A Pride in Training
Young lions hunting in Tswalu
Lions are impressive animals. Not only do these big cats look majestic, it is also a special treat if you can see them in action. Considering that lions relax 20 out of 24 hours each day and only eat every 3–5 this is not something that happens often.
Tswalu has two prides of lions. A pride is a group of female lions of various ages and young male lions. It is dominated by a big male or possibly a coalition of multiple males. When males become too old, they are kicked out of the pride and have to handle themselves on their own. If strong enough they can of course challenge the dominating male.
Quite quickly after crossing into the side of Tswalu that is home to the big predators our Tracker picked up signs of the pride walking along the road. Together with another car we found the pride roughly 30 minutes later on a big field lying around bushes and trees in the shade and sun.
The pride counts 10 lions, 2 older female lions, 3 young males, and 5 young females. The dominating Black-Maned Kalahari Desert Lion was also with them, lying 20 meters away, watching.
All of them looked quite hungry, ribs starting to show on some. The younger ones were looking out for something to eat, but the two older females, who would usually lead a hunt, were sleeping in the sun.
Sleeping is relative, it is impressive to watch them suddenly all look up into the same direction although we heard and saw absolutely nothing.
After some time we noticed what they were looking at: a loan wilderbeast was grassing roughly 400m away among a couple of bushes.
The first one to move was a young male. He very carefully stood up and moved slowly in the direction of their target. Lying down flat on the ground every 50m or so to make sure he was not detected. Using bushes and small trees as camouflage he krept closer and closer to the wilderbeast.
While all this happened some of the other lions were watching him, but the older females seemed less interested. They looked up now and then to see if the target was still there, but they did not start moving towards it, as if they were waiting to see how well the young one would do.
Once the young male was in position close to the wilderbeast, two of the young females and one more young male started to follow him. They went slowly in the same general direction but finally placed themselves some distance apart, spread out close to their prey.
All of them were so focused on their target that none of them seemed to notice the antelope running across the field right in front of them. They had their sights set on a big bull and could not be bothered with the small impala.
Shortly before they were in position, the final member of the attack squad, the 3rd young male, started to make his way slowly across the field, in a 90 degree angle to all the others. By now the older females and the remaining pride was watching with increasing interest, moving slightly closer for a better view.
The 3rd male passed our cars and walked right into the thicket next to the field, making a big detour to approach the wilderbeast from the opposite side than his brothers and sisters.
5 endless minutes after losing sight of him their target suddenly darted forward, shortly followed by the male lion which had spooked it and thus made it run right into the trap of his siblings.
Luckily for the wilderbeast the younglings were still learning and did not setup their net well enough, so he managed to escape. After the failure the 5 eager lions slowly returned back to the pride, visibly distraught about their unsuccessful endeavor.
All of the above was performed in absolute silence, without the slightest sound coming from any of the lions, and took roughly an hour and a half.
Enjoyed the read? Help others find it by clicking the little green heart at the bottom of the screen!
