Lions of Timbavati

[Potato]

Tanda Tula update

Kicking off with the lions, the Giraffe Pride again took centre stage with regular sightings through the week.  It started off with guests that had come to Tanda Tula hoping to see one of the super prides, and they got what they wanted when the Giraffe Pride spent the first day of their stay on the plains and they got to spend time with them.  I joined drive a few days later and heard that some members of the pride were seen crossing off the concession in the morning, and thus we knew they weren’t that far off.  I was chasing leopards that afternoon, but we could hear the lions during dinner, and after desert I stood up and went to the edge of the patio and could hear the unmistakable sound of lions fighting over a kill.  I asked if the guests were keen to go and see some lions, and with an unsurprisingly unanimous decision to do it, we headed out in search of the pride, seeing a grazing hippo, black backed jackals and an African wild cat (not Nova!) before we eventually found the lions just off the access road.  It was the whole pride, but the young wildebeest they had killed was all but finished, with just the two pride males jostling over scraps.  Despite it being a small kill, all members looked fat and well fed, so I am not sure if they had caught two wildebeest and already finished both of them?  The next morning, we tracked them down into the Klaserie River, and it was evident that they had just finished yet another kill.  The pride spent the day resting in the shady riverine vegetation and stayed there until nightfall.  We picked up on the pride just on our southern boundary a day later, and they again spent the day resting on the plains before later in the week eventually moving to the eastern side of their territory – something that they haven’t done for weeks. In the east, neither the Mayambula nor Sark Breakaways showed face, but there were almost daily sightings of the River Pride lionesses and some of the Vuyela males in the areas immediately surrounding Tanda Tula Safari Camp – they spent one day resting in the Nhlaralumi Riverbed within view of the new Safari Suite 1!  There was also a report of a single lioness and a young male lion on Nkhari – the guides suspected it might be one of the Birmingham Breakaway males, but this was not confirmed.  Reply