Male lion, impala carcass and the vultures
by Adam Bannister on October 15, 2012 5
He used the Impala carcass almost as a lure. The Scar-Nose Majingilane Male lion, sat hidden in the thickets. His dark mane blended in perfectly with the dark green shrub. The half eaten impala carcass was left about 3 meters from his hiding spot and the vultures were accumulating. At one stage I counted 20 vultures circling above, a further 15 sat waiting passionately in the nearby trees.
Judging by the tracks it was obvious that the male lion had stolen this carcass from a female leopard, but I could not understand why he did not just eat it, or at least drag it out of sight of the scavenger birds, so as to consume it in his own time. His fat belly suggested he had already just come off a kill. Maybe he felt like a bit of a game…
The birds grew impatient and started descending onto the ground. As soon as the first one showed the courage to approach the kill, the rest followed suite. Suddenly there were vultures all over the ground. Squawking, hissing and feathers flying! The tail of the lion flickered ever so slightly…his plan was working. I truly believe he was trying to catch a vulture.

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After 20 minutes the number of vultures had skyrocketed…all eyes were on the half eaten impala carcass
As soon as a Hooded Vulture ventured a centimeter too close the male lion charged out of his hiding place!

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*This image is copyright of its original author

Scar Nose comes crashing out the thicket towards the impala carcass

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*This image is copyright of its original author

He picks up the carcass in one swift movement
The bird was too fast and managed to flap away in the knick of time.
Tired of the game, the male lion picked up the carcass and ran away from the ever growing wake of vultures.

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

After picking the kill up, the male sprinted off to get away from the large number of white backed and hooded vultures.
Written and photographed by Adam Bannister

Dinaka Safari Lodge Lion Kill Central Kalahari Botswana
By garryvv, on April 16th, 2012
 

*This image is copyright of its original author

We had just arrived at the waterhole for breakfast, to find 2 lionesses lying at the water. They suddenly perked up and we saw kudu coming in to drink. The one female moved into cover carefully and lay in wait. The pregnant female crouched at the waterhole. A young kudu cow walked straight up to where they were lying and in a couple of strides, she was caught. She fought, but did not manage to get away. The second female joined in to pull the kudu down, and they lay for ages until the kudu stopped kicking. After a long while the one female dragged the carcass into the shade of a nearby tree, and then they both lay down and ignored it!! Next we saw a warthog trotting down the road further up. One lioness got up and circled the pig, then ambushed her. She managed to get away. Next came her 3 little piglets a little way behind her. The lionesses pounced and caught one, much squealing and it managed to get away. The chase was on. The piglet ran into a thick thorn bush, and the lioness tried to dig her out. We watched in amazement as the small piglet then kept launching herself at the lioness from the bush!!
This went on for quite some time, with the lioness jumping back each time, until finally she caught the little pig in mid jump. Lots of squealing and then silence.
We had 5 guests here, and the cameras were clicking madly! Some fabulous photos all round. Breakfast was almost ignored, tea went cold – far too much excitement!!
The guests stayed to watch for some time and finally the lionesses opened up the kudu stomach, and pulled out a foetus. So sad, but nature at its best.
They did not eat much at all – they just were not hungry – pure opportunistic kills!
I will send the picture of the warthog when I get it off Dave’s camera.
Turned out the little thing had a deformed foot, which shows clearly in the photos.
Some of the guests saw a leopard at the top waterhole yesterday afternoon, and a wildcat, so great sightings all round. The rest are going up there now, so I hope they are just as lucky.
What a day at Dinaka!!
Mel George & Dave
Team Dinaka

Murderous Intent (this lion was intimidating off hyenas from his buffalo kill)

Lion kill: two for one
Posted on 5 October, 2015 by Guest Blogger  in Animal Encounters — 4 Comments
Posted: October 5, 2015
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Written by: Anja Gröbel
Kalkheuwel waterhole in Etosha holds a special place in our hearts. My late uncle, a Namibian pilot who used to fly Etosha’s rangers, helped build the Kalkheuwel waterhole which came to be his favourite spot in the park, and it is also where his ashes are scattered. 
Whilst enjoying a toast in my uncle’s memory, we watched a herd of zebras and impalas relaxing at the water’s edge. We soon spotted a lioness that appeared to be lying down asleep under a tree nearby.

