Lions of Timbavati

[Potato]

Tanda Tula update

Arriving back from my short break last Friday and starting with guests the afternoon before the rains were due to arrive, I had to make sure that we saw as much as we could just as an insurance policy, as one is never sure just how just how lucky one will be with animals during such rainy periods.  The first afternoon was fantastic as we headed east to go and see the Mayambula Pride and their cubs who had been found not far from Tanda Tula Safari Camp.  Along the way we got to see a large breeding herd of buffalo, elephants, a host of general game and arrived at the lions just as the sun was setting.  Despite the timing, the cubs were rather restful and as the pride awoke, yawned and groomed, it was only the mothers that got up and walked off leaving the cubs at the den.

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During the night the rains continued, and whilst out on morning drive tracking rhinos, we came across some fresh tracks for the Giraffe Pride in the area.  As the rain continued the tracks got more and more disturbed, and the fact that they walked all over the show didn’t give us a clear direction and eventually we had to quit.  One thing we did establish though was that it looked as though the cubs were clearly still left somewhere in our concession.  The afternoon rain subsided for just long enough for us to have a short drive, but we were buoyed by the forecast that Monday would be a sunny and dry day!

Waking up to a colourful sunrise we headed out as a light cloud cover dropped a slight drizzle on us for a couple of hours, but with more sunshine and a double rainbow for company, we knew we were going to have a good day!  The lion tracks came back to the area where we suspected the cubs were hidden, and Glen got tracking.  It was slow going as the pride moved up and down, but he did manage to find some of the lionesses resting deep in within a block.  As the ground was still totally soaked, there was no chance of driving in to see them, so we decided to take a walk with the three guests and got to see a few members of the Giraffe Pride before they got up and moved into a thicket.  We decided to try them later that evening, and carried on with drive.  We followed up in an area where impalas had been alarm calling earlier in the day and found Sunset female leopard along with what looked like a young male.  Sadly they only spent a short time walking close to the road before disappearing deeper into the bush.  The morning ended with some elephants feeding around our vehicle and loads more general game popping out to enjoy the sun…as much as we love rain in the bush, it was really great to be dry again.

With the afternoon mission set to find the lions, we took it easy around Plains Camp and enjoyed some good general game, rhino a very large breeding herd of buffalos in the area close to the lions, and then went to sundowners with a pod of hippos and a colourful sunset.  Whilst watching another day end, we could hear the lions roaring in a couple of directions; we opted to follow up in the contact calls closest to us and bumped into one lioness crossing the road ahead of us.  We jumped ahead to the next road and found her again…followed by all ten cubs!  What a treat, but they carried on on their mission, so we once more jumped ahead to the next road, and as we found them, they reunited with the rest of the pride, including the Hercules and Sumatra males.  We sat with the males as the females started to roar a little further down the road, and we got to sit and enjoy the experience of having a male lion roar within 5m of us!  After the lionesses and cubs walked past again with the cubs we left them to it and watched the myriad of stars above our heads as the whole Giraffe pride roared behind us – magic!

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To end off the week, as I finished drive, the Mayambula lionesses eventually introduced their 3 newest cubs!  We are not sure if these belong to one or two lionesses, but the cub count is now up to 11! Reply