Lions on the Rise

There has been a lot of activity from The Matatatha Pride in and around the camp this month; on a few remarkable occasions they were seen hunting the resident buffalo males. Guests have been fortunate enough to experience and observe the interaction between the lions and the hyaena in the area. Another highlight was the incredible sighting of two roaming male lions and one female lion taking down a buffalo calf, the herd decided to get even and the lioness was badly injured in the attack. During the course of the month, four different buffalo herds were spotted. During the month of May, quite a few lion-buffalo interactions were seen; the lions being successful in the bulk of the kills. On one occasion, the buffalo were trying to defend a calf; however they lost it to the determined lions. During the month there were also quite a few sightings of lions killing zebra, giraffe and impala; they were also recorded, unsuccessfully chasing a warthog. The 50 different lion sightings this month consisted of four known prides – the famous Mathata Pride (28 strong), the Maporota Pride (24), the Western Pride and the Stickya Pride, as well as several nomadic lions moving through the territories of the two major prides. The Lion activity has been incredible this month, in 26 days of lion sightings, the Moporota and Mathata Prides, were seen taking down a baby giraffe and a warthog. The highlight of the month was during a Lion-warthog kill when the lions ended up sharing their kill with hyenas. The famous Mathata Pride seems to have lost its oldest female, the Mathata female after whom the pride is named. She was found badly hurt at a buffalo kill at Suzie’s Duck Pond. The Maporota Pride seems to have expanded their territory from the boma areas north east of the camp all the way up to Serondela, Wheatfield and the 92 Dog Den. This pride seems to be doing well, except for the absence of 3 of the 13 sub adults normally present.

The increasing lion population can be viewed at: www.sunsafaris.com/mombo.html

Dominant Lion Prides at Mombo Camp

Our three dominant lion prides have remained the same for the month of June. The largest two prides, the Mathatha and Moporota Prides, have been constant with regards to numbers. The Mathatha Pride is still dominant in the east but have been seen fairly infrequently as they are generally some distance from the camp. The Moporota Pride have moved further to the north of the camp and have also been keeping their distance, meaning that sightings have also been slightly less frequent than usual.

The lions seen most this month have been the Western Pride. This group of lions appears to have made Mombo Camp the heart of their territory and have regularly provided entertainment for guests through the day as well as the night. Between their territorial patrols and buffalo hunts, the pride has been seen in camp regularly this month. Unfortunately they have lost one cub since our last report and the pride is now down to two cubs. The females with manes continue to thrive and the pride dynamics don’t seem to be suffering as a result of this genetic abnormality.

An incredible lion sighting this month involved one of the Moporota Pride females and her three seven month old cubs. She was temporarily split from the rest of the pride and decided to take the opportunity to teach her cubs a lesson or two in hunting. She caught and brought down a young giraffe without killing it. For the next 30 minutes she left it to the cubs to try to kill, occasionally helping out as the giraffe got the better of the cubs. It was a real privilege for all that were there to witness these dramatic events.

The prides Dominance can be viewed at: www.sunsafaris.com/mombo.html

The Maned lioness at Mombo Camp

During the late 1990s through until 2002, a rather peculiar lioness and her pride used the immediate vicinity of Mombo camp in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. ‘Martina’, as she was named, was a huge muscular lioness with a mane resembling that of a four year old male lion (pictured at top). The remainder of the pride consisted of another (maneless) lioness and her two cubs. Martina herself was never seen to conceive and give birth to cubs even though she was observed mating on one occasion.

This pride never managed to successfully settle down in the area. This was most likely due to the high density of lions and the intense competition amongst male lions for territorial control. As an apparent young male with a pride, Martina was regularly harassed and hounded by marauding male lion coalitions and eventually left the area, the pride moving to the south and west never to be seen again.

So what caused this genetic abnormality?

Over the years of her presence around Mombo many a debate about her genetic makeup was held at the dinner table and fireside. Was this an expression of gene carried on the x chromosome? Was this merely a freak mutation, never to be seen again? Was this a result of genetic mutation due to intense in-breeding? Was this a recessive gene able to be transferred to offspring?

Whatever the reason, her genetics doomed Martina to reproductive failure and caused her pride to be forced out of the area. By the same token however she was a superb hunter and was not harassed by spotted hyenas as a result of their ‘perception’ that she was an adult male lion.

The mystery was never solved and the story of Martina became history.

