Lions of Timbavati

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Tanda Tula update

For now, though, the summer continues to be one dominated by the lions. There were a couple of interesting developments this past week; it appears as though the older lioness of the River Pride has given birth to a new litter of cubs; her heavy lactation, evident suckle marks, and separation from the other lionesses are all good signs. She appears to have had the cubs in the Machaton riverbed to the east of Tanda Tula Safari Camp, but the cubs are likely only about two weeks old, and we will only get our first views of them towards the end of March. The other youngest lioness of the pride kept the new mother company on a few occasions, but she eventually moved into the northern Timbavati, where reports suggest that the pride with the three cubs had a good few days of hunting success some distance from their territorial core. One potential explanation was the return of the Birmingham Breakaway males to our concession. A single male was found in the company of two Mayambula lionesses in the south-east, and with one of those lionesses also sporting fresh suckle marks (and the other being pregnant), it appears as though these males have already sired the first cubs of the next generation of the Mayambula Pride. A couple of days later, we tracked down four of the Birmingham Breakaways, and they have definitely grown in size and stature since I last saw them! Dark manes adorn their widening heads, and for the first time, I saw the real threat they could pose to the Vuyela males. Although the Mayambula Pride’s tracks once more crossed through the area, there was no further sign of them this week. The Vuyela males continued to be very evident across the central and western parts of our area, with a couple of members joining up with the Sark Breakaways. We enjoyed fourteen of these lions one cool morning as they rested off after a good meal. Later in the day, some elephants chased them towards a natural pan where they drank and then collectively roared their dominance over this part of the Timbavati. They spent much of the week in the area, being seen with their four cubs on a wildebeest kill in the west before pushing right to the western parts of their boundary. There were only reports of fragments of the Giraffe Pride and no more sightings of the Sark Pride.

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

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