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Lions of Sabi Sands
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The northern Avoca Boys are beasting it at the moment. Credit: image by Armand Groebler at Buffelshoek, posted October 9, 2018
 *This image is copyright of its original author Credit: image by Liezl Du Toit at Sabi Sands GR, posted August 27, 2018  *This image is copyright of its original author Credit: image by Nkorho Rangers, posted October 8, 2018  *This image is copyright of its original author
About a minute into the clip finds the impressive young Avoca male. Credit Safari Live at Djuma
Despite the cold drizzly weather, we had a rather productive morning! We eventually tracked down the two Avoca males, who were with the younger Eyrefield lioness (the older one was hunting nearby in the river). Both the males have grown in stature in the past 6 months, but the “lesser-maned “ Avoca has certainly filled out the most! Credit: image by Josh van der Ploeg at Kirkman's Kamp, posted October 15, 2018.
 *This image is copyright of its original author
From: Londolozi
Posted by James Tsalala Lioness Flees from Birmingham Male few things can match the excitement you feel when there are lions roaring near to camp, especially if you hear them just before you set off on a morning game drive. This particular morning was no different and after a quick discussion with tracker Ray Mabelane, we agreed that we needed to head straight towards the Sand River downstream from camp and find whichever lion was roaring before he disappeared into palm thicket. A sense of anticipation hung in the air as we arrived in the area where the calls had emanated from. We rounded a bend in the road and there on the opposite bank of the river we saw him! Once we had crossed the river for a closer look we were able to establish that the lion was one of the Birmingham males. It struck me as odd that none of the four Birmingham males had ventured into this area for a quite some time – there must be a reason for this foray into the north western reaches of their territory. As we followed him it became clear that he was on the scent of something. His relaxed stroll gave way to a more determined gait. Every so often he would stop, lift his head and sniff the air before continuing on his path. The next hour consisted of this repeated stop-sniff-walk routine as the lion gradually increased the intensity of his movements.  *This image is copyright of its original author The male was moving consistently, so we knew he had smelt something which piqued his interest.
The tension was high as we sat watching the lioness reclining on the sand, unaware of what was about to unfold. The next minute, the male lion erupted out of the thicket and the lioness took off at full sprint! We could barely keep up as the pair of lions disappeared in a cloud of dust. The lioness was running as though her life depended on it (which it may well have) while the male gave chase.  *This image is copyright of its original author The lioness bolts as the male appears.
By the time we had caught up, the two lions had run about 400 meters in a time that would make any sprinter jealous. The male seemed to lose a bit of steam and this gave the female a chance to put some distance between her and her pursuer. The male resorted to a fast trot as he continued to follow the female through the thick bush. We followed him for a while as he frantically searched for the lioness.After some more fruitless searching, the male decided to lie down temporarily and rest, which gave us a chance to contemplate what we had just witnessed. We were perplexed, to say the least. The puzzle was made complete a few hours later when ranger Shaun d’Araujo saw the Birmingham male mating with the Tsalala female. Could we have just witnessed a potential rejuvenation of the Tsalala pride? As is often the case in sightings like this, there are more questions than answers, and lions in particular are difficult creatures to understand. The initial fleeing of the Tsalala lioness may have simply been her natural reaction to the appearance of an unknown male. And likewise, the male’s chasing may have simply been his natural chase response. Let’s hope after these initial encounters, both lions will become more relaxed in each others’ presence. 
We were recently treated to this spectacular scene when the entire Torchwood pride came down for a drink at Nkorho pan.
Credit: Nkorho Bush Lodge, posted October 17, 2018  *This image is copyright of its original author
MALAMALA TODAY: October 17th&18th
Lions: All 6 lionesses from the Kambula pride, 9 cubs and 2 Gowrie males were viewed on Wednesday. One of the Eyrefield lionesses has a waterbuck kill near Flat Rocks. Looks like 3 litters are put in same place now. (3 each) From Londolozi article, it appears like 5 Lionesses have given birth. (Remaining one of the Lioness seems to not able to bear cubs, just like Younger Sparta female and one of the Othawa females) Its the beginning of mega pride, given both Kabmulas and BBoys are in their prime
LONDOLOZI BLOG - The Week in Pictures #357 by James Tyrrell, October 19, 2018
I finally got a glimpse of the Ottawa male lion, as he was found next to the Sand River, barely 200 metres from where one of the Birmingham males had been seen the night before. This lone male was tentatively following two of the Mhangeni females, who were keeping a watchful eye on a herd of impalas grazing in and amongst the Phragmites thickets. Being a solitary male lion, flanked west and east by coalitions of older, larger males (Birmingham and Matimba), means that the odds are certainly not in his favour, but stranger things have happened. The lion activity has certainly been keeping us enthralled, with individuals from four different prides and coalitions passing the camp within the last 24hrs. The Ottawa male lion mentioned in the intro text. He has been seen more and more to the north of the Sand River, trailing the Mhangeni females. They seem fairly tolerant of him, but we have only seen them together when the lionesses aren’t anywhere near their cubs. What will happen should this male encounter one of the litters may well be a different story, but maybe the lionesses have mated with him, in which case he could be placated into accepting the litters.  *This image is copyright of its original author Four of the Ntsevu pride brought down a big Nyala bull along the Tugwaan riverbed, which was discovered by tracker Equalizer Ndlovu and ranger Greg Pingo. The lionesses had brought the pride’s two older litters with them (6 cubs of about 3 months old) to share in the feast. Young cubs like this one, although not as accomplished as their spotted counterparts, will often try and climb small trees, as the dreamy look in the cub’s eye suggests, but it gave up the idea.  *This image is copyright of its original author If a lion cub could be called grumpy, this photograph would show it. The would-be tree climber from the previous photo had just woken its sibling up, and if looks could kill…  *This image is copyright of its original author
