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Lions of Timbavati
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 (10-03-2018, 10:18 AM)Herekitty Wrote: Black Dam male with two Ross females. Credit: images by Susanne T. Dale Nordbakke at Bataleur Safari Camp, posted October 2, 2018 Thanks for the great posts @Herekitty. I hope the limp on his foot is something minor, but man he is one heck of a specimen! I wonder if a male lion is aware of his own heft and if that influences them to wander off on their own. Nduna, the large Manti, this guy and the young Giraffe all went solo and are also some of the bigger lions. 
It's a pleasure @Matimbalani, yes the size must come into play as far as deterring potential rivals, yet it's hard to see how an individual can live out his life with one pride and not eventually fall foul of younger males, especially if there are more than two of them. I just remember how Nsuku and Scrapper rounded up the big Selati boy, it's a tough ask to guard your flanks when you are facing more than one threat, no matter how big and powerful you are. It seems to me that two is a good coalition number for truly big, powerful boys like the Matimbas and their Mbiri sons. Speaking of duos, there's a duo of Avoca bros in the southern Sabi Sands, a trio in the northern Sabi Sands, and now there is a couple of young Avoca males making their way in the Timbavati. Credit: image by Makanyi Lodge, posted October 4, 2018
 *This image is copyright of its original author Credit: image by Johan Adolf Smalman at Shindzela Camp, posted October 4, 2018  *This image is copyright of its original author They have to be careful though, because there's some big males in the area, including the Sumatra male. Credit: image by Johan Adolf Smalman at Shindzela Camp, posted October 4, 2018  *This image is copyright of its original author While we're at it, and considering we tend to focus heavily on the males, here's a couple of the Avoca females. Credit: image by Johan Adolf Smalman at Shindzela Camp, posted August 23, 2018  *This image is copyright of its original author
Black Dam Pride and The Giraffe Male from a couple of days ago. Credit: image by Riaan Fourie at Thornybush, posted October 3, 2018
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Mbiri boys in the afternoon light. Credit: image by Luke Street at Tanda Tula, posted October 9, 2018
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 Mohawk4 Wrote:Mapoza male and Sumatra male having a stare down Do you know what happened to the Mapoza male's partner? He had a coalition partner when Mapoza first appeared. Was he killed by the Mbiri males?
The Sumatra male is partners with the Hercules male below. Credit: image Johan Smalman at Shindzela, posted August 14, 2018.
 *This image is copyright of its original author The Mapoza male travels solo and is a tough boy as evidenced by his ongoing existence in an area with a lot of big dominant males. He is lucky that most of the coalitions are just two males (including Junior Nkuhuma/Matimba and Buddy, the two Mbiris, the two Ross males and the two Sumatra/Hercules males), as well as quite a number of single males such as the Black Dam male and the youngest Giraffe male. Recently the Mapoza male spent time in the vicinity of the Black Dam pride in southern Thornybush before the Giraffe male scared him off. Lately he has been hanging around the Avoca pride in Shindzela Tented Camp, part of the Timbavati Game Reserve. Credit: image by Johan Smalman at Shindzela, posted September 11, 2018.  *This image is copyright of its original author The irony of the Mapoza male hanging out with the Avoca girls can be summed up in the two pics below. The first is the Mapoza, the second an Avoca lioness. Credit: images by Johan Smalman at Shindzela, posted September 23, 2018.  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author Shindzela has a lot of lions passing thru including Junior Nkuhuma/Matimba. Credit: image Johan Smalman at Shindzela, posted July 2, 2018.  *This image is copyright of its original author And the Ross males Tyson and Fabio (pictured below with a Birmingham female). Credit: image Johan Smalman at Shindzela, posted September 5, 2018.  *This image is copyright of its original author
Just a note on the Black Dam Pride. The Black Dam pride was formerly known as the Southern pride, but after the Black Dam male (who hailed from Black Dam) became their pride male in 2016, they have been known as the Black Dam Pride. Then a year later when the Giraffe male ousted the Black Dam male, they are still known (perhaps erroneously) as the Black Dam pride. There's much to admire about the big Giraffe male; the way he holds down a pride of 6/7 females on is own (he did kill one lioness when he took over) and the tolerance he shows his 13 or more cubs. Credit: image by Kyle Lewin at Thornybush, posted September 13, 2018. He knows he is the King
 *This image is copyright of its original author Credit: image by Danie Greffrath at Thornybush, posted October 6, 2018  *This image is copyright of its original author Credit: image by Riaan Fourie at Royal Malewane, posted May 26, 2018  *This image is copyright of its original author Credit: image by 2WearyTravelers at Royal Malewane, posted July 20, 2018  *This image is copyright of its original author
Lesser maned Mbiri boy showing off a bit off a lip scar. With dominance comes the wounds of war. Credit: image by Greg McCall-Peat at Umlani Bush Camp, posted October 10, 2018
 *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author Vision of him roaring. Credit: Kambuka Lodges.
Lastly on the lion front, we had a handful of sightings of the Ross pride lionesses, firstly we found them on a kudu kill which we suspect they managed to steal from a leopard and then we found them one morning resting out in the open and with them was the Black dam male lion, a huge male that originally came in from our neighboring reserve to the west, it is always exciting seeing new lions, he has been mating with the Ross females so hopefully soon they will have cubs as well and the Ross pride can begin to grow in numbers again. Credit: Umlani Bush Camp blog, words and images by Greg McCall-Peat, posted October 10, 2018.
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Some up close vision of the big maned Mbiri boy from Bataleur Main Camp, which is near Umlani and Tanda Tula camps in the northern Timbavati GR.
Smaller maned Mbiri brother with the recently split lip, showing his parenting skills. Credit: image by Chad Cocking at Tand Tula, posted October 13, 2018
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Black Dam male and two Ross females. First 6am game drive today and boy was it worth it! Lions mating literally 15ft away from us. The courting, the act and post coital aggression. Fantastic albeit a little scary at such close quarters. Credit: first three images by Phil Battison at NThambo Tree Camp, posted September 21, 2018. Last two images by Susanne Nordbakke at Kambaku, posted October 2, 2018.
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Mbiris on a kill with Zebenine pride. Credit: images by curlycamel at Timbavati, posted October 15, 2018.
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Looks like Junior Nkuhuma/Matimba relaxing at Talamati Bushveld Camp. Credit: image by Iwan Hattingh, posted October 15, 2018.
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