However, her sleepiness was just a façade, as she was fixated on the action at the waterhole. All the animals, except for one impala, continued drinking and seemed completely unaware of the large cat watching them. After checking my camera settings, I waited for the things to unfold.

Not knowing which way the lioness would set off, I just hoped that she would choose the direction facing the area where I had I positioned my camera. The only option we had was to wait and try to predict the unpredictable. After a while, a zebra panicked and bolted off, triggering the rest of the animals to run off in the opposite direction. This was the cue for the lioness.

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We thought she was too far away to make a kill but her chances increased dramatically when three unfortunate zebras decided to flee through the water instead of running around it. That gave the lucky lioness enough time to jump on one of them.

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

As the dust settled, we were surprised to see the big cat trying to grab one of the other zebras with her claw whilst trying to finish off the first one she had caught. Would this be two for the price of one?

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Assistance soon arrived when the hunter’s pregnant sister got up from her resting spot in the shade. She quickly made light work of the other waterlogged zebra. After 15 minutes the battle was over and both predators could eat in peace.

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*This image is copyright of its original author

No sooner had they dragged one of the carcasses into the shade when an elephant bull crashed their party, chasing them away from the second dead zebra. 

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We came to Kalheuwel for a different reason but were surprised and amazed by what we had just experienced.
- See more at: http://africageographic.com/blog/lions-kill-two-zebra-kalkheuwel/#sthash.0zbwbIJX.dpuf

My main goal was to track down some lions and we thought there would be nothing better than finding them on the morning of such a stunning sunrise. We set off for the day from Earth Lodge with hope and positivity and I had a certain good feeling for the day. The safari came to a complete standstill when we saw a Hooded Vulture perched in a tree beside the road we were travelling on. Vultures are usually great indicators of some sort of activity arising in the area as they focus on scavenging off old carcasses made by predators and this became a good topic of discussion…

I was getting into quite some detail about the vulture itself until we came across a monogamous pair of Side-striped Jackal busy running around the same area as the vulture was in. Seeing jackals in the day is a rare occurrence but having them close to the vulture was even rarer. My tracker and I immediately stopped what we were doing and started scanning the open bush from left to right. The guests were confused and yet so naïve until I explained why we were so concerned.

My tracker Louis all of a sudden shouted: “Lion” and we all sat still with shock and amazement. We saw a female lioness running straight into the bush so we followed her, she led us directly to a huge buffalo bull that had just been taken down and killed by some of the Southern Pride. With steam still heating the surface and blood still covering the mouths of the hungry and yet brave lions, we found ourselves sitting amongst seven of the pride, lying down and one lioness feeding away on the fresh kill they had just made.

We were all stunned and the guests on my vehicle remained quiet for the first few minutes as we watched a big lioness feed and tear away at the fresh flesh off of the body of the defenceless buffalo that lost the battle. This big male buffalo was old and must have had quite an experience roaming around the beautiful reserve but his day had ended when he was surrounded by seven lions that had a goal of cornering him and taking him down which caused him to take his One Last Breath…

October 16, 2014
A phenomenal lion kill – defying the textbooks

Seeing a predator make ‘a kill’ is often high on the wish list of safari-goers. Managing these lofty expectations is a major part of a guide’s job, especially important during the guest briefings prior to an activity. Teaching and practicing such briefings is a big part of any Ecotraining course, just as it was on the 28-day Safari Guide Course we ran on Kenya’s Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in August this year. After all, it helps a guide develop rapport, communicating safety and ethical considerations as well as giving the guide a chance to deliver a realistic yet hopefully wonderful experience. However, before the instruction could even begin, I, as instructor, took on the role of guide and had to do the usual expectation management when the typical ‘kill request’ came up. With a more reasonable perspective, the request didn’t come up again on later drives, although I knew that the students were just as secretly hopeful as I was about seeing such an event.

