December 2005
The Split Rock Males were seen 13 times, mostly with the Styx pride during December 2005. The older male was also seen mating with one of the 7-year-old lionesses of the Eyrefield pride and courting the youngest lioness of the Styx Pride. They provided lots of roaring entertainment and still seem to be well in control of northern Mala Mala.
November 2005
The Split Rock Males had a very good month in November, being seen on no fewer than 22 days. They also showed that they are still very much in control, especially when it came to clashes with the males of the Eyrefield Pride.
October 2005
The two Split Rock Males provided a good deal of viewing in October and entertained their fans with some good roaring, exaggerated levels of male bonding, mating with a Styx lioness and killing a hyena.
The hyena had dared to approach, quite noisily, a rhino carcass around which the Split Rock Males and Styx Pride were lying. The two Split Rock Males roused themselves instantly from their rest and showed impressive speed as they chased, caught, mauled and killed an adult hyena. The Split Rock Males and accompanying Styx lionesses showed undisguised hatred for the hyena. While the younger Split Rock Male was still holding onto the throat of the hyena with his jaws, the older male and the lionesses bit angrily at the lower body of the hyena and then roared and scent-marked in the immediate vicinity.
September 2005
The Split Rock Males were seen on half of the days of this game report period, and most sightings were of both males together. On several occasions, the males were with some of the Styx Pride members.
The older Split Rock Male gave a good display of his tree-climbing ability, when he picked up the scent of a carcass that a leopard had just dragged along the eastern flood plain of the Sand River , and hoisted up a jackalberry tree. The lion ran towards the tree, which the leopard had just hastily descended, and climbed to the position of the kill, about 6 metres above the ground. He then descended the tree with the kill, and fed on it on the ground. He really made it look quite easy!
August 2005
The Split Rock Males were seen on eight occasions during the August game report period. On only two occasions, both males were seen together. These sightings of the two males together were on successive days. On the first of those days, the two were seen along the Matshapiri, and showed great interest in 3 buffalo bulls that passed close by them. The older male ran in after the buffaloes, but his younger companion, perhaps worried about his sore front leg, merely looked on. Around the middle of the game report period, the older male was again seen to mate with one of the Styx Pride females.
July 2005
The Split Rock Males were seen on eight occasions during the July game report period. On all but one occasion, both males were seen together. The older male appeared to retain his dominance, and he was seen to mate with one of the Styx Pride females.
June 2005
The two Split Rock Males seemed to have a good month, and both of them are in reasonably good shape. The lower part of the front leg of the younger male is still hugely swollen, but he has been carrying this injury for about 2 years now. The older male still has a wound on the side of his nose, which keeps being opened up.
Just after the middle of June, the older Split Rock Male was found on a freshly killed kudu bull. There were no other lions around, and it is quite likely that he killed the kudu himself. A couple of hyenas dared to approach to within 100 metres of the kill on the morning that it was found, and the male lion took great exception to this brazen behaviour. Showing a tremendous turn of speed, he took off after the hyenas, and caught one, which he savagely mauled. Inexplicably, the hyena managed to escape, and it seemed not too much the worse for wear! By the next day, the second Split Rock Male had arrived at the kill, and the two of them gorged themselves on the carcass over the next 24 hours or so. Their behaviour and movements in June suggest that the Split Rock Males are serious about their claim to dominating the northern parts of the reserve, and have no intention of easily giving way to a younger coalition. Towards the end of the month, these two male lions were seen close to the remains of an adult male nyala, but it is not known whether they had killed it or stolen it from another predator.
May 2005
Most sightings of the Split Rock Males were of both males together, and on three occasions they were seen with the Styx Pride. These two male lions were seen to kill an adult hyena early in the month of May. Male lions are notorious for their hatred of hyenas. The condition of the Split Rock Males seemed quite good, certainly better than in the previous month.
April 2005
There were sightings of one or both of the Split Rock Males on 6 days in April. Interestingly, they were not seen with any lionesses on any of these occasions. Not the most dynamic of the male lion coalitions seen on Mala Mala over the years, the Split Rock Males did, however, give a couple of good exhibitions of roaring.
March 2005
Every time one of the Split Rock Males was seen, he was either in the company of one or more members of the Styx Pride, or not far from them. On only one occasion were both males seen together, and on that occasion, they had not initially been found together, but joined up after roaring. The Split Rock Males sometimes look rather haggard, and it is clear that they are going to be faced with various challenges in the months ahead. It will be a test of their character!
February 2005
Most sightings involving the Split Rock Males were of just one of the males on his own, and this was usually the older male. He was seen to respond to a roaring Styx pride lioness and to join up with her. On one morning later in the month, both Split Rock Males were seen together to the south and west of the airstrip, where they had probably followed up on ten members of the Eyrefield Pride (including males). If the Eyrefield Males and other young males of the Eyrefield Pride spend much time in the vicinity of northern Flockfield and western Mala Mala, the Split Rock Males will find themselves under considerable pressure. Time will tell how they cope!
January 2005
Although not seen very frequently in January, the Split Rock Males still seem to have the north and west of the reserve under their control. The two males were seen together on a few occasions, and on a few more occasions just the older male was seen in the company of the Styx Pride.
MalaMala
Game Reserve, PO Box 55514, Northlands, 2116, South Africa.
Telephone:
+ 27 11 442 2267 or 0861 SAFARI.
Facsimile: + 27 11 442 2318
e-Mail: reservations@malamala.com
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