Lion tales

[Potato]

http://tintswaloguides.blogspot.com/2012/09/
http://tintswaloguides.blogspot.com/2012/10/

Matimba males conquest of northen Manyeleti Part 4

September:


[b]Matimba males:[/b]

The Matimba males are a well-known powerful coalition of six males that frequent the central and Southern parts of the reserve and also move in the Northern parts of the Sabi Sands.

They were seen at the beginning of the week at Bushbuck dam on the Sabi Sand boundary with five males in attendance. We went the next morning to relocate them, only to hear that they were found on a Wildebeest kill on Bee-eater road. This is about 12 kilometres from the boundary which indicates the size of their territory. There were also some scattered sightings of these males around S8 dam and one male was found on a Zebra kill on S10 road. So a fair amount of movement in core of their territory, the south, with the typical Matimba incursions to the north.

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

[b]Sizanani males:[/b]

The Sizanani males are a coalition of two that move around the central and western parts of the reserve and occasionally moves into the Timbavati Nature Reserve.

*This image is copyright of its original author

 The first sighting for the week was the male with the bad back leg at Lompfaan pan to the north of the lodge. His brother was vocalising further north and he promptly roared back, got up and started making his way to his brother. The healthy Sizanani brother was seen with the Koppies females where he was endlessly mating with the oldest female in the group. A few nights later we found him at Panicum road, about 200 meters from the lodge. He was fiercely roaring, advertising his territory, and moved right past the staff accommodation! We found the pair the next night chasing Buffalo at the Tintswalo pump house, once again only 100 meters from the lodge.  They seem to be evading the larger coalitions and have set up a small territory close to the lodge. 

*This image is copyright of its original author

15 October:

[b]Skybeds 9 males:[/b]


Two of the nine were seen at Skybeds dam. After careful scrutiny Fritz confirmed that they were indeed the Skybeds males. Their bellies were full and it seemed like they had eaten well. They spent almost two full days at this dam that gave them their name.

Matimba males:

Besides the incursion into Sizanani territory, three males were seen hammering a female down at S10 road in the south. We think this might be one of the Hamiltons females, but she was deep in Matimba and Nkuhuma lion territory.

Sizanani males (Nkuhuma male lions):

*This image is copyright of its original author

These males, having seemingly taken over the Koppies pride, have had a tough few weeks. It all started out with them feeding on a Buffalo kill on Mazambaan corner while the females had a Buffalo all to themselves a few kilometres away on Helens road. Then all hell broke loose! The Matimba’s were roaring to the east towards Main dam, only a few kilometres away from where these males were feeding. Somehow one of the Koppies females got tangled up with them during the night and the guides found her beaten up again, mating with the Matimba’s. Then a few days later, they had one of the Koppies girls with them at Mantwaan Mphisi pan, close to Helens road. All this Matimba activity eventually drove them north and they were found feeding on a Buffalo carcass at Mantombeni pan. It seems though that this was an opportunistic feeding, as the Buffalo looked like it had got stuck in the mud.

27 October:

[b]Sizanani Males and Koppies Females:
[/b]

We haven’t seen much of our resident pride lately. After all the chaos caused by the Matimba’s a few weeks ago, the Koppies females have been keeping a very low profile. We saw them with the Sizanani males on Panicum road and this was the first time they’ve been seen together since the Matimba’s were in town. The next morning we found the Koppies girls at Wild dog dam and they moved north towards the airstrip. They went into a thicket and settled down for the day.

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

The Sizanani boys moved far north, unfortunately into an area of clay soils which means we have not been able to follow up on them for a few days.

Matimba’s:



These boys have been fairly busy lately. Two of the Matimba’s seem to have set up shop from S8 dam all the way to Main dam. These are the two culprits that have been giving the Sizanani males uphill. Their week started out with a Buffalo kill on Power lines road and a second buffalo kill was found on Ntzaka loop a few days later.

The Sizanani males then roared close to Mantwaan Mphisi pan and the next night both Matimba males were there, almost in exactly the same spot as the Sizanani males the night before. They did the same thing, marked their territory and roared into the night. The next night I found them at Main dam where they crossed the dam wall and continued to mark their territory and roar.

It looks as though a show down between these lions is on the cards. Reply