Ten days into the course we watched a lioness (Panthera leo) painstakingly stalk a herd of Plains Zebra (Equus quagga boehmi) before a clumsy sub-adult lion alerted them of the impending danger. We could not believe how close we had come to witnessing a complete hunt. However, it was merely a day later that we got lucky and saw the whole thing, but in circumstances completely defying the textbooks.

We were driving back to camp after another successful morning practical guiding activity. It was around 9:30 and all our layers for the chill of dawn were peeled off, the temperature was climbing rapidly and sunscreen had already been applied at our coffee break an hour earlier. Our camp came into view as we entered the grove of fever trees (Vachellia xanthaphloea) that marked the edge of the main Lewa swamp.

“Stop, stop, there’s a lion over there!”

“Where? I can’t see it.”

“It was walking, from right to left. It’s behind those sandpaper trees” (Cordia monoica)

Sure enough, the keen eyed student had spotted a blonde-maned lion making a steady march towards the swamp, about 50m away from us.

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We slowed to stay parallel with him. Suddenly, he broke out in a trot. Looking ahead in the direction of his determined stare, we could see what had grabbed his attention. Around 250m in front of him was a herd of Defassa Waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus defassa) and two Grevy’s Zebra (Equus Grevyi) stallions that were embroiled in a full-on territorial fight. Unlike their Plains Zebra cousins, the Grevy’s are territorial with a totally different social structure – they also don’t hold harems like the much smaller, non-territorial, Plains Zebras.

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We kept up with the lion and positioned ourselves around 100m from the Zebras to watch the drama unfold. Upon reaching a small open patch, the lion slowed down to a momentary stalk. The waterbuck had noticed him. In a panic they split and ran towards the river that feeds the swamp. Crucially, they never sounded the alarm and the stallions continued to buck, kick and bite each other.

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Now within 75m of the Zebras, the lion used a large lone fever tree to hide his final sprint. It was only when he was less than a few metres away that the stallions seemed to realize the danger. They separated, the lion seemed to stop, as if to pick his target, and pounced on one of their backs. All of us gasped.

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“Go, go, go!” I urged. ‘Silke’, our guide for the day, moved the vehicle to a spot parallel to the struggle, which was happening less than 30m from the road.

The lion manoeuvred into a position where he could hang off the stallion’s neck with his jaws and front paws, trying to pull him down to ground. The Zebra, over twice the lion’s weight, did his best to stay on his feet. This fight was not over. Their bulk, powerful kicks and vicious bites are usually enough to deter lone lions from hunting adult Grevy’s Zebra stallions. But again, there was nothing ‘typical’ about this hunt.

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After approximately four minutes, the Zebra collapsed and the lion adjusted to finish suffocating him. It took another three or four minutes before the twitching and kicking stopped and the lion sensed he had succeeded.

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*This image is copyright of its original author

The lion lifted his head to pant and almost ironically it was only then that the waterbuck began snorting in alarm. They and the surviving stallion were now gathered around the lion and his kill, keeping a good eye on the predator, ensuring he knew the element of surprise was gone, just in case he considered making another daring hunt!

Whether the surviving stallion was the original territory holder or fighting to take it over, we will never know. However, satisfied the lion was no longer a threat, he proceeded to prance in circles, bellowing his territorial claim.

The lion eventually moved to the Zebra’s rump, where the skin and flesh are easier to tear open, and began to feed.

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*This image is copyright of its original author

As the lion settled down to eat, our adrenaline levels began to settle as well. We could not believe what we had just witnessed. Everything you read and hear about lion hunts didn’t seem to apply here. We already knew that male lions have a false reputation for being lazy and over reliant on hunting lionesses. But a lone hunt in broad, hot, daylight, over a distance of 300m to take on a formidable 450kg Grevy’s Zebra stallion…the sheer audacity!

