by Simon Wright

Created on: October 13, 2008

Big Cat Diary is a long-running nature documentary from the BBC in the UK. If you ever get a chance to see it, then it's definitely worth checking out and you will fall in love with the animals and the landscape of this wonderful programme.

The show is set in the Masai Mara in Kenya and follows the successes and tribulations of the big cats that inhabit the savannah. These include several lion prides, leopards and cheetahs. Additionally, the show also brings wonderful footage of other animals that share the big cats' world, including elephants, giraffes, hyenas, crocodiles and jackals.

The show has been running since 1996, so has included several generations of the same families of big cats. As well as uplifting and funny moments, there's also a fair share of tragedy, which makes you realise just how hard life is for these animals at times.

The most recent series was one that I made an effort of actively following and the standout star of the show was the cheetah single mum, Shakira. With five little cubs to provide for and a world seemingly choc full of potential predators, she had to work extremely hard to keep her cubs fed and alive. We learnt that mortality rates are very high for cheetah cubs and, sure enough, she lost two of them during the show. Still, to keep the other three healthy was a fantastic achievement. The moment that really caught my breath was when she strode towards an approaching male lion and lured him away from her cubs. Lions will eat an adult cheetah, if they get the chance, and although she was much quicker than the lion, she was still taking a huge risk. Her mother love was also demonstrated as she attached a couple of skulking hyenas that were also threatening her cubs. She racked them with her claws and then jumped out of reach of their powerful jaws. Again, one false move and she could have been killed.

The leopards were unusual in that there was a group of five of them, when they are usually quite a solitary animal. They included a very cute young male, called Kali, who was seen to ruin his mum's plans to get them a meal. Whilst she stalked expertly and soundlessly towards an antelope, Kali suddenly bounded up a bank enthusiastically and sacred the antelope off. Mum was not happy. We also saw Kali with his first ever kill, a small hare. He was pleased as punch and keen to further show his leopard skills by carrying the prey up a little branch of a tree. The only problem was that he kept dropping it!

The main thing that struck me about

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