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The Mighty Mapogos
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SEPTEMBER 3, 2011 BY INYATI GAME LODGE
Wildlife Journal August 2011 by Khimbini Hlongwane Lion (Panthera leo) All three Mapogo males, three females and the two younger litters were found on buffalo kill. The buffalo herd returned to drive the lions away but it too late rescue the one buffalo. For a few days we had some great viewing of these lions taking turns to feed off the carcass, with the females and cubs taking turns once the males had had their fill.  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author Firstly good news, a new litter of about three cubs were seen, Ximhungwe pride is recovering and we all happy! I have no pictures of these new cubbies yet, I will share as soon she brings them out for us. Sadly, there is only one remaining cub from the youngest litter. We are unsure what killed the cub Mapogo were seen flushing them out the bushes on the morning and in the afternoon are herd of elephant was chasing Mapogo around in the same area. Mapogo,elephants or something else killed the cub. the remaining cub is providing loads of entertainment, and is completely relaxed around the vehicles.  *This image is copyright of its original author https://inyatigamelodge.com/2011/09/03/wildlife-journal-august-2011/
OCTOBER 31, 2011 BY INYATI GAME LODGE
Wildlife Journal October 2011 by Khimbini Hlongwane  *This image is copyright of its original author Our lions have been exceedingly active this month. The Ximungwe pride is still quite fragmented, although the older lioness and her 13-month old cubs are seen regularly she seem to be happy away from the rest of the pride. The one female with two new cubs is often seen alone probably because the cubs are still too young to keep up with the pride. The rest of the pride has been staying mostly along the Sand River. The three lionesses have four cubs from three different litters, ranging in age from three months to eight months. Kudus, nyalas and bushbucks is what they been feeding on mostly but they did manage to kill a giraffe this month. We were fortunate to have the less seen Ottawa pride’s three lionesses staying on our property for few days.  *This image is copyright of its original author The notorious Mapogo boys have been venturing across to the eastern sections lately; they are possibly concern about the growing numbers of lion coalitions like Machingelane, Matimbas and others. On return of one their trip they killed a large buffalo bull, few days later they killed a young buffalo, the buffalo herd attempted to fight for about twenty minutes but they had to move on at some point. In less than 24 hours after the buffalo calf they manage to kill a ten months old hippo calf.  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author https://inyatigamelodge.com/2011/10/31/wildlife-journal-october-2011-by-khimbini-hlongwane/
NOVEMBER 29, 2011 BY INYATI GAME LODGE
Wildlife Journal November 2011 by Khimbini Hlongwane Lion (Panthera leo) The Ximhungwe Pride continues to patrol and hunt in all the reserve’s corners. As life goes in the bush, every up has a down. On last couple of reports I mentioned how successful the pride have been with their hunts , with all the waterholes being full the animals have disperse, the pride have been battling to find good size meal to feed the whole pride. There are lots of young born and they get food it’s just not enough to keep young ones looking healthy. They have had to cover long distance in their hunts and this have been little hard on the youngsters but we are certain they will pull through, every litter do go through these dry run.  *This image is copyright of its original author The lioness that had two youngest cubs that were recently lost is mating again; she was seen for four days mating with one of Mapogo boys, Bent spine. If all goes well we should see some little lion cubbies in about three months.  *This image is copyright of its original author We waited for long time for the two nomadic Ottawa males; they came in for a visit in our traversing area this month. The two were seen for the three days on a row following the large herd of buffalo in the south, the boys are looking good. Both males are healthy and have a lot of attitude; one can easily tell they have the Mapogo’s gene in them. In one of the sighting we saw them make three attempts on the buffalo, but unfortunately, failed.  *This image is copyright of its original author https://inyatigamelodge.com/2011/11/29/wildlife-journal-november-2011-by-khimbini-hlongwane/
DECEMBER 1, 2011 BY INYATI GAME LODGE
N’wendzamhala : December 2011 Wildlife Journal  *This image is copyright of its original author Lion (Panthera leo) Two of the Mapogo brothers, the elder of the Mapogo and the short maned male have been seen patrolling together, they been venturing to the east of our traversing area perhaps worried about growing threat from the Machingelane Males and the southern males. The third male have been staying behind with Ximhungwe pride, living an easier life taking advantage of the hunting expertise of the lionesses. On return from one of their territorial patrol they killed a sub-adult buffalo and their grown sons, the Ottawa males, who happened to be in the area could only watch from the distance, didn’t brave approaching the elderly boys with their Christmas meal. It does however seems like the two younger males had been responsible for the kill, but then they lost the kill to their fathers.  *This image is copyright of its original author The has been covering the whole of o the western sector providing us with lots of actions. On one evening the pride set out for a hunt, one of the Ottawa male saw them and started approaching them, one thing he did know was that one Mapogo (the one that had bent spine) was stalking him. Bent spine leap on to the young male and the young male fought hard the lionesses jumped in to help, at one stage there were four adult lions on the Ottawa male. The fight didn’t last long, the lionesses ran back to the cubs and Bent spine moved back and started roaring. The other two Mapogo were only about 800 metres away they came flying into the scene but everything had calmed down by the time they arrive. The pride had left bent spine and Ottawa males lying about 100 meters apart. We hope he is not badly injured, he did look fine. The brother was seen about three kilometers away from the battle site early this evening. The other accident happened in the morning, while watching the pride doing what they do best, sleep. Abruptly one lioness, the short-tailed female began to stalk something we all could not see. She then jumped up and ran and disappeared. We followed to where we could hear commotion of fighting lions. We discovered that found that the 13-month old cub who lost her mother and had been wondering around on his own for the last few months had finally found the pride.  *This image is copyright of its original author Surprisingly and unfortunately it was not the happy family reunion that we expected and hoped for, as the lioness started attacking the youngster. What happened next was really remarkable though; Mapogos never cease to amuse. The mapogo male with short Mohawk mane known to be the unfriendly one to the cubs and all other lions came in and fought off the lionesses and then stood over the youngster to protect it against the aggressive female. Many of us who think we know him well would have never expected him to that. The rejection of the cub by her own pride did, however suggest that his future is very uncertain now, one lioness at least clearly didn’t want to accept him back in the pride. Death is never far away in the wild African bush. Our resident herd of buffalo bulls were resting on our lawn this morning not knowing that only few hundred metres away two big cats were watching them from across the river. (Makhulu Mapogo and Ximhungwe lioness)  *This image is copyright of its original author https://inyatigamelodge.com/2011/12/01/wildlife-journal-december-2011-by-khimbini-hlongwane/
JANUARY 31, 2012 BY INYATI GAME LODGE
Nsunguti : January 2012 Wildlife Journal  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author The resident males, Mapogo brothers have been seen regularly during the whole month of this report, they still remain separated into 2 males, the elder male and Mohawk mane male together and the other male spent most time with the Ximhungwe pride. Just after the rains the two males killed a young giraffe, the one of the Ximhungwe lioness who is been separating from the pride was present feeding with the males. With sand river flooding the rest of Ximhungwe pride, 3 lionesses with their four cubs (Ages ranging from 6 to 12 months) for most of the month have remain in the southern side of the river. Despite the smaller hunting ground the pride have remain highly successful in their hunting, they made a wide range of kill, wildebeest, giraffe and waterbuck. Few of our wildebeest calves have fallen victim to this pride during the month. We also found them feeding on a buffalo kill in the south-western section of our traversing area. The carcass appeared to be a few days old and we had seen the pride far north the night before so it doesn’t look as if as if they killed it. Initially, only one of the Mapogo boys was present, but the other two soon smelled the kill, and joined up with the pride to enjoying their rotting buffalo carcass.  *This image is copyright of its original author https://inyatigamelodge.com/2012/01/31/wildlife-journal-january-2012-by-khimbini-hlongwane/
MAY 27, 2011 BY INYATI GAME LODGE
Wildlife Journal May 2011 The lion prides in whose territories we live has once again provided many of the month’s highlights with the four male cubs providing regular entertainment. The Mapogo brothers are holding on they have been on their own for a few days. One of the Mapogo brothers was found lying up he spent two days at the dam probably as a result of a full stomach. Very entertaining on late afternoon he has been quite vocal, roaring often. Some great news with Ximhungwe pride, it seems that the pride is slowly getting back to normal as the Mapogo who was responsible for killing the previous cubs has now accepted the new arrivals they found all together the two smaller cubs resting on the dam wall at Cutline Dam. Ottawa pride are having such a difficult time, after the loss of their only two mothers of the pride, one was killed by a buffalo bull and the other fell in a poacher snare. The pride consist of only a sub adult and cubs and sadly one of the seventeen month cubs was killed this month by two males from the North eastern Sabi sand. The pride’s territory is very loose at moment they just seem to move in a direction where there is less activity of other lions. They are not in good terms with the father males, Mapogo because there are young males that should have left the pride still in the pride. Nevertheless they remain great hunters and are in health condition. https://inyatigamelodge.com/2011/05/27/wildlife-journal-may-2011/
APRIL 26, 2011 BY INYATI GAME LODGE
