The Matimba coalition

[Fredymrt]

Monday, 15 October 2012

It’s so good to be back, after a nice long break. Things have been going really well in the Manyeleti and the bush version of “Days of our lives” continues as per usual!

Lions

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Sizanani males (Nkuhuma male lions)


Sizanani Male Lion
Taken by Fritz Breytenbach

These males, having seemingly taken over the Koppies pride, have had a tough few weeks. It all started out with them feeding on a Buffalo kill on Mazambaan corner while the females had a Buffalo all to themselves a few kilometres away on Helens road. Then all hell broke loose! The Matimba’s were roaring to the east towards Main dam, only a few kilometres away from where these males were feeding. Somehow one of the Koppies females got tangled up with them during the night and the guides found her beaten up again, mating with the Matimba’s. Then a few days later, they had one of the Koppies girls with them at Mantwaan Mphisi pan, close to Helens road. All this Matimba activity eventually drove them north and they were found feeding on a Buffalo carcass at Mantombeni pan. It seems though that this was an opportunistic feeding, as the Buffalo looked like it had got stuck in the mud.

Sizanani male feeding on a Buffalo until the Matimba's roar...
Taken by Fritz Breytenbach


Matimba males

Besides the incursion into Sizanani territory, three males were seen hammering a female down at S10 road in the south. We think this might be one of the Hamiltons females, but she was deep in Matimba and Nkuhuma lion territory.

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Matimba males movements

Mungana lions
Taken by Fritz Breytenbach

Introductions are in order. These lions consist of two females and a young male and we have been seeing these lions on and off now for a few months. The male was given the name Mungana, meaning friendly in Shangaan, referring to his laid back and easy going nature. They are very easy lions to view! We are not too sure where they came from, but we always find them around Ndulamiti road, south-east of the lodge. Lucky for them the Matimba’s have only been seen in this area once and it’s outside Sizanani territory. We had two sightings in the last two weeks, both on Ndulamiti road.

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

Saturday, 27 October 2012
Lion

*This image is copyright of its original author

Sizanani Males and Koppies Females

We haven’t seen much of our resident pride lately. After all the chaos caused by the Matimba’s a few weeks ago, the Koppies females have been keeping a very low profile. We saw them with the Sizanani males on Panicum road and this was the first time they’ve been seen together since the Matimba’s were in town. The next morning we found the Koppies girls at Wild dog dam and they moved north towards the airstrip. They went into a thicket and settled down for the day.
Matimba’s

These boys have been fairly busy lately. Two of the Matimba’s seem to have set up shop from S8 dam all the way to Main dam. These are the two culprits that have been giving the Sizanani males uphill. Their week started out with a Buffalo kill on Power lines road and a second buffalo kill was found on Ntzaka loop a few days later.

The Sizanani males then roared close to Mantwaan Mphisi pan and the next night both Matimba males were there, almost in exactly the same spot as the Sizanani males the night before. They did the same thing, marked their territory and roared into the night. The next night I found them at Main dam where they crossed the dam wall and continued to mark their territory and roar.

It looks as though a show down between these lions is on the cards.

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Matimba movements


Wednesday, 7 November 2012

It’s heating up in the bush as the big cat politics gets more interesting by the day! Just to add a little spice to the casserole we had a new group of lion move onto the Manyeleti.

Lion

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Sizanani males

After a rough month of Matimba incursions, these lions have once again settled down. They have been spending most of their time around Tamboti road, AK road and up to Catwalk area. There hasn’t been any major upheaval’s and it’s just been “business as usual”.

They were with the Koppies females again on Catwalk east and ended up on a Buffalo kill on Gumede road, less than a kilometre away from the lodge, a few days later.

Koppies females

Once again reunited with the Sizanani boys, they have found a confidence that we have not seen before. Ever since the Sizanani take-over, they seemed to have relaxed around the vehicles. Patrick first found them not far from Metsikitsoro plains. From there they moved west and killed a small Buffalo at Ingwe Manzi. This was quite a sighting for the guides on drive as a group of 20 plus Hyena were attracted to the kill. Through the day the Hyena moved closer and closer. That evening we could hear the eruption of Hyena’s whooping and lions growling all the way from our staff village. Eric was the first to return and told me that when one of the females got up to drink a Hyena pounced at the opportunity. The tenacious Koppies girls did however hold them off and kept their kill.

Skybeds males

We only had the one sighting of these two males, that seem to have lost the rest of their pride, at Koppies. Unfortunately this is quite close to where Nduna, the biggest Matimba male, was last seen. He was last reported close to Talamati Bush Camp in the Kruger National Park, which is only a few kilometres from Koppies. Let’s hope they stay out of the big guys’ way!
Nduna

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*This image is copyright of its original author

The new pride

These guys pitched up from out of the blue. We first found them on a Wildebeest kill on Buffalo plains. They were quite wary of the vehicles and we thought they may be a group from the Kruger area. They were found the next day on a Kudu kill at Bee-eater drive which meant they moved several kilometre’s during the night and made another kill. They were then found by Mpho north east of Red road a few days later.

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This group comprises of two adult females and two sub-adult males. One of the females is quite light in colour, but definitely not white. The two young males are probably around two years old.


Sunday, 18 November 2012

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It’s been a fairly good and easy going time in the bush the last while. We have been eagerly anticipating one of the big calendar moments in the bush…. The arrival of a whole new generation of young Impala! The mothers still have them safely tucked away but pretty soon they will come and strut their stuff!

Lion

Sizanani and Koppies

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They have been in their core territorial area for the last while and have not had any major dramas during this period. For the last while they have been apart and the males have been trying to re-enforce their dominance over their territory. For the girls though it’s been business as usual. One of their favourite areas of operation is to the south of the lodge. It’s a gabbro area with fantastic grazing and plenty of big grazing animals such as Zebra and Buffalo. So the sightings we have had of them were around Panicum road and Manor house pan.


Wednesday, 28 November 2012

The Manyeleti has been really rewarding lately. We are seeing some good work starting to bare the fruits of success.

Matimba males

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The first sighting we had of these males was on Ntzaka loop. This area seems to be a favourite of the two Matimba’s that ventures this far north into the Manyeleti. They were just lying on a big open area, so nothing out of the ordinary. The strange thing about these Lions is that they dominate a large portion of land, but are hardly seen with females. The Mbhiri females also frequent this area but it doesn’t seem like the Matimba’s have managed to settle them down yet.

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A few days later, we found four Matimba’s together on S6 cutline not far from Tamboti road. Our concern was that this was where the Sizanani male and two Koppies females were. If the Matimba’s got any clue of them, they wouldn’t hesitate to kill the male and they have a reputation for killing females too. Luckily they went east towards Main dam.

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We had one sighting of these females with a young male at S8 dam. We didn’t see the young Mungana male with them. This was a dangerous place to be, especially for the young male, as it is a favourite area of the Matimba males. The drama continues to play itself out with these Lions. Reply