I really can’t get my mind around how lions work. They are so haphazard in their manners that I’m sure not even they know what’s going on.
Last night the Nyari pride headed south. They moved all the way down to Malevula hills across some really rough terrain of hardened clay pitted with deep elephant tracks.
At the hills they split seeming to be flanking some prey animals. We never saw the prey and doubt they did, but now we were one lion short. Magwaza had gone off on her own.
The rest of the pride waited and waited for her to return. Nobody even roared.
When the wind picked up the lions took off straight into it. Some distance further on they found this zebra carcass. The skin was still mostly in tact and still draped itself of the boney framework of the animal. Vultures had cleaned it up from the inside leaving nothing but the skin and bones. And the lions just weren’t interested. Realising vultures had been at it they moved on and Manyari didn’t even bother to inspect the kill.
The lions moved back down wind and waited. Where was Magwaza?
Some time later they got active again heading west. But now somehow Manyari managed to shake off the males when she went zebra hunting.
Alone she called softly and eventually Magwaza arrived. But still no sign of the males.
The girls continued west hunting.
Eventually Manyari managed to pluck a young impala from the herd.
When Magwaza arrived she was greeted with a cold reception and Manyari had no plans on sharing her carcass. But when she started feeding Magwaza took her chance and managed to sneak in on the carcass. The girls fed in relative peace without the boys around. An hour later there was little left but the bloodstains on the grass.
The males had been roaring to the east and now that the girls had finished their meal they roared back but neither party seemed in any rush to join up.
I’m going to be leaving the lions for a few weeks now, although I might bump into them occasionally, to concentrate on the wild dogs. My next plan is to get a hide up near the den and see if I have any success.
On my way south to the lions last night a huge herd of buffalo were on their way to drink at Banyini. Some panicked at the sight of my car and stampeded leaving a stunning orange dust behind them.
I went out early to the wild dog den and took up my position above the den. None of the adults were around and the pups were in the den. This time I had my camera.
Just as the sun was setting the alpha female (the same alpha female from the group of 3 I had filmed some time ago.) came trotting up to the den and called the pups. She was totally unaware of me, although she had come along the same path I’d left my shoes on. I went bare-foot as I could then be quieter when approaching.
I peered over the edge of my rock and saw what looked like 9 little pups suckling madly while mom stood there keeping a look out. I was keen to take photos but worried the sound of the camera clicking would disturb her. But I had to get at least one photograph.
So click I did. She heard it, looked up, saw me, barked and took off. The pups took off into the den.
I got the photo but I don’t like to disturb them like that. It’s just so hard in that rocky area to observe anything from a distance. You have to be almost on top of them or else you see nothing.
The pups look like they’re 4 to 5 weeks old.
I left the den with the alpha female barking at me as I went.
The lions, well the lions. They were on the move south and at Chikwete Cliffs took an east and kept that direction all night. A couple more unsuccessful hunting attempts through the night and the pride are starting to look a little lean.
At dawn they’d reached Chimize pan where Manyari took the lead and went in a wide circle around some zebra. She was very much in the right place but wasn’t getting support from the rest of the pride and when she charged in the zebra took off with no confrontation at all.
While looking for the pride to regroup, Manyari was suddenly confronted by her cubs that came out of nowhere. 4 lionesses and 1 young male. These are the same lions the Nyari pride chased off the zebra kill recently.
The big cubs and Manyari were all happy to see each other. But only until Sjambok came charging in and chased them off with his brother hot on his heels and Magwaza too.
Manyari followed but didn’t seem to keen to see them off.
Then Manyari followed after the youngsters. Her pride followed her. She called softly but the youngsters were now nervous. When they did get close again, the males saw them off.
It’s strange that the Nyari males should chase off 4 available lionesses. But I’m sure it’ll just be a matter of time and they’ll have joined the Nyari pride.
As for the one young male, well he’s likely to be sent packing by the Nyari males.
On my way out I went via the wild dog den. The good news is they haven’t moved following a number of us having inspected the den yesterday. (Although it might help if they did move.) So over the next few days I plan to visit the den a couple of times daily to start getting them used to this human thing. Then in a few days time I plan to spend a whole day there and see how they react. I think it’s going to be a long long process.
As I passed Manyuchi pan there were vultures in the trees all around but no sign of any kill. It’s quite possible they’d been following the wild dogs and as it got late ended up roosting here.
The lions seemed to be in buffalo mode at sunset as they headed north towards Nyari pan where a herd of buffalo were already heading north.
Unfortunately that was about the only thing buffalo related that the lions did. They never pursued the herd.
Instead, just west of Nyari pan they first made an attempt on impala and then a herd of zebra. This then took them north into the hills where they rested a few hours.
Next we were moving west towards the Chiredzi River. Again zebra were being followed. No stalking here. They have this idea they can run in on the zebra from a distance and hope to be successful.
And so it’s another night that the lions go hungry. I’m trying to work out their success rate and right now it’s about 5%. And even worse if we take the fact that their last meal was stolen!
Resting up on the Chiredzi their neighbours called and the Nyari pride returned with a massive volley and then kept at it every few minutes for some time.
Dawn had the lions hunting impala. The herd had seen them and stood there snorting. In the meantime Manyari and Magwaza had managed to sneak off and surround the impala. It all seemed perfect BUT they just never sprung the trap and ended up coming sauntering back to the males while the impala scattered. Those clever lions!
I was actually thinking to myself how absolutely terrifying it would be if lions were clever. Thankfully god knew what he was doing.
At this time of year it’s not uncommon to find elephant bulls along the Chiredzi and this big dude is becoming one of the regulars. He’s got that little kidney-shaped hole in his left ear.
