Wilderness tracking team on tracking the Matimba lions

A coalition of 6 male lions named the Matimbas has claimed the Manyeleti as their territory. This coalition has grown so strong that they have set up shop “so to speak” over a very large area. This coalition as we have witnessed the past 3 years has been growing vigorously in confidence, strength and mystery. Other coalitions and prides also operate in the reserve however very fleet-footedly!

The Matimbas have been in several fights with other male and female lions and it was reported a while ago that they killed a young female lion and ate her… On several occasions we’ve witnessed them bring down Buffalo with not to much difficulty.           

                                  

Matimbas feasting on a Buffalo

A tracking team has been set-up to establish this coalitions movements, habits and in general to find out “what they do and where do they go when we're not watching?”

 

The tracking team consisting of 2 members lead by our talented tracker Mpho “Hercules”Malapane is focused and determined to find them and other predators on a regular basis.

 

On a recent tracking excursion we picked-up lion tracks. A few females and one large male next to S8 water hole.

 

The area where we found the tracks were consistent with the Matimbas territory. We took about 10 minutes and scanned the area too decipher where these lions went after they had an early morning drink and brief lye-down. Less than 10 minutes later we were on their trail. We started following their tracks slowly. Firstly, we wanted to get a ”feel” for "how" they were moving through the game paths and surrounding bush. After a fair distance of walking we concurred with silent whisper "They are hunting!"

 

While tracking for about 40 minutes the tracks disappeared as a big herd of several hundred African buffalo walked right over their tracks.

 

Mpho then said “We will now keep following the buffalo, they will show us where the lions are...”

 

Rapidly, another 20 minutes passed and we could hear numerous African Buffalo grunting and mooing several hundred meters in front of us. We were getting close!

 

Mpho then said “if we chase the buffalo, we will chase the lion”

 

We then decided to not disturb the buffalo and stay well down wind to avoid being detected. This tactic made lots of sense because if these lions were hunting these buffalo, we didn't want to be a distraction to the event.

 

We slowly and secretively searched the area making sure we do not get spotted by any animal. We could see no track or sign of these lion.

 

We decided to back-track on the rout we tracked in and searched again for tracks. We felt confident the lions did not go to far. Luckily we found some barely noticeable spoor and they were heading towards a large open clearing we know about.

 

At times, open clearings are classic resting areas for lazy lions. We decided to slowly and very carefully approach the clearing as to not make a sound. We took caution to conceal ourselves from possible detection by any animals.

 

At this moment, our hearts were beating louder than the sound of our footsteps!

 

As we maneuvered closer I could not help thinking about the awesome environment we are working in. Not to mention the fact that we have to track lions as a job description...

 

See what we found!

 

 

We secretly watched and filmed them, sneaked out, fetched the vehicle and spent a rewarding 5 hours studying their behaviour.

The one Matimba male was constantly flehmen grimacing as he was testing an Nkuhuma females' reproductive status with that classic muzzled smirk. While these Lions tried to sleep-out the rest of the day they were visited by an inquisitive black-backed jackal. A magnificent male kudu also almost became a late afternoon canapé as he strolled unexpectedly into the sleeping Matimbas!

Matimba Flehmen Grimacing

 

 

Fritz Breytenbach