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Lions of Sabi Sands
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Credits to Stuart Buy - Leopard Hills.
Othawa young male with his little brothers.  *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  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author
Credits to Tash Berry Photography.
Othawa young male.  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author
Photo of the Kambula pride by ranger Dan Bailey. (MalaMala)
 *This image is copyright of its original author
Feeding the babies. What a good big brother! (Othawa boy and cubs)
image by Johan van der Walt, Inyati Game Lodge  *This image is copyright of its original author
Credits: MalaMala
The biggest news to come out of the last 48hrs is that the Kambula pride have new cubs! 2 of the lionesses were seen in the Sand River near Wildebeest Crossing and although we didn’t see the cubs, they were clearly audible. Perhaps this will be the start of a new chapter for a young pride that hasn’t yet raised a litter successfully. Other lions: A single Gowrie male and 2 Kambula lionesses killed a zebra south of Maxim’ Lookout. The 2 Avoca males spent most of yesterday near KK Crossing.
Credits to Pete Thorpe - Londolozi.
Having not seen lions for a few days, we were excited to find the pride of nine Mhangeni sub-adults one afternoon. They started to move much earlier than we expected, all looking rather hungry and in need of a successful hunt. As they moved along, this young male climbed onto a termite mound for elevation, scanning around for any potential prey. As a positive end to this story, the pride was found looking very full 24 hours later!  *This image is copyright of its original author The Mhangeni sub-adults have been moving long distances across Londolozi, particularly in the west and south-west. Although still young lions, all born in early/mid-2016, they have been trailing buffalo herds, hoping to pick off calves or old individuals. In this image, an ostrich moving in the distance had caught the attention of this individual.  *This image is copyright of its original author
Credits: Savannah Lodge
As the young always attract so much attention and generate so much enjoyment, it is great still to have the three Ottawa cubs doing very well. They have relaxed completely around the vehicles, and we are privileged to witness incredible interactions between the various individuals within the pride. Initially, the mother was wary with the approach of the sub-adult male and would aggressively defend the young cubs.  *This image is copyright of its original author However, it didn’t take long for the mother to trust the male and, more importantly, for the male to accept the youngsters. They now seem to seek him out and attempt to play with him all the time, almost like a big brother who will protect them if need be.
 *This image is copyright of its original author And then, as expected, there are the many tender moments between the cubs and the mother. She looks after them well and they are in great condition.
 *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 Mhangene youngsters continue to be an incredible story. They are gaining in confidence, and are starting to believe in their own abilities. They still move large distances, but have made two buffalo kills this month on our concession. On one occasion, the buffalo was very weak, and it surprised us all how quickly they were able to bring it down.
 *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author They managed to get a good meal from this kill, but sadly they lost it to a large clan of hyena the next morning, who chased them up a fallen tree nearby.
 *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author The following buffalo kill was only three days later, but this time they managed to hold on to the kill a little longer. It was only during the following day that enough hyena had gathered to outnumber the lions, and once again chase them up a tall tree nearby. For a video of this interaction, have a look at this clip.
 *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author
New members of the Mhangene pride at Singita Sabi Sand.
(Field Guide, Joffers McCormick) I think BBoys are fathers  *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
Hi new to WF, but have been reading lion discussions on WF a while now. Question for the group. Does anyone have the back story on the sand river pride (the resident pride of Lion Sands game reserve)? I know the current dominant males are the Matimahle males but prior to that were the Toulon males. The Toulons had sired many cubs with this pride back around 2013-2014. Does anyone know what happened to the males subs, I think there was about 4 of them when dominant Toulon was killed by the Matimahle. Were they killed or chased away by the Matimahle males? Thanks.
(07-18-2018, 03:46 AM)Peteporker Wrote: Does anyone know what happened to the males subs, I think there was about 4 of them when dominant Toulon was killed by the Matimahle. Were they killed or chased away by the Matimahle males? Hi Pete. I know which subadults you're referring to, but I can't remember off the top of my mind what happened to them. I don't recall them being killed, but the only thing that crosses my mind right now is that they could have joined the young charleston male(?). But that's about it, I have't been able to find anything yet on them, although it could have been posted a while back in the usual sources and I'm just not seeing it. If I find it, I'll be happy to post it for you. Welcome and enjoy the forum.
There have been very few reports on the Tsalala males recently. Are they still in the Sabi Sands?
(07-19-2018, 09:27 PM)sundarbans Wrote: There have been very few reports on the Tsalala males recently. Are they still in the Sabi Sands? according to the facebook page for the Tsalala males, they were last spotted by Paul Kruger gate so they've moved from northern sabi sands around the elephant plains area toward the south in around lion sands/sabi sabi area bordering the KNP. that was posted on july 9, so they might have gone into the kruger.
Credits: Londolozi
 *This image is copyright of its original author photography has become a huge part of a guide’s job, with just about every guest snapping pictures while on safari. Be it a professional photographer or a nature lover with an iPhone, everyone wants to take some memories home with them, and it’s up to us as guides to assist them in capturing those moments. The photography module has been one of our most interesting and enjoyable ones to date, learning everything from the basics of photography to the intricacies of star trails. This evening we went out, armed with spotlights and cameras, to learn about backlighting when taking pictures at night. We were lucky enough to see the large Nkuhuma pride just after they had brought down an nyala, and spent the next couple of hours fine tuning our camera settings to get the perfect image of a backlit lion. This image was the result of that hard work. Caption by James Steele and photograph by Don Heyneke [i]  *This image is copyright of its original author [/i]After sitting silently in the Manyelethi river bed, under the cover of darkness, we heard the monstrous sounds of lions making a kill close by. Wasting no time, we arrived at the surreal scene and watched a pride feed with an air of ruthlessness as each individual fought for their share of the kill. Lions are the only social cats and the dynamic within the pride is usually affectionate and good-natured so to see them act with belligerence toward one another was intriguing. We stayed with the pride for a while, and Don introduced us to the complex yet satisfying art of photographing animals at night with a spot light. It was an educational and thrilling evening. Photograph and caption by Greg Mintur-Brown [i][i]  *This image is copyright of its original author [/i][/i]
Here's the Londolozi Blog on the Mhangeni subs' interaction with Nkuhuma pride:
http://blog.londolozi.com/2018/07/20/the-week-in-pictures-344/ Our first buffalo kill at Londolozi. As if that wasn’t a statement enough, it went on to consist of 20 lions, made up of two prides; what looked like the Nkuhumas and Mhangeni sub-adults. One pride would have made the kill and with the ferocious noises, the other pride would have come to investigate. In the end, the two groups met somewhere in the middle and an awkward but noisy truce ensued, where both prides managed to leave with full stomachs. Watching the new lion dynamics of Londolozi has been one of my highlights so far. It begs the question if we could have a new pride of the North and could it possibly be one of these prides? Photograph and Caption by Dean de la Rey  *This image is copyright of its original author
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