the Selati coalition

[Tshokwane]

DECEMBER 2013 BUSH JOURNAL:

It has rained a great deal and we got 100mm in a few days. This caused the river to swell nicely and the northern section of the reserve was closed off for a bit. As soon as the levels were just passable we crossed the causeway to head north which raised a few pulses on the game viewer. We were however rewarded with the Hukumuri female, one Selati male and a group of buffalo all in the same sighting. We really got some great interaction here, watching the dynamic between the different animals.

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Firstly the lion was on his own and so his interest in the buffalo was superficial, as he quietly observed looking for any possible opportunity to exploit he preferred to keep himself hidden from the group. The group of buffalo then started reacting to something. Immediately we noticed that there attention wasn’t aimed at the lion. The buffalo had stood up and were looking in an easterly direction, ears pointed forward, and there whole bodies were focused on this new threat. We noticed the female leopard as she stood up on a rock next to a tree, which she knew was her best defence against the buffalo. She stood with her tail erect and made her easy to see, like she was teasing the buffalo. I’m quite sure the leopard was unaware of the lion through all of this. The buffalo decided it was time to move on and slowly drifted away while the leopard started walking and marking territory by spraying urine on leaves along her path. She then climbed a fallen over marula tree, the male lion was walking in the direction and as soon as the leopard saw him, she bounded out of the area and out of sight. This sighting portrayed the subtle and overt dynamics of superiority and dominance with these apex predators and buffalo.

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Xhimungwe’s: We had a scare with three of the cubs from this pride as two males from the south had chased them into the north and for quite a few days they were missing. Thankfully one pleasant morning we came around the corner and saw them with the rest of the pride and had eaten with their mother’s during the evening and so they were looking happy with themselves.

*This image is copyright of its original author

Othawa’s: They have been absent for most of the month in the Othawa concession, but we have been getting regular updates on them, also they are currently back on the property and seem to be well.


Selati’s: These males have been here, there and everywhere the last few weeks and have been roaring up a storm. The presence of intruding males on their territory has got them going bit. At the moment they are fat and contented after a buffalo feast that they picked off from the big herd that has been on our property from time to time. These males are doing well and have lots of cubs, their main function at the moment is to keep all competing males out of the area. They are regularly patrolling and scent marking in order to maintain dominance in the area. While the cubs from the two prides are close to a year old, they are still vulnerable and if the males lose their territory then we can expect the new lions to kill these cubs in order to bring the females into cycle and so they can start breeding. Male lions have quite a short life cycle of about 10 years and so they can’t afford to wait for the old cubs to reach maturity. Reply