The Mighty Mapogos

[lucas_kruger]

(03-29-2023, 09:58 AM)Mapokser Wrote: Among the many "adventures" the Mapogos had, one of the most intriguing to me ( maybe because of it being somehow mysterious ) is the reported fight of 18-19 of June 2011. Initially reported to be between the Mapogos and the Majingilanes, but later went into popular believe to be between Mapogos and Matimbas after rangers discussed it on Khimbini's FB post and an information of from a photographer who used to take many photos of Matimbas saying it was 3 "Sava/Matimba males".

Still, in the Matimba thread some very good arguments were presented by "Fredymrt" ( who unfortunately hasn't logged in since 2019 )  stating it couldn't have been Matimbas for several reasons. After reading a lot about this I wanted to give my take on who was involved in that fight... This will likely be a long post:

1. First I wanted to give the options for which lions it could have been and exclude some immediately, the most obvious at first were Majingilanes, but later Matimbas came into it and even the 2 Othawa boys that are confirmed to have fought their fathers that month. I think we can use common sense and exclude the 3yo Othawa boys from being the culprits because let's be honest 2 subs wouldn't be roaring as reported and then be able to serious injure all their 3 fathers to a point Khimbini would report the 3 Mapogos were "dripping blood" when he arrived. But still, after figuring everything out, in the next month, Khimbini/Inyati reported that Mapogos had at least 2 fights in June excluding the interaction with Othawas:

*This image is copyright of its original author

https://inyatigamelodge.com/2011/06/27/w...june-2011/

A similar option was also suggested by Fredymrt, the 2 young Nkuhuma males, but for the same reason we can easily disreagrd them, 2 subadults wouldn't be able to injure the 3 adult males to such degree Khimbini would say they all were injured and were literally dripping blood even by the time he arrived to the scene:

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

EP also reports that they got news from the fight that they were all limping around after the conflict:

"Regarding the big boys, we got news from the west that the Majingi’s and the Mapogo’s had a brawl and after this they were all limping around"

https://www.elephantplains.co.za/big-5-b...june-2011/

Although they report it as being between Majingis and Mapogos.

But maybe the most important report about wounds, alongside Khimbini's who also saw them afterwards, is Singita's, since it happened there in Othawa. Mark Broodryk, Head Guide of Singita, reports in June 22 that Majingilanes killed a Selati male and weren't necessarily the ones to have fought the Mapogos, of which he describes their condition as:

"Forty-eight  hours ago we located 3 adult male lions just north of the lodge (presumed to be the ones people refer to as “the Mapogos”).  We found them by responding to vocalization; it sounded like a massive fight between adult male lions. On locating these three, we noticed that they had been badly beaten, were bloodied and received massive fresh scars from the ensuing morning battle."

https://www.facebook.com/notes/352371402707907/

2. With this said ( lots of territorial roaring and serious injuries inflicted to the 3 Mapogos ) I think it's clear it wasn't 2 Othawas or even the 2 Nkuhumas, but rather 3 adult males. But then, which males, 3 Majingis like initially reported?

Mele Andru says it couldn't have been them:

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

They have been somehwere else and have no injuries. Arathusa also saw 2 Majingis after the fight and makes no mention of any injuries:

"Monday 20 June

This morning we came across a group of five rhinos just as they were waking up and starting to feed. It really is quite something to see these hulking beasts while they’re still sleepy. After watching them for a while we went looking for the lion cubs again, but unfortunately they were either well hidden or off somewhere with their Moms because we couldn’t find them anywhere. We did find one of the Styx lionesses however, and she’d been joined by two of the Majingilane males. Could there be love in the air?"

3. But if it wasn't them, then could it have been the Matimbas? I'll address Fredymrt's [very good] arguments saying it couldn't. Since we just mentioned Mele Andru, let's start with him, one of the points made by Fredymrt was that Mele Andru said Matimbas were never in Othawa:

*This image is copyright of its original author

And someone else Matimbas went just as far as Chitwa, Arathusa, Djuma and Nkorho, not west enough to have met Mapogos in Othawa:

*This image is copyright of its original author

However, I've to point out that they are unaware of Elephant Plains reports saying to have seen the Matimbas in their property in July ( fight was in 19 of June ):

"Manager’s Report July 2011

On another occasion they were treated to sightings of some new male lions in the area. These seem to be the Matimba pride from Manyeleti Game Reserve."

https://www.elephantplains.co.za/big-5-b...july-2011/

EP borders Othawa in Singita:

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

So yeah they did hang out west enough around that time even to have met the Mapogos in Othawa.

