Lion tales

[Potato]

http://tintswaloguides.blogspot.com/2012/11/

Matimba males conquest of northen Manyeleti Part 5

7 November:

Skybeds males:


We only had the one sighting of these two males, that seem to have lost the rest of their pride, at Koppies. Unfortunately this is quite close to where Nduna, the biggest Matimba male, was last seen. He was last reported close to Talamati Bush Camp in the Kruger National Park, which is only a few kilometres from Koppies. Let’s hope they stay out of the big guys’ way!

Sizanani males


After a rough month of Matimba incursions, these lions have once again settled down. They have been spending most of their time around Tamboti road, AK road and up to Catwalk area. There hasn’t been any major upheaval’s and it’s just been “business as usual”.

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

They were with the Koppies females again on Catwalk east and ended up on a Buffalo kill on Gumede road, less than a kilometre away from the lodge, a few days later.

18 November:


Sizanani and Koppies :

They have been in their core territorial area for the last while and have not had any major dramas during this period. For the last while they have been apart and the males have been trying to re-enforce their dominance over their territory. For the girls though it’s been business as usual. One of their favourite areas of operation is to the south of the lodge. It’s a gabbro area with fantastic grazing and plenty of big grazing animals such as Zebra and Buffalo. So the sightings we have had of them were around Panicum road and Manor house pan.

The Sizanani males moved a lot more, and were seen around Zebra pan and Catwalk west, before slipping off the radar for a while.

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

28 November:

Sizanani males and Koppies females:

It has been a little quiet with these Lions for a while! We finally found the Koppies females on a young Buffalo kill, on Konkoni road close to Zebra pan quarry. They were seen feeding on the Buffalo for two days. It’s remarkable how these females have relaxed with the vehicles ever since the Sizanani males took over the pride.

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*This image is copyright of its original author

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*This image is copyright of its original author

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So we got wondering, where were the males? One morning on our way to check on the Koppies girls and their kill, we found both Sizanani males walking from the Lodge towards Zebra pan, right towards the females. We followed the males and they settled about 200 meters from the kill, completely unaware of it. During the day, the females left what little meat was left. That afternoon we found the stronger male with the older Koppies female at Zebra pan quarry. No need to explain what they were up to!

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Matimba males:

[b]The first sighting we had of these males was on Ntzaka loop. This area seems to be a favourite of the two Matimba’s that ventures this far north into the Manyeleti. They were just lying on a big open area, so nothing out of the ordinary. The strange thing about these Lions is that they dominate a large portion of land, but are hardly seen with females. The Mbhiri females also frequent this area but it doesn’t seem like the Matimba’s have managed to settle them down yet.[/b]

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*This image is copyright of its original author

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[b]

*This image is copyright of its original author

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A few days later, we found four Matimba’s together on S6 cutline not far from Tamboti road. Our concern was that this was where the Sizanani male and two Koppies females were. If the Matimba’s got any clue of them, they wouldn’t hesitate to kill the male and they have a reputation for killing females too. Luckily they went east towards Main dam. Reply