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The Mighty Mapogos
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DJUMA NEWS – Lion update….
September 15, 2008 BUSH LODGE The greenery of the Bush Lodge gardens has attracted several species to browse and graze on the lawn and shrubs. Abel was out in the bush checking on the water supply that fills the remote waterholes on Djuma’s property, when he came across two male lions stalking a buffalo. Abel called some other staff in to come and see the action. One lion moved, however, the remaining one successfully brought down the buffalo from the front and hung on until it died. The growling coming from the lions was deafening, especially the one that was being protective over the kill. The show came to an end when a breeding herd of elephant arrived and chased the lions into the bush. VUYATELA It seems like the Mapogo Lion pride has given up on the fight of killing the Nkahuma pride cubs, well for now at least it seems this way. The pride was seen only once at the beginning of the month on Gowrie main road. The Nkahuma pride also disappeared for almost a month; however the good news is that they have returned. The cubs are doing well and maturing and all of them have been accounted for. The young males are showing signs of manes already. The only bad news, however, is that one of the lionesses has become very thin and everyone is keeping a watchful eye on her, should her condition not improve. The two Manyeleti lions seem to have settled into the area and have been seen almost on every game drive, usually on the eastern side of Djuma Game Reserve, hunting or sleeping. They obviously have intentions of staying, as one of them was spotted mating with a new lioness at Jordaan’s dam. They are proving to be successful hunters, having brought down buffalo on two separate kills. These sightings were viewed at: Djuma Bush Lodge & Djuma Vuyatela  *This image is copyright of its original author https://lionprides.wordpress.com/2008/09/15/djuma-news-lion-update%E2%80%A6/ 
Let me keep up with Fursan Syed and post some relevant information.
Conflict between the Mapogos after Mr. T came back west and started to kill the Ximungwe cubs.
July 2010 - Savanna Private Game Reserve
The predatory sagas continue where they left off last month. In the last newsletter, we mentioned about the one Mapogo male lion coming back from the east. Well, he has decided to stay on the western side, but what was exceptionally interesting was that the other Mapogo based on the west of our property suddenly all went east, obviously to challenge the intruders that had moved in there. How would they know to do this without there being some kind of communication between them? The four intruders have set themselves up and are causing havoc in the east and north-east of the Sabi Sands. As a result of their arrival, we now have prides of lions from the east intruding on the western territories. Prides that we seldom see are now venturing onto our property on a regular basis. This could provide very interesting viewing in the next month or so, as there will undoubtedly be disputes on territorial boundaries by the females of the various prides. The bad news is that the one Mapogo from the east has continued to kill a large number of cubs. Unfortunately the cub that was nicknamed Supercub was killed by this Mapogo a few days after it had been mauled last month. The other cub with Supercub has also been killed, as well as one of the smaller cubs. This leaves three small cubs with the Ximungwe pride. The Ximungwe females are often together now and this is probably due to the infiltration of the strange prides from the east. As a result of this new male's insistence on killing cubs, there has been a great deal of conflict between the Mapogos themselves and they are already starting to look scarred and battered. Despite all this conflict, however, they are still able to undertake a kill and another large buffalo bull was despatched along the river. _____________________________________ I've seen mentioned many times that the other Mapogos did nothing to stop Mr. T killing the Ximungwe cubs. Well, it seems they did.
Prettiest Mapogo Pretty Boy
Edited by me  *This image is copyright of its original author
A Blast from the past, 5 Mapogos jumping a Buffalo Bull, there were about 10 Buffalos in the herd and the rest of the group rallied and managed to save their companion ! A Lucky Buffalo indeed ! Photographed on Safari with andBeyond.
 *This image is copyright of its original author Hanging On: Dreadlocks on back while Kinky Tail, Mr T and Pretty Boy are attacking from behind...Rasta steps into the battle It is amazing to see how Buffalos can rally and face their enemies to save a member of the herd.  *This image is copyright of its original author The Takedown: Dreadlocks on neck, beside him Rasta, Mr T, Kinky Tail and Pretty Boy Credits: Andrew Schoeman
"Challenging Dad"
One of Mr-T's cub's giving him a hard time one morning in the Sabi Sands, I just love the big eyes from his little brother in the background watching Mr-T closely as his brother looks like he is about to get a big smack from his Dad. Credits: Mitchell Krog  *This image is copyright of its original author
According to Willem botha. Mr T was more dominant Mapogo in mlowathis. So thats also shows that Mr T was not the least dominant Mapogo.
 *This image is copyright of its original author
Mr T was a small male lion, in their prime he would lose a fight with any of his brothers. Yes he compensate with his vicious nature but that's it. They were brothers...they never fight to kill each other.
These brothers!
Dreadlocks and Pretty Boy locked in a tug of war over the leftovers from a kill. None wanted to let go! Pc unknown  *This image is copyright of its original author
(12-27-2016, 04:05 PM)fursan syed Wrote: According to Willem botha. Mr T was more dominant Mapogo in mlowathis. So thats also shows that Mr T was not the least dominant Mapogo. Isn't he the same Willem Botha for whom you asked here: https://www.facebook.com/Mapogo.Lions/po...1754601633 a punishment for killing in 2009 the Sand River Mapogo's sons? Now he became a reliable person? Btw, he doesn't say that Mr.T was dominant over KT (which everyone with a half brain, as would say our dear moderator Majingilane, can understand that it's a kindergarden level debate), he said "domonant" which could mean "less dominant" in Sepedi (the Limpopo language) :)
@
He is the reliable person. His statement is about mapogos that they killed more than 100 lions so everyone accept it without a doubt. And bro botha is not good in spellings. Everyone knows that who seen his write ups. You are new so you probably dont know about this. And we are talking in english not in sepadi lol. Your could and would not going to work on this.
