Wildcast

I got out early expecting the lions to possibly have moved to Banyini pan by dusk.
It was playtime again for some giraffe on the airstrip as I passed by.

The lions were on Banyini but not at the pan. Of course the males were still all over Manyari, well the more dominant one only and his brother desperately waiting in the wings.

When they stirred in the late afternoon Manyari had hardly woken up and the males were onto her following her every move.
At dusk a herd of buffalo moved in to drink at Banyini pan. The lions weren’t too interested initially but as dark set in so the lions moved in. They got the herd to stampede from the pan and attacked. One of the males grabbed a youngster but was instantly chased off by the herd.
The lions backed off and the males resumed their interest in Manyari. And suddenly time was right, Manyari was keen and the dominant male mated with her.
And so it went on all night on and off.

Manyari was still keen to hunt buffalo and followed after them for some time.
The herd now aware of the lions were standing their ground and challenging the lions, a situation they can’t do anything with. They need them to stampede so they can select out weaker animals or youngsters.
Eventually the buffalo moved off and the mating couple kept at it mating every 10 to 15 minutes through the night.

The other male would often sneak in close to Manyari but each time was seen off by his brother. He really doesn’t have much chance unless they go for full scale war!

This is all great news now that these males have stamped their mark on Manyari. I think we can now comfortably say they will start their own pride. We’ve just got to wait and see who gets allowed to join them. Definitely not Nduna. These males will sort him!

I took a quick drive past the giraffe carcass. About 20 vultures were feeding which not many at all. Hyaenas had also been feeding on the carcass but weren’t around at dawn.