A few years later, during the winter of 2005, Alex Mazunga, one of the Mombo guides located a new, previously unknown pride on the western edge of Mombo Island. He notified me on radio and as they had just pulled down a buffalo I was rather excited and responded. On arrival I noticed that they were extremely nervous and definitely unknown to myself and the Mombo guides. We gave them the rather prosaic name of ‘The Western Pride’.

Months passed by and the pride slowly settled down, conducting their hunting and mating activities without being bothered by us. There was absolutely nothing peculiar about the pride and they become regular stars on the Mombo game drives, producing offspring in the summer of 2005/06 and settling down in the immediate vicinity of the camp, focusing on killing buffalo in and around the channel. They have occupied this niche since then, avoiding the territorial conflicts of the larger Moporota and Mathata Prides that have continued over much of 2007/08.

During April of this year Brandon Kemp and I were out on a safari and located the pride snoozing very close to the camp. As per usual I was snapping away. The pride were casually interacting as they were awakening. Something was wrong. Before I could put my finger on it, Brandon said “Hey, did you see that?”

I was stunned! The young ‘male’ lion that had just walked past the land rover sported no obvious male genitalia! ‘It’ settled down next to another lioness facing us. We quickly hauled out the binoculars and noticed that this cat had a small face like a lioness, an apparent large body and a well developed mane of a two to three year old male lion. Wow! How could this have been overlooked in a regularly seen pride for so long? And even more so what was this all about? Just as we were absorbing all of this, we noticed that the other two lionesses had small manes!

The discovery was overwhelming: The potential questions and answers, even more so. Are these lionesses related to Martina, or rather just products of the same circumstances that bred her?

It is impossible at this stage to answer these questions, but we look forward to many more sightings and fireside debates in the years to come.

This strange Lioness has been seen at: www.sunsafaris.com/mombo.html

Lion & Hyaena interaction

The Mombo lion population is believed to be one of the highest in the country and has been increased by three new cubs from one of the Western Pride females. These female has been sighted taking down warthogs and young giraffes in more or less same area and this made the guides curious since they noticed that she was nursing cubs. They started monitoring her movements and eventually found her cubs hidden on a palm island.

The Mathata Pride, the biggest in the area, has been seen only 14 times compared to Maporota (the second biggest pride) which was recorded on 23 different game drives! The Western Pride tends to confine its movements along the channel which runs past the western side of the camp. Unknown lions were also recorded around the Moporota floodplain. In total the guides saw an average of 52 individual lions on the drives conducted this month.

One of the highlights recorded from the Main Camp deck was that of an unidentified lioness which made a red lechwe kill on the plains in front of the lodge and almost lost it to crocodiles who played a tug of war with her, until she decided to drag her kill further away from the water. Almost every guest saw part of this breathtaking sight.

Hyaena are still found in good numbers on Mombo Island and have been seen interacting with lion on several occasions – sometimes taking risks which get them killed

Mombo Island had as many as 72 lion sightings this month. This came about from a good number of prides being located over and above the two main prides, the Maporota and the Mathata. The prides include the Wailer and the Piajo (2 males, 2 females and 3 sub adults) Prides mainly found in the Simbira area. The Sticknyao Males patronised the Baobab Roost and the Maporata Road areas and were mainly found mating with various females and the Boro Pride of 11 animals was seen feeding on a tsessebe in the middle Boro area. The Mathata Pride is still in the area and on one occasion was found feeding on a zebra kill when an elephant came in and chased this pride of more than 20 off the kill. The Maporota Pride has also been seen a good number of times and amongst them is an injured female.

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

The Lion & Crocodile encounter

The Duba lions seem to still be major highlights of the sightings here. The Skimmer Pride that has disappeared for almost a year was seen for the first time in mid-May again, the pride now comprising three adult females, and an additional five cubs of different ages – three of them around four months old. The Skimmer Pride has been very active during the time they were in the area and have been seen several times hunting buffalo along the  Molapo Road which is where they are normally seen most of the time; Molapo Road being the main boundary between the Skimmer Pride territory and the Tsaro Pride territory.

During their time in the area, they provided an amazing sighting that not many people have had the opportunity to see:

One evening this pride killed an adult buffalo bull along Molapo Road, at a spot approximately 50 metres from a water channel. With the kill being so close to the water’s edge, it proved too tempting for nearby crocodiles, several of them looking very hungry and eagerly watching the lionesses as they were feeding. The following afternoon, soon after some guests had just arrived at the sighting, they witnessed one of the crocodiles walking up to the carcass. As the crocodile got close, one of the lionesses snarled a ‘back off’ at it. In response to the lioness, the crocodile then decided to go for one of the small cubs that out of curiosity walked closer to the unfolding event. This caused a war that nobody could have foreseen – all three lionesses turned around and attacked the crocodile, the crocodile in turn trying by all means to defend itself, but against such formidable predators like lions, his defensive skills were absolutely useless. The crocodile was bitten on the stomach and on some of his limbs and was believed to have been killed. The next morning the crocodile had disappeared and there was no sign of what could have happened with it, yet the lions were still lying around the remains of the buffalo carcass. This was a thrilling event indeed for all those who managed to see it. Thanks to guest Darin Goldman for the two photographs.

