After gallivanting around our beautiful country whilst on leave, and with the festive season only days away, I must say that I was a little sad to be going back to work. This sadness only lasted a little while though as the bush soon cheered me up. The lions had pulled down a buffalo the night before and we were heading in to see what was happening.

When we arrived at the sighting the whole pride, 8 females and 8 cubs, were lying around digesting the large meal they had consumed and the Kruger males were busy feeding on the kill. These two males are becoming a more and more regular sighting with the Southern Pride and are becoming more and more a part of the pride. This notion was very quickly changed as one of the males started moving away from the kill. I was excited that the guests were now able to see his full majesty standing tall. As he looked over at the females he started running towards the pride and this sent the cubs scattering in all directions. The females immediately saw this as a malicious move on the male’s part and formed ranks putting themselves between the male and their cubs. The one female’s head dropped low, bearing her teeth and snarling at the now stationary male. He had clearly got the message that there is only so much the females will tolerate. The females then drove home the message as 7 of the females moved in to chase him off.

The noise as they attacked was amazing; the male didn’t know where to turn as there were just too many females. He eventually put some distance between them and began to roar, trying desperately to assert some dominance on the situation. The females turned their backs in defiance and pulled away, rubbing heads and grooming each other as a way to strengthen their social bonds after their amazing victory. The cubs also came back to enjoy some affection from the adults.

The tension died down and everything returned back to normal as the entire pride once again lay down to carry on digesting their meal. The fun was not over yet as a group of rhino entered the fray. As they moved in the cubs started to put some space between themselves and the 2 ton giants. They had clearly learnt from their last encounter with a herd of elephants, where one of their siblings was killed, that the more space between them the better. The rhinos moved the lions around like chess pieces but without much malice and then moved off.

This morning I was also pleased to meet a new young leopard that has been hanging around Bush Lodge. This relaxed two and half year old male, who has come down from his original area in the north, was perched uncomfortably in a tree with a very full belly. What a way to start the cycle and I can’t wait to see what Santa is going to bring for me this year.