New Beginning as one comes to an end…..

As reported last year the remaining Duba Boy died at the end of 2008, the details are not clear, however, the guides found his body. No name has been given for the new guy yet, however he seems quite settled as a few small cubs and two lactating females were found who seemed quite friendly with him. As for the rest of the pride, they are still getting used to him. No Coalition has been formed and the guides at Duba reckon this new male may be one of the Skimmer Pride males from 2002 litter, however they cannot say for sure. The Pantry Pride disintegrated over a year ago due to too many deaths from Buffalo attacks. Watch this space for more lion news….

These brillant sightings & more have been viewed at Duba Plains

Tsaro Pride – General News

The lion sightings and fascinating pride dynamics at Duba Plains are still incredible! The Tsaro Pride appears to have regrouped as before. They have been seen together in most of the sightings, consisting of nine adult females, one sub-adult lioness and the Skimmer Male. Regardless of the regrouping, there is still that typical inter-lioness aggression going on within the pride, which causes some of the lionesses to stay distant from the rest most of the time. The re-grouping is a huge benefit to the pride as this has increased the hunting success rate of the pride considerably. In August the Tsaro Pride provided fulfilling guest sightings with their relentless attack on the buffalo population. This month 12 buffalo kills were witnessed, regardless of the small number of kills; it has always taken up to three days of attempts with several adrenalin-raising encounters between successful hunts. There have been days of incessant lion-vs.-buffalo action which has kept guests out for longer hours.

Staff at Duba Plains has always been fascinated by the lion pride dynamics and of course it is so much more than that, the spirit of wild Africa, which thankfully can still be found at Duba Plains. After the long debate of the likelihood of the Duba Boys being replaced as the territorial males of the area, it finally happened. Another debate has now started: A young male, estimated to be approximately five years of age, has on several incidents been infiltrating into the Duba area, and seems to have now made his intentions clear: that of staying. During the past month, he has been seen regularly, mostly pretty relaxed considering he is in the core territory of the Skimmer Male. Within this period, he has already mated with the third lioness from the Tsaro Pride. The Skimmer Male appears to be unaware of the presence of this young intruding male. Junior still seems to be the most unwelcome lion in the territory. Regardless of his unwanted presence, he is still often seen in the area, keeping his distance from the rest of the pride, especially the Skimmer Male. He seems to be slowly gaining the intimidating physique that his father was always known for.

The Tsaro  Pride can be viewed at: www.sunsafaris.com/duba.html

The End of an Era – the death of the remaining Duba Boy

Sadly the second Duba Boy died on the 28th July 2008. This incident follows on the passing of the other Duba Boy on 28th of January 2008. Since the death of the first Duba Boy, the remaining lion in this fearsome duo has struggled. He could not stay with the Tsaro Pride any longer since the pride was taken over by the Skimmer Male. He could also not hunt effectively any more and his body condition deteriorated badly. He disappeared for about ten days and was seen in a terrible condition after that. One morning, the Tsaro pride had just killed an adult buffalo. The dominant Skimmer male chased Junior and the females off the kill, but amazingly allowed the old Duba Boy to join in the feed. He finally met his fate one night while trying to hunt buffalo. He got badly injured on the chest and could hardly move from where the incident occurred. Three days later, he managed to get to a waterhole, but as he knelt down for a drink, he took his last breath of life….

The Duba Boys made history in two ways: they were one of the few male lion coalitions known to have held the territory for approximately 11 years and they lived to reach an exceptionally old age of about 17 years. To put everything into perspective, males in coalitions normally has brief reproductive reign over a female pride. Pride tenure on average lasts no more than two years, four at the most.
May the Duba Boys rest in peace – they will certainly be remembered by all, guides as well as guests who have been privileged to see these legendary lions.

