Lions of Timbavati

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Tanda Tula update

The lions spent most of their time resting in the open sodic areas, and the leopards ascended the trees, giving us some good game viewing opportunities.  The lions over the past week were not as consistent as we have grown accustomed to of late, but as you will see, that is possibly just me being fussy as we didn’t have all of the lions on our doorstep every day!  The Mayambula Pride popped up once again this week and spent the day resting next to a pan in the eastern sections.  A couple of days later, a single lioness was mating with one of the dark-maned Vuyela male lions in the east, and while I am still waiting for confirmation, my suspicion is that it was one of the Mayambula lionesses.  My doubt comes from the fact that after mating, the lioness moved off to the west, suggesting that it could have been a Sark Breakaway lioness?  If it was, she was a long way out of her territory, and with another Sark Breakaway lioness mating with another Vuyela male in our western sections, it wouldn’t have made much sense for her to venture all that way east.  The Sark Breakaways were with their cubs in the west but made an unusual movement further to the south-west and out of our concession towards Giraffe, a property in the Timbavati after which our Giraffe Pride is named due to their dominance over it.  Fortunately for the Sark Breakaways, the Giraffe Pride were spending a fair bit of their time around Plains Camp, and I ventured out west one afternoon to spend time with eighteen members of the pride as they rested up at a waterhole.  They had been quite active in the area over most of the week, and looking at how many zebras and wildebeest were on the plains, it was no surprise to see them hanging around.  The Vuyela males had to re-establish their presence in the area following the rain, so there was much roaring going on in the days that followed the rains; we were treated to several roaring displays this past week.  Now that I actually think back to all the lion sightings around this past week, maybe I am only thinking of the lack of the River Pride in the area, as aside from them, the other lions definitely did their bit!   

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