It truly has been an
interesting start to the 2013! The Matimba coalition has made a serious impact
on the lion dynamics from where they left off an another massive event
was once again flooding on exactly the same day as last year!
Luckily it was not nearly as much water but we still had 385mm in two days of
raining. The Nwasisontso River was flowing strongly for several days after and whether
we like it or not, we needed it to ensure that our water sources are full for
the dry season that seems so far away. All these events are needed to keep the
balance in the bush and ensures that life carries on as it is intended.
Lions
Sizanani Males
It seems these males are
keeping a bit of a low profile. Having had a close encounter with one of the
Matimba males again, these males are not nearly as vocal as they were a few
months ago. We had four sightings of the Sizanani boys within this period and
they are definitely keeping to the western parts of their territory. Bad news for them is that the Koppies females have been moving further east and
have already interacted with the Matimba’s.
They were seen finishing off
a Buffalo kill close to the airstrip and then moved further to the west, closer to the lodge, where they spent a few days sleeping off their full
bellies. The last sighting we had was very close to the Matimba territory, but as they
usually move to the north west from this area and head towards Khoka Moya dam,
they will stay far out of the way of the Matimba’s.
Koppies Females
The older female was seen
with the middle female on Tamboti road, where they also cleaned up the remnants of a Buffalo kill. The older female hasn’t been seen again this week. The middle female was
later seen with one of the Matimba males. They spent three days mating at
Mantwan Mphisi pan. Her last encounter with the Matimba’s was quite violent but this time she was more than willing to give in.
We don’t know what will
happen next, but should the Matimba’s take over the Sizanani territory they will be
able to settle the Koppies females down. The fear is that as long as the females
are mating with both sets of males, the females will probably keep the cubs
away from the males and the cohesion of their group will suffer.
The youngest female’s tracks
have been seen around Panicum to Tamboti but we've had no sign sign of cubs yet.
The Matimba males
As mentioned before, one male
spent a few days mating with one of the Koppies girls. Usually these males move
around in groups of two or three, but this week while one male was mating, the other
males scattered. They have a large coalition and have always relied on
their numbers for security. The one lone male seemed slightly
anxious, vocalising and looking for the other boys.
Just after the flood, three
of these males were seen with the Koppies female at the shooting range close to the Kruger boundary. We can only wonder what the impact of this will be!
Other views from the bush
Darren Roberts-York & the safari team
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