We left the lion to his breakfast to attend to ours.

We returned to the scene for the next three days. The following morning the male had been joined by two more lions - a gruff, but much larger black-maned lion, and a young female. This older lion had a heavy limp but still dominated the kill. He refused to let the blonde male near the carcass or the female. Eventually the female headed for the swamp for a drink. The old male growled in protest, carefully following her, ensuring he kept between her and the blonde male until they reached and disappeared into the reeds. The blonde male took his chance to resume feeding.

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

The lions abandoned the kill after the second day and over the course of the next week, scavengers had reduced the carcass to a skeleton.

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Despite the amazing events we had the privilege to witness, we were able to appreciate another context to the kill. Grevy’s Zebras are critically endangered, with numbers hovering around 3000 left in the wild. Conflict with pastoralist communities is thought to have reduced their numbers from 15,000 in the 1970’s. With the Ethiopian sub-population threatening to go extinct in the coming years, Grevy’s Zebras will become endemic to northern Kenya. Conservancies such as Lewa, its Laikipia neighbours and its partners in the Northern Rangelands Trust are the last strongholds. As conflict with pastoralists is minimized by adopting better grazing policies, the current main threat is predation from lions and spotted hyaenas (Crocuta crocuta). A seemingly disproportionate number of Grevy’s Zebras are predated considering their relative scarcity to other prey, but it is usually the foals that get taken. To have a healthy stallion killed will be a blow to Lewa, which holds around 11% of the global population. However, the current emphasis on maintaining a functioning ecosystem involves the risk of losing a number of critically endangered animals to predation, be it Grevy’s Zebras or even Black Rhino (Diceros bicornis michaeli) calves. At least these photographs and our report can contribute to the ongoing research into these dynamics.

It was phenomenal luck that we got to see the kill take place, but it was also fascinating to follow up for a number of days and see how the event fits into the ecological context. Not only was it a demonstration of a food web in action, but it also impacted the local lion social dynamics and the wider conservation perspective.


Writer: Andreas Fox
Photos by Markus Eichelberg

Remains of the Day
December 19 2012
The 13th surely was an unlucky day for some in Ngamo.  In the afternoon, as our research team entered the site, the pride were found in Amboseli where they were just beginning to tuck into a zebra they had caught only moments earlier. 


As Milo and co. squabbled over their meal our research team went ahead with arrangements to conduct another of the territorial playbacks.  Today’s playback recording would be of 3 females and the team were keen to see what the reaction of the pride would be as they were in the midst of feeding.  As the playback commenced, and the unfamiliar roars resonated towards the pride, it was Milo whose response was the strongest as he swirled his impressive mane quickly around to look in the direction of the roars.  The girls and the cubs also paused one by one from feeding as they heard the three "intruding" females but the mysterious roars weren’t enough to distract their attention for too long and they soon return to their meal without moving off to investigate. 
The next day the girls were up and about again stalking zebra in the areas of the release site known as Camp.  AT1, Phyre, Kwali, Nala and Narnia led the hunt as Milo, Ashanti, Kenge and the young cubs continued to rest at Waterhole 1.  As the herd moved into Masai Mara AT1 and the pride’s notorious hunters, the 2Ns, slowly followed - but the zebra soon gained too much distance from the lions and the girls returned to the rest of the pride to laze in the morning sun.
On the 15th the pride was located resting at Waterhole 2, all looking suspiciously rotund.  Their large bellies and their sleepy state gave our research team reason to believe they had fed well overnight, but the source of their meal was yet to be found.  By the afternoon our suspicions were confirmed and a devoured zebra carcass was spotted in the grass not too far from where the stuffed lions were sleeping.  As the temperature rose over Ngamo the pride continued to rest, hardly stirring as a herd of impala made their way past the sleeping cats. It was only Kwali who awoke from her slumber but even she could not find the energy to stalk and the lion and antelope merely stared at each other across the grass before the herd moved on out of sight. 