The Duba’s Dominance comes to an end at: www.sunsafaris.com/duba.html

The Fallen Duba boy

With sorrow and sadness, we would like to announce the death of one of the legendary ‘Duba Boys‘. He died after a long sickness that was caused by an attack from the elegant male from the neighboring territory – the ‘Skimmer Male‘. This happened at the end of the first week of November 2007. The Skimmer Male had always challenged the Duba Boys, but had always been circumspect and cautious in terms of timing and location. On this occasion however he pushed home his attack. The Duba Boy was found by the guides the next morning and had a badly injured eye. Later, the Skimmer Male was located in the area and brazenly stayed in the vicinity area for the following two weeks mating with the ‘Tsaro Pride‘ lionesses. This was not the first time it had happened, but was the longest he had ever stayed in the area. In addition he also attacked the second Duba Boy about five days later, on this occasion not inflicting any serious wounds but clearly winning the conflict over one of the sexually receptive Tsaro lionesses. He then continued to enjoy the Duba Boys territory and mating rights for a further week with no attempt to eject him made by the Duba Boys.

During this period the two Duba Boys gave the Skimmer Male and the Tsaro Pride a wide berth, especially the injured male who in fact became very elusive. The fact that he did not associate with the pride and did not hunt for himself as a result of his injuries caused a rapid decline in condition and deterioration in health. He completely lost the healthy and intimidating physique he had became known for.

On the 28th of December, this male was seen by the guides out on game drive. Most of the guides and guests, including multi-repeat guest Iva Spitzer, agreed that it was likely that if he did not feed during the night that he would breathe his last. This turned out to be true.

James was on game drive on the morning of the 29th when he saw some vultures soaring along Letlalo Road. As usual he investigated and was devastated to find the late Duba Boy. It is fitting that he was killed by the buffalos he had hunted for most of his adult life. The area looked like a battle field. The bush was trashed, the grass was trampled and the dead Duba Boy had a gash from the chest down to the belly from the horn of his final adversary.

The Duba Boys have been in the area since the year 1996, when Duba Plains opened. They were the sons to a male lion called ‘Stick’, who was dominant in the area at that time. He was then chased out of his territory by another male called ‘Squinty’ towards the end of 1996. Squinty became dominant in the area up until 1999 when the two Duba Boys proved mature enough for dominancy and usurped his position, ruling over this area since this time. It remains to be seen how long the remaining brother will be able to hold onto the prize?

The remaining Duba boy can be sighted at: www.sunsafaris.com/duba.html

The Ageing Duba Boys

As usual, the Tsaro Pride has continued to provide the majority of the lion sightings this month. They still consist of nine adult females, a juvenile female cub and the sub-adult male (‘Junior’). The poor breeding success rate continues with about 8 cubs killed in the last two to three months. ‘Silver Eye‘, the lioness generally thought to be responsible for much of this mortality, lost her own litter recently. The pride continues to be in three different divisions at the moment, although these distinct groupings do regularly join up to hunt and feed. They have also hunted successfully on their own however, although one of the females is carrying an injury to the back leg that was caused by a buffalo. She (‘Junior’s’ mother) recovered quickly however and two days later was seen actively involved in a successful hunt. ‘Junior’ has already started to be harassed a bit by his fathers the ageing ‘Duba Boys‘. This typical inter-male aggression has been witnessed a lot at feeding points.

We have long debated the likelihood of the Duba Boys being supplanted as the territorial males of the area, and it now seems as though this inevitability is not far off. Since the beginning of the month the single Skimmer Male, that for the past few months has been making increasing incursions into the area, has actually made his intentions very clear. Over the past two weeks this male has attacked the Duba Boys one after the other, leaving both of them with severe injuries. The first one was attacked around the first week of the month, resulting in bad injuries around the eye that has now been swollen since then. The condition of this male has dropped quite dramatically and for three weeks now could be described as being in bad physiological condition with his whole body showing signs of age and decline: the pelvic bones are more pronounced, most of the body seems more angular and less robust, even the tail is looking emaciated and in general his whole body really appears shrunken. The second male appears to have been attacked just a day or so ago. This male has been looking far better than his coalition partner but on this occasion he had also apparently been involved in a fight and had severe injuries mainly on the leg which appeared to be fractured, he was badly limping as well.