Wildlife Journal April 2011 by Khimbini Hlongwane  *This image is copyright of its original author Xinzele male leopard killed an impala ram, he fed on four couple of days and he was later join by hippo Dam female. She was tried in vain her to court him but he would have none of it and reacted aggressively towards her, perhaps because he had the kill or she simply was not in full oestrous. Tlangisa female came upon another leopard’s kill which she dragged it to a tree. The next morning the Mapogo stole the carcass from her. Two of the lion brothers climbed the tree and fought over the carcass before it fell to the ground and the third brother claimed it for himself. Tlangisa moved off and climbed a nearby tree, watching the lions devours her meal and perhaps hoping they might leave some scraps for her. Lion (Panthera leo)  *This image is copyright of its original author Ximungwe Pride is still quite fragmented around the west and we haven’t seen all 5 lionesses together for a very long time. The older lioness with the 8 month old male cubs had killed a huge male kudu by herself providing some good viewing for us, her two male cubs are looking very strong and healthy. The short tail lioness with the 2 four month cubs is also doing well and we have been seeing her regularly. Due to the females being quite disjointed they are vocalising a lot to communicate with each other, impressive to hear from the lodge in the mornings and evenings. One of the Mapogo (Mr T) has been mating with one of the females from the Ximungwe pride, the mother of the newest litter, this unfortunately suggest that the cubs are all dead. Two males from the Mapogo coalition, with four females from the Ximungwe pride and both sets of cubs, on a young giraffe kill on the western firebreak. The good news is that Mr T (the male who has killed all the cubs) was at the kill, and seemed to have accepted all the cubs.  *This image is copyright of its original author https://inyatigamelodge.com/2011/04/26/123/
MARCH 31, 2011 BY INYATI GAME LODGE
Wildlife Journal March 2011 by Khimbini Hlongwane  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author throughout the month of this report. The three remaining Mapogo are still going strong and they spent most of the month in our traversing area. We finally had a good view of the Ximungwe female with the tip of her tail missing and her eight weeks old cub. She and the female with the two older cubs had an impala kill near xikwenga dam. We only got to see the one cub, which is fantastically relaxed and gave us some great viewing. We were bit concern about the missing cub but its alive we saw them again few days later it must been resting out of site in some thick bush with a full belly. We did get to see Ottawa pride couple of times this month, the adult lioness of the pride is missing, the pride have been calling and searching for her. Some of this calling attracted the Mapogo that came and chased them towards the eastern section of the reserve.  *This image is copyright of its original author Ndlevane male leopard made his appearance a few times in this area, he is about 5-6 years old, light blue eyes and very distinctive small ears, he is trespassing over Xinzele’s and Kashane’s male leopards territories and Xinzele have had to face him in battle that last a day and with no real winner.  *This image is copyright of its original author Later this month, Hlabankunzi female leopard and her cub had a kill, which was later stolen by the Makhulu Mapogo male lion. We found them again in the morning with the cub in a marula tree, and the male lion feeding off the remains of an adult impala kill. https://inyatigamelodge.com/2011/03/31/wildlife-journal-march-2011/
FEBRUARY 26, 2011 BY INYATI GAME LODGE
Wildlife Journal February 2011 by Khimbini Hlongwane  *This image is copyright of its original author The Mapogo brothers are still remaining mainly in our concession, all three of the original six have been together quite a lot recently they actively roaring, patrolling and scent marking their territory. The older male is looking a bit past his prime and battle scarred but is holding on in style and we found him mating with one of the Ximungwe lioness during the first week of the month of this report.  *This image is copyright of its original author All five Ximungwe female lionesses are doing really well the older, mother of the 2 older cubs managed to bring down kudu bull. About a week after the kudu meal she was found feeding on a buffalo kill with two of her sisters. Great news, one of the Ximungwe lionesses was seen with four brand new cubs which will hopefully show themselves more regularly soon. We also know of another Ximungwe female in the north with some cubs which we haven’t seen yet. Hlabankunzi female leopard has expanded her territory further east since the loss of her one cub, She hasn’t been seen as much with her cub lately. In attempt to protect her remaining cub she spent about five days with Xinzele male leopard. She was approaching the male displaying mating behaviour – but failed to convince him to mate with her. Her remaining (13 months old) cub has been seen numerous times over the past couple of weeks far in the east away from Xinzele’s territory. The mother is doing everything possible to distract the male until her cub is independent which should only be in few months. We saw her successfully kill a helmeted guinea fowl. Hippo dam female was found with the Xinzele male south of the Sand River with an impala kill. She seemed intent on mating, but Xinzele did not seem interested at all. During the night the kill was stolen by two of the Mapogo, and the next morning, Xinzele left the Hippo Dam female leopard, without having mated with her .Only couple of days after, Xinzele was seen in the far west of the reserve, going deep into Thekwane male leopard’s territory, who hasn’t been seen for quite some time. https://inyatigamelodge.com/2011/02/26/wildlife-journal-february-2011/
Kinky Tail Shaka with a intense Stare
Pc Afripictures  *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
Kinky Tail Mapogo
Pc Afripictures  *This image is copyright of its original author
Twins Pretty boy and Rasta Feasting
Pc Afripictures  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author
Mr T and Rasta The Two Aggressives
Pc Afripictures  *This image is copyright of its original author
Rasta laying
Pc Afripictures  *This image is copyright of its original author
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