The Nyari pride aren’t stopping now. They were on the move already in the afternoon and just kept going most of the night.
It seemed they were making sure to get out of the Nduna prides territory in a hurry. Initially they headed west but then took a south.
The pride is lean and keen not having fed in about 5 days. But they just weren’t finding the prey.
I wondered why they didn’t go to areas where prey generally hang out, like hyaenas do, but then lions don’t have the same intelligence even though they’re supposed to be the royalty of the bushveld.
All night they encountered only 2 herds of impala and were unsuccessful on both occasions with the moon now shining bright. They can’t rely on the cover of darkness to hunt now.
Only after sunrise while still on the move south across the Mahande river did they encounter zebra, giraffe and eland. They were all queued in and ready to advance when Sjambok tried to mate with Manyari and so blew their cover. Royally!
The going was tough all night across the dried out clays pitted with elephant tracks. Doesn’t do our backs any good and the vehicles are taking a pounding. (I was just thinking last night why it is I find the 11hour drive to South Africa so easy going. It feels like I’m sitting in an armchair listening to music all the way. No bumps on the tar road and easy going with power steering to help and music blaring away. Now that’s taking a break! compared to what I go through nightly when following after lions.)
Nearly home I saw my friendly Klipspringer’s and saw they had a new baby. Although this little guy must be a couple of months old. They must have had him stashed away somewhere.
The lions were lazying in the same place I’d left them. But as I arrived this giraffe was making its way directly towards the lions. By now they had all gone low into their crouched positions. About 20m away the giraffe stopped to feed and then suddenly saw the lions and took off. The lions didn’t pursue.
Instead, the males were back to their old tactics trying to mount Manyari and almost seeming to be taking turns, although not leaving any time between mountings.
Manyari has only mated properly once this time. So is she coming into oestrus? Is she just doing this to appease the boys. Of course it will help strengthen social bonds in this new pride.
For the first time in many weeks it was great to have the pride out there hunting as a pride, the boys thinking about hunting most of the time, instead of competing for a spot next to Manyari.
They headed north all night straight into the heart of the Nduna pride’s territory, even marking on their way. Surely they’re not hoping to extend their territory all this way?
They made several attempts on giraffe, as this was the only prey species they came across all night.
Before dawn they settled down and a lion roared to the north of them. This was probably Nduna. The other 4 responded with a mighty roar and then lay down on the spot, waiting.
Nobody came. But at dawn Nduna was roaring again and seemed to be coming closer.
The pride never roared back and headed south at a brisk pace.
After a kilometre they settled down and listened as Nduna’s roars got closer. But he never got to them and I left the pride resting but only after getting some of those great low down, low angle photos. Of course Magwaza was rather keen on me.
I’ve decided to name Manyari’s pride the Nyari Pride. Nyari meaning buffalo as they’re good buffalo hunters. It’s also the name of a pan in the heart of their territory.
When I eventually picked up the lions after sunset they’d moved a long way east of where I’d left them but thye still hadn’t joined up with Magwaza.
It was only later in the night that Magwaza arrived on the scene. Sjambok and Manyari greeted her although he didn’t seem too happy to see her.
The girls then settled in for a long social grooming and bonding session. Feeling left out the boys tried to join them but weren’t allowed into the inner circle of girls only.
Until midnight the lions lay around with a brief attempt to look at some giraffe, but having been spotted the lions curled up and went to sleep again.
At least the pride now seemed to be a pride and will hopefully now function as a pride, well that will only last until one of them comes into oestrus again.
Around midnight they did get active, Magwaza taking the lead. She’s the only who hasn’t fed in the last week. The pride headed east hunting. Zebra, impala and giraffe were all potentially on the menu but none of them got close enough to be on the dinner table.
At dawn Magwaza circled wide around a herd of giraffe. Manyari and the boys went straight in at pace not waiting for Magwaza’s moves. They chased the giraffe about 500m before giving up.
