The story of the Tsalala lioness is quite remarkable. Having been alone for a year now, it is incredible that she has survived and is thriving. Because of her unique situation as a single lioness, her life seems to have drawn the attention and affinity of many Londolozi guests. People love an underdog (or cat in this case?) and with her having given birth to three cubs recently, she is proving to be a real survivor. She is the only hope for the Tsalala legacy, thus the survival of her cubs is paramount to continuing this lineage. Although the odds are not in her favour, she continues to surprise us.
The Tsalala lioness has been investigating the thickets on either side of the Sand River in front of the Londolozi camps. Here she crosses the flowing river, snarling at the water as she does so in case of crocodiles.
For the last few weeks, the Tsalala lioness has been hiding her litter of three cubs in and out of the Manyelethi and Sand River, with no vehicle access. This had left us all wondering if the cubs were still alive. To add to the worry, the section of Sand River where she had been seen once with her litter is exactly where we had a sighting of the Ntsevu pride about a week later.
All doubts have been cleared up recently though. While tracking a male leopard, tracker Bennet Mathonsi came across tracks of a single lioness, surrounded by tracks of her cubs. We immediately gave up on the leopard and excitedly did a U-turn to follow her tracks. Within minutes, we were rewarded with quite possibly one of my favourite moments in my guiding career at Londolozi.
Our first view of the Tsalala lioness and her cubs as we ascended a hill alongside the Manyelethi River.
Finally, the three cubs had been brought out of the thickets of the river and onto some prominent granite boulders in the middle of Londolozi’s northern section. It was great to see that the mother and the three cubs are all looking healthy. See the video below for a view of the cubs and mother moving down the granite boulders together.
The cubs were born in the first week of March this year, thus as I write this they are only just three months old. It is around this age that a pride would start introducing cubs to kills. In the last week, Judas Ngomane and Rob Jeffery followed a drag mark that led them straight to an impala ram carcass. They investigated in the vehicle and were amazed to find the Tsalala female and her three cubs feeding on the kill! Now that the process of weaning the cubs off milk and introducing them to meat has begun, the lioness has the difficult task of not only catching prey for herself, but having to leave carcasses unattended and return later with her cubs (cubs will be left in the relative safety of a den area while the mother goes off hunting).
The tiny lion cubs run ahead of the mother excitedly as she moves them from one area to the next.
This moving back and forth is risky, but necessary for the cubs to gain exposure to kills and have access to the protein that is essential for their development. If the Tsalala lioness continues to move around in the areas that she has been frequenting – the Sand and Manyelethi Rivers and the associated deep drainage lines leading into them – the cubs will have good cover and hopefully remain safe.
We can all gather some inspiration from this single lioness’ ability to survive and now too her accomplishment at raising three cubs to this age thus far.
We will be sure to keep everyone updated on the ongoing story of the Tsalala lioness…
What a brilliant update – got all fingers and toes crossed that these little ones make it despite the odds.
It is wonderful to see the cubs surviving against the odds. She seem to be a great mother. Lovely video.
Fantastic news! Beautiful video and photos too! Keep us informed of her progress, Pete!
I have my fingers crossed for her and my cat has her paws crossed for her also, how long would it be before the cubs would become non-reliant? Do you know the sexes of the cubs yet?
Two females and a male
Hi Ian,
Two females and one male. The females will hopefully stay with the mother and contribute to the pride. The dynamics will be interesting as in the case of a pride, at 3-4 months the cubs will follow the lionesses around but won’t contribute to hunts. Only around 11-12 months will they actively be stalking with the mother but will often ruin hunts in their excitement. So from roughly 13-18 months they will be contributing to kills but are still very much at risk of being killed by nomadic males. In the case of a single lioness, this may all be very different – the animals most often don’t follow the textbooks out here.
Many thanks, hopefully the lionesses will survive to maturity and form a pride – not sure what awaits the solitary male
What a awesome cat!
This lioness is herself an amazing survivor and now to have raised 3 cubs alone is a true feat. May her good luck continue!
She really is amazing that’s one thing I love about Lionesses, they are Survivors indeed
Hope to get a sighting when we’re there in late July.
