Initially starting off as an exceptionally nervous cub that took us a while to find, viewing of the Ximungwe female’s latest addition was never easy. However, through persistence in attempting to habituate the cub, ie. get it used to vehicles with the use of careful, calculated measures, we have eventually succeeded. As a result, we can share an amazing sighting had alongside ranger Guy Brunskill as the mother and cub play endlessly throughout the morning.
Hippos, in summer, aren’t so common to see out of the water, this changes in winter with the water temperatures dropping quite significantly. In another morning’s drive, we spend a fair amount of time trying to determine whether a female hippo is in fact the mother of twins. Being fairly convinced that they are in fact twins it is so difficult to tell. We will have to see what happens over the next few weeks.
We end off with the Nkuhuma Young Male resting on a termite mound watching a herd of buffalo from a distance, this story was from a little while ago but we felt, that due to the mysterious death of his coalition partner the Styx Young Male, both known as the Nwalungu Males now, we should put it out.
Enjoy this Week in Video…
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That’s quite unfortunate, such a short lived coalition!
What a beautiful sight to see Mom and son playing! They are gorgeous!
A great video of the Ximungwe female and her cub. It is such a pleasure to see how the little one is growing, playing and play-fighting with his mother.
What a pity that another male lion has been killed on Londolozi. It’s the way of the wilderness, but still it’s quite sad.
And the hippo babies are cute and I really wonder if you will find out whether two of them are twins or not. How rare is such a twin birth?
poor styx, did the BBoys get him?
Life will be hard now for the nkuhuma boy, any chance of him joining the male PCs?
Any updates from the BBoys? Tinyo is better?
Hi Adriel. No, I don’t think it was the Birmingham Males. They have been on Mala Mala for a while and this happened on Singita. It is so difficult to say but we presume it was from a scrap with the Nkuhuma Male. The Styx Male had a severed femoral artery, and so likely to have been caused by another lion in a fight, however, there were no other lions anywhere near that area on that day. So it is a mystery.
Sean, thanks again for another wonderful Virtual Safari. I’m so happy these are continuing, as while I’m sure from your point they’re very time-consuming, they really are the next best thing to actually being there! However wonderful a photo is, there’s no substitute for video to watch something like the Ximungwe cub grooming and climbing a tree.
Hello! Your videos are always a gift. So lovely to see the beautiful Ximungwe dam with such a lively cub! And the hippo twins they are so funny and sweet, I hope both survived, they look pretty well. Maybe the Styx young male was killed by adult lions? Or hyena… what a pity .
Thank you so much, Francesca. I am glad you enjoy them. We are not sure as to what killed him but likely could have been from a fight with another lion as he had a severed femoral artery.
Well, what a brilliant start to my day viewing the latest Ximungwe male cub interacting with his mom. We’ll have to wait and see if he’s as spunky as his brother whose antics left me laughing. Twin hippos! If true, what a discovery for the team. They look like miniatures, “mini-me’s”, and I know a twin birth is extremely rare. It’s disappointing to learn of the loss of another young male lion. You mentioned a groin injury-could it have been from a horn, such as Buffalo, Wildebeest, Impala ram? At any rate, as tragic as his death is, at least it wasn’t done by hunters as was the case of the recent killing of the Mopane male in Hwange. Still can’t wrap my head around how hunting wild animals that have such depleted numbers can be legal……
Hi Denise, thank you so much. Yes, we will have to wait and see how he grows and develops into a young male.
The hippo babies are so incredibly cute and were amazing to spend so much time with them. It could very well have been from a horn or hyenas. My guess is that maybe in a fight with another lion over a carcass. I am not certain though. We will wait to hear from the guys at Singita if they find out anything further.
The Ximungwe female and her cub are absolutely stunning, lovely to watch them playing together. He has grown up so quickly and I really do hope he makes it to adulthood. Those two baby hippo are so cute and it looks as if both of them are here babies. So sad to hear another male lion was killed on Londolozi, did you find out what happened to him and who it was that killed him.