Then it was back in search of Magwaza. They didn’t find her but found a young giraffe that got left behind in the last chase. Again they gave chase but it too outran them.
It was only after sunrise that Magwaza came back out from the north to join them.
Sjambok and his brother also spent the night trying to mount Manyari. She would oblige and they would thrust around all over but never getting it right. Manyari just wasn’t cooperating.
Later in the morning Sjambok mounted her again, but no joy. Within seconds of him dismounting his brother took his place and this time got it right. Does this mean Manyari is now in oestrus again and we’re in for the long haul of mating?
I was surprised to find Manyari back with her pride this afternoon, after I had seen her a long way to the southeast at 8am still feeding on her zebra carcass. The pride were now on Banyini all passed out. The boys were also well fed but not Magwaza.
They lay around fat and useless till after midnight.
While waiting around with them a couple of elephant bulls came to drink at Banyini pan.
Then Magwaza headed off east. The others were going to follow but just couldn’t find the enthusiasm to do so.
But now the boys were being ultra attentive of Manyari. It could well be that she is coming into oestrus again. Both of them mounted her but she never gave in. But this sure looks like the beginning of another mating session! God help me!
All night Sjambok shadowed Manyari’s every move and mounted her several times but Manyari never gave in.
Just before dawn I heard a lion calling a long way to the east. Probably Magwaza. These guys all responded and then headed east.
Into the day they headed east through the most horrible scrub mopanie for miles. Really tough stuff to drive through.
They walked for about an hour and then packed it in. That will probably it for them for the rest of the day and possibly tonight they’ll follow up on Magwaza. That’s only if Manyari isn’t mating again!!!
I headed straight out to find Manyari. The terrain down there is horrendous. The black clays are now rock hard and pitted with huge elephant footprints up to a foot deep. This makes driving incredibly uncomfortable.
Manyari was absolutely fat and flourishing. She’s killed herself a young zebra and probably been pigging out on it for the last 2 or 3 days.
In this rugged terrain I wouldn’t be surprised if the zebra fell when Manyari launched her attack.
Manyari wasn’t going to be moving from her carcass for the rest of the night so we left her to go and look for the rest of her pride. With the way they’ve been calling over the last week it should have been easy. Except tonight they decided to keep quiet.
That ended up in our night being ultra quiet too!
Only at dawn when I was about to take off in my microlight did one of them roar somewhere to the south of Banyini.
I was up flying looking for wild dogs again, but still no joy.
I also checked on Manyari from the air and found her still chewing on her carcass.
Another night of much the same thing. Sleep, Roar, Mate, Sleep, Roar, Mate.
But then around midnight Sjambok walked away from Magwaza. Well he tried to. But seeing she wasn’t following he would go back to her and they would mate. This went on several times. He just couldn’t pull himself away from her.
Then he moved off about 500m and seeing she wasn’t following he lay down. He didn’t wait long and suddenly took off on his own mission not giving her a second thought.
He headed southwest at brisk pace walking for over an hour until he got to the Chiredzi River. Having reached the river he roared. His calls were returned by other lions west of the river.
We couldn’t follow any further as Sjambok moved into the river and then headed north. We could only follow his progress by listening to his roars, which were repeatedly answered by lions to the west.
Sjambok then seemed to move out the river back east and we heard him roaring with another lion. Had Magwaza come back and joined him?
We left the river at dawn, as I wanted to get flying early looking for wild dogs. 2 dogs were seen yesterday and tracks of 2 were seen a few days ago in the same area in the north. I didn’t have any joy.
I had also flown yesterday evening to look for Manyari but had no joy finding her. So having finished looking for wild dogs I made a more concerted effort to look for Manyari. I did eventually find her quite some distance to the southeast of Banyini. I didn’t actually see her and think she much be tucked away in a bush with a carcass.
So that’s my mission tonight: Find Manyari!
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