Lions of Sabi Sands

[Nathan Aiden]

Hairy Belly Matimba A smart and strategical Male Lion.

Recently in a discussion with a ranger i expressed concern that the Matimba should leave the area immediately and if i was Hairy Belly Matimba i would have left the area and escaped.
Ranger said he has spent over 3 years with the Matimba Male Lion and can say for sure that Matimba Male is extremely smart with his movements and reason he has been so successful in finding food and water.]

Hairy Belly Matimba has also been smart in the field of battle. One of the reasons why he was involved in so many battles and survived them. No coalition survived altercations against Majingelanes and Matimbas had like 7/8 against them in their lifetime...

Here is a part of a londolozi article where Hairy Belly Matimba dodgy 3/4 Majingelanes lopping in circles..

Read..[The darker-maned Matimba male, however, was many kilometers away from his brother on the morning of the 23rd. He was found around the south western portion of Londolozi, lying about 300m from the Majingilane and not looking in a good state. Externally he didn’t seem to be carrying any major wounds from what we could see and he only seemed to have a wound on his paw. However, he was struggling to stand. When rangers saw him in the morning, he rocked and struggled before managing to get to his feet, gingerly walked a few paces before lying down once more. Whether this was from sheer exhaustion, stiffness from the previous evening’s forays or some internal damage, we can’t be sure but this male had certainly found himself in a precarious position. The two Majingilane males were resting up just to his north and looking strong and fit physically. They didn’t seem to have any injuries and rangers and guests were anxious to see what the evening of the 23rd would bring.Then almost by the book, the Majingilane started to get moving last night once the cover of darkness descended, and they began heading straight in the direction of the unsuspecting dark-maned Matimba male. As the distance between the coalitions lessened, the vehicles switched their lights off, thereby allowing the Matimba male to see the threat coming and so as to not give his position away. The Matimba male saw the two Majingilane brothers first and he leapt up and silently slunk away into the darkness (he was moving easily by this point and it seemed that if there were any injuries, they weren’t severe at all). What happened from here can really only be described as pandemonium. As soon as the two Majingilane smelt him they took off in his direction, the dark-maned Majingilane seeing him first and the male with the scar nose following just behind. The Matimba male disappeared at full speed and from here the Majingilane ran in circles trying to establish where he had gone. The roaring was continuous. The noise must have attracted the attention of the other two Majingilane brothers and they came from the west to join the fray. It was now four Majingilane versus one Matimba.
Knowing full well that he didn’t stand a chance against such a force, the Matimba male desperately tried to elude the four brothers. For the next hour or so he managed to dodge them by looping in ever-widening circles and constantly changing direction whenever he heard them call. After losing sight of him, the Majingilane patrolled the area, sniffing, roaring and scent marking. After about an hour of zig-zagging, it seemed the Matimba male had finally lost his pursuers and he headed silently and swiftly south. He would stop regularly, turn and listen intently to the north to try to establish the position of the threat before turning and moving south. Reply