Do you think the reason for her having her litter in March rather than, say, December is because she was alone instead of a part of a larger pride? And as an aside, why was this post flagged with a “wildlife” keyword rather than “lions”.
Hi Bob and Lucie,
Lions have no set breeding season so there is no correlation there to the time of year. As an example, the current litters in the Ntsevu pride were all born over a spread of about 10 months.
I’ll have to follow up on the latter question – that’s beyond my techno knowledge as both “lions” and “wildlife” have been checked as fields on the back end.
Lord have mercy, how wonderful!! I will be at Londolozi in July and so want to see them.
This is absolutely fantastic!!! I’ve been waiting to see photos like of these of this family!!
Really enjoyed your pictures. Good to see the family is well.
So glad to see the cubs doing well! Pete, do you know if the lioness and/or cubs has had contact with any of the Birminghams since she mated? I’m curious as to how the Birminghams will react to her and the cubs if they haven’t had contact since she mated with one of them.
Hi Michael,
You’re right – two females and a male.
We haven’t yet seen the males with her since mating. She has been seen calling recently, which may attract their attention. Only time will reveal how they react to the youngsters…
Thanks very much Pete! Hoping everything will go smoothly should that happen!
Pete, I hope the cubs make it to adulthood – please keep me posted on the progress
My visit to Londolozi May 2018 almost coincided with the death of the tailless female which I believe was the lone remaining Tsalala female’s sister or mother. In fact, one of my last sightings on that visit was the pair of lionesses crossing the waters of the Sand River in the dark after sunset disappearing over the raised north bank not far from the camps. A few days later I was back home in the States and read a blog entry that the Tailless female had died. I had seen the Tsalala pride my first visit in 2016 on a buffalo kill when their numbers were stronger. Both sightings have given me the kind of personal connection that will always spark interest in any updates on the well-being of the pride’s legacy
I have been following her and then her and the cubs for quite a while and routing for them. I wish her much luck. My heart goes out to such a social animal being left all alone and now trying to raise three cubs on her own. She’s a wonder.
Thank you Pete, the video and photos are just gorgeous. I’ve been following the Tsalala pride throughout my 9 visits, and I so hope she can rear these cubs to maturity and so continue the line.
I love the video, the continuing story of this remarkable lioness and the new images. She has captured the hearts of all of who subscribe to this blog, even if we’ve never seen her. Raising three cubs to adulthood is a feat for any lioness, even with pride support, and for her to attempt it solo is brave. We have to keep our emotions in check but it’s difficult when we’re rooting for her success.
Do you know who the father may be? Looking forward to more stories and photos of them.
Hi Denise,
She was seen mating with at least one of the Birmingham males, possibly more. We have not seen those males pushing up into her territory for quite some time now though. Luckily for her, no other males have really made any proper in-trails into the area that she frequents as of yet.
Hi, Denise,
You are quite right she has captured the hearts of us all and We will keep supporting her until the very end
Somebody needs to organise that lioness a child support allowance and get her the phone number of a good babysitter! She looks very thin to me!
For all of us who have both cheered and worried about Tsalala this past year, this particular blog entry along with images and the delightful video thrills us to no end. I can’t imagine how the Londolozi staff must feel! We are ALL elated! She is such a overcomer and we cheer her along with those three adorable Cubs! Somehow I hope they remain safe.
It is difficult not to get attached out here, Joanne. We do all eagerly await news from each sighting of her!
Pete, Without a doubt, your lion cubs video is one of the most memorable ever! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Michael and Terri! It’s a great memory to share with everyone…
Dear Pete. Thank you so much for this story AND the pics too which are great. Never been to Londolozi but follow everything every day when reading about it. I have SO much respect and admiration for this Mum. She is quite remarkable and the cubs are delightful. Agree – she does look rather thin. Not surprising really as she has to cope with feeding them and ensuring she catches prey regularly. Thanks again. Keep us posted,will you? Wendy M
Hi Wendy,
Wonderful that you are a keen follower of the Tsalala female’s progress. It really is a remarkable story! She is thin in the photographs here but you’ll be happy to know that she has had several good meals that we know of since this sighting!
As a lover of Lionesses, I am so amazed by her and I hope her cubs survive all odds
Oh if only they all made it, so special-