The Skimmer Male – also seen with minor bruises and gashes to the face – has not wasted his time and has been seen on several occasions (always pretty relaxed considering he is in the core of the territory of the Duba Boys) mating with one of the Tsaro Pride lionesses. Apparently he is now mating with a second lioness that had been mating with the Duba Boy a day before the fight. The following morning he was seen with this lioness having obviously fought over the mating rights with the second Duba Boy. In contrast to the relaxed attitude of the Skimmer Male, the two Duba boys have been lying low and have been pretty elusive. We are all looking forward to see the outcome ?

All these sightings have been seen at: www.sunsafaris.com/duba.html

The Duba boys & their Pride

The two Duba Boys, estimated at just over 16 years, are still doing very well at the moment. One of them has been seen limping quite badly and there was a period of a week this month when he was not seen at all; apparently this is an old injury from few years ago caused by a buffalo horn. This male reappeared but in pretty poor condition. Their longevity has amazed most of our repeat guests who did not expect to see them still alive! Although there is a slight evidence of deterioration on their bodies, age is only slowly working on them. The Duba Boys have been holding the dominancy in the area for about ten years now which has been aided by two main factors: they have an excellent prey base in the buffalo herd and have not had threats or challenges from other males for a long time. This has assured stability in the area so far. There was a time when we were all anticipating a challenge from the five males from the Skimmer Pride (in the neighboring territory) once they left their natal pride. It now seems like they have gone in a completely different direction, because it has been more than six months since seeing them at all. This in a way is against what we were hoping for as attached to the Duba Boys as we are. It is imperative for successful genetic breeding that a new generation of males takes over the territory in the near future.

Junior (the two year old male with the Tsaro Pride), has provided his own surprises to both the guides and guests. He seems much bigger in size compared with what is expected for his age. In September he made his second solo kill (after a first in August). With his eagerness to initiate hunts (doing it the right way now), he is proving himself a valuable and useful member of the pride. However, he seems to have also developed a penchant for initiating fights within the pride and recently scrapped with the silver eyed lioness who he appears to target specifically. Junior is now a big lion who no longer tucks in his tale and retreats when being growled at by the Duba Boys. He has been seen growling back, and 2 days ago he took one of the boys on in a severe fight that lasted about a minute without him giving up – rather the Duba Boy did ? interesting times and a bit of a turn up for the books ?
The young female cub in the Tsaro Pride (9 months) is also still continuing to participate a lot in hunting, after being missed by the swinging horns of a buff last month. This time she was taken on a several meters chase by an old dagga boy (buffalo bull) – had she not made a quick decision to escape into the palm island the whole thing would have ended in disaster. The silver eyed lioness has cubs at the moment, though her offspring have still not been seen.

The rest of the Tsaro Pride is doing very well and are in good shape at the moment with three major groupings being seen on a consistent basis: 2 females and junior; 2 females and the 9 months old female cub; ‘Silver Eye’ mostly alone due to her having the cubs and meeting up with the others only when hunting and feeding. There has been substantial conflict between the lionesses on the carcasses – a new and unprecedented development in the pride and one that we shall continue to watch with interest.

The Skimmer Male that was in the Duba Boys and Tsaro Pride territory last month has again appeared in the area this September. This time he did not spend his time just wandering around and made good use of the incursion ? he was caught in action mating with one of the Tsaro females for a very good period of 3 to 4 days! This incident happened along Molapo Road, which is the territorial boundary of the two prides. After mating, he disappeared for a while, and then came back into the area, and walked a distance of 7km (about 4 miles) into the Tsaro Pride territory, all the way up to Kabole Pan which is just after the bridge. This means he pushed way into the territory of the Duba Boys and was not looking settled at all (as he was aware of what will happen if the Duba boys come across him), leaving the next day for safer ground.

