Lion Man Love

It was a crisp winter's morning.
Francolins were calling, announcing the unavoidable dawn that was breaking.
The Land Rover engine was chugging along as we slowly crawled out of the lodge grounds of Leopard Hills Private Game Reserve in the Sabi Sand (South Africa).

Then the roaring of lions brought us on high alert.
We followed, and came across one of the legendary Majingilane coalition male lions, walking up the road ahead of us and roaring towards his brothers. His brothers answered!

Nikon D3s  |  Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II  |  f4.0  |  1/200 SS  |  ISO-3200

Soon we were witness to a reunion of these males - they had all been patrolling various corners of their territory, and this morning was their bonding moment. It was gloomy weather, but as I always do I just push up the ISO and let my trusty Nikon capture the action.

Nikon D3s  |  Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II  |  f4.0  |  1/200 SS  |  ISO-6400

A third male joined, and they started rolling over each other, rubbing their scent off on one another and just bonding like lion brothers often do.

Nikon D3s  |  Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II  |  f5.0  |  1/250 SS  |  ISO-5000

Nikon D3s  |  Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II  |  f5.0  |  1/250 SS  |  ISO-3200

And then...things got awkward. Very awkward! :)

Nikon D3s  |  Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II  |  f5