18th October 2000
With thunder and lightning threatening to the west we left the Mala Mala guests doting over Tjololo heaving his huge belly with each pant.
After dark we picked up on the 4 lionesses we had last night and again they were very much on the hunt but after about an hour shook us off as they entered a lethal donga.
We shied away from it to check on Tjololo. He had just finished his kill and was still resting in the tree. Shortly he was on the move. For the rest of the night he jerked his way east, resting every half hour and often being hassled by a hyaena that got him on the move again.
In the early hours he disappeared into Kruger and by dawn had still not re-emerged.
Another unproductive night. Although Darryl did find 2 lionesses at Nduna dam. We spent several hours with them until they moved north into the hills to where I’d seen the small cubs a couple of days ago. Both lionesses are lactating, Magwaza being one of them.
So now I’m not sure if the 3 cubs belonged to one lioness or both of them. And unfortunately once they were in the hills we didn’t have any further sign of them. Hopefully soon those little guys will be mobile.
Leaving the area at dawn I picked up Chipfongwe and Mandlovu with her herd in the Albizia woodland just south of the hills, an area they really like at this time of year. But where are they drinking? Either Simbiri dam or the main dam, and in both cases I think they’re drinking at night which is strange as I’d expect them to be moving to the water in the heat of the day to cool off.
Chipfongwe was loving life passed out under his sisters, getting his own private dust bath as they bathed themselves, but then nearly got left behind when they moved on leaving him dosing off.
17th October 2000
Leaving Tjololo bloating over his kill we joined Dale hunting with 4 lionesses soon after dark. They were determined and rapidly on the move. The wind brought them the scent of a small herd of buffalo causing them to change direction. With a rather bold approach the lions were soon spotted by the buffalo, which stampeded. This may have been the lions game plan, hoping to find a straggler they could overcome. But no joy. Continuing north the lionesses disappeared into a donga. That was the last we saw of them.
Back with Tjololo he wasn’t up to much as expected. We headed south looking for some activity.
It was only around midnight that we got lucky. Rounding a bend in the road we happened upon one of those real African bushveld battles. Initially not realizing what was going on as all the animals were quiet, the buffalo bull then bellowed as the 3 young male lions changed their grip on its hindquarters. The deep guttural sounds hit home like a sledgehammer as I became aware of the buffalo’s predicament. The bull was struggling to keep his balance with the weight of the 3 lions. Only after some 10 minutes did they manage to topple him. Lying on his body they kept him down exhausting him as he kept struggling to regain his footing. With each move one lion edged closer and closer to his deadly horns as he homed in for the deadly bite on its throat.
But that wasn’t to happen. Next another 5 young male lions arrived, drawn in by the commotion. Stronger in numbers they soon had the 3 backing off. With that the buffalo got up and thrashing with his horns managed to knock 2 lions off balance, luckily for them not doing much damage except a graze on the neck. His revenge was short lived as the 5 lions soon weighed down his hindquarters and toppled him. With that one lion wrestled his way into a deadly strangle hold and the exhausted buffalo soon succumbed. A long drawn out death for such a huge impressive beast but no match for 8 male lions which even started feeding before he was dead.
Once the 5 lions were engaged in feeding the other 3 males returned and all 8 lions had a feast until dawn before resting up next to the carcass.
At dawn Tjololo was in much the same state as the lions having just fed again and resting in the tree with about 10% of his carcass left.
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