The following day the pride spent their morning resting in Serengeti East.  A midday rain shower must have disturbed their relaxation time as by early afternoon the 12 lions had vanished and our research team entered into a long game of hide and seek.  After a long search of the site the pride were eventually located in Hwange, all innocently resting together under a darkening sky as the day came to an end.  

BeetleCam Lion Kill

Lion Kill in the Masai Mara
Posted on 9 July, 2013 by Guest Blogger  in Wildlife
Posted: July 9, 2013

Written by: Mick Highfield
“My wife and I were on our honeymoon to Kenya, staying in the Beach Hotel and Club in Mombasa and decided to go on a safari to the Masai Mara where we stayed in the Kitchwa Tembo Tented camp which was fantastic. We had been there before although the only animal which hadn’t been seen was a leopard. Our guide David was brilliant – determined to find us our leopard. En route our search, we came across this lion kill with the zebra – it had just taken place minutes before we arrived there. The lioness was just tucking into her meal when three hyenas came running across, expecting the lioness to run as she was out-numbered. But no, she held her own and the four of them shared the meal right down to the scraps.
Our guide David said in all the years he has been doing this, he had never seen them sharing like this. It really was a great sight but alas, we still haven’t seen a leopard! Well, maybe next time.”

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

- See more at: http://africageographic.com/blog/lion-kill-in-the-masai-mara/#sthash.5pEmFpmR.dpuf

Lion vs. hyena
Posted on 10 April, 2015 by Etali Safari Lodge  in Animal Encounters 
Posted: April 10, 2015
 
Thulani Sibuyi, a tracker at Etali Safari Lodge captured these impressive shots during a game drive in the Madikwe Game Reserve.
 

 
The Leyalo male lion and his pride had been feasting on a female buffalo when a two spotted hyena approached. Overwhelmed by the smell of the buffalo one of the the hyenas came carelessly close.

In a flash the Leyalo male was upon him. After toying with the hyena for a few minutes, the lion finished him off with a with a fatal bite to the neck, breaking his spine.



Lions do not generally eat the other predators they kill and afterwards the hyena was left for the vultures, jackals and other hyenas.


- See more at: http://africageographic.com/blog/lion-vs-hyena/#sthash.pqf8S3Sw.dpuf

4 lions kill 4 buffalo at Djuma
Posted on 22 December, 2015 by Djuma Private Game Reserve  in Animal Encounters
Posted: December 22, 2015
 
Written by: Ryan Thomson
We were on a late afternoon drive with guide Taxon from Djuma Private Game Reserve in the Sabi Sand and had just left an amazing sighting of a leopard on a kudu kill. We rounded the corner to find four male lions walking down the road.

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We followed them to a waterhole, where they had a quick drink of water and were moving away when they noticed a herd of buffalo walking towards the waterhole. The wind and light were both in the lions’ favour, and they had instinctively positioned themselves, using the vehicles as cover.

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

As the buffalo reached the water, we could see the lions were fixated on two youngsters towards the back. All of a sudden two of the lions took off and headed in a straight line for the buffalo. It took a couple of seconds before the buffalo noticed the lion, but by then it was too late. The two lions grabbed the one youngster and immediately locked onto its throat.

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But we noticed the hunt wasn’t finished yet.
The two other lions had continued to chase the herd and one of the lions that was on the youngster joined them. They continued chasing the buffalo until we lost sight of them as they entered a thicket.
We drove in the direction that the buffalo had run, and we saw that two of the lions had managed to catch a heavily pregnant buffalo cow and were fighting to bring her down. Eventually they brought her to the ground and proceeded to put her in a chokehold until she died.

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While this was going on, the fourth lion had managed to catch a third buffalo, another youngster, but was having difficulty killing it. So once the adult female was dead, one of the lions left her to go help the fourth lion kill his buffalo.

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When we returned the following morning, we saw that the fetus of the pregnant buffalo had been removed and eaten, so I guess one could argue that four lions killed four buffalo.

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