Greetings from the very cold African bush.
Despite the unpleasant weather (and having to dress like an Eskimo), safaris in winter time are really and truly a spectacular experience. Game viewing in general has been incredible over the past couple of weeks, but there was one lion sighting in particular that really stood out.
What started out as a really quiet morning, eventually turned into be one of the best drives I’ve ever experienced. We’d heard over the radio that five young male lions were passing through an area in the vicinity of the Kruger National Park boundary, and quite close to another lodge. We were on our way to see if we could spot them when a second update came in, this time saying that the area’s two dominant males (the Mapogos) had been seen in the same area as the young males. We immediately sped up in order to get to where we believed these seven lions could possibly meet up.
One of the five males had somehow been separated from his group, and was lying low to avoid being discovered by the two dominant brothers. When we eventually saw the Mapogos pair, they’d picked up on the youngster’s scent. When they finally spotted him all hell broke loose, and with no escape route in sight things didn’t look good for him. The pair gave chase and tackled him in mid air, but it was only once they tumbled to the ground that things really started looking bad for the young lion. Separated from his pride, he didn’t stand a chance against the older, stronger Mapogo males. After a lot of vicious pawing and biting one of the brothers went for the jugular, while the other attacked his back legs. They broke his back legs and inflicted serious damage to his pelvis as well.
The sound of the fighting, and the roaring that accompanied it, was something to behold. After a while the young male lay helpless, while the Mapogos roared and scent marked all round him as a sign of dominance.
That evening we went back to follow up, as the four younger males had returned to the area to look for their brother. There was a lot of roaring going on between the four youngsters and the two Mapogos. It was only later, once we’d returned to the lodge that we received the very sad news that ‘Kinky Tail’ – one of the Mapogo brothers – had also been killed. Apparently he’d been cornered by the four youngsters, and consequently gotten into a fight with them that went on for the better part of an hour. Mr. T (his brother) arrived about fifteen minutes in, but by then it was already too late as they’d already ripped ‘Kinky Tail’ to pieces.
In the end Mr. T managed to escape the posse in one piece. Was he the clever one, or just plain lucky? It makes no difference now, because either way he’s alone. He called for his brother for a couple of days after the fight, but received no reply.
A legend may have been lost, but he’ll never be forgotten!
We hope to see you soon.
Warm regards from the team at Arathusa Safari Lodge.
