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Lions of Timbavati
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Mbiri males. Intense Lion sighting. Having such an important role as the leader and the defender, male lions put their bodies on the line to defend everything that is theirs. For this reason they have, over time, developed beautiful manes that serve to protect the most vital parts of their body, around the neck and head.
Credit: image by JW Photography, posted September 2, 2018  *This image is copyright of its original author Intense Lion. Males and females take on very different roles in the pride. Male lions spend their time guarding their territory and their cubs. Female lions are the primary hunters of the group. They are smaller and more agile than males. But since their prey is still generally faster than them, they use teamwork to bring an animal down. Credit: image by JW Photography, posted August 18, 2018  *This image is copyright of its original author
The Mbiri males have cubs with the Zebinine females seen at Umlani Bushcamp, and the are very solid little specimens.
Credit: image by Jordan Wallace at Umlani, posted September 3, 2018  *This image is copyright of its original author
Here's the Mbiri males resting at the Timbavati Private Game Reserve. I hope the Mbiris get the f... out of there in a hurry. This is one of the reserves that has been embroiled in controversy owing to the fact that they allow a handful of lions to be hunted and killed there every year. Credit: image by Bataleur Safari Camp, posted September 9, 2018.
 *This image is copyright of its original author
The Mbiri males are back! After a long month with no sightings of these two dominant male lions we are thrilled to have them back in Tanda Tula's concession.
Credit: image by Ant Collett, posted September 15, 2018
A WEEK OF LIONS - TANDA TULA SAFARI CAMP - Words and images by Chad Cocking, 28 September 2018.
For the first time in a long while we have had a week that was not dominated by the elephants in the Timbavati Game Reserve. Instead, the Tanda Tula guests have been absolutely spoilt with some fantastic lion sightings over the past week, as can be seen by their prevalence in the images posted here!  *This image is copyright of its original author This week saw no fewer than four different prides spending time within our concession. The sighting of the week belonged to the River Pride that succeeded in bringing down one of the resident buffalo bulls a mere 400m from Tanda Tula Safari Lodge! I woke up to find the lions chasing the buffalos past my house, and shortly after dropping the coffee trays off at the guests’ luxury tents, we heard the unmistakable distress call of a buffalo being attacked by lions. My tracker Glen and I shot out and found all nine members of the River Pride bringing down the large buffalo.  *This image is copyright of its original author What unfolded over the next 24 hours or so was something special, and not wanting to take away from Luke’s upcoming blog about this incredible sighting, I will leave it at the fact that not only did the two Zebenine lionesses rock up at the scene with their two cubs, but two neighbouring clans of hyenas were also drawn to the kill! With two prides of lions and around forty hyenas all fighting one another, you can only begin to imagine the sounds that filled the night skies that evening!  *This image is copyright of its original author Both prior and subsequent to the buffalo kill, the River Pride had been very much in evidence, and this had led the Zebenine girls to move out of the area with the cubs. Since then, the Zebenine pride seem to have settled down in their old territory once more, and we have had some precious sightings of the two cubs along with their mother. Despite all the walking that they are doing, these cubs are looking in great shape still and are very comfortable with the vehicles.  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author The Mbiri males temporarily took time away from mating with the four Mayambula females to also respond to the buffalo kill, but their interest in chasing the River Pride away was short lived and two hours later they were back mating with the lionesses who were drawing them back to the east. It appears as if three of the lionesses may already be pregnant, so we could soon have a real substantial pride emerging in the east!  *This image is copyright of its original author The last pride to show face was that of the two Ross lionesses that seem to have caught the undivided attention of the Black Dam male lion – a glorious boy who has moved into the area from the adjacent Thornybush Game Reserve. They spent several days mating out in the west before making their way further and further east. Needless to say, with us being spoilt for choice some days, we all got to enjoy some excellent lion viewing. Credit: images of Black Dam male by Luke Street, Tanda Tula Week of Wildlife in photos, September 21 , 2018  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author I wait with baited breath to see how our local males, The Mbiris, react to this imposter!  *This image is copyright of its original author - this last photo is the Black Dam male mating with the Rothsay female.
Black Dam male, Credit: image by Rachel Rebibo at Thorny Bush Game Reserve, posted September 21, 2018
 *This image is copyright of its original author In April 2017 the impressively large Giraffe male ousted the Black Dam male from his throne as Black Dam pride male. This occurred to the Southwest of the Timbavati Game Reserve in the southern part of the Thornybush Game Reserve. Credit: image by Vicky Cooper at Thornybush, posted September 30, 2018  *This image is copyright of its original author Credit: video by Bizza Walters at Thornybush, posted September 25, 2018 Since then the Giraffe male has fathered at least 13 cubs with four of the Black Dam Pride females and seen off at least two challengers without shedding blood. Credit: image by Riaan Fourie at Thornybush, posted April 6, 2018  *This image is copyright of its original author Credit: video by Riaan Fourie at Thornybush, posted March 27, 2018 The Royal Malewane Lodge instagram account described this lion as the dominant Giraffe male. His roar is worth listening to for its sheer power and volume. Credit: video by Rudi Hulshof at Thornybush, posted June 28, 2018  (09-29-2018, 12:17 PM)Herekitty Wrote: Black Dam male, Credit: image by Rachel Rebibo at Thorny Bush Game Reserve, posted September 21, 2018 You have to admire this guy and his tenacity. In an area teeming with lion coalitions, he has managed to hold his own and thrive. A remarkable lion.
