Lion tales

[Potato]

https://www.sabisabi.com/blog/1360/i-am-legend/
https://www.sunsafaris.com/blog/2012/07/mapogo-lions-chased-towards-earth-lodge-by-brett-thomson/
https://blog.londolozi.com/2012/07/24/a-sighting-of-the-south-pride/
https://blog.londolozi.com/2012/08/30/is...lion-dead/

Year 2012

Mapogos vs KNP males Part 2

July from Savanna Lodge:

Richard de Gouveia from Sabi Sabi reports this morning that one of the Mapogo was seen running at high speed past Earth Lodge, and in hot pursuit were the Kruger Males. The sighting was accompanied by lots of roaring and aggression! It was before game drive, so they were not able to follow immediately. On subsequent follow ups it seems that it was a small altercation with minor injuries.


The fact that the Mapogo lions have now been chased back towards Earth Lodge seems to indicate that they really have nowhere to go anymore, and it is only  a matter of time before they face their demise. After being chased today they are now hanging out very close to the edge of the border of the Sabi Sand Private Game Reserve.

Although we all love the Mapogo I was chatting to a friend of mine, Courteney Blunden, (who used to guide at Lion Sands and who is now the owner of Africa on Foot), and he witnessed the Mapogo establishing their territories in the early days. He mentioned that they were the most vicious, violent lion coalition he has ever seen, and slowly but surely it seems that you reap what you sow! The life of a male lion is not easy!

I was lucky enough to see the Mapogo when I visited Savanna Private Game Reserve, and we came across five of them resting. To come across five males lions lying in the bush, on an open safari 4×4 is intimidating enough and the sighting remains with me today! As a memento I bought the below picture of them drinking at a waterhole and the photo was taken by Paddy Hagelthorn. It is now framed and takes pride of place in my home office!

Long live the Mighty Mapogo!

News flash! Just heard from Mele Andru that apparently the one Mapogo’s testicles have been badly damaged in the fighting this morning. Not good news at all.

*This image is copyright of its original author

July from Sabi Sabi:

ben coley says

July 12, 2012 at 8:42 am

Thanks for all the comments everyone. I hope it was a fitting article for such an influential coalition! News from the fight yesterday morning is that one was seen briefly with quite bad injuries to his testicles amongst other areas…but we don’t know the extent of the injuries just yet. We did find tracks for one deep in south of the reserve this morning but couldn’t locate him. It seems I underestimated the Kruger males. Although the remaining Mapogo are larger, I can only posit that their desire has left them and they merely seek to live out the rest of their days in relative peace.

They have graced the Sabi Sands with great memories and we are honoured to share what seems to be the end of their days here at Sabi Sabi. We will keep you posted on events as they happen.

ranger rich says

July 27, 2012 at 9:57 am

Goerge, we found PB but no sign of Mak…PB was looking skinny and in my opinion didn’t seem very happy! We will keep u as informed as we can!

July from Londolozi:

It is in this area however, that one of Londolozi’s most elusive lion prides provides us with occasional drama. The Southern or Selati Pride sometimes poke their noses into our property from the reserves south of us, so it was with great excitement that we received reports of them lying up one evening at a prominent waterhole.

*This image is copyright of its original author

Two Londolozi rangers headed down there early the next morning to try and find them, but three hours of tracking revealed little else but some dusty footprints, a totally consumed zebra carcass, and one slightly scruffy hyena sniffing about. The lions’ tracks headed back over the boundary, so it was to our great surprise that late that same evening, they had crossed back onto our property, and were spotted by tracker Andrea Sithole.


Doubting they would still be there in the morning, we nevertheless returned to the scene, and as we expected, only tracks in the sand heading south over the boundary revealed that they had ever been there.


While scouring the surrounding roads in the hope that they might still be around, we received a radio call from ranger Dean Smithyman that he and tracker Freddy Ngobeni had heard the sound of lions fighting to the east of us. Three vehicles immediately moved into the area, and within half an hour the pride had been found, far to the north of where we expected them to be, outside their usual territory, deep in the territory of the Sparta Pride.

*This image is copyright of its original author

We will never know what the reason for the growling and snarling was. Had the two enormous male lions with the pride (known as the Kruger Males) had a run-in with the Majingilane coalition? Had the pride been fighting over a kill? Blood on the nose of one of the males and a cut on a lionesses’ flank were the only clues as they headed steadily back to more familiar ground in the South. We were content to let the mystery lie, and simply enjoy an exquisite morning with the largest lion pride currently in the Sabi Sand.

From the comment section by James Tyrrell:

"The sighting took place on July 14th, but the Pride’s tracks and those of the Kruger males have been seen a number of times since then on or near our Southern Boundary." Note: fight in Sabi Sabi was reported to be at 12th

"Todd these are indeed very big males (KNP males), definitely bigger that the Majingilane. They have been around our Southern areas once or twice more since this sighting, and their paw prints alone dwarf those of the Majingilane. As Thelma says, 4 vs 2 might be too much for them to handle if they do bump into one another, and with one of the Kruger males having a lame hip, it would be fair to assume that the Majingilane males would come out on top in an encounter."

August by Londolozi:

Two days ago (28 August) we found what we believe to be the remains of a male lion. Very little of the body remains: only a few fragments of bone, hair and the tell tale dark mane pieces, strewn about over a small area. The grass was flattened in the area suggesting that the animal had been fed on and the carcass finished off, more than likely by hyenas. A closer inspection of the area suggested that the death must have been a couple of weeks ago. There was indeed very little left and so although we can not be 100 % sure,it really does look that way!

Identifying the individual is impossible from the scare remains, but a little bit of ‘detective’ work gives us a good idea as to who it may be. The mighty two Mapogo Males were both seen alive and well a few days ago south of our boundary. This rules out it being one of them. A sighting of the Southern Pride together with the two Kruger Males over a month ago though does shed some light. Rangers reported that one of the males looked in a bad way. We had received reports of a big clash between the Kruger and Mapogo Males just a few days prior to this. On about the 20th July this male was seen again alone; this time in exceptionally poor condition. Where he lay motionless, was about 200 meters from where we found the lion remains! Since then, that Kruger Male, known by many as Limper, has not been seen by any of the lodges in the Sabi Sands. Tracker, Solly Mhlongo, aged the lion remains at 3-4 weeks old…winding back the clock and it all fits perfectly.

So we speculate that the remains we found belong to the missing and now assumed deceased Kruger Male. If it is him, he leaves behind him a single Kruger Male to rule over the large Southern Pride. The cause of his death is, and will probably remain, unknown. Again we can speculate that a run in with the Mapogo or Majingilane Coalitions may have been his downfall.

So pencil in mid- late July 2012 as the possible date of passing for one of the stalwarts of the southern Sabi Sands…




Note:
So we have:
1. July 12 fight Mapogos vs KNP
2. July 14 KNP seen in Londolozi in good condition
3 July 20 Limper seen in Londolozi in very poor condition (althrough did not encounter any info about any battle wounds so I presume he was just thin, starwing)

There is a mistery. What do you guys think? Who killed Limper? Mapogos, Majingilanes, or maybe it wasn't even run in with other lions at all which caused that degradation in his condition which lead to his demise like hunting go wrong or snake bite? 
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