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James Tyrrell

Alumni

James had hardly touched a camera when he came to Londolozi, but his writing skills that complemented his Honours degree in Zoology meant that he was quickly snapped up by the Londolozi blog team. An environment rich in photographers helped him develop the ...

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19 Comments

on Lion Warfare: The Majingilane Will Fall

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It will be sad when the day come that they are not there anymore, but it is nature. Love them. Always awesome to see them.

Let’s hope they stay with us longer. It would be very sad to see them go.

Respectfully, you say “theorising on two possible outcomes for the Majingilane” but I dont see or I am missing the second theory. What is it?

I am hoping they will hang on for a few more months so I can say good-bye & thanks for the fantastic sightings we have had each time. All 4 brothers look down on my bed so I can see them at night & in the morning.

Senior Digital Ranger

It will be a sad day in the Sabi Sands when they are no more.. As we were all very sad to watch the demise of the Mapogos.. The new coalition will find their way into our hearts and we will keep out memories of those magnificent old warriors of yesterday… Thank you for letting us share in the lives of these beautiful wild cats!

I know with nature, you sometime can’t put a timeframe on things. But do you think this imminent? How many sand river males are there? I understand the general premise here, Majingilane stretched thin and aging. A month back you said Majingilane for a long time to come, I hope that’s the case. http://blog.londolozi.com/2014/06/majingilane-still-in-control/

Hi KJS,

I may have contradicted myself there a little, but although the decline may not necessarily be imminent, I was intending more to paint a picture of how it may well pan out when the inevitable does happen. As it stands, I think things are on an edge, and the fact that the advance of new males from Kruger is a completely unknown factor (in that a new coalition may arrive tomorrow or not for many moths) keeps the whole thing entirely captivating. What we do know is that with the Majingilane spending so much time in the west, their roars are not head in the east of the Sabi Sands as much these days, which may lead foreign males to believe the territory is not spoken for, and initiate their advance.

James

J, thanks for the response. I appreciate your blog, story and pictures. After I posted my comments yesterday, I read up on the males in the east and now have a broader picture of other males in the Sabi sands area. It’s amazing, when I started reading about the Majingilane and how they took pwer from the Mapogos, I was almost repulsed and equated them to a gang who dispensed their will over their territory. Having read up in the interim, I now understand that’s kinda how this whole lion thing works. Then a funny thing happened, seeing their pictures each week and hearing about their It seems being a couple continue Then, reading about their

Jenifer Westphal
Guest

The photos of these beautiful creatures are breathtaking…and James your story is amazing…I am always in awe of how carefully you track these amazing creatures….

S.w. Tsang
Guest

How handsome & mighty they r !

Matthew Berlanti
Guest

The Mapagos were strong, the Maljingalane fierce and brave. I would not count this close knit alliance too soon. They have surprised us before. I love them.

As soon as new males begin to move into the massive territory of the Majingilane, the action will start! For the time being, they are stretching themselves way to thin across too many prides. Great photographs JT.

How fast time goes by, I can’t believe we are contemplating the end of the mighty Majingilane’s. Thanks for your blog James and preparing us for the inevitable.

Digital Ranger

I like your well thought out article James!What i have always wondered like when your imagining Hip Scar will be cornered because his closest to the Kruger Park why can’t he just run for his life and evade the newcomers?Why do they always have to get caught by the incoming males?In fact by him roaring he will be making a big mistake.Also lion’s will smell other male lion’s from a distance and if wise disappear but they tend not to reason even they hear the enemy roaring from quite a distance and all the scent marks but still get caught napping and are killed.

Finally apart from Dark Mane and Hip Scar the other 2 males who i assume are Golden Mane and Scar Nose do not have a pride?They just seem to be always together and i should assume Golden Mane was the least dominant in the group!

It’s interesting how people like to provoke thought and anticipation. The Majingilane have been known to get together as four when things start heating up… We also know that the Majingine habe been known to come back with serious vengence. Kinky tail was an example of their wrath. The TRUTH is no one knows what is going to happen… The Matimbas are still around, Freddy (KNP male) has been hanging back with a couple of new lions, he might surprise us. And Solo? For all we know, he might rejoin the KNP male for another buffalo breakfast… And the remaining Selati might just jump out of the bush from hiding to tackle a lone River Male, while the River male is patrolling and scent marking his new territory–and then duplicate that strategy.

No one knows. And there’s NO way of telling what WILL happen…

Tom R
Guest

We all know that you don’t live forever.

Adriano
Guest

Hi James. It’s practically 2 years to the day that you proposed the above outcome….2 years later and the tactically shrewd Majingalanes still dominant. Can you fill us in on how the dynamics of the various prides ended up playing out over these 2 years?

Hi Adriano,

The Majingilane have moved into the western sector of the Sabi Sands, having pushed out the weaker Selati males. This part of the reserve, being bordered on three sides by the borders of the park itself, is necessarily much easier to defend as the coalition only really has to worry about their eastern territorial boundary. The last three coalitions to move into that area have done so for this exact reason. “Tactical” or inevitable movement from natural pressures? I guess we could debate this ad infinitum…

With Kinky Tails case, they never came back with vengeance. Infact, when the fist saw him, the 4 manginjis ran with this tails between their legs, they only turned on him because kinky was very arrogant and he left T behind which was his downfall. They might have wanted revenge but they were too scared of the molowathis to fight upfront.

But as you said, they are aggressive but have a history of backing down when things are not in their favor or if they are not in a 4 vs 1 situation.

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