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Ximungwe 5:3 Female

Ximungwe 5:3 Female

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Kelsey Clark

Contributor

Kelsey has many fond memories of family camping trips across South Africa when she was growing up and for her, this sparked a growing love for the wilderness and opportunities to seek new adventures. Although she studied BComm Financial Management and spent five ...

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23 Comments

on Tree Climbing Lions – The Lioness, The Marula Tree And The Ostrich

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Tammy Hynes
Explorer

The lioness on the ground looked awful thin, makes me so sad

Kelsey Clark
Contributor

Lions do tend to look a bit thinner in between gorging themselves when they have successfully hunted a big meal, but this lioness is still in very good condition!

Mark Ceres
Explorer

wonderful shots. Its hard to pick a favorite!

Kelsey Clark
Contributor

Thank you Mark! Glad you enjoyed the shots.

Sandra Scott
Senior Digital Ranger

what amazing pictures!

Kelsey Clark
Contributor

Thank you Sandra

Denise Vouri
Guest contributor

Hey Kelsey, that was an awesome sighting and I’m so happy you were able to capture so many images of the lioness up in the tree. The one on the ground looks like an older lioness, perhaps not as agile so just watched. Thinking about the ostrich kill, I would think it would be exhausting to pick all those feathers off to get to the meat. I’m betting Ximungwe caught it and not her son!!
It was so much fun meeting you and going out star-gazing. Cheers to many more extraordinary sightings!!

Kelsey Clark
Contributor

Hi Denise, thank you! I was also glad I had my camera ready and the morning light was just perfect! Yes, I think she was one of the older lionesses in the pride and I definitely think the Ximungwe female and even the Ntomi male did most of the plucking of the feathers!
It really was a great evening! I will definitely cheers to that 🙂

Francesca Doria
Master Tracker

Hi Kelsey, big thank you for this update on climbing lionesses! I watched cheetah running after ostriches, never a lionesses. They will presumably pass on the climbing habit to their offspring, so, a brighter (hopefully, ) future for lions, having more chances to eat in peace, but an even tougher one for leopards. Have you got any news on the ostrich family? The Plain Camps males are superb, although their name makes me think of the Tsalala mother. Maybe they will mate to her daughter?

Kelsey Clark
Contributor

My pleasure Francesca, very exciting to see tree-climbing lions and to hopefully see more in the future. We believe a leopard actually caught the ostrich but I have heard stories of lions catching ostriches too! The Ostrich family is doing well and the female looked like she was soon to lay her next clutch of eggs when I last saw her. Time will only tell if the Tsalala female ends up mating with the Plains Camp Males – she is definitely at the right age now.

Willa Stanger
Senior Digital Ranger

What an incredible sighting, Kelsey! Triple so, in that (1) it was an ostrich, (2) the Mhangeni lioness was up a tree, and (3) the Ximungwe female & her son were involved. Plus, photo #1 is priceless. Huzzah!

Kelsey Clark
Contributor

Thank you Willa! It really was an incredible combination 🙂

Valmai Vorster
Master Tracker

Kelsey that certainly was a sight not to be missed seeing the lioness in the tree eating on an ostrich carcass. Lioness must of been very hungry to climb a tree to get to the carcass. Plain Camps male is a stunning male lion.

Kelsey Clark
Contributor

I agree Valmai, luckily our timing was just right! She was very opportunistic indeed and they are all in such great condition.

Lisa Antell
Master Tracker

Just the kind of thing that would get anyone who loves safari out of warm beds on chilly early mornings to go and find…..the anticipation of the unusual, or fascinating, or wonderful is such good motivation!

Kelsey Clark
Contributor

I couldn’t agree more Lisa! Always something new and exciting to see every day 🙂

Ann Marie
Explorer

Well, wasn’t THAT a surprising and exciting sighting! Good you had your camera to document it. That lioness in the tree truly looks like she’s getting pretty comfortable with this new skill. I wonder if she will attempt to hoist a smaller kill on her own to keep it from hyena (and not having to share).

Sean Zeederberg
Blog Editor

She did look fairly comfortable in the tree. I think it will still be a long way off before she tries to hoist a carcass into a tree. but you never know, stranger things have happened.

Chelsea Allard
Master Tracker

I must say, if I had to eat dinner in a tree I’d probably look just as awkward as that lioness!😂 Glad she was able to find a spot to soak in the sunshine and take advantage of her vantage point. When in Rome… 😉

Christa Blessing
Master Tracker

Londolozi has some really talented lions.
I hope I will seen one of them

Ian Hall
Master Tracker

How many ostriches are there now (obviously one less)

William Paynter
Master Tracker

Kelsey, what beautiful pictures of the lions. Thank you for sharing.

Michael and Terri Klauber
Guest contributor

Kelsey, What an amazing sighting! Sad to see that the kill was one of the Ostriches! We remember the days when there was only one!

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