Let the Love of Londolozi serenade you this Valentine’s Day and fill up your cup in so many ways.
And what better way to celebrate the month of love than with an incredible bit of news, read on for more…
Over the past few weeks, the Ntsevu Pride has been going through periods where they are all found together and then all separately, always with one or two of the Ndzhenga males lurking nearby.
During this time, we have seen at least four of the lionesses with noticeable suckle marks and heavy milk pouches. The mothers have been spending a lot of time in the same area and with the Sand River a raging torrent currently, we can’t help but think that the new cubs are close by and likely to be on Londolozi. Recently the first view of these tiny cubs confirmed our suspicions and five cubs have been seen.
One afternoon we set out in search of the lionesses with the hope of seeing these new additions to the pride. As we arrived one of the males was lying on top of a termite mound with four of the lionesses nearby.
One of the Ndzhenga Males looks across at the lionesses as they begin to groom each other.
After some time we continued further south and found another Ndzhenga Male and a single lioness who were closely watching a passing herd of elephants. The lioness then got up and began to walk towards the Sand River. Watching her full and exposed milk pouch sway from side to side as she walked, we secretly hoped she was on her way back to a den. After following her for a short while she reached a dense, thick area, then descended into a deep drainage where no matter how hard we tried, we could not follow and that was the last we saw of her.
We then looped back to the other four lionesses and the other male lion to find that both males were now together and with five of the females who had just started to get moving.
Walking with a sense of purpose, it was clear that these females were not heading towards their dens, they were off on an evening hunt.
The sight of a distant lioness caused the pride to stop as they realized she was one of their sisters
Now all pacing down the road, females in front, they all froze, lifted their heads intently focused in the same direction. Suddenly in the distance, another lioness began to approach, and she too paused. Once she realised it was her pride, she let off a soft contact call to the rest of the pride, which put them at ease and with this, they began to run towards each other. The ceremonious greeting ensued as they were reunited.
The social greeting between the female and males with their tails up is an important part of pride cohesion and bonding.
The pride now eight in total (six females and two males) continued to walk down the road as they began to head off hunting as the night sky began to set in.
Now, with all the lionesses out in the open, we had a great view of all of them and each time they walked past the vehicle, I couldn’t help but notice that at least four of these females had suckle marks. So if my maths is correct, and we include the female that we couldn’t follow earlier on, there are five lionesses with cubs, and all likely to be on Londolozi. A lioness will give birth to anywhere from one to five cubs with the average being three or four. So we could likely be seeing a pride with probably 15 cubs to as many 25 cubs. That is an incredible thought. These cubs will vary in age from some being born in November last year, right through to the last litters only being born in the last fortnight. An exciting time ahead for sure!
This is wonderful news! Very pleased to hear about the new cubs. ❤️
I was very sorry to hear of the passing of Ubuso, Ndhzenga male recently. This was very sad news indeed. My condolences. 😢
Exciting news, Kirst!! They’ll all be big little guys, up running around, part of a “mega pride” by the time we visit in June! Yea!
This is truly great news and I’m hoping that you will discover more of the cubs in the next couple of weeks. I’ll be returning mid April and seeing cubs would be high on my list of sightings- whether lion or leopard, but as we know, during drives nothing is guaranteed. Thanks for including such wonderful images.
This is wonderful news. So there will be lots of cubs around in the near future. Looking forward to seeing them some time later in the year.
Hope to see several young ones when we return in August.
Exciting news indeed. Can not wait to see images of the new cubs with their mothers and the pride. Congratulations to Londolozi
Hello Kirst, It was really good news! Beautiful photos also of the pride! Thank you for sharing!
How very exciting – looking forward so much to hearing more – 15 – 25 cubs! Beautiful photos – thank you Kirst.
Kirst, what exciting news. New cubs on Londolozi means the continuation of the species for many years to come. Hope the lionesses are successful in raising a least a few to maturity.
Kirst this is fantastic news hearing that there will be more lion cubs on Londolozi. They are so adorable and very precious. Happy Valentines Kirst .
Very exciting indeed! Thanks Valmai
Lions are our Valentine! Best wishes for the adorable cubs
Great to hear of even more new cubs. If things work out then the Ntsevu could become a super pride, though with the recent death of Ubuso and another Ndhzenga having that nasty side injury, the Ndhzenga coalition may not be able to hold on to them. The Gijima males who attacked them earlier on may take note.
Hopefully Ubuso fathered them, that would be a nice end to his story.
Hi Tony, he was definitely seen mating with the females so there is a possibility that some of the cubs may be his, but difficult to confirm this as the females have mated with many of the males. For now, the three Ndhzengas have been spending more time with the pride so I am sure they are able to hold off the Gijima males who are still quite far south of the reserve
Awesome news although I wonder, are these the same females that were denning in what is a now-flooded area on MalaMala? I know with so many lionesses, it might be different individuals, but was curious!
Hi Michael, It is the same den site that is on the western banks of the Sand River. We have found that two other females have now introduced their cubs to the pride. For now, we are unable to off-road due to the rain so will wait and see if these cubs are still alive.
It would be amazing to see the Ntsevu price grow to 20+ lions once again! 🤞 Have the Ntsevu sub-adult females sired by the Birmingham males all completely left their mothers at this point? I thought they’d been hanging around with them.
Can’t wait to hear more about these new cubs and see some pictures once they are found
That is very exciting news!!