Lions of Sabi Sands

[vinodkumarn]

Nkuhuma pride vs Leopard’s

The unfortunate thing about the bush with the animals living in it, is that predators do not like each other. Time and again we have seen predators fighting with each other and it is one fight that you do not really want to see, because the dominant predator will win in most battles and the loser will most likely end up dead. Lions are the most dominate predator in the bush followed by the spotted hyena, leopard, wild dogs and then cheetah. Lions rule the bush, because of the fact that they are bigger and stronger than the other predators. Moving in a group makes it even more difficult to stand a chance against such a force. We had two sightings in one week were ones again the lions had showed that they were the top cat on the block. The sighting started when we were following four lionesses from the Nkuhuma pride with their six cubs and two Birmingham male lions down the road. Massive pride and it was great to see them all together, when all of a sudden, they went off into the bush where they had spotted something. The next minute all the females started to run deeper into the bush and our first instincts told us that they were hunting. We were right, they were hunting, but it was not one of our common antelope species, but Anderson, the male leopard. Luckily Anderson spotted the lions in the nick of time and manage to climb up a tree and three seconds later the hole Nkuhuma pride was standing under the tree watching him. Some of the pride members even tried to climb up the tree and you could see from the look on Andersons face that he did not find it very funny. The lions lost interest a few minutes later and gave Anderson time he needed to climb down the tree and run away. A very close shave. A couple of days later we had the same thing happing, but this time it was Tingana, the male leopard turns to climb for this live. Tingana killed an impala and was dragging it towards a very nice tree to hoist it and to get it in a save place away from danger, but the Nkuhuma pride that was not far from the area heard the impalas alarm calling, so the hole pride went to investigate. Tingana was about to put his kill up in the tree when he realised that he was not alone and that he was being followed. He left his kill at the base of the tree and went up. A very good dissection, because the pride made their appearance a few seconds later and stole Tingana’s hard worked kill. Most people think that hyenas are the scavengers of the bush, but research have shown that lions scavenge more than hyenas. When you find lions on a kill you automatically assume that the lions have made a kill, but you do not think that the king of the bush can scavenge from other predators. Tingana looked on as the pride finished off his impala kill in a few minutes. With their snack finished, the pride moved away from the tree to give Tingana an opportunity to jump down and run for his live. He did not even look back. He disappeared in the bush. It just showed that you always have to be aware what is happening around you and even if you are a predator you still have dangers lurking around every corner. I hope that you found the article informative.
Credits: EP Ranger  Louis Liversage Reply