The Duba Boys & other Prides can be viewed at: www.sunsafaris.com/duba.html

Growing Up by Lion around

The buffalo herd is still in good condition despite the dryness of the grass. In August, as a result of the buffalo herd spending most of the time in our prime game drive this month, the interaction between the Tsaro Pride and the buffalo herd seemed to have dominated most sightings. We have also been able to cover most of the area as the water has receded a lot. The area along Tswene Road west of the bridge has not been accessed in the last four months due to the water level being very high for example. Recently the Tsaro Pride led the game drive vehicles on this road following the herd (the lioness posing for the picture is the Silver Eyed Female about five minutes before taking down a buffalo cow on the edge of this floodplain).
The Tsaro pride has been very successful this month. We have been seeing more interaction, resulting in 7 buffalo kills witnessed over the month. We are very proud to announce that ‘Junior’ (the sub-adult male in the Tsaro Pride) has recently proved his worth in the pride. This happened after full five hours of following the Tsaro pride hunting buffalo when we were delighted to watch Junior sneaking through the grass with full concentration to target an older buffalo. After a chase of several metres, he jumped on the back of the cow and brought it down to the ground without any assistance from the adults. After a long time of desperation to do it the right way, eventually he has done it!
Not only Junior has been doing us proud – James 007 was also surprised recently, when watching two of the Tsaro females taking down a cow, to see the small female cub (about 8 months old) swiftly leaping over the buffalo trying to reach the throat for suffocation! She did it a little bit early and was nearly taken by the swinging horn of the cow. She must have learnt a lesson there as she did stay back for a while until the cow was dead. As we mentioned in last month’s report, we are still convinced the female cub will make it to the next stage of sub-adulthood. She is also growing at a tremendous rate which is evident by her size versus her age. The other cub of which we reported last month was sadly seen recently badly injured on her back. The cub could not walk with its hind legs, but rather was just dragging them, a sure sign of a back injury. We feel this has been caused by one of the females and she has been seen following her mother almost everywhere she goes. This has made her very easy to track as she leaves a significant trail behind from dragging the hind legs.

The Skimmer Pride still consists of three females and is still very elusive. They were seen only once in August on a buffalo kill on the northern side of the camp. The adult Skimmer male has also been seen once along Molapo Road recently, which is the boundary line between Tsaro and Skimmer Pride territories. The aging Duba Boys are still strong and very confident of protecting the Tsaro Pride and their territory, and still fight viciously for dominance when it comes to feeding and mating.
When the lion and the buffalo are not the main focus, our guides always focus on the smaller things that actually contribute a lot to making the bush so interesting. They have recently been witnessing some sporadic sightings, e.g. a male bushbuck was photographed recently comfortably walking across the floodplain to the next island. Birding has become tremendous as the water recedes and a myriad birds have been seen foraging on the drying muddy plains. The trio of Wattled Cranes above were caught in the camera foraging on the plains.

The Pride has grown

It was very impressive recently to see one of the most ruthless cub killers, ‘Silver Eye‘, growling and exposing her deadly canines at this cub. She was badly attacked by the two females that look after this young cub, and since then has very often been denied any chance to get anywhere close to her. One of the lionesses (‘Machine Gun’) had cubs on the northern side of the camp, probably wanting to keep them away from the rest of the pride until a certain stage. This worked out well for that period as the cubs at least made it to at least 4-5 months, but unfortunately after only five days of introduction to the rest of the pride they were all found dead. We are not sure if ‘Silver Eye’ was responsible for any of the deaths. In one case only did the guides witness the death of a cub. It was killed by two other females, which was not really surprising as they have been witnessed killing cubs before. These two lionesses associate more with the silver-eyed female than any other lioness in the pride. The bereft mother (Machine Gun) was already seen mating by the second week of July. Currently we have one lioness with one cub estimated at three months old. Despite their age (about 16 years), the Duba Boys still continue as the proud leaders of the Tsaro Pride in their domain.

