The Pride of Entabeni

In all game reserves probably the highlight for tourists is the lions, and at Entabeni they have their own pride of lions.  Due to the size of the reserve there is only one pride but it is very interactive and fairly relaxed so good viewings are common.

The pride itself has 7 lions - 2 pride males, 3 big females and 2 18 month old sub-adults (one male, one female).  There is also a suspicion that one of the females has cubs but these have not been seen yet.  If this is true then this may prove a headache at some stage for the reserve as they only have space on the reserve for 7 lions.

There is a strange dynamic in the pride as the old male is 17 years old and the younger (but bigger) male, the son, is 8 years old.  To those in the know this is interesting because males usually hit sexual maturity at aged 4 (ish) and get and keep their pride to about the age of 8 (ish).  The average age for a wild lion is 8 years old.  So here we have two males who, due to a lack of competition, are bucking the trend.  The old male though is by no means past it; he is still very much in charge and still beats up his son to get the food first.

Of the other lions, two of the females are quite relaxed (for lionesses) whilst the one with cubs is known to be 'temperamental', to say the least.  A lot of the rangers are wary of her as she frequently charges vehicles and 'revs' them (that is roars at them and shows her distaste).

Update : late Feb.  3 cubs have now been seen and are thought to be about 10 weeks old.  The female is still vary wary of cars so there is a block on approaching her and the cubs for now. 

Update 2 : late Feb.  The old male went missing for a week and was feared dead.  Apparently he had a big fight with his son and came off the worst.  Game management were very concerned for him and asked us at the school to help in the search for him (or what might be left of him).  We spent 2 days searching for him and did find tracks but others rangers were convinced that we have found tracks only of the older male.  Anyway, the following day the old boy was found safe and well and sitting on a kill - he was in the area where we had seen the tracks so we are pretty smug about finding him first ;)