Lions of Timbavati

[Timbavati]

A Timbavati update 
It was a week that saw our lion sightings improve tremendously from the week before, and it started off with the fat-bellied Mayambula lionesses making a reappearance as they were found following a buffalo herd in the eastern sections.  In fact, they spent the whole week looking fat-bellied and continued to show themselves as incredible eating machines.  Despite this, we only ever saw the aftermath of their efforts in the form of bulging bellies and panting mouths, and didn’t see them with any of their kills.  The pride did disappear for two days, but spent the rest of the week within the concession and ended off with a stunning sighting of two lionesses mating with the two Skorro males about 100m apart – after each mating session the respective young lionesses would start roaring – this triggered a response from the mating male, and ultimately resulted in all the members of the pride beginning to serenade us with their powerful roars.

In addition to the Mayambula Pride, the River Pride with the last remaining Nharhu male made a reappearance and the pride was found with the remains of a zebra kill close to our western boundary one afternoon.  I sadly didn’t make it to the sighting (opting for the Mayambula Pride instead), but it sounds like the pride is looking in good shape.  I was hoping that they may stick around, but the next day we received word that they were on another zebra kill about 4km north of our concession in what is looking like their new home.  We also got to enjoy the presence of the Giraffe Pride on a couple of occasions this week; first with five lionesses and the Sumatra and Hercules males as they made their way to a nearby dam to drink (also looking fat-bellied), and then a few days later the five lionesses were much further west and we spent some time with them again.  One lioness still had suckle-marks, and two others looked pregnant, so it cannot be too long until we start seeing the pride settling in the area of where their cubs are/will be born. Reply