The Skimmer Pride has only been seen once in July. They were seen in the vicinity of the buffalo herd on the north-western side of the camp. This was from a distance, as the Tsaro Pride was very close to the herd and prevented the approach of the Skimmer Pride. The composition is still three lionesses as from about seven months ago. We are now beginning to be convinced that the rest of the pride has emigrated from the area completely. The three that we see are all the young females of about 4 and half years old.

These Prides & more can be viewed at: www.sunsafaris.com/duba.html

The Buffalo & Lion Interaction

At the moment the buffalo herd is still spending most of their time in our prime game drive area. It has been very surprising that they have hardly crossed into the Paradise Island area this month. Instead they have been hanging around the floodplains that we can access easily during the flood (which is very convenient for us!). As always there have been several exciting sightings involving the buffalo herd and the lion prides. During one of the sightings the guests watched as a cow had just given birth, and soon after dropping the calf, abandoned it to catch up with the rest of the herd. We think this is a tactic of avoiding the risk of falling prey to the Tsaro Pride that was nearby. The pride duly spotted the lonely calf and walked towards it, not aware of the male buffalo that was lying down within the thick bushes close by. It was very interesting to watch another evolutionary tactic in this relentless battle. As the lions caught the calf, the buffalo bull responded to the distress call and ran towards the lions, chasing them off the calf before it lost the last breath! The male then defended the calf against the lions for as long as three hours! Some commitment to a calf that was most likely not directly related to it.
The Tsaro Pride and the Duba Boys have continued to dominate both our lion viewing and lion and buffalo interaction. There has been approximately six kills witnessed in the month of May. As is usual at Duba over the last three years, we are still continuing to witness more lion and buffalo interaction than actual kills which is good to remember when visiting here. We are excited and delighted to report that ‘Junior’, the juvenile male is still alive making him the only cub in the Tsaro Pride to survive the very high mortality rates over the last three years. It has been very exciting to watch the females teaching Junior how to kill prey. There was a time when one of the adult females caught a buffalo calf, and then released it prompting the young male to get involved; it took him approximately 20 minutes to kill a calf that must have been around a week old while the females were just sitting there, not helping but just watching him. We think he still need some time to learn as very often he has been seen trying to tackle full grown buffalo, and he has been stuck between the horns a few times.
At the moment there is one other cub (from a subsequent litter) that is surviving and we’ll hold thumbs for her future. Another of the lionesses is lactating, indicating the presence of very small cubs, but we have not seen these as yet. We suspect that the cubs are hidden somewhere on the northern side of the camp/airstrip. This lioness moves between the northern side of the camp and the south where the buffalo spend most of the time, passing through the camp very often. One of the other lionesses, the well known ‘Silver Eye’, was been seen mating with one of the Duba Boys towards the end of April. Has she conceived? We are look forward to seeing her cubs about end of July.
The Skimmer Pride has been very elusive this month. When they were seen, it was while hunting buffalo in the Tsaro Pride territory – mainly in the area along Molapo Road which is the main boundary between the two prides’ territories. Interestingly, over the last two months when the Skimmer Pride has been seen, it has consisted only of three lionesses (1 adult, and 2 four-year old sub-adults). We do not know what has happened to the other part of the pride (a total of 8 missing). It is very difficult to investigate due to the water level being high and we therefore cannot cross over into Paradise Island which is their main territory. The debate has been that if they were still on Paradise Island, they would not spent 2 months not coming into the Tsaro pride territory at all, while part of their pride was continuing to do just that (especially when the buffalo herd have not crossed onto Paradise Island for a long time). So far we suspect that the pride must have separated, perhaps temporarily while the water levels are high. Also of interest was a sighting of one of the Duba Boys feeding on a buffalo kill with the females from the Skimmer Pride. Eventually the Tsaro females came towards the sighting and met the Skimmer females with outright aggression! This nearly caused another inter-pride fight but the Skimmer females retreated in time across the water into their territory.

These & more Prides can be viewed at: www.sunsafaris.com/duba.html