Written by Isaiah Banda
Winter is in full swing here on Mabula Private Game Reserve, and the fresh cold mornings and spectacular sunrises are something I cherish during this season. The vegetation has somewhat thinned out, and the brown hues of the bush lead to some spectacular sightings. The dusty roads and game paths have also provided some really great tracking opportunities.
Although most migratory birds have left, the gold hues of winter provide some amazing shades for photographing birds, and my personal favourite this time of the year is the lilac-breasted roller which stays on the reserve all year round.
Nature can be both awe-inspiring and brutal at the same time. One such example of this duality can be seen when lions hunt and kill a zebra. They will ussually drag it for some distance to hide it away from other lingering predators like vultures, so they cannot detect it.
Lion dynamics are never ending and always changing, keeping it interesting for us as guides and guests to keep track of all the changes. Recently we found our pride on reserve. Male lions generally leave their pride at around two years of age where they start moving off and building confidence until they are ready to one day start their own kingdom.
Lionesses are the primary caregivers for their cubs and will fiercely protect their young and keep them hidden in dens for the first three months or so of life. When it’s time to move locations, the lioness will gently carry her cubs by the scruff of their necks. Cubs that are a little older, such as the Mabula Pride cubs, are now able to walk alongside their mothers. The lionesses will keep a watchful eye on them, making sure they stay safe from predators and other dangers.
Lions demands of us a radical shift in perspective to see its way of being in the world. Take grass. While we can say it is the same material and may in one sense look the same for a zebra and a lion, the meaning of grass in the lives of these two animals could hardly be more different. For a zebra it is food, and much of its daily activity consists in feeding and digesting grasses.
A lion, watching zebras doesn’t suddenly come up with the idea that life would be much more comfortable hunting grass than hunting those zebras. For a lion, grass is just a space to rest, to hide, and to stalk when is long or when it is short, it’s an area to saunter, to attack, and often to be noticed by prey species.
Lions are consummate resters; they stretch out in sometimes ridiculous positions, utterly relaxed and without a worry in the world they are living. This quality makes them a even difficult animal to study in a way, everyone who tries to study them are forever in danger of falling asleep with his subjects.
While wrestling is unique to play, other activities such as chasing, stalking, rushing, pawing, and swatting are all relevant when at a later age lions start hunting. But in play, everything occurs in a relaxed and unfettered way.
Let me try and explain the way cubs play with each other, the cub paws a twig, then chews it. When another cub passes, he lunges and bites it in the lower back. It turns and swats, then walks away. The cub sits. Suddenly he stalks a cub and rushes. The one attacked rolls over with a snarl and both grapple. The cub desists in its attack and bites at a tuft of grass instead.
He then flops on his side. After lying briefly on his back and waving his feet, he rolls over and watches other cubs play. One of these ambles closer. He crouches behind some grass, then rushes and swats and in the same motion turns to another cub and nips it in the flank. The other cub whirls and hits him with a paw. He leaves. Two cubs wrestle, and he grabs one of these with his paws. One clouts him in the face.
When a hunting lion discovers a nearby zebra, it may immediately burst into a sprint and attack. But lions also often stalk. During daylight, this entails finding tall grasses or other vegetation for concealment, while at night darkness provides ample cover. Most kills are made at night or on the early morning hours is a testament to the lion’s keen sensory and motor abilities.
Hidden in vegetation or in darkness, a crouching lion waits with all muscles tensed for its prey to approach. Its attention is fully focused on the prey and its movements. To close in on the prey, the lion may sneak-crouch toward it.
What we must not forget is a lion cannot outrun a zebra or wildebeest. In its short sprint, it must overtake the accelerating prey, we have seen many times here at Mabula zebras out ruinning lions. Lions has no endurance in such a sprint. Hunts are often not successful because the prey simply outruns them. When lionesses hunt together, they are more likely to have success than when they hunt alone, since they often form a kind of loose circle around an area with prey, and when one lion attacks and the animal flees, it may be unwittingly driven into the area where some of the other lionesses are hidden.
After a successful hunt, the lion usually retreats to a secluded spot and rests, sleeps, and digests for many hours. In the lion we meet a being that lives in extremes between utter relaxation and focused powerful activity.
The afternoon safaris are ends with incredible sunsets and the golden hour is something that cannot be quite explained.
Until next time…
From Isaiah Banda & the Mabula family.
Safari Greetings.