RANGERS DIARY: 21-27 FEBRUARY ARATHUSA
March 1st, 2011 Mr T with a Giraffe Kill On our way back to the lodge we happened upon the highlight of our morning. We were close to the airstrip when we found a solitary male lion that looked very familiar. Upon closer investigation we identified him as Mr T, the remaining Mapogo brother that used to dominate this territory with his brother Kinky-Tail. After his brother was killed by the the Majingilhanes – the new dominant coalition of males, Mr T moved back to the west of the reserve to be with his other brothers. We hadn’t seen him in about eight months, so it was really exciting to find him back in the ‘hood. He was looking fit and healthy, and spent the day sleeping in the shade under a bush. In the afternoon we found Mr T still sleeping where we’d left him in the morning. A little further down the airstrip we found three rhinos wallowing in a pan, and shortly after we arrived a small herd of elephants joined them for a drink. We spent quite a while in the area, as it is not often you have three of the Big 5 so close together. Saturday The afternoon started off hot and slowly. We were pleased to find Mr T again, this time with a young giraffe kill. We’re not sure how long he will risk staying in this area, before returning to his brothers further south. However long he stays, it’s always good to see an old familiar face. Plenty of buffalo, elephant and rhino completed the afternoon game viewing. http://arathusa.co.za/rangers-diary-21-27-february/
THE LIONS ARE ON OUR DOORSTEP ARATHUSA
31 March 2010 The best sightings we have had over the past two weeks are undoubtedly all the lion sightings. And the best of these was the one right in front of the lodge…… We were heading out on our morning drive in search of lions as a few of our guests had not seen any yet. We were out of the camp for a mere minute, and there they were. We first saw a single lioness in the early morning light. She appeared out of the shadows and was on the trot – closely pursued by a big male. The rest of the pride was not too far behind (namely the Styx lionesses and the two Mapogo brothers, well known to us in this area).
It appeared as if one or some of the lionesses were in oestrous, and therefore ready to mate. This would be why the brothers were interested in them, as we normally see these two different groups of lions apart from one another.
We watched while one of the males tried to mate with one of the Styx pride females. This was clearly much to her disgust, as she and one of her pride attacked the male and sent him into retreat. These males may be a threat to the Styx prides sub-adult members as they were sired by a different lion. So the lionesses were a bit “on edge”, and were clearly concerned about the cubs’ safety. The lions all stayed on the open area in front of the lodge where we first found them for the remainder of the day. From here our guests could keep an eye on them from the pool deck. They simply lay in the shade and came down for water from time to time to ease the thirst brought upon them by the heat of the day.
That afternoon we went straight out to them again, although they were all sleeping soundly. We returned to them when it got cooler with nightfall and they started moving. We watched as they moved through the darkness, and into the night on the hunt – hoping to find their next meal. They were moving so quietly you could have heard a pin drop.
After following them for a good twenty minutes or so it was time to leave them and head back to the lodge for dinner and drinks Who knows what the next few weeks hold!
We hope to see you soon.
Warm regards from the team at Arathusa Safari Lodge.http://arathusa.co.za/the-lions-are-on-our-doorstep/
ARATHUSA
15 March 2010 The lions have also been good to us. We have had the Styx, Kahumas, Mapogos and Kagimas here over the last two weeks. The Styx pride was joined by the two lionesses that went missing for a while after the buffalo kill they made with the Mapogos. The Styx pride was nine-strong for some time, but the two lionesses have moved off again – possibly to find males to mate with as they have both lost their cubs. The Mapogos came in for a few days heading further east and north than they have for a long time. They are most likely looking for the Kagima males that have been encroaching on their southern boundary. The Kagima males themselves followed a herd of buffalo onto our property, where they managed to kill a young buffalo during the night. We watched them feed on the carcass for two days. We saw two of the Kahuma lionesses only a few times, but one looked to be in a lot of pain as she had a bad bite wound on her back leg. Although initially it did not look promising, the wound has gotten a lot better due to her fastidious cleaning. http://arathusa.co.za/the-cubs-are-christened/
ARATHUSA
28 February-2010 On the lion front we have been having peaceful sightings of the Styx lion pride, which for a long time numbered seven. They were reunited with another adult female, making them eight-strong. The four ‘cubs’ (nearing adulthood) are doing well and are still learning and so not yet able to take part in the hunt. It is always great to watch them playing around and tackling each other – no doubt putting their skills to practice for one fine day when they join their moms and aunts in hunting the many zebra, gnu, warthogs and impala. The infamous Mapogo male lion members have been around too, and after a few weeks back they killed an adult Cape buffalo far on our eastern traversing area – we were well treated to spectacular male lions feeding on a massive buffalo for four days! These two huge male lions remind the lionesses that they too can hunt big game without the help of the skillfull females. http://arathusa.co.za/safari-holds-her-own/ |
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