Coalitions of Kruger National Park

[Fredymrt]

Credits to Brian rode

The previous day had been extremely hot, but this morning it was cold and drizzling. We had seen very little, even the general game such as zebras and wildebeest seem to have disappeared. We stopped for our coffee break at Golf Course Clearing and were thinking of heading back towards the camp when Solomon came on the radio saying that he had found the Mountain Pride north of Gudzane Dam, feeding on a waterbuck. We decided to go and take a look at the lions before returning to camp to warm up and have breakfast. As we got close to the area Solomon called, saying that he had heard monkeys giving alarm calls to the south-west of where he had been watching the lions.

Upon investigating he found the female cheetah walking towards the dam. Nick and I, knowing that we could return to the lions, decided to rather respond to the cheetah. We found Solomon following the cheetah towards the edge of the dam and had magnificent views of her drinking water.

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

When she had finished drinking she got up and started heading north. She disappeared through a guarri thicket and we lost sight of her. As I went around the eastern side of the thicket I spotted an old male buffalo wallowing in the water approximately 60 meters from where the cheetah had been drinking.

*This image is copyright of its original author

By now Solomon had found the cheetah again and announced that she was eyeing out some impalas. I left the buffalo and headed west again, following the road around the thicket towards where Solomon was viewing the cheetah. As we turned the corner we saw a large male lion heading to the position where we had seen the cheetah drinking earlier. By now we were distracted by the lion and we followed him down to the waters edge, where we watched him drinking.

*This image is copyright of its original author

The big, grumpy Shish male lion looking as regal as ever.

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

While he was lapping the water, he noticed the buffalo lying in the dam to his east. The buffalo, which appeared to be slightly blind, heard the lion drinking and stood up to get a better look at the cat.

*This image is copyright of its original author

The Dagha Boy took a few steps towards the lion to get a better view and we noticed that he was limping slightly. He was also quite thin. The lion stared at the buffalo and, seeing him limping, thought that this might be an easy target. He started moving towards the buffalo, but the buffalo was not going to go down without a fight. The buffalo then decided to charge at the lion. The lion got a big fright and made a hasty retreat, allowing the buffalo to get away. In the meantime, Solomon had told us on the radio that the cheetah had chased down and caught a baby impala.

*This image is copyright of its original author

It was quite close to where the Mountain Pride were feeding on the waterbuck. The lions were feeding behind a large sickle-bush thicket and were unaware of the cheetah and its kill that were within 60 meters of where they were concentrating on their meal. While the cheetah was throttling the poor baby impala a Black-backed Jackal was circling the cat, hoping to get some scraps. The cheetah started feeding as soon as the baby impala was dead. We were busy watching the cheetah eating when we noticed the big male lion walking past the area. He looked towards the vehicles, but did not see the cheetah with her prey. The cheetah was, however, aware of the lion moving past. She sat up and watched him disappearing in a northerly direction. The cheetah grew visibly relaxed again, realising that the lion had not noticed her, and returned to her meal. We then noticed a vulture descending out of the sky. It landed nearby the cheetah and then another vulture arrived. By now the male lion had found the Mountain Pride on their kill and had obviously stolen the carcass from them. The lionesses had, however, noticed that the vultures were dropping nearby and because they knew that they had no chance of getting the waterbuck back from the bigger, stronger male one of the lionesses decided to investigate where the vultures were going. We were busy watching the cheetah when we saw the lionesses come running out off the thicket towards where the cheetah was. The lioness saw the Jackal that was still trotting around in the area and quickly gave chase, not noticing that the cheetah was lying in the grass feeding. The cheetah did, however, see the lioness and she quickly deserted the kill and ran away. The Jackal had managed to avoid the lioness and saw that the cheetah had run away from the impala carcass. It immediately ran in and grabbed hold of the carcass. What an opportunist! The jackal managed to get a few mouthfuls of meat before the lioness realised what was happening and ran towards it.

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

The Jackal dropped the carcass and the lion immediately grabbed hold of it in her mouth and started walking back towards where she had originally come from. Since the cheetah had run away we decided to follow after the lioness. She carried the baby impala back to the Sickle-bush thicket and we watched as she allowed her young cub to feed upon it. We left them feeding and then headed back towards camp. After the dismal game-viewing in the first half of the morning we were now completely blown away with what we had witnessed….and all the sightings so close to one another! What an incredible morning!! Reply