Lions of Timbavati

[Potato]

Tanda Tula update

It appears, whilst the Giraffe Pride didn’t return in my absence, I did miss out on some good game viewing. I actually brought my family and friends for a little drive at Tanda Tula during my time off and we had a great morning out – starting late in the morning I was spoilt for choice with wild dogs, leopards, and lions on a zebra kill all being found close to one another. Instead, I opted to head east and see if the two cheetah brothers or Mayambula Pride had returned (both had been seen just east of our concession the days before), but neither showed so I had to settle for rhinos, elephants, and time with the Sark Breakaway Pride and their five “cubs” as they rested off near their zebra kill close to our western boundary. It was our first time seeing these youngsters in the Timbavati as the pride have been spending all of their time in the Klaserie.

*This image is copyright of its original author

The Mayambula pride returned to the area after a two-week absence, and after spending time close to Tanda Tula Safari Camp moved a little to the north where we caught up with some very fat-bellied members of the pride, including the six small cubs all begging for more food. The mothers seemed more intent on locating the rest of the pride and we left them to it. The rains the next day made keeping track of the pride a little more difficult, but the lionesses, males, and sub-adults were found close to Nkhari late one afternoon, and we decided to follow up on them the next morning after another rainy night, and once more found a bunch of bulging bellies lying around and enjoying the cooler weather. With their hunting success, the pride didn’t move too far that night and the next morning they were making their way toward Marco’s Dam. It was our first sighting of the majority of the pride on the move, and we got to see the injured lioness that Tristan had referred to last week. It has been a relief to see that this young lioness has begun moving with the pride; reports were that after she injured her front left leg, she simply sat at a waterhole for several days as the pride moved off, and I didn’t think we would see her again. Despite this good news, the lioness is still far from fine. She can barely put any pressure on her massively swollen leg, and without any external injuries visible, we can only assume that there is some massive internal damage. Considering she has been like this for two weeks now and it isn’t getting noticeably better, we can assume that the injury may be a fracture in her leg bones (but then, I am no vet). For now, despite the difficulty of walking with three legs, the lioness is keeping pace with the pride and can get regular meals from them. With a great deal of luck, maybe she will be able to give the leg enough rest for her body to heal itself and maybe, just maybe, she can make a recovery. Towards the end of the week, the young cubs re-joined the pride, but only four of the six were present which was a bit worrying, but time will tell if something has happened to the others, or if they were just left hidden somewhere else.

*This image is copyright of its original author

The Giraffe Pride seems to have returned to old habits and didn’t show themselves yet again, but reports were received that they were on another dead buffalo carcass, but these claims weren’t substantiated. In their absence, Tristan and Jack did manage to find the five Vuyela males one evening and they were in the heart of Giraffe Pride territory. This is the first time we have seen these males move into this area, but fortunately for the Giraffe Pride, by the next morning, these impressive males had moved back north into Klaserie. Four of the six Birmingham Breakaways spent some more time in the area and were found with a buffalo kill in our north-western corner during the week. Reply