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Shortly after leaving Bush Lodge, we heard the call of a lion very close to our vehicle, so we turned the engine off and listened for a moment to hone in on his direction. We drove forward a few metres and there he was, one of the N'waswishaka male lions. He was on his own while the other three seemed to have a different plan in mind and were found walking in the direction of where some buffalo were seen last night
Image credits: Erin Herbst, Greg Heasman, Rebecca Boshoff, Tyron van der Walt (credits in order of appearance)
(12-07-2020, 07:51 PM)Tr1x24 Wrote: I think its safe to say that this boys are starting to become strongest force in Sabi Sands atm..
Well,Indeed, They are one of the most powerful coalitions in Sabi Sands. In number and strength, I doubt that any coalition in Sabi Sands at the moment can overthrow them
(12-07-2020, 08:02 PM)TinoArmando Wrote: Well,Indeed, They are one of the most powerful coalitions in Sabi Sands. In number and strength, I doubt that any coalition in Sabi Sands at the moment can overthrow them
Yea, i think they matured quite a bit in the last few months, they are now real dominant/territorial males.. They showed that 2 months ago when they fight of DeLaporte males in Lion Sands, and meanwhile become fathers for the first time..
12-08-2020, 11:11 PM( This post was last modified: 12-08-2020, 11:25 PM by Tr1x24 )
(12-08-2020, 10:26 PM)TinoArmando Wrote: Stunning photos, And very good looking boys.
Are those names official for them?
I mean, Were they named by Sabi Sabi Rangers?
No, Sabi Sabi doesnt and never named lions as far as I know..
I call them like that for recognition, based on their appearence/looks/personality (males are often named based of this parameters for recognition, for example thats how N. Avocas where named Mohawk, Blondie and Dark Mane)..
Wide Nosed male was reffered by rangers as male with wide nose when N'ws steal the kill from Mhangeni pride, and Orange Eyed male was also somewhere reffered like a male with orange eyes..
Injured has obiviously injury on his belly, and the first male is their leader and most dominant one..
"N'waswitshaka Male Lions" Facebook page named them personally for his Facebook page.. He calls them Amahle (Dominant one), Ubuso (Wide Nosed male), Eorenji (Orange Eyed male) and Gore (injured male).. And he did explain what those names mean..
But those are not "official" names, they didnt get named and prob will not be by Sabi Sabi..
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(12-08-2020, 10:26 PM)TinoArmando Wrote: Stunning photos, And very good looking boys.
Are those names official for them?
I mean, Were they named by Sabi Sabi Rangers?
No, Sabi Sabi doesnt and never named lions as far as I know..
I call them like that for recognition, based on their appearence/looks/personality (males are often named based of this parameters for recognition, for example thats how N. Avocas where named Mohawk, Blondie and Dark Mane)..
Wide Nosed male was reffered by rangers as male with wide nose when N'ws steal the kill from Mhangeni pride, and Orange Eyed male was also somewhere reffered like a male with orange eyes..
Injured has obiviously injury on his belly, and the first male is their leader and most dominant one..
"N'waswitshaka Male Lions" Facebook page named them personally for his Facebook page.. He calls them Amahle (Dominant one), Ubuso (Wide Nosed male), Eorenji (Orange Eyed male) and Gore (injured male).. And he did explain what those names mean..
But those are not "official" names, they didnt get named and prob will not be by Sabi Sabi..
Good to know, Nevertheless, Are good names to ID them
So i have one speculation concerning Wide Nosed male, i think we all noticed that he is quite different in face structure then his brothers and in my opinion he is not similar to any Old Nwaswitshaka males, unlike his brothers:
*This image is copyright of its original author
My theory is that there is possiblity that Wide Nosed male is sired by Sand River males, and in particulary this 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
*This image is copyright of its original author
Also time frame fits perfectly for this, as we know that Sand Rivers where spending less and less time with Southern Pride at the beginning of 2015, and more in Kruger, and by mid 2015 they completely abandon Southern Pride and moved south in Kruger (south of their territory of Sabi Sabi and Lion Sands is area where Nwaswitshaka pride is around S1/s65).. And this male is born somewhere thru 2015, prob mid 2015.
Now that doesnt neccesary mean that Sand Rivers controled Nwaswitshaka, and i dont think they did, because other 3 males look to be around the same age or maybe few months younger, so that would mean that Old Nwaswitshakas controled the pride.. Maybe there was a fight for the pride and in those scraps Sand Rivers managed to mate with some females, or some females split and went with Sand Rivers, maybe cheated with them. .who knows..
This all is unproven, could be completely wrong and all just big coincidence, but i find it interesting..
(12-09-2020, 02:01 AM)Tr1x24 Wrote: So i have one speculation concerning Wide Nosed male, i think we all noticed that he is quite different in face structure then his brothers and in my opinion he is not similar to any Old Nwaswitshaka males, unlike his brothers:
*This image is copyright of its original author
My theory is that there is possiblity that Wide Nosed male is sired by Sand River males, and in particulary this 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
*This image is copyright of its original author
Also time frame fits perfectly for this, as we know that Sand Rivers where spending less and less time with Southern Pride at the beginning of 2015, and more in Kruger, and by mid 2015 they completely abandon Southern Pride and moved south in Kruger (south of their territory of Sabi Sabi and Lion Sands is area where Nwaswitshaka pride is around S1/s65).. And this male is born somewhere thru 2015, prob mid 2015.
Now that doesnt neccesary mean that Sand Rivers controled Nwaswitshaka, and i dont think they did, because other 3 males look to be around the same age or maybe few months younger, so that would mean that Old Nwaswitshakas controled the pride.. Maybe there was a fight for the pride and in those scraps Sand Rivers managed to mate with some females, or some females split and went with Sand Rivers, maybe cheated with them. .who knows..
This all is unproven, could be completely wrong and all just big coincidence, but i find it interesting..
They look similar to each-other. As well, This could be an interesting debate, The Sand river male and one of the older N'waswitshaka males are SO similar. I'll say almost a copy. But, As you have say, Hard to proven that the Sand River males ever have controlled the N'waswitshaka pride or even being near of their core territory. Perhaps, This N'waswitshaka got his facial similarities with his mother instead of the old N'waswitshaka males (Doesn't happens frequently, But happens).
good stuff.
Some fantastic photos of the N'waswitshaka males at Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve
Photo credits: (1) Tyron van der Walt, (2) Rebecca Boshoff, (3) Louise Murray, (4) Eric Herbst, (5) Greg Heasman, (6) Tyron van der walt
