Metsi And Dewane

Successful first time mother, the Metsi female, last year raised her two sons to independance. Here she is seen mating with the new dominant male, the Dewane male. Hopefully a new litter will be around to amuse us in the future!

Trees And Leopards

Most people , when they think of leopards, also think of trees - The stereotypical picture postcard of a leopard relaxing in the branches of a tree is the image that comes to mind first.
Many people are therefore surprised that when they come to stay at the lodge they see plenty of leopards, but seldom do they see them posing in a tree…

Leopards are known to take their kills up into trees to keep their meal out of reach of other predators, but there needs to be other predators around to make them do this, most leopards prefer to take their prey into the shade and feed on the ground, only hoisting the carcass if threatened by lions, hyenas and wild dogs. Even after the kill is safely stashed up a tree, the leopard will spend a lot of the time on the ground in the surrounding area.
Leopards often rest in the branches of a tree when it is hot, but more often they will choose a shady thicket to lie in.
Leopards will sometimes climb trees to look for prey to hunt, but they will also use termite mounds and rocks for the same purpose.
The individual personality of a leopard will determine how often they climb trees, some individuals are hardly ever seen up in the branches, whilst others seem to use every opportunity they can to get up there.
In our traversing area there is one leopard that we can rely on for the classic leopard/tree picture and that is the Tlangisa female, she seems to be one of those leopards that prefers tree climbing – as these videos show!

African Big Cats: Mating Lions (HD)

In the days leading up to the fight between the Mapogo and Selati coalitions one of the Ximhungwe lionesses was on heat. At the time she came into oestrus, the Mapogo were at the edge of the territory feeding on a buffalo, the Selati males were roaring within earshot so she instincively headed towars the males that she could hear, driven by the urge to mate. The Selati males mated with her and she returned to her pride a few days later. A couple of weeks later she again came into oestrus. This time the Mapogo werte quiet after a run-in with the Selati males so she again headed to mate with the new coalition. A few days into the mating period the Mapogo had regained their confidence and started roaring, the lioness heard the roars and ran away from her Selati partner towards the more familiar roars of her dominant coalition. This video shows the resulting reunion of the Ximhungwe lioness and Mapogo male. Things have changed now, but by mating with both coalitions any cubs she produces may have a better chance of survival in the changing dynamics of the local lion population.

Majestic Lions In Glorious Sunshine

A look back at Mapogo male Mr.T looking glorious early one morning as he and Makulu walk across the clearings in front of the lodge. Their attention was on a male leopard (Kashane Male) walkin on the clearings on the other side of the dam.

