can,

they raid adjacent territories and try to mate with the females

which is what happened last week.

The Marsh Pride hasn't really settled after last week's upset.

We're left with one adult lioness and three adolescent cubs.

They've been showing themselves during the day,

but they haven't been up to much.

In fact, far from it!

I've been with these lions since first light. Now the sun is setting.

They've done absolutely nothing, something lions are good at!

Normally, this time of day is frustrating.

As the light fails, the lions set off hunting and conventional video cameras are no longer any use.

But for Big Cat Diary, that's not a problem. We call in the night shift.

Using ordinary lights at night would dazzle predators and prey.

So the night team is using infrared technology -

lights invisible to the eyes of humans and other animals

but clear to our specially sensitive cameras.

-RADIO:

-'The lions are still under the tree on the edge of the marsh.

-'Have a good night.'

-OK, Simon. Thanks very much.

The main priority when filming big cats at night is not to disturb them.

I covered my headlamps with infrared filters and put a small infrared camera on the roof to feed an image

to this monitor so I can see where I'm going.

Looking out of my vehicle window,

it's pitch black.

I need night vision goggles to see.

Without this advantage, the topi have to rely on their other senses.

As soon as the rain started, the four Marsh lions were on the move,

completely at ease in the darkness.

They were after the topi.

RADIO: 'The lions are off. I'm going to try and follow them.

'I'm going to try and get round the front.'

There was confusion, with topi scattering in all directions.

But Martin Dohrn had latched on to the lions just as they caught a topi.

Being a small group, the lions wasted no time

in starting to feed.

But they'd already been spotted.

WHINES AND YELPS

The resident hyena clan had heard the commotion

and immediately began to call, to attract more of the clan to the kill.

ROARING

At first, the lions kept their rivals at bay.

What they really needed was the power of pride males.

HYENAS GROWL, YELP AND SHRIEK

The three lionesses wisely backed off.

Driven on by hunger, the young male continued to try and feed,

calling for support.

But without help, the odds were stacked against him.

HYENAS CACKLE

THEY SCREAM

LOW GROWLING

This was the last we saw of the Marsh Lions.

HYENAS SCREECH

Fundi the cheetah and her two cubs that caused so many riots last week

have a few problems. After feasting on a gazelle on Thursday evening,

they woke up to some unwanted company.

The three hyenas are considerably heavier and more powerful

than the cheetahs.

Intimidated, Fundi and the cubs try their best to be threatening.

Hyenas regularly check out the cats,

looking for the remains of a kill.

When numbers are even, they prefer to keep a discreet distance.

The cheetahs feel genuinely threatened by the close attention

of these heavyweight predators.

For all their speed and hunting ability,

cheetahs really are the underdogs of the big cat world.

And their strategy for avoiding too much attention is to keep moving,

something Fundi and Co do with frustrating regularity.

The next hyena encounter had rather better odds...

for the cheetah!

This young hyena was living up to expectations,

investigating the Fundi family,

when the male cub decided to show Africa's second biggest predator

what he was made of.

Just so long as his sister was there to back him up, that is!

However, this was one of the few occasions during the week

when the cheetahs got the upper hand.

Some of the animals that can push cheetahs around aren't obvious ones.

You might not imagine baboons as being anything to worry about,

but these monkeys have huge sharp teeth

set in powerful jaws -

a fact that Fundi seems aware of.

It was during this encounter

that we first noticed the male cub had developed an alarming limp.

We didn't know how he'd got injured -

perhaps a thorn, perhaps playing with his sister.

But a leg injury is very serious if you depend on speed for survival.

Even after the baboon encounter, the cheetahs couldn't rest.

This time the creature showing an uncomfortable interest in them

was a more obvious threat.

For Fundi, the sight of a lion is a clear signal to move on again.

The remarkable feature of our cats this week has been their proximity to each other.

Fundi is currently lying in the acacia shrub, beyond this fig tree.

The lions are still waiting over the hill to the south east.

And this sloping area of rocks, appropriately called Fig Tree Ridge,

is where Half Tail the leopard stashed her impala kill.

So let's look at how Fundi has found herself in this hotspot of big cat activity.

She started her hunting

around the Mara River Airstrip.

She then went south, towards our camp -

a distance of about 4km and close to the Mara River.

Then across the head of the Musiara Marsh,

which is where the Marsh Lions are hanging out. And then,

along this ridge up towards Double Gorge.

Double Gorge is the northern extension of Fig Tree Ridge,

and is the epicentre of Half Tail's territory,

lying half a kilometre north east.

With such a large kill to feast on,

we saw a lot of Half Tail and her cub last week.

The cub is gaining confidence daily, and is content to be left alone,

particularly in a place like this, with lots of caves to hide in.

