Lions of Timbavati

[Tylermartin!]

(09-27-2023, 07:48 PM)BA0701 Wrote:

(09-27-2023, 11:44 AM)Potato Wrote: Tanda Tula update

If the leopards were good, the lions were even better!  One of my guests saw 50 different lions during her stay here, and we didn’t even go and see all the lions on offer!  We did venture out west on two occasions to enjoy sightings of the Giraffe Pride, with there being 21 and then 19 members present.  On the first occasion, we had no sooner pulled out and stopped for drinks where the growls of fighting lions hit our ears, but before we could even think about heading there, the fighting had stopped as the pride had already devoured their way through an impala kill in a matter of minutes!  The lioness with the three new cubs has started bringing them into the concession, but no one has seen them yet – only their tracks.  Fortunately, the Sark Breakaways were a little better with showing off their cubs, and I eventually got to see the four little ones (around four months old already).  The pride continued to remain in the central and western areas, although as the week drew to a close, the Giraffe Pride (without the Hercules male) ventured into Sark territory!  On the subject of cubs, it appears as though the River Pride have also had some new cubs; from the reports, there are three new faces.  The bush grapevine alluded to one of the cubs being very light in colour, but I am hesitant to say that it could be a white lion until we see some proof.  Despite having the cubs some distance north of our concession, the week ended with three lionesses and two Vuyela males spending the day near Tanda Tula.  Still, they didn’t come quite as close as one of the Vuyela males and the youngest River Pride lioness that spent three days mating in the vicinity of camp – his roars woke us up one morning, and when we found them at the entrance to the camp, we understood why they were so loud!  Add to this a sighting of 17 members of the Mayambula Pride hunting in the east, and you cannot have a bad week of lion viewing.  The next morning there was evidence of a successful hunt on our eastern boundary, but with three of the Vuyela males in the area sniffing around, it was no surprise that the Mayambulas had moved further east.  A few days later, a couple of members were found finishing off another zebra kill near our southern boundary, but this time it was two males (likely Birmingham Breakaways) that had chased them off the kill.  Only Steven found one member of the pride after that.   

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*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

Wow, what an awesome trip that guest had, 50 different lions in one trip. I think we can certainly consider the Giraffe Pride a super pride, they are huge. I am not sure, but I don't believe the Kambulas even had more than 19.

Well at one point the kambula pride had 6 adult females 6 young males 6 or 7 young females plus two dominant males and they definitely had lost some members before so they got to the number just didn’t stay there and a lot of bad things happened so yeah Reply