Thanks so much, Valmai. We believe it was from a severed femoral artery, how this happened we are not sure. Maybe from a fight with another lion, or his coalition partner. Possibly from a horn. Its tough to say.
Nice to see the cub again. We saw her with her mother at the end of May after tracking her with Dan and Richard. Great sightings and we got a few decent photos and video although we had to keep our distance as the cub was still young and very nervous.
A couple of weeks ago we had great sightings of the Ximungwe female again but without the cub as she had safely stashed it and was scenting her tracks as there was a male leopard in the area. Just hope the cub makes it as she seems to be a good mother.
We were also lucky to see 2 packs of wild dogs, one with a kill and the other with the cubs at the den. Fantastic sightings.
Unfortunately 2 of the lion cubs from the litter of 5 have been taken but the remaining 3 look in excellent condition having just fed on a gnu. Life goes on and is forever changing. Thanks for the great updates and hope to visit again.
Hi Chris, those sound like amazing sightings. The cub has grown to be such an entertaining leopard to watch. We hope it manages to survive to adulthood.
Thanks
Think this has to be my favourite video of mother and cub interaction Sean … Just super Sean💖. Certainly will b interesting to learn whether these are twin hippos, another great find ! But sad to hear that the Nkuhuma young male has been in a fight..hope it’s not too serious ! Thanks Sean for a wonderful variety of events ! 🙏
Thank you so much, Cally. It was an amazing sighting, and always is with adolescent cubs as they are full of energy and love playing.
I always enjoy watching leopards at play especially when mum is involved. It was good to see the Nkuhuma young adult is still around, but also sadden to hear about the Styx male. It’s a tough life when a young adult goes nomadic.
Young leopards are the best to watch. The nomadic life of a young lion is tough and allows us to appreciate the large dominant males even more when you know what they have been through to get there.
I really don’t think that they Styx and Nkuhuma males would have fought to the death……this sounds more like the Styx boy bled out from a very unfortunate groin wound. Now the question is why and by whom? Other males (Plains Camp)? Bad buffalo hunting wound? A fight with the Mangheni girls over food? Birminghams? So so sad that our NK boy is alone again…..he needs a new coalition partner!
Hi Lisa, it is so difficult to say what happened. He apparently had a severed femoral artery. Which is most likely to have come from another lion or possibly the horn of some form of prey.
Thanks for the video. Especially the part about the hippos. Must remember never to get between a hippo and it’s calf!
Sean, Incredible to see the grandson of Mashaba climb up (and down!) the tree – Epic!! Great to see the twin baby hippos too! Handsome young lion. We rarely hear about the males hunting. Is he managing on his own?
A really nice drive Sean. Love mum and cub and the young male lion – sad that his coalition mate didn’t make it. Will be interesting to find out – if possible that is – whether the young hippos are in fact twins. Thanks for sharing with us.
i have never seen twin hippos! They have a certain charm. you can ne er have too much of leopards and lions are fun to see. ThNk you. Victoria
Thank you so much, Victoria. Yes, it was a first for me to see twin hippos too.
Great Vlog again, thank you! About the Styx youngster, those buffaloes are quite close by as well. And a big wound in the groin, could it be possible the two went after a buffalo and picked the wrong one, thus the Styx boy was killed?
Hi Irene, it is so difficult to tell exactly what happened. Reports say that his femoral artery was severed. How this happened we can’t say. A possible cause was a fight with another lion. While there were no other lions anywhere in that area that day, the most likely culprit could have in fact been his own coalition partner, the Nkuhuma Young. This is just speculation as we have no other evidence apart from a small scrap over a wildebeest carcass three days prior.
Always heartbreaking to loose one of our young lions. The Styx haven’t had much luck seeing their young males get to be territorial. I hope the Nkuhuma Male can find a new partner