Lions of Timbavati

[Potato]

Tanda Tula update

Before coming on the drive after a couple of days without guests, I had heard that the Birmingham male lions had killed a zebra very close to Nkhari Homestead, but they had been chased off by two of the Vuyela males. The Sark Breakaway Pride had also been found the day before moving south off of our boundary as they continue to expand their range deeper into the Timbavati, but fortunately, they had returned and were my first port of call upon returning to drive. We spent some time with the four lionesses and their five youngsters but despite being empty-bellied, they didn’t get up to too much. Dale was staying at Nkhari for the night and managed to find the pride in a much fatter state close to Nkhari the next morning, and with the remains of a zebra not far off, we can assume that this is what had filled them up so much. The pride was with two males, and another two were resting off not 200m away. In the afternoon we followed two of the males back to the pride and what a treat it is to see a pride with such strong dominant males and such potential to grow into another super pride. The pride ended up sleeping in the same spot for 36 hours, but after that, they did venture back to the north. These were not the only lions that reunited this week; all six Birmingham Breakaway males were found together for the first time in a couple of months and were not too far from the Sark Pride and the Vuyelas; fortunately, the parties passed within 2km of one another without being aware of the other. On my last drive of the week, I headed to the east for a change of scenery, and got lucky when a portion of the Mayambula Pride was found; it looked like 4-5 females and 9 sub-adults; they too looked as if they had had a meal the night before.

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

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