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Lions of Sabi Sands
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Dark mane Avoca with a hippo carcass
 *This image is copyright of its original author
Drive 3 highlights:
We headed South and located the Styx Lion pride who became mobile and were actively hunting. After their first failed hunt we decided to stick with them and not respond to 2 different Leopard sightings and boy o boy did it pay of. The Lions were highly mobile until they spotted Impala and Zebra and immediately their whole behaviour changed and they started another hunt. Their plan worked out perfectly and they killed a male Impala and fed immediately. Hyenas arrived and the Lions were chasing them of and we were experiencing the most incredible interaction. As the rain started falling again and it was getting pretty late we headed back to camp after spending over 2 hours with the Lions. **turn up the volume** " target="_blank" class="post_link">
Northern Avocas - Northern Sabi Sands - 12 Dec 2018
Image by Juan Muller  *This image is copyright of its original author
Tsalala Marthly lioness with her daughter
Image credit: Nic Nel  *This image is copyright of its original author
The two young TUMBELA males after a week of mating with the Othawa female managed to bring down a Buffalo last night after separating it from the herd
Image credits: Klaus Engel Ulusaba-Sabi Sands,posted 12/17/2020.  *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
The Othawa male followed behind the pride and was ambushed by some of the cubs as he approached the water. I love the fully black paw you can see on the leaping cub here.
Image credits: James Tyrell Ulusaba-Sabi Sands,posted 12/17/2020.  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author
Although the reflection makes the water look fairly clean, it isn’t, and the lions are still fairly selective about which points they drink from…
Image credits: James Tyrell Ulusaba-Sabi Sands,posted 12/17/2020.  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author The Othawa male continued to be harassed by the cubs as he moved round to drink from a different position.  (12-17-2020, 05:56 PM)TinoArmando Wrote: The two young TUMBELA males after a week of mating with the Othawa female managed to bring down a Buffalo last night after separating it from the herd Their manes are starting to grown finally, which is great. (12-17-2020, 06:10 PM)Tr1x24 Wrote:(12-17-2020, 05:56 PM)TinoArmando Wrote: The two young TUMBELA males after a week of mating with the Othawa female managed to bring down a Buffalo last night after separating it from the herd Indeed. Very exciting that all three males are doing well in the Western area of SS. I think we can see some new cubs into the Othawa pride soon. 
Who is this male with Dark Mane? He looks way too old to be a Talamati sub.
 *This image is copyright of its original author
 (12-17-2020, 11:01 PM)Gijima Wrote: Who is this male with Dark Mane? He looks way too old to be a Talamati sub. Some subs are 2 yrs old already and very big, size of the adult lionesses, those subs are thriving and growing very fast. It will be very interesting when that "next" generation of young Sabi Sands males (3 Talamatis, 3 Othawas and 5/6 Kambulas) become nomadic..
I wish I had better pics of the Talamati subs. I definitely don’t recognize this blonder one. Plus the whole pride is somewhere down south. But if he really is a Talamati he looks great:
 *This image is copyright of its original author
(12-17-2020, 11:20 PM)Gijima Wrote: I wish I had better pics of the Talamati subs. I definitely don’t recognize this blonder one. Plus the whole pride is somewhere down south. But if he really is a Talamati he looks great: He is, and other sub with darker mane is even bigger, they will be beasts.. With Talamatis moving in Djuma area, we will see these 3 boys a lot in future on WildEarth.. 
I didn't realize it until recently but the Othawa male has to be the most beautiful male lion in Sabi Sands. As far as young males go, his mane did start developing early but now it is breathtaking. In Sabi Sands, only Nhenha is comparable in terms of looks but I still see him as a clear second even though he is much older and in his prime. Of the other relatively younger dominant males, even though the North Avocas and Tumbelas are older than the Othawa, none of them look as beautiful.
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