Lions of Timbavati

[Potato]

Tanda Tula update

The not-so-spotted cats also showed themselves this week, with members of four prides being seen over the past few days.  Last week I mentioned that it was the Sark lionesses that had given birth to a new litter of cubs, but upon seeing the Ross and Hercules females this week, we realised that it was indeed the Ross female that had given birth.  The Hercules lioness was also lactating, but her teats were clean and didn’t appear to have been suckled upon recently, so we are not sure if she still has cubs.  The error of identification came in the fact that the Ross female gave birth in an area very close to Sark Breakaway territory.  It will be interesting to see if she moves the cubs to the Zebenine Riverbed over the coming weeks, and just how much time the Vuyela males spend with them.  That being said, we did also come across a young lioness resting in the Zebenine Riverbed near Nkhari Homestead one afternoon, and I am pretty sure she is from the Sark Pride, so they too seem to be moving around a little more.  The River Pride spent only one day in the northern part of our concession, but the Mayambula Pride provided almost daily viewing.  The great news is that one of the younger lionesses also gave birth in the last week or so, and her cubs could be heard calling in the Machaton riverbed south of the other cubs’ den site.  The eight little ones started the week feasting on a wildebeest before making themselves a little difficult to find by spending time in some dense parts of the Machaton Riverbed.  We managed a short sighting of them when they popped out of the riverbed whilst we were watching the two Skorro males one evening, and it is impressive to see how quickly they are growing!  The Giraffe Pride had yet another week of absenteeism, although we could hear them roaring to the south of our concession on a number of occasions.

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