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Looks like the buffalo cam is goin to turn out as a lionless sighting - hyenas at night and now vultures throughout the day will likely finish it. But descent of the vultures at 6am cam time and subsequent 15 minutes is worth watching; relatively peaceful madness.
The lions were possibly the least cooperative of the bunch (actually wait, that honour definitely goes to the buffalos), and did make us work hard for our sightings. The early part of the reporting period saw the Mayambula pride taking a leave of absence, but the River Pride popped in on a few occasions and even caught a baby wildebeest close to the camp one afternoon. The Mayambula’s then did make a return just before Christmas and stayed until shortly before New Year, with one female leading us to believe that she may even have dropped her cubs on Christmas day, but this still needs confirmation.
As the new year arrived, only the Skorro males made an appearance when they arrived to steal a zebra kill from some hyenas one evening before resting up for the day. The lionesses from the Mayambula Pride remained alarmingly absent with only the tracks of a single lioness showing up in the area of the suspected den site occasionally. The Ross and Hercules females were seen a few times in the western and central sections. The best sighting was a showdown between these two cats and a clan of hyenas; the females did well to hold their ground, and without any food to fight over, the hyenas soon lost interest and moved off. We could hear the Vuyela males roaring on a few occasions, but it seems as though they are reluctant to cross from the Klaserie and into the Timbavati. However, with the Ross and Hercules spending more time in our area, they may start making moves deeper into our concession as the year progresses.
The lions were possibly the least cooperative of the bunch (actually wait, that honour definitely goes to the buffalos), and did make us work hard for our sightings. The early part of the reporting period saw the Mayambula pride taking a leave of absence, but the River Pride popped in on a few occasions and even caught a baby wildebeest close to the camp one afternoon. The Mayambula’s then did make a return just before Christmas and stayed until shortly before New Year, with one female leading us to believe that she may even have dropped her cubs on Christmas day, but this still needs confirmation.
As the new year arrived, only the Skorro males made an appearance when they arrived to steal a zebra kill from some hyenas one evening before resting up for the day. The lionesses from the Mayambula Pride remained alarmingly absent with only the tracks of a single lioness showing up in the area of the suspected den site occasionally. The Ross and Hercules females were seen a few times in the western and central sections. The best sighting was a showdown between these two cats and a clan of hyenas; the females did well to hold their ground, and without any food to fight over, the hyenas soon lost interest and moved off. We could hear the Vuyela males roaring on a few occasions, but it seems as though they are reluctant to cross from the Klaserie and into the Timbavati. However, with the Ross and Hercules spending more time in our area, they may start making moves deeper into our concession as the year progresses.
*This image is copyright of its original author
*This image is copyright of its original author
Hercules lioness is looking in good condition. They have been quite active in the area lately
The lions were possibly the least cooperative of the bunch (actually wait, that honour definitely goes to the buffalos), and did make us work hard for our sightings. The early part of the reporting period saw the Mayambula pride taking a leave of absence, but the River Pride popped in on a few occasions and even caught a baby wildebeest close to the camp one afternoon. The Mayambula’s then did make a return just before Christmas and stayed until shortly before New Year, with one female leading us to believe that she may even have dropped her cubs on Christmas day, but this still needs confirmation.
As the new year arrived, only the Skorro males made an appearance when they arrived to steal a zebra kill from some hyenas one evening before resting up for the day. The lionesses from the Mayambula Pride remained alarmingly absent with only the tracks of a single lioness showing up in the area of the suspected den site occasionally. The Ross and Hercules females were seen a few times in the western and central sections. The best sighting was a showdown between these two cats and a clan of hyenas; the females did well to hold their ground, and without any food to fight over, the hyenas soon lost interest and moved off. We could hear the Vuyela males roaring on a few occasions, but it seems as though they are reluctant to cross from the Klaserie and into the Timbavati. However, with the Ross and Hercules spending more time in our area, they may start making moves deeper into our concession as the year progresses.
*This image is copyright of its original author
*This image is copyright of its original author
Hercules lioness is looking in good condition. They have been quite active in the area lately
Yeah, but sadly to the opposite to Sark breakaways. I was hoping they will settle with Vuelas around the Timbavati-Klaserie border, but sightings of them are no more like they moved away, possibly returning to the core pride.
The tracks for the lionesses (probably two) kept on moving in and out of an inaccessible part of the Machaton riverbed where they have their cubs, but sadly they just weren’t showing themselves when they weren’t with the cubs. I think we only had a couple of sightings of the lionesses over this time. Fortunately, with the Mayambula’s being confined to the south-east, the River Pride felt more comfortable popping back into the northern sections and spent a couple of days close to Tanda Tula Safari Camp (we found them 100m from our bush breakfast spot one afternoon), and then they managed to catch another wildebeest the next day to ensure that the pride was staying strong and healthy. Further west the lions were not overly active, and we didn’t receive any updates on the movements of the Giraffe and Sark prides.
Warick Wrede sent through these recent images of a young and healthy lion cub, who we believed is sired by one of the Vuyelas. The lioness is one of the 3 females often spotted hanging out with the 5 boys. Cubs have a high mortality rate in the wild, so the pride will do their utmost to ensure the survival of the cub, and ultimately their lineage. Our local pride is growing!
A recent sighting of the nomadic Monwana male seen a good few weeks ago on an early morning drive in the far northern reaches of the reserve.
It’s not often we get to spend time with this male largely due to a significant leg injury that has seen him rather nervous around vehicles at times and inferior to other younger as well as more experienced males within the reserve.
Nevertheless, it is great to see him back in Thornybush after spending quite some time in Timbavati with his late brother whom I have been led to believe was unfortunately taken by a buffalo.
I am eager to see what unfolds in the coming months with this male and the influx of younger males into the central as well as northern sections of the reserve.
Photo credit: Kaden Maasch
Look who's back!!
A recent sighting of the Black dam young male (he was last seen in October/November with his brother in Timbavati)
Photo credits: Rudi Hulshof's Classic Africa
