It may not have started out as unusual when we discovered the 2 Ross Pride breakaway lionesses and one of the Trilogy males on a buffalo kill yesterday, but overnight a third lioness joined the mix and we are currently unsure about her identity. This is not all: One of the resident lionesses appears to be carrying a litter of cubs, while her sister has been the victim of a nasty fight and is sporting a badly swollen eye and a deep (but superficial) wound on her leg.
There has been talk of a lone female lion leaving her tracks and traces all over the traverse and guides and trackers have been suggesting and guessing who she might be for the last day or two. The unmistakable tracks of one of the big Trilogy males and the familiar twin tracks of the Ross Pride breakaway females led nThambo Tree Camp guests to a sighting of the 3 lions feeding on a freshly killed buffalo. The king was resting his jaw muscles and enjoying the shade, while a lioness with an exceptionally round tummy was tucking into the cavity of the buffalo. The third lion was also resting, and she was clearly in bad shape with an injured eye.
After enjoying this up-close and personal sighting with our familiar lions looking as hardcore as ever, guests moved off the sighting and headed to the lodge for dinner and some lion-chat around the fire. The Sun Destinations media team went out after dark to watch the lions feeding at night when they are most active. As we expected, all 3 lions were guarding the carcass with one of the females feeding energetically. We watched the cats under spotlight and the light of the waning gibbous moon, and the air was still except for the crunching of cartilage and bones. Then, out of the silence, an unfamiliar roar was heard quite a distance away. Our Trilogy male raised his great head off the ground and aimed a penetrating stare into the direction of the unknown lion. We geared up to capture his response on camera, but no such luck! This male just flopped his head down and went back to sleep.
Bright and early this morning, Matt and Jacques led their guests back to the lion sighting where, once again we were lucky to see some action. Two Africa on Foot guests opted for a morning game drive and got to join the sighting too. We could not have expected to see what we did, but sure enough, there was an additional lion at the sighting and she was not shy to tuck right into the carcass alongside one of the Ross Pride breakaway females. This is unusual, because the two lionesses have not been part of a pride for a long time and are always seen alone or with the Trilogy males. Last week they got into a fight with the Hercules lionesses (who have 4 cubs sired by one of the Trilogy males), which is where our one Ross female got her injuries from.
The third lioness is tatty and scarred, but she was relaxed with the game viewers and she had confidence. This creates the speculation that she might be one of the lionesses from the old Ross Pride. It is all a guessing game at this point, and we will be doing some research to figure out the truth and put the puzzle pieces together. Notice how aggressive the newcomer is and how submissive our injured Ross breakaway lioness is. Was this old looking female previously a dominant lioness of their pride?
Leave a Comment