During June, the Skimmer Male has been looking very busy most of the time; not knowing whether to stay with the Tsaro Pride that was also hunting buffalo or with the Skimmer Pride that was feeding on the buffalo carcass. In order to give attention to both of his prides he had to work very hard and move between the two as much as he could, but in the end spent most of his time with the Tsaro Pride. He and Junior are still enemies: Junior has been seen many times running and hiding away from the Skimmer Male until recently when he decided that enough is enough. Coming across each other again one day, Junior resisted this time, jumping on top of the Skimmer Male, attacking him to the extent that the Skimmer male surrendered by turning around and running away. Since then, there has been some tension between the two of them. At the moment, Junior is still spending most of the time away from the rest of the pride, but very often has been seen hanging around not far from the Skimmer Male in the Tsaro territory.

On two occasions in June, one of the young males of the Skimmer Pride that has not been seen for almost two years was seen in the area on the northern side of the airstrip. He has been actively and successfully hunting buffalo on his own, and seen on two occasions on buffalo kills. The guides are looking forward to seeing what will happen if he and Junior meet up, since they are hanging around  in the same area – possibly they would even form a coalition.

We mentioned in the last report regarding the Tsaro Pride getting back together, and this has continued to happen in May and June as well. It is very interesting to see the Skimmer Male being very involved with the reuniting of the pride, but very unfortunate that it is happening because Junior and the juvenile female now often spend time away from the rest of the pride.

In May, two of the lionesses had cubs: three and two respectively. Both though have been seen with only one cub each. The guides believe that the rest of the cubs have unfortunately died. In the last two months, the pride has been seen hunting buffalo as usual several times, although there have been occasions when some individual females, especially those lactating, have been seen hunting warthog as well. The remaining Duba Boy has not been seen for quite a long time as well.

All Sightings & more at: www.sunsafaris.com/duba.html

Tsaro Pride dominating their territory

For the most part the Tsaro Pride still remains the one dominating our lion sightings at Duba Plains. The individuals comprising this pride still number nine adult females, a single adult male (the remaining Duba Boy), one sub-adult male (Junior) and a young female.

There have been many social changes within the pride. We have been wondering what is going to happen within the pride since the death of the one Duba Boy in January 2008. The Skimmer Male comes into the territory more often, and it is very interesting to see that he seems to have settled in the territory at the moment, spending an increasing amount of time there. This caused the destabilisation of the pride initially. Junior, the sub-adult male, has been chased out of the pride by this male, and we have not seen him with the rest of the pride for a period of almost three consecutive weeks to date. The juvenile female was also chased away by Skimmer Male as he was mating with her mother. Recently she has been seen back in the pride though she does not stay with them.

It is very surprising that both females that always looked after Junior are not concerned about his disappearance, and the mother of the juvenile female does not appear to show concern while she is away. Both of these females have been mating with the Skimmer Male. There was a time when both Junior and the juvenile female were seen teaming up with the Duba Boy (who is also suffering from the presence of the Skimmer Male) hunting buffalo. The Duba Boy has been very quiet since the arrival of the Skimmer Male in his territory, showing neither resistance nor reaction at all. He seems ready to give up on his pride and territory as he has become more of a satellite male than ever before in his life.

At this stage, three of the lionesses that mated with the Skimmer Male in January during the struggle that led to the death of the other Duba Boy, have cubs. Only one out of the three have been seen twice in April with three cubs with her, while the other two show signs that they are suckling, but cubs are not yet seen. The guides have been amazed by how the Skimmer Male gets involved in the hunting.

One of the theories with regard to the division of the pride over the last year has been that they were separated because they were raising Junior and the juvenile female. Since they no longer spend time with the rest of the pride, the lionesses have now been seen most of the time in numbers of six or eight which has not happened for the last year or so, thereby giving credence to the theory.

On two different occasions, the Duba Boy has been seen hunting warthog and red lechwe on his own – successful on both occasions. We watch his progress with interest and wonder what the near future holds for him.

These Prides & more can be viewed 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.