Our lion pride is back again, but slightly reduced in number – we see the five females, two subadults, two dominant males, and one little cub. The young males have been pushed out, and are unlikely to return, for fear of getting in to a serious fight with the dominant males.
The mother cheetah with the two cubs made an attempt to catch a steenbok (a small kill for three hungry mouths, but something is better than nothing) but she was not successful.
And the buffalos are still struggling along. The fact that they drink at the camp waterhole every day, in the morning and the late afternoon, should have made them more of a target for the lions. But they appear to have held safety in their numbers, and no attack has been made on the males.
At the end of the month two male and two female lions took down a giraffe at our waterhole. While they were feeding it, a hyena, unaware of the lions came to drink. One of the males stalked the hyena and killed it. It is common that predators kill each other if they have a chance, and it is thought that is to eliminate competition. Sadly no guests in camp at the time, but we did get pictures from our HR manager Thuso to prove it.