Credits: James Tyrrell (Londolozi)
Living Dangerously: The Ottawa Male Lion Flirts With Disaster We mentioned yesterday in TWIP how the lone Ottawa male has been prowling around, mainly in the north of Londolozi. At only three-and-a-half years old (to my knowledge he was born in early 2015) he is far from full size and strength, yet in his continued tagging along behind the Mhangeni lionesses he is starting to place himself into mortal danger from the Birmingham males.  *This image is copyright of its original author A few days ago the Tsalala lioness was with a single Birmingham male in the Sand River, just upstream from the Londolozi camps. As dusk fell, the pair split up; the male headed back to his brother(s) and the lioness was remained in the riverbed, moving downstream in front of camp, roaring. The next morning she was still close by, vocalising pretty consistently, we suspect for the male. Barely 500m from her, and less than 200m from where the Birmingham male had been the night before, two Mhangeni females were found by ranger James Souchon and tracker Richard Mthabine, lying on the northern bank of the river. We joined the sighting a few minutes later, and circling around the lionesses to get a better view from up on the bank, we were surprised to find the Ottawa male standing about 50m from them, nervously staring in their direction. They seemed aware of his presence, as only a few minutes later the lionesses descended to the riverbed with the male slowly trailing behind, and neither female seemed concerned when he came out into the open. One of the lionesses would roar occasionally; either she was vocalising defiance to the Tsalala female downstream, or she was communicating with the Birmingham coalition. What was surprising was the fact that the Ottawa male began scent-marking; rubbing his face in a bush and urinating. This behaviour is usually associated with territorial males, and is a risky thing for a young lion to be doing.  *This image is copyright of its original author That same day, late in the afternoon, two of the Birmingham males (one of whom had been with the Tsalala female the night before) were in central Londolozi. One of them was staring fixedly to the north, in the direction of where the Mhangeni lioness had been calling in the morning. We don’t know exactly what information is conveyed in a lion’s roar, but whatever it was, as night fell the Birmingham pair got up and began a steady march up towards the Sand River. By 22:00 they had entered a dense thicket line just SW of the Londolozi camps, and ranger Alex Jordan was forced to abandon his attempt to follow them, as it was impossible to get a vehicle through one of the stream beds that the lions crossed. They were making a bee-line towards where they had heard the Mhangeni female roaring that morning. In the roaring was she simply giving her position, or was she in any way indicating the presence of the Ottawa male? Impossible to say…  *This image is copyright of its original author 1. Route of Birmingham males through the evening. 2. Route of Mhangeni lionesses on same evening. Green dot. Position of Tsalala lioness
What the Birmingham males found when they got to where the lionesses had been is anyone’s guess. At that stage no one was with the lionesses and Ottawa male, and they may have been long gone by the time the Birmingham males arrived. What we do know is that the Birmingham males were responding quietly towards the area, without roaring, which is what males are known do when they are aware of the presence of another male, and don’t want their approach to be known. They may simply have been moving in to join the lionesses and had no idea that the Ottawa male was there, but I’m sure that once they arrived at the spot they would have caught his scent. Lions can tell a lot about other lions from pheromones in the urine, and from the scent-mark the Ottawa male left, the two Birminghams would have instantly been able to establish what type of threat he represented, which we presume is minimal. Upon catching the scent of a rival, males have been known to give chase immediately, and maybe that even happened last night; there was no sign of any of the males this morning.  *This image is copyright of its original author Whatever happened, the presence of a rival male with lionesses that they have been mating with will certainly be unwelcome by the Birmingham coalition. Years ago the Majingilane went on the hunt when they heard the young Southern Pride males roaring, and after 48 hours they caught and killed one of them. I’m not saying the same thing will happen here, but with the ominous and silent approach by the Birmingham males that was witnessed last night, the Ottawa male would be best advised to make himself scarce.
Some of the Kambula cubs with the Mapogo/Majingilane/Birmingham pedigree are getting bigger. There are at least a dozen of them, and it will be interesting to see the survival rate and gender breakdown. With their big powerful mothers they should be relatively safe, although it is expected that the Birminghams will be in the process of moving on as male coalitions do. Credit: image by Karibuniafrica at MalaMala, posted October 21, 2018.
Foll  *This image is copyright of its original author
Seems like the northern Avocas have little to fear around Djuma, Nkorho, Buffelshoek and Simbambili, and are often seen on their own. Here the big blonde boy with the limp feeds on a buffalo with the Nkuhumas. Credit: Safari Live and TheOhikulkija, October 21
 *This image is copyright of its original author The Mhangenis were also seen in Simbambili fighting over a carcass with a clan of hyenas. Credit: video by Sabre Meeser, October 21, 2018
The mhangenis are the most wild Lions of the entire world. Living by their owns with only two Years, skinny, dirty, full of mange, starving and there is always a clan of hyenas trying to robbery any meal that they have.
Avoca boy showing some nice coloring (same guy that was seen at Simabmbili). Credit: image by Gideon Malherbe at Sabi Sands GR, posted October 21, 2018.
 *This image is copyright of its original author
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