A New Era Begins: Meet The Selati Male Lions

The Selati Males are a coalition of four lions born into the Southern Pride in 2007 and 2008 and sired by the Golf Course males. When they first left their maternal pride there were five males but their wanderings brought them into the territory of the Majingalane males where a fight between the two coalitions resulted in one of the younger Selati males being fatally wounded. The four males needed to find a place to grow and avoid contact with the Majingalanes and that saw them pushing towards the western section of the reserve, a place that they had been previously as youngsters when the pride was spending time trailing the buffalo herd. It was a slow approach, the young males were accomplished buffalo hunters and following the big herd and building themselves up was the primary goal at the time. At this time the young Othawa pride had also taken a liking to the buffalo herd and inevitably the two groups met, this time it was the Selati males that emerged as the victors, killing the youngest male of the pride. The victory proved to be short lived as the Mapogo coalition somehow got wind of the new males on the edges of their territory and chased them back south.
It would be a while before we heard of the Selati males in the west again, but eventually they did return, again following the big buffalo herd. At the same tome two of the Mapogo males were in the same general area, also looking for the buffalo, speculation was rife as to what would happen if the four young males bumped into the two big old males - would numbers or experience win the day? In the end there was no confrontation, both sets of males making a kill a few kilometres apart. The two mapogos only took down a calf, whilst the Selati boys had an adult, this meant that the two older males finished first and began patrolling, straight towards the younger males. It seems that upon hearing the roars of the Mapogo getting closer, the Selati males left their buffalo kill and moved briskly in the opposite direction, the older males never even knew they were there and another conflict had been avoided.
Again it would be a couple of months before the Selati males were heard of in the west, but the next time they were close things were beginning to change. One of the lionesses from the Ximhungwe pride had come into oestrus and was looking for a mate. The three Mapogo were a long distance from the pride with a buffalo kill and she did not know where they were. The Selati males were roaring to her east and following her urge to find a mate she went towards the position where she would be sure to find a male. Mating occurred with one or more of the Selati males and she returned to the pride a few days later, just as the Mapogo had finished their kill. The Mapogo would have had no idea she had mated with rival males so there would be no problems with any eventual cubs.
The Selati males had now received a confidence boost, the lure of females brought them further west once more, again at a time when the ruling Mapogo coalition were indisposed, this time with two buffalo kills between the three of them. The Selati males were patrolling and marking late one evening and were seen heading in the general direction of where the older males were feeding.
The next morning the four young males were found looking very pleased with themselves only a short distance away from where the Mapogo coalition had been feeding, the three Mapogo were found shortly after, heading away from the area, one of the males was badly beaten. It seemed that the Selati males had begun a serious attempt to takeover the Mapogo territory.
Whilst the Mapogo males stayed quiet in the southern reaches of their territory, the Selati males began to explore the northern areas and made themselves a buffalo kill, the takeover was on pause whilst they fed.
At around this time the Ximhungwe lioness came back into oestrus, and again the Mapogos were quiet whilst the Selati males were roaring, having finished feeding. Again the lionesses hormones took her to the younger males as her pride males were inactive. A day or two later the Mapogos did begin to advertise their presence and the lioness hurriedly left the young males to continue mating with the males she was more familiar with.
The 4 Selati males, knowing the position of the older males, began to further explore the northern areas before becoming hungry and returning south to look for the buffalo herd. The mapogos again took down a pair of buffalo, close to the spot where the previous double kill occurred. The Selati males were at this time only a maximum of two kilometres away and it seemed another fight was on the cards.
To begin with, nothing happened, the two coalitions missed each other. Then on the morning of the 16th of March they met...
The ensuing battle resulted in two of the Mapogo heading east to the far edge of their territory and one of them lying dead on the side of the road, tattered torn and broken. The four Selati males had some superficial scratches and seemingly a new territory.
In the days since the fight the Selati males have been up and down the western section, making, calling and generally establishing themselves as the new owners of the area. they still have to take over the two resident prides (Othawa and Ximhungwe) and there is till the possibility that the remaining two Mapogo males may try to fight back.
The coming months will be an interesting time for the local lion population as well as for those that follow the developments, already the tracks of the remaining two Mapogo males have been seen in the area again, and the one of the Selati males got a bit of a hiding from the lionesses of the Ximhunwe pride when he came too close this morning!

New Lion Cubs In The Wild

Here we take a longer look at the new cubs of the Othawa pride of lions, now threatened by the takeover of the surrounding territory by the Southern/Selati males. The new males were reportedly heading towards the area that these little cuties were last seen!

Idube Safari Highlights #137: 03 - 05 March 2012

After all the excitement and emotion of yesterday this video will probably be remembered as the last highlights video to feature any of the Mapogo male lions and the first to offer a really good look at the new coalition, the Southern/Selati males. Perhaps the remaining two Mapogo will pop up from time to time, I hope so. There are also some great leopard sightings, the Othawa pride cubs, buffalo, elephant, giraffe and zebra. With the Southern males in full takeover mode it is unlikely we will see much more of the cubs of the Othawa pride, or the Ximhungwe pride for that matter, so enjoy the sightings whilst you can...

Idube Safari Highlights #136: 01 - 03 March 2012

New Othawa pride lion cubs on this one, plus the Ximhunwge pride on the airstrip!
Leopards feature too, as do lots of other animals

Idube Safari Highlights #135: 24, 25 & 27 February 2012

A quick look at the goings on at Idube towards the end of February: