The Lions of Sabi Sands as of October 2024

 Due to the Plains Camp males’ expeditions north ( which are quite successful ), the western sector of Sabi Sands has become quite the hotspot of lion activity. The injured Tumbela male spends most of his time with the Mhangeni pride, which is the pride the Plains Camp males visit the least. Everyone thought that this was very dangerous for the Mhangeni cubs, because the Tumbela male is unrelated to them, but Tumbela proved everyone wrong, he has become quite a favourite amongst the cubs, especially those who were in bad condition when the Plains Camp males were around. The Plains Camp males have finally decided to return west and now are seen with their favourite pride, the Ximungwe pride, and they are spending a lot of time trying to take over the Othawa pride, which is going well for them. The Plains Camp males’ son and daughter, the Nkuhuma Breakaway pride is still doing well in the west.

 

The Ndzhenga males continue their reign in central Sabi Sands, they rule the Kambula and Ntsevu prides. Their reign in the centre is near flawless, and they have shown that they can deal with any obstacle in their path, even the Plains Camp males. As the Ndzhengas are ageing and are already near the end of their prime years, we can only hope that they will continue to thrive in the years to come.

The Gijima males continue to dominate the south with an iron paw, they control Styx, Msuthu (Talamati) and Southern pride. All of the prides are raising their offspring and are thriving under their dominant males’ protection. The Nkuhlu coalition has stopped its clashes with the Gijimas and are now focusing on their Sand River pride, their vast south-eastern Sabi Sands and Kruger territory and they’ve started to eye the Ndzhengas.

 

The Nkuhuma pride is doing well in the north and continue to spend their time with the Black Dam male and Mohawk’s Nkuhuma son of 2021, despite having a new cub sired by the Plains Camp males , it may be surprising but a while ago Mohawk and the Black Dam male spent time together away from the pride, before the Black Dam male returned to the Nkuhumas due to him being unable to follow Mohawk’s lead due to his limp. Mohawk is doing great and is now spending time with his sons in their territory in Kruger and keeping himself in fantastic condition for a male lion his age. There are two new coalitions in the north, the first being the Nkuhuma and Talamati male coalition. Both males are in great condition and with both males more or less in their prime, their future is looking quite promising. The second coalition is extremely surprising, Mohawk Avoca’s older brother, the Southern Avoca who is in okay condition has joined forces with the large Kruger male, who is semi-dominant over the Imbali pride of Manyeleti, this coalition is still very new and chances of both males going their separate ways are still quite high, for now we can only hope they stick together and thrive.