She seemed fascinated by the agama lizards.

Our young leopard is fast developing the hunting skills of her mother.

It may look like fun, but these are serious games.

Half Tail often returned before dark to where she had left her cub.

Already the cub is incredibly quick and agile,

practising her hunting skills at every opportunity,

with her mother as the target!

But there's no doubt who's in charge!

SHE GROWLS

It won't be long before bites to the throat like this

are used in earnest on prey.

The heavy rain has affected all life in the Mara.

Most noticeably, the swollen river has halted the flow of wildebeest

from south to north.

We had thought

that these pioneering giraffes might be equipped to wade through.

But even they had to give up, and return to the south bank's safety.

The relative dearth of animals like wildebeest,

on the Masai Mara plains,

has meant an unseasonal shortage of prey for some of our cats.

For Kidogo though, the cheetah with tiny cubs,

food has not been a problem.

They've continued to flourish,

despite risks from lions and hyenas, and have rested during the day...

most of the time.

This deeply inquisitive warthog can smell Kidogo and her cubs,

but obviously wants a closer look.

Despite weighing a fraction of the warthog's bulk,

the little cheetah obviously feels he has something to prove.

Undoubtedly, a force to be reckoned with...

one day!

Although we've had several days when the temperature's been low enough

for the cheetah to hunt at any time,

Kidogo has a habit of getting active very late in the evening -

not something cheetahs are renowned for.

Kidogo has only just woken up and thought about going off hunting,

so we're moving the vehicle to give her some space.

But I'm quite fearful for her safety.

The later she leaves it, the more likely it is she'll have to feed when it's dark,

and this is not a good place for her to do that.

Just over here is the Big Wood where the huge pride of lions spends the day resting.

Now, as it starts to get dark, they'll be going off in search of a meal.

And if Kidogo manages to kill where she is now, she'll be in their path.

While Simon was following Kidogo, I was enjoying being with the Big Pride.

With seven lionesses and four big males,

this pride is at the height of its powers.

I've rarely seen so many lions together.

Unlike the Marsh Lions,

this pride won't tolerate competition from other predators.

Just as I'd feared, Kidogo started to hunt after the sun had set,

making her way to a patch of open ground where gazelle were feeding.

Eventually, her cubs got the message that serious business was at hand.

Using the half light to her advantage,

Kidogo targeted a lone male gazelle

which was grazing dangerously close to the long grass.

His head going down is the signal to attack.

A substantial and important meal for Kidogo and her cubs,

but, in lion country, at what price?

With the Big Pride so close to Kidogo,

we decided to follow them with our infrared cameras.

The lionesses set off,

leading the cubs closer to their prey.

The cubs look so vulnerable on the open plains at night,

but with so many lionesses to protect them, they were quite safe.

Suddenly, six of the lionesses set off to hunt,

leaving a heavily pregnant relative to babysit.

We never see these cubs out here

in the daytime.

Leaving the cubs in a creche

is one of the great advantages of these social cats.

The moon had yet to rise,

and without my night vision goggles, it was pitch black outside.

A lone zebra came stumbling through the darkness.

It couldn't see the lions crouched in front of it.

ROARING

In the confusion, we lost sight of the lions

until Martin and the camera crew thought they'd spotted one.

-MAN:

-Oh, it's a cheetah!

We'd bumped into Kidogo.

As Kidogo came closer, we could see that her cubs were quite safe.

With the moonlight to guide her,

our cheetah family gave the lions the slip.

The lionesses seemed none the wiser.

As soon as the moon came up,

there was no chance the lionesses would hunt again,

so I've come back to where they had creched the cubs,

and already five of the lionesses are back here.

Kidogo doesn't realise how lucky she was!

Finding our cats each day is a bit of a lottery, never more so

than when there's been an upset.

Looking for Kidogo was a tense moment.

Stop there.

I'd say that was Kidogo. Can't see the babies.

Yes, I can. They are there.

That's excellent.

Simon to Keith, over.

RADIO: 'Go ahead, Simon.'

I've got Kidogo and the two babies.

They're stuffed to the gunwales, so, despite brushing close to the lions,

-they're in good form. Any sign of Fundi, over?

-'None whatsoever.

-'We searched the whole Fig Tree Ridge area.'

-Sorry for that.

Great news that we've found Kidogo in good shape, and her cubs, despite having come close to the lions.

It's rather more unsettling, however, that our other cheetah family are missing still.

This is the third morning that we've not found them.

It's bad enough for one day, but three days and you lose touch with what direction they're going in,

especially since the last time we saw Fundi's cub, he had a bad leg.

The longer it goes on, the less chance we have of ever finding them again, but we can only keep looking.

Subtitles by BBC Subtitling - 1996