Sometimes in the process of harvesting content from the guiding team, things get accidentally filed away and forgotten.
I’m a firm believer in never passing up the opportunity to display great photos or sightings simply because the subject is no longer current, so when I happened upon some of Ranger Grant Rodewijk’s photos of the Tsalala female when we she still had three cubs, I knew we had to publish them!
Grant and Head Tracker Jerry Hambana had found the lioness down in the Manyelethi river one morning, annd after a few minutes of viewing her, the lioness took her young cubs up onto some boulders on the riverbank.
The lions were playing around on a nice open section of ground when they started moving towards a prominent . boulder set that was quite close to the road.
Grant thought he might be able to get a great view of the lion family as they crossed the boulders, but he didn’t expect them to come and stand barely two metres away from him!
The cubs were still small at this point, and as soon as their mother was more than a few metres from them, their confidence levels dropped noticeably.
With young cubs like this, life is a constant game of chasing whatever is in front of you, whether it’s a sibling or your mother’s tail.
The Tsalala lioness has been viewed from Land Rovers since she was very small, so completely ignores them. Here she looks right over Grant’s bonnet as she towers above him. This photo was taken with a wide-angle lens, which makes things appear further away than they really are, so you can imagine how close the lioness actually was!
With their mother right there, the cubs had no hesitation in also coming right up to the vehicle. This is an important part of their habituation process; viewing them when their mother is there. If she isn’t, the cubs are generally unrelaxed and we don’t view them.
After spending time on the boulders grooming each other, the cubs retreated to the sandy riverbed for more games of stalk and chase.
Hopefully we will enjoy sightings like this of the lioness and her remaining cub over the next few months, but at almost 8 months old, the cub is tarting to come into its own. At the moment the lioness is still heavily dependent on the Sand River and the prolific amount of herbivore species it is attracting, but what will her movements be once the rains come?
Beautiful reminder of what once was….
Wonderful look back at the adorable young cubs. Hope that the lioness has continued success in her lefe. Thank you ! Victoria
Always fascinated by the habituation process.
Incredible eye-level photos.
Love love love
Agreed!
James, Those are amazing shots! You are right, with the wide angle lens, Grant must have been super close! The video is awesome.
Hi. Is the lone tsalala lioness and her cub still alive. I haven’t seen anything recent? Ty. I pray they are survivors <3
Yip, alive and well!
Just precious! .. What a wonderful flashback in time, knowing that the Londolozi crew were able to gather a bunch of wonder pictures of the Tsalala Lioness and her three cubs, before two of them tragically lost their lives.
Everyday will be a gift, knowing that the Mama Lioness and her growing cub are still alive and well, and forging on.
Love struck by these photos of the cubs frolicking alongside mum. Without mum around are some cubs more relaxed around vehicles than others?
Looking back can be do meaningful. Wonderful up close images and love the one of the cubs following one another in a row. Up to mischief for sure!
Ir is wonderful to read that the cub is still alive. Being out of signal for nearly three weeks and not knowing what is happening makes you wonder what you will read. Good news or bad news.
Such a beautiful set of images, priceless!!! What is the latest update on the Tsalala Female and her cub?