The Mighty Mapogos

[fursan syed]

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Mapogo male lion coalition
Posted by Greg Coates

Makhulu and Sataan have been mating with a Ximungwe lioness and an Ottawa lioness respectively during the last week. They have however now met up with the third brother and were seen last night taking a bit of heat from a herd of elephant which chased them around for about half an hour. Once the elephants moved off the brothers made their way south and east where they were reported to be tailing the large herd of buffalo just east of our border this morning. They are however now much closer to the area where a Ximungwe lioness has a kudu kill and her cubs. Once the vultures get airborne during the day it is almost certain that the brothers must see them and now know that there is a potentially easy meal nearby. It will be interesting to see what has happened overnight once the big cats have gotten active.

Ximungwe lioness and cubs

One of the major sightings of the week has been this single lioness with her cubs. She managed to kill an adult male kudu all on her own near Nkombe Dam and then brought the cubs to the kill. They have been on the kill for the last three days now and the vultures have arrived in their hundreds. For this reason the mother has tried to bury the entrails and move the carcass under thicker bush but the presence of the vultures and the ever increasing stench is just delaying the inevitable arrival of the Mapogo who were seen coming south towards the area last night. The cubs are looking well though and steal a bit of milk every now and then when mom is resting even though they are feeding mostly on meat now. Lets just hope that Makhulu Mapogo can protect the cubs from Sataan should the coalition arrive at the kill tonight.

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

Reply