The core of the Black Dam Pride is the three older females - Matriarch, Rhulani and, wa Vusopfa. They also have some younger sisters and altogether with the cubs and male, number 21 lions. Credit: image by Riaan Fourie at Thornybush, posted August 14, 2018
 *This image is copyright of its original author They are big, healthy lionesses. Credit: image by Darrel Camden-Smith at Thornybush, posted July 16, 2018  *This image is copyright of its original author The cubs are encouraged to finish the kill. Credit: video by Guide Darren at Thornybush, posted August 15, 2018 Interesting to follow these guys and see how the big guy manages to hold down the fort. Credit: video by Thornybush Collection, posted August 20, 2018
Further reading reveals that the Giraffe male was the youngest of five brothers and decided to go his own way. The giraffe males were fathered by the old Ross males. Credit: image by Rudi Hulshof at Royal Malewane Lodge, Thornybush, posted June 27, 2018
 *This image is copyright of its original author Credit: image by at Vicky Cooper at Thornybush, posted September 30, 2018  *This image is copyright of its original author Credit: image by at Vicky Cooper at Thornybush, posted September 30, 2018  *This image is copyright of its original author Big fella has a nice full set of teeth. Credit: image by Rudi Hulshof, posted January 27, 2018  *This image is copyright of its original author
Tintswalo Update:
With regards to the lions, the Mbiri pride also managed to bring down another giraffe this month, this time it was female giraffe and it fed the pride for 2 days until the 3 Giraffe/Avoca males joined them. The males also let some of the pride members feed with them on the carcass. This is a bit confusing as these males killed these cubs’ brothers and sisters a few months ago. The reason the males are allowing these other lions to feed on carcasses with them is that they are ageing extremely quickly and are not looking in good shape. So any meal is a good meal for them. We think the pride is starting to realise that they are weak and do not fear them anymore. We also saw the Nharu pride young males chasing one of these males away from the pride and being very aggressive towards them. The Nharu pride and the Mbiri doing very well and making a lot of kills, they are still 10 healthy individuals who managed to bring down a large buffalo bull this month. The Mbiris are still 12 including the young Nharu male who is now growing into large beautiful male. They are feeding on a regular basis and the pride youngsters are growing every day. The Koppies pride is 3 females and 1 youngster with the Koppies male and Red road male also around. These two males have started roaring again and seem to be testing the waters with the Giraffe/Avoca coalition. The Koppies male still has a bad limp but is feeding with the pride. At Skybeds, the Junior Nkuhuma and his coalition partner was seen with 5 lionesses and 1 young cub. Does anybody know the name of this pride? In the South, the Avoca males have been constantly mating with the 5 Talamati females and also the Nkuhuma females. These males continue grow into mature big males and have now firmly established themselves as the pride males of the South. We saw the Avoca moving North towards to Main Dam. So maybe there are starting to expand North into the Manyeleti.
Speaking of the Mbiris, this recent pic of the Mbiri males shows how big the full maned boy is. One of the rangers at Tanda Tula described his surprise that the lesser maned boy appeared the dominant of the two. I suspect dominance isn't always about who is the most formidable fighter, but who is the most aggressive and willing to fight for meat and mating rights. Credit: image by Ben Santhouse at Timbavati, posted September 26, 2018
 *This image is copyright of its original author
@Spalea thank you very much for the kind words, I appreciate it. Well here's a interesting pic of the Black Dam male, which gives some true scale to the size of these cats. The irony is that a few months later this big fella was usurped by the younger and even larger Giraffe male. Credit: image by Rudi Hulshof at Thornybush, posted December 2018.
 *This image is copyright of its original author
UMLANI SIGHTINGS BLOG - LIONS AT CAMP - Written and photographed by: Greg McCall-Peat, Tue September 18, 2018.
 *This image is copyright of its original author LAST NIGHT THE WATERHOLE IN FRONT OF THE CAMP WAS A HIVE OF LION ACTIVITY, WITH US SEEING THE TWO MBIRI MALES QUENCHING THEIR THIRST AFTER FEEDING ON A GIRAFFE CARCASS NEARBY, THEY WERE LATER JOINED BY THE 4 MYAMBULA LIONESSES AND THEY SPENT THE REST OF THE EVENING LOUNGING AROUND AND REPEATEDLY MOVING TO THE WATER TO DRINK OFFERING AN AMAZING SIGHTING AND INCREDIBLE PHOTO OPPORTUNITIES. It all started yesterday afternoon when four lionesses were seen drinking at the waterhole in camp, it was only after dinner that we went out to see the lions again. The lionesses had moved off but as we were making our way to the waterhole the reflection of light from an animals eyes caught the spotlight beam and out of the shadows the distinct shape of a male lion materialized into the light. It was one of the Mbiri males, followed closely by his brother. We positioned ourselves on the opposite side of the water in the hopes that they would carry on their path and come for a drink, the lions read our minds and did just that, to say it was an incredible sight is an understatement, and will let the pictures speak for themselves.  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author After the males drank, we could hear some buffalo close by which seemed to peek the lions interest just enough to keep them from falling asleep and digesting their meal. With two vehicles in the sighting we were able to get some fantastic back-lit shots of the males which always seems to add a feel of power to these already impressive big cats.  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author Suddenly out of the darkness the four lionesses from earlier arrived and quickly ran up to the males and greeted them before also heading to the water to slake their thirst.  *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 males then came for another drink before we decided to call it a night and leave the lions flat cat and fast asleep.  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author
Black Dam male with two Ross females. Credit: images by Susanne T. Dale Nordbakke at Bataleur Safari Camp, posted October 2, 2018
 *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author With the current heat lazy lions were found lounging around. Credit: video by Jaime Levin at Bataleur Safari Camp, posted October 2, 2018 Looks like he may have a problem with his right leg. |
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