Paddy and the team at Savanna Private Game Reserve sent this update:
“The lion saga continues with some interesting developments, as the Selati males continue to pursue the Ximungwe pride and court the Ottawa pride. One morning, we were surprised to find the female from the Ximungwe pride, who has the tip of her tail missing, courting with one of the Selati brothers. Previous encounters had been hostile because of the pride’s remaining cubs from the Mapogo, so we can only assume that this was an attempt to distract the male while the rest of the pride was making a hasty escape.
The Ximungwe pride have also provided us with many great sightings, as they have spent most of the past two weeks camped on Savanna property to avoid the Selati males. On one occasion they had just finished a young buffalo kill and went in search of water, only to find that the rest of the buffalo herd was lingering around the waterhole. The lions approached cautiously, but were spotted by the herd that then rallied together and drove them off, except for the young female cub that boldly stood her ground and actually chased the herd. The herd then realised that it was only the cub and they in turn gave chase. A video clip of this comical sighting can be seen here:
http://youtu.be/RVI7dZFgwIA
A few mornings later, we had an amazing sighting involving both the Ximungwe and Ottawa prides, the large herd of buffalo and a pair of leopards! The Ottawa pride was watching some buffalo near the airstrip and, while another vehicle was approaching, they spotted two leopards in the vicinity who turned out to be Metsi trying to court the new young male known as Maxobene. A few hundred metres away, another vehicle bumped into the Ximungwe pride that was also making its way towards the airstrip and we knew we were in for some fireworks. The Ottawa pride ran in on the buffalo and managed to bring down two young buffaloes. The commotion then attracted the Ximungwe pride which ran in on the one Ottawa female and tried to steal her kill. She would not give up without a fight, however, and an unbelievable scene unfolded as all the lions fought over the carcass. At this point the two leopards took fright and Metsi scrambled up a nearby tree. Eventually, the two prides parted ways after the kills were finished and the leopards were able to resume their courtship activities.”
Copyright © Photographs taken by Paddy Hagelthorn, Neil Whyte, David Wilson and Greg Coates
