Lions of Sabi Sands

[Fredymrt]

THE RETURN OF THE 7TH CUB…

Southern/Selati pride

BY: CALVIN KOTZE   (BUSH LODGE RANGER) May 18, 2012

We made our way closer to the lions only to find them scattered across an open area. The excitement was high, and the smiles on my guest’s faces said it all… I sat quietly for quite some time giving my guests a chance to appreciate what we were seeing, as the warmth of the morning sun heated our bodies, I started to tell my guests a little bit about this pride and pointed out to them that the one cub had been missing for quite some time. We all counted them together and noticed that one cub was quite a distance away from the rest of them but thought nothing of it. We spent the next 30 minutes watching various behavior, yawning, grooming and social bonding through touch as all the females gathered into a closer nit group around the cubs.

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I noticed that the 7th cub had stood up and started walking towards the pride.

Immediately I saw that something was wrong, this young male was not in a good condition and the way he was walking clearly indicated that he was not himself. His eyes told a cold story and looking into them made me fear the worst, for some reason he had a very sad energy coming from him and it was felt by all that were there.

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Southern pride lion cub

With his head held low and his eyes drooping he slowly limped towards the pride, he veered off and went and sat behind our vehicle keeping his distance from the pride, I found this very strange as lions are sociable cats and form very tight bonds, but yet none of them seemed to care about this young cub. We sat discussing what could potentially be wrong with him, we had gone from complete excitement and happiness to sadness in a matter of minutes and one could not help but to feel sorry for this young male cub. No one could have expected what was about to happen next… With sadness still in our hearts, fearing this young lion would not make it much longer, he stood up and started approaching the pride again, crouched and head still lowered he walked behind a bush which separated him from the pride, inside I could feel all he wanted was the love and affection of his family again, it was almost as if he just needed that and everything would have been fine, but he had taken one step too close.

The female that was sleeping closest to him snarled and immediately stood up only to cause a chain reaction as the whole pride stood up and started snarling intensely. The two closest females to him growled loudly and started charging at him through the bush that separated them from him. There was pure anger and all the signs of a real charge were present.

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I knew this was not going to end well as the two females proceeded to attack this cub.

The cries of distress hollowed from the young lions mouth but they were drowned by the anger that was being heard from the rest of the pride as they attacked him

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*This image is copyright of its original author

Trying to get away, he stumbled and left only to find himself surrounded by the pride who also started to attack him.

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The sounds were spine chilling and the anger and power of these cats were felt by everyone, some guests couldn’t watch as they thought that this cub was about to die.

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It felt so inhumane – this is one of their own cubs – why are they doing this? He just wants love? Questions were rushing though my mind, as I watched this pride of lions continuously attack their own son. Speechless and emotional I watched the pride walk away leaving this little cub lying there, the extent of his injures unknown, also unknown was if he was alive or not. After a few minutes the cub struggled to stand up and injured much worse than before, made his way to a shady tree a few meters away. I now knew why he limped towards the pride and kept his distance at first and I couldn’t help but think of what this poor cub must have been through in the last 24 hours, not only physically but emotionally too. The pride walked a few hundred meters away and stopped to look back as if to make sure he is not following them, it was a cold, distant look, like they never cared.

Lions at sabi sabi

I turned to look into his eyes one more time before leaving and I could now see the story that they told, it was a story of pain and suffering, a story of determination and heartache, a story of fear and loneliness but most of all it was a story of a broken bond.

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Southern Pride lion cub at Sabi Sabi


Credits: kyle de Nobrega

The last stand

The kruger Males and Southern/Selati pride

"An unfortunate set of events for this young male cub lasted over a month until his last stand against these 2 Kruger males. The cub had been rejected from the southern pride and trailed them like a shadow for over a month. It had managed to scavenge some of the remains from the kills that the southern pride had made. On this particular morning, sick and injured, it limped its way towards the pride which lay about 200m from these 2 male lions. The cub called in agony, hoping for some sort of acceptance and response from the pride. Its vain attempt at acceptance caught the attention of these 2 male lions, which inevitably caused its death.

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The cub was met with extreme hostility

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The cub, clearly standing no chance against the male, 

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Immediate engagement from the male

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The second male shows interest, but plays hardly any part in the event

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Intense powerHe holds his grip , finally ending the suffering the cub endured.

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

He carrries the lifeless body off into a thicket.

This was one of the most intense things I have ever seen in the bush. This event, filled with mixed emotions was just a raw insight as to what happens in the life of lions, so I consider myself lucky to have witnessed this, however it was hard to watch as the cub stood no chance in his last few moments spent against some of the most powerful beasts on earth. The cub , if it had made it to adulthood, would of inevitably himself been a culprit in such an event." Reply