Lion – Mbiri pride and Thanda Impi male Lions

The Mbiri’s spent the 2 days in exactly the same place, on the western side of Old Pump open area. All seven of the cubs are still looking very good and healthy. They spent the afternoon of the 21st with the Thanda Impi male Lions, who are still staying with the pride after all the unrest of the last month, caused by the Matimba male Lions. The Lionesses seem to be leaving the cubs in the drainage line with the males, while they go off hunting, mostly to the south. This in itself is interesting, because their territory used to stretch much further to the north. The Thanda Impi territory stops at Khoka Moya Dam though, and we think that this is a massive factor in the Mbiri’s giving up a lot of territory to the lesser Mohlawareng pride, who now control the north.

Leopard

Nandi female

The larger of the two female cubs of the Sable bridge females is still making her presence felt in the area around the lodge, and this time she was seen to the east close to Wild dog Dam. t around 18 months old at the moment, she is in the process of of starting to set up her own territory, which she’ll inherit from her mother. Her sister, the Sasseka female will be doing the same thing and gradually our Leopard density will increase in the central Manyeleti Game Reserve. It does look like both of the youngsters are interested in the Nwasisontso drainage line in the lodge vicinity.

Ntsuntsu male

We had yet another sighting of the young Ntsuntsu male, and again in the Khoka Moya cutline area. He was found sleeping in a big Marula tree, but unfortunately came down just before I got there. Slowly he made is way to the north, towards Khoka moya Dam. He still seems to be consolidating his newly found territory, and most of his activity is around the north western parts of the central Manyeleti, between Windi Windi road north to Khoka Moya Dam.

Cheetah

We had one Cheetah sighting, of three males on GPS loop. Not much happened in the sighting, besides an Elephant bull in musth chasing them for a brief moment. The three young Cheetah males have been seen a few times in the northern parts of the reserve over the last few months, and its only a matter of time that they become more nomadic, like most Cheetah in the greater Kruger area become. During the sighting, they moved slowly west, eventually coming to rest about two hundred meters from the Timbavati boundary to the north.

Other views from the bush