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Lions of Sabi Sands
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The life of a lion is harsh. Especially the males. They really have to fight for their right to grow old. To retain a seat in the most brutal game of musical chairs.
But where there are winners, there are those that are left behind. Those for whom there is no pride available to call home. Too many male lions, to few prides. That just have to wander from meal to meal. Hoping to hold on until a seat opens up. Even those that have a pride could wake up to the roar of a new coalition there to take their cubs and lionesses. But I also think its typically human to dwell on these sorts of things. Having made things overly complex for itself. For a lion there is only the now. No what ifs, no what could have been or what should be. Just the now and what I can do. Right now I am fed. And If I am hungry I can hunt tonight. Right now I am watching my cubs play or drink my milk. Its a good moment. Right now one of my friends is missing. But if I roar she may find me again. Right now I am nomadic. But if I keep going. An opportunity may arise. Right now I am wounded. But my body will heal. I think its a far healthier mindset.  (05-12-2021, 02:51 AM)BA0701 Wrote:It was not so long ago that I started to follow all this and at first I confess that I was a little indifferent because as they say "it is only nature following its course" but I think that as we go deeper and using part of our time, it becomes something closer, the names, the history, the images all this makes the person end up creating a feeling and of course it can be bad because inevitably you will lose them but I think it ends up being natural, there is no way not to connect to something you spend hours/min daily(05-12-2021, 02:37 AM)Tr1x24 Wrote:(05-12-2021, 02:28 AM)BA0701 Wrote: I agree entirely @Tr1x24 , I just thought we talking about those we've lost altogether, over the past year. But, yes, I agree entirely with what you wrote. I cannot tell you how awful I have felt since @Timbavati brought OM to my attention, just devastated. I know there are folks who say it's just the wild, and that is their prerogative to feel that way and I respect it, but for me personally, I get attached to these animals, following them so closely, watching their lives unfold. While I know death happens daily, especially in the wild, but it really hits home when you follow the daily lives of individual animals. I never felt that way in my earlier years, it has only been since 2011 really, that my thinking began to change drastically from where it was the entire rest of my life. I was one of those who were indifferent to the death of a wild animal, but those days are now behind me..   (05-12-2021, 12:34 AM)Tonpa Wrote: Saturday, 8 May 2021 I hope for the future of the Othawa Male’s cubs the Plains Camp male are pushed west. Their youth and inexperience may cause them to spare the cubs and not have the same instinct to kill the way older males do. Othawa Male wasn’t just a beautiful lion, he was unusual in so many ways, especially the way the tolerated and took care of another coalition’s offspring. I hope that favor is returned to him, but with the way lion society works, I doubt it.  (05-12-2021, 08:16 AM)RookiePundit Wrote:(05-12-2021, 02:24 AM)Tr1x24 Wrote:That limp doesn't look great, hopefully it is superficial and nothing serious. I don't know if that is going to ever get better or not, but not sure now is such a great time to be challenging the B-Boys. Even if he is with Mohawk at the time, he could get singled out and be the one taking the brunt of the damage, as a result Mohawk could well end up alone. (05-12-2021, 09:33 AM)BA0701 Wrote:(05-12-2021, 08:16 AM)RookiePundit Wrote:(05-12-2021, 02:24 AM)Tr1x24 Wrote:That limp doesn't look great, hopefully it is superficial and nothing serious. There’s really no comparison between what the Ottawa Male did with what the Avocas have been doing now for over a year now. I hate to say this, but OM did what was equivalent to committing suicide. I’ll never understand it and it makes his death that much more difficult to accept. People will make these comparisons because it seems similar but the two completely different situations, goals, experience levels, strategy, and even their attachment to their current prides and territories is completely different. I’m not saying the Avocas aren’t at risk. But I’m not fully convinced they really are motivated to conquer Mala Mala. With new cubs their goals might change and maybe what happens is that the Nkuhuma pride gets a bit more territory to move around it. I hope so... the Nkuhumas are really the best pride and stable home for the Blondie/Mohawk. 
Blondie has that limp since 2018, sometimes is better, sometimes worse, so its definitely permanent..
(05-12-2021, 02:51 AM)BA0701 Wrote: Big Boy was one of the saddest tales in a very long time, at least for me, that one really stung as well. Trust me, I wish I didn't, I used to have ice in my veins, still do when it comes to certain things, but have begun to soften in my later years. You nailed it though, for how closely we follow them, it is hard to separate when bad things happen, because we spend so much time hoping for the best possible lives for them, just like Hairy Belly, Lolparpit, Makhulu, and countless others who were able to live legendary long lives in the midst of such overwhelming odds. When we lose them early, it is a huge disappointment. I know the reason behind my change of heart, and since 2011 I have become a very different person in my way of thinking about certain subjects.Not the same story at all, very different circonstances, but but i never got to see something about BYM, without thinkiing of OM. Kind of heartbreaker someway... 
Othawa male
Othawa male probably felt confident enough to invade MalaMala, confidence similar to that one when he left the ottawa pride to take over his own, the manghenis but he knew there are 2 strong foes on the other side as I heard he ventured into birminghams territory more than once and even got chased by the 2. So the fact he continued venturing into that area dominated by 2 adult males shows at least he was confident trying to expand his area (or maybe even naive by knowing he was on disavantage and by knowing very well who he was up against) and by the moment of his death he might had an even bigger motivation to venture deeper into the birmingham area than before, maybe this time he picked the scent of one of the lionesses from MalaMala that was nearer where he was in the moment and in addition to that he could've even been lured by one lioness following her to mate which might have led him to venture even further in depth into the birmingham males territory, one area he has never gone this far before which was where he was doomed and the Avocas better stay alert in case they decide to venture into Birmingham males areas, they better do it together. One thing I gotta say about the Ottawa male regardless of what really happened to him is that this dude was a big and a very brave warrior, holding a pride all alone with no coalition partner... not all male lion take such a risk.  *This image is copyright of its original author
Some pictures from that Lioness and Leopard in a tree incident in Londolozi
 *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 blog with a witness account of how it went down.
https://blog.londolozi.com/2021/05/12/th...in-a-tree/ I love lions. But if it comes to pointless fights like this, I will always side with the animal targeted.
Nkuhumas and avocas on a buffalo by Johan Enslin
Nkorho (or somewhere close) |
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