4. Now, addressing perhaps Fredymrt's strongest point at the time, that it couldn't have been Matimbas because there are photos of some Matimbas taken by Rudolf Kals on Cheetah Plains on 18-19 of June, like this one:

*This image is copyright of its original author

Shared on july and claimed to have been taken on 18-19 ( some in 18 and some in 19 ). Therefore, as per Fredymrt, they were too far from Othawa to have been involved, as the distance between Cheetah Plains and Othawa is around 18km:

*This image is copyright of its original author

However, to counter this is actually very simple: lions can and have crossed such distances in a single night.

Take for example this MalaMala report:

"January 11th. 6 lion sightings: the Matshapiri males covered a huge distance last night (15-20km) and were found near Hyena Waterhole this morning. The Eyrefield pride were a mere 200m from them but both were unaware of the others presence."

5. Now that I've addressed the points of why it couldn't be Matimbas, let's compile the evidence it could have been them.

As everybody knows, Kyaw got info from a photographer saying it was 3 Matimbas:

*This image is copyright of its original author

Now, we know from the reports that the males who fought the Mapogos couldn't be sighted because they were hiding in thick bush, but something I've never seen brought up here is that in the Singita report that I've already shared here:

https://www.facebook.com/notes/352371402707907/

Karen Gilliam ( who works for WildEarth ), replies to Mark ( Singita Head Guide who made the post ) in June 22, talking about Khimbini's post and saying this:

"There was also a report of 5 males in Djuma/Western Gowrie and Torchwood area on Saturday, so it sure looks like quite a few different males are wandering about lately. Those Matimba in Manyeleti are getting a bit frisky nowdays too in crossing boundaries, as of last night 3 of them still not accounted for."

3 unaccounted Matimbas, coincidence?

Considering the Matimbas were the ones involved and the fact there were 6 of them, it's hard to tell their composition between 18-20 of June, they could have split in different groups and moved among themselves for all we know, but even among the ( I'm not sure how many ) Matimbas photographed in Cheetah Plains ( by Rudolf Kals ), at least one seemed to have injuries, maybe two but it's hard to identify them.

This one has similar scratches to Mr.T's after his second fight that month according to Khimbini, Matimba:

*This image is copyright of its original author

/\ June 19.

Mr.T June 2011:

*This image is copyright of its original author

So these are the types of scratches you can get in these territorial fights. Tbh this particular Matimba male already displayed these similar scratches in photos from June 18, but again, Rudolf was uploading them in July and just marking the many photos as being from 18 or 19 of June, so he could very well have been mistaken a photo from 19 as one from 18 ( though tbf we don't really know exact hour the fight took place between 18 and 19 since when rangers arrived the fight was already over and they only heard the roars, roars can happen before, after and during the actual fight ), still could any of these Matimbas' injuries have been from the said fight?

Here a Matimba male by Rudolf ( uploaded in July, claimed to be from June 18 ):

*This image is copyright of its original author

He looks pretty beaten and it seems very fresh. Could it have been from mating rights? It looks way to bad to be. And in the Sabi Sands where I think they had no prides by June 2011?

It looks similar to how Makhulu was:

*This image is copyright of its original author

Matimba male by Rudolf Kals, shared in July, said to be from June 19:

*This image is copyright of its original author

A bit similar to Makhulu's injury below the eye, from the same fight? Photo by Khimbini:

*This image is copyright of its original author

Now a photo from PB who Khimbini said was also dripping blood but the injuries from the other 2 Mapogos were worse according to him:

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

Now to finish it, Colleen Holland's statement that was shared here on WF already on who she thought fought Mapogos:

*This image is copyright of its original author

https://wildfact.com/forum/topic-the-mat...on?page=22

6. CONCLUSION:

There's no real evidence that it couldn't have been the Matimbas, but we have plenty of evidence pointing out to them being the ones involved. When you add all the evidence and exclude the Majingilanes and any duo of subadults, honestly, unless some unknown coalition of 3 suddenly teleported to Sabi Sands around that time and area, I don't see how it can be anyone but the Matimbas.

(03-30-2023, 10:51 PM)Mapokser Wrote: @Potato @Timbavati Wow I was certain it was Slitnose because his mane looked very well developed and SN seems to be the oldest after Ndhuna.

Is there any confirmation that the Mapogos defeated the Matimbas that day? Reply