Worries, More Worries

Thunder woke me up from my dreams at 3.30am and rain poured down. It surprised me as it looked nice and pleasant before I went to bed. I worried about Madonna and her babies. Should we intervene and move the babies (if we can!) to drier ground? Nick Marx had advised against it, saying the tiger mother will know to keep them dry. Does Madonna know how to keep them dry? They could get pneumonia in damp and cold conditions! Then I thought of my cat Sissy, who had raised several litters of kittens successfully in the wild, praying that Madonna would do the same.
As the lightening struck more and thunder continued, the rain seemed to be heavier. Even my wild cat Sissy hid herself somewhere and would not come out to answer my calls. I couldn't stop worrying, cursing why it chose now to rain but glad at least the temperature was not that low. As I listened to my watch ticking away, I asked Heaven to please stop raining but my pray seemed to go unanswered. Now going back to sleep became a challenge for me, as I listened to the rain dropping, worrying sick for Mother and babies in this foul weather…
It rained for several hours. How I prayed that mother and cubs managed to survive the rain...
The morning was windy and Madonna had a brief appearance before disappearing again. I wondered how the cubs were. No cries - were they alive or dead? I could only guess that they were fine, since Madonna had gone back to them after a stroll.
In the afternoon, I had wanted to get there before Madonna came out for afternoon walk so I could peep her hiding place. But when I arrived about 3.40, Madonna had already come out and I quickly had Cathay enticed into the breeding center (Cathay is incredibly smart and as she saw food in Vivienne's hand, she would go into the breeding center voluntarily to be shut inside so we can place the food for her wherever!). Out of direct sight of Madonna, so Cathay would not be able to challenge her. We let Madonna come into the adjoining camp where we have been feeding her and she looked visibly a lot more relaxed without Cathay's mean looks.
I felt guilty hiding in the distance behind a small bush to observe her. In between feeding she rolled around in the grass enjoying the wind. At about 4.30, she decided to head back to her camp. Through my binoculars, I could see her being extremely cautious, looking back and forth and left and right, only disappearing into the dense bush in the ditch after she had made "certain" that no one was observing her where she was heading to. I noticed that she seemed to also take a roundabout way of getting to her cubs, should there be others around.
What a Cat Mother! This reminded me of the little cat mother I ran into in 1999 on my land trip from Kenya to Tanzania. We had stopped at a Curio shop on the potholes filled road and not wanting to buy any stuff, I went for a walk around the shop. This tiny cat was walking clumsily in the distance so I caught up quietly, finding her carrying a tiny kitten in her mouth. When she arrived under the bridge, she laid down the kitten where there were already two other kittens there. She turned around seeing me looking and emitted a warning "hiss". I took the cue and left, not wanting to disturb her. However, half an hour later, before we left, I went to have another look to make sure mother and kittens were alright. I was surprised that mother and kittens were all gone -the little cat has moved all her babies away yet again, seeing that someone (me!) had seen their whereabouts...
Now Madonna seemed to be following her cat instincts and I am proud...