Lions of Timbavati

[T I N O]

Tanda Tula update

The lions were fairly present over the first few days of the week; following up on the cheetahs the next day, we found two Nharhu male lions resting in the same open area that the cheetahs had spent the night in, and the next day the two younger River Pride lionesses were found again.  Sadly, they all moved east out of the concession the next day, and despite some tracks in the area a few days later, we didn’t catch up to them again this week.  The Giraffe Pride were present in the western part of the concession early in the week too, and spent a couple of days around a zebra kill (and then sleeping it off).  The week ended with the return of a long-lost face, the last remaining Sumatra male lion was found not too far from Tanda Tula with a buffalo calf kill. I say long lost, but Jack actually did track both the Sumatra and Hercules males down about five weeks ago, but he couldn’t identify them back then. It seems as though these two males have been displaced by the Mbiri males as the dominant males of a Kruger-based pride known as the Skorro pride.  It may well have been their roars that we heard last week?  They would roar to test the waters, and see if they drew any response from existing dominant male lions. If the roars remain unanswered, it is likely that the area is unoccupied by resident males. With the Nharhu males and River pride spending their time in the east, there may well be an opening for the Sumatra male to eke out an existence to the west of our concession. Only time will tell if he hangs around, or indeed if the Hercules male is still in a coalition with him. Reply