The Mpogo Pride Venturing into the South

This month has been a very good month for lions as well. The cubs of the Sand River Pride that we are seeing on a regular basis are now growing big and with the manes developing of the two older cubs, it is not long before they will be participating in the hunt. It is still a year to 18 months before their “fathers” who are the Mpogo, will start pushing them out before they become a threat to their territory.
The Mpogo have made a certain number of sorties into the southern area of our traversing rights. This is the furthest south that they have been for many months. The reason for this is that the resident Mpogo in our area has been tracking down and following the Ximungwe Pride who have made certain visits to the north and as soon as they feel there is any danger, they come running back to the south which has been a safe haven for them for the last 2 years. It was on one of these occasions that we witnessed the single Mpogo catch up to the Ximungwe Pride who was busy on a warthog kill. It was very interesting to see how the single Mpogo approached the pride. He stood back and watched the pride for some time and only when they saw him and started to run, did he let out a strangled roar and rush forward to chase them. He was obviously checking that he did not run into a situation that he could not handle. Another interesting fact was that the single roar obviously alerted the rest of the coalition and by that afternoon, there were another 3 Mpogo in the area. It just goes to show that there is a form of understanding in their communication. This incident ended with the Ximungwe Pride scattering and they all moved out of our area for a few days. The Mpogo also killed a big male buffalo along the river. This provided some very interesting viewing as the Ottawa Pride also joined them and it was wonderful to see how tolerant the Mpogo were of the Ottawa cubs. They allowed them to feed at the same time as themselves. It was also amazing to see five of the six Mpogo together in the one area again.

These sightings have been viewed at: www.sunsafaris.com/savannalodge.html