Banyini was full of plains game and for a change this small herd of Eland. I don’t know where these guys disappear to but they don’t always seem to be around.
Before making it home I again visited the wild dog den. All still seems well there. Not that I saw any pups but I could hear them shuffling around underground.
YES! The scouts found the wild dog den.
I was out there first thing in the afternoon hoping to spend the rest of the day and night there. But the den is up in the hills in the rocks. We walked up there and found what looked like evidence of 2 age groups of pups. So possibly both females have had pups. An adult was lying up behind the den in the rocks and dashed off when we arrived.
Unfortunately there is no way for me to film the dogs in this location. I can’t get the vehicle any where near there and if I was on foot I would have to be too close to see anything and this would disturb the dogs considerably.
So my only hope is they move den soon to a more accessible area. Anyway the good thing is the dogs are back and have pups. We really want to habituate them as quickly as possible so we can inoculate them against rabies.
With no filming access to the dogs, my plans changed and we were back with the lions last night.
They were on the move when we got to them at sunset, heading north. A big herd of buffalo was to the northeast of them no far off. I was sure we were in for some action. But the lions just walked on past.
I couldn’t believe it. They showed absolutely no interest in the buffalo. Those unpredictable lions!
They moved on northeast and on 2 occasions hunted zebra running in from a long way off. Strange hunting tactic. And then stalked really close to some giraffe. They were really keen. 2 cows moved away and then a big bull followed. Suddenly they lost interest. Was it only the cows they were after?
They slept on in till dawn. Dawn came with a thick mist and after waking they moved north in the mist. That was pretty neat. Lions in the mist! Thanks at last for something lions.
I flew in the afternoon and found the lions not far from where they’d had their zebra kill. They were west of Chiloveka dam presumably having gone there after their kill to drink as they usually do after a big meal.
They spent half their night still sleeping off their kill but soon after midnight were on the move northwest.
When they arrived at the Chiredzi River, Sjambok was keen to cross into dangerous territory. Another pride owned that side of the river. He started walking through the water in the sandy riverbed, but when it got to 6inches deep he retreated. Not so brave after all.
The Nyari pride continued north along the river making travel for us really difficult with all the dongas/gullies that follow the river. We kept having to leap frog ahead and wait for them.
A herd of buffalo were on the other side of the river, which might be what Sjambok was after. But at dawn they heard buffalo to the east and immediately headed that way. But strangely they didn’t follow through and ended up resting close to the river.
Earlier in the evening Manyari had surprised a francolin and managed to pluck it from the air as it took off. I don’t know why she bothered, as she wasn’t enjoying the meal having to get through all those feathers and then those delicate ‘chicken’ bones that could get stuck in her throat. She eventually gave up rolled on the remains of the carcass. The rest of the pride joined in.
Hopefully tonight the lions will continue to follow up on those buffalo. Action!
On my way out last night I found One-tusk and her family crossing the road. Once they’d crossed I followed after them with One-tusk taking up the rear. I hadn’t seen them for about 2 months and wanted to see if she would still greet me. Slowly she turned round as I got closer. I stopped and switched the engine off. She came ambling to the car, put her head down and pushed on my bull bar pushing the car several meters. Happy with that she moved on again. I can only think this is her way of greeting me. Like clockwork she does this every time I see her. I was just so excited to be remembered by her and to get her normal greeting. She is just amazing!
On my way home this morning I bumped into her again. Again she came to greet me, but this time decided she would push down on the bonnet of the car. Now that’s just not fine and I told her so. She backed off politely. Wow!
Well today I blew it royally. Thinking I had downloaded my photos off my camera, I deleted them from the card. Alas no images for last night. I might just have to draw on yesterdays.
The Nyari pride continued to head south after dark.
Impala were first on the menu. Magwaza moved round on the flank and then nothing happened. Instead the other 3 spent the next 1½ hours searching for her. No wonder they can’t find the prey, they can’t even find their comrade. Eventually they resorted to roaring and half an hour later Magwaza arrived.
The pride continued on south. This has to be the very extreme south of their territory, but anyway we don’t know of any lions occupying this area.
And all night nothing else but a few impala appeared and disappeared.
Why do they hunt these areas that have such a low density of animals? Surely they must learn this after time and again not having success in this area? But then they are lions and I don’t credit them with much intelligence.
It was only with dawn approaching that they got lucky. They heard something to the east and bolted off in that direction eventually coming across a fresh zebra carcass not even half eaten. They tucked in without hesitation on their stolen bounty.
Then the culprits slowly started appearing out the woodwork, 5 young lionesses. They seemed pretty relaxed and when one approached to feed the Nyari pride weren’t too concerned and she eventually ended up feeding with them. I think these youngsters are from the Nduna pride and some of them are Manyari’s youngsters.
But only the one came to feed.
When the Nyari pride had split up with the carcass, Sjambok eyed out the other lions as they approached hoping for scraps. Well Sjambok was having none of it and with a raging temper chased them to hell and back. He gave up after about 500m.
And we gave up on the lions as they picked away at the scraps with their already fully distended stomachs.
Well technology let us down yesterday and I wasn’t able to load Wildcast. So today’s video is from yesterday.
We didn’t go filming last night with lions so well fed and bound to be lying around all night. Instead I spent the afternoon looking for the wild dogs and again this morning but still no joy. They were seen the day before yesterday in a similar area they’ve been seen before and the female was apparently very pregnant. But only the 2 dogs, whereas in the past we’ve been seeing the group of 3. It could be possible that the other female is in the den already with new pups.
The search will go on but we’ll be back with the lions tonight.
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