Yesterday we ran through the tragic story of how one of the cubs was killed by an elephant and the other had been separated from the pride and feared dead. Over the next few days we got brief glimpses of the cub still healthy but very alone in an unforgiving Africa. Early yesterday morning we found tracks of one of the females that had trekked all the way from a giraffe kill in the reserve to our South up to the area where the pride had been scattered by a rampaging herd of elephant. The only assumption that we could make was that the female had come to fetch her lost son.

There were no tracks found to indicate that a successful reunion had been made but we were all hopeful. This morning we got confirmation of the success of the females mission to find her brave son that had survived 4 nights alone in this untamed piece of heaven.

When we found the pride this morning I was overjoyed to see that there were 8 cubs in amongst the females who had started to set up for a hunt. They had set their sights upon a herd of kudu...and in true Southern Pride style one of the females made her way around the unsuspecting victims in order to set up an ambush that would send the fleeing kudu straight towards the waiting pride.

As she moved around the back the wind blew her scent straight towards the kudu and they became fully aware that there was something amiss. They started barking and looking for where the danger was, the other lionesses continued to stalk closer to the kudu but in an instant the kudu found a gap and bolted away to safety.

The females all came together with the cubs and affectionately rubbed heads and began to groom one another as if to console one another at their failed attempt. Only 5 of the adults were with the pride so I am assuming that the 3 other females are distracting the Kruger males again. What a great morning!