Tracker Milton and I had just had a quick coffee on the deck with the guests, reminiscing on the sounds we all heard through the night, and wondered what we might set out to find on our morning adventure.
Following a brief discussion in the car park, we decided that we should attempt to find the large herd of buffalo. There is no guarantee you’ll find anything you set your intentions for, but Milton was convinced he would be able to find them, and we were all very invested in the morning search.
Early mornings are when the buffalo begin to get active from resting during the night and begin a long feeding frenzy that will last much of the daylight hours, before settling down to rest again for the night.
We drove a long way south of the camps, guided by Milton’s intuitive instincts on animal behaviour and movement, which he has acquired over more than 28 years at Londolozi, but what we did not know, was what else we would find along the way…
Once we had driven into the deep southern parts of the Londolozi, we picked up tracks and signs that the buffalo had been in the area. Now it was up to us to determine the timing, direction and what is driving the animals to be moving in such a direction. Water, food resources for the herd, and herd safety are typically the main drivers of the movement of a large herd of buffalo. The herd of Buffalo leave behind many tracks (and dung droppings), that make the initial part of finding them somewhat easier.
Once we had eventually found the buffalo, in a Bushwillow thicket teeming with fresh grass sprouts, we sat among them for a few minutes before we heard a sound of the bush we simply could not ignore. All our morning efforts to locate the buffalo were suddenly put on hold as we all froze to identify the alarm calls. Baboons, alarming with tenacity.
Milton was quick to attest that not following up on these alarm calls would be an absolute sin, as they were coming from somewhere very nearby, and we were the only vehicle in that area of Londolozi for the morning. We scurried out of the thicket (having barely spent any time with buffalo) and back down the road to where we thought the calls were coming from. As we rounded Piva Pan and crossed the Piva Drainage, we were met by a beautiful specimen known as the Styx Male.
Born into the Styx pride in early 2021, this young male has now reached the point in his life where he is being pressured to leave his natal pride. Male lions typically become nomadic and leave their natal pride around the age of 2 to 3 years old, and it is around this age that male lions start to mature sexually. They are often driven out of their pride by dominant males or as a result of internal social dynamics within the pride.
The Styx Pride has spent much of their time beyond the southern borders of Londolozi, but with the ever-changing lion dynamics of the Sabi Sand Game Reserve, may we see this male staking a claim to territory on Londolozi in the not-too-distant future?
It appears that this young male has started his journey to independence and taken his first steps toward nomadism. With the current presence of the Ndhzenga Males, one of whom is his father, holding most of the territory to the south and east of Londolozi. Will he challenge the Ndzhenga Males, his bloodline? If so, he may need to be patient for a little while longer before he will be able to challenge both of them to a duel for their claimed land.
The high density of lions, and specifically male lions, may force his hand into challenging for a territory sooner than he may like, but these situations and stories are what make Londolozi so special. Each drive is a total surprise.
We wait with eager anticipation to see how the story of the Styx Male will unfold. Will he join up with another younger male from another pride? Will he continue his intentions as a lone male and patiently wait for the right time to stake a claim to territory he can call his own? Or something that is not entirely out of the question, will he possibly join up with his fathers and add some youth to an impressive coalition?
Let me know your thoughts on the future path of this young male in the comments below.
Thanks for that update. It will be interesting to follow the adventures of this young male. So much is happening with the lion dynamics. Very exciting to follow all the updates. Besides, anxiously waiting to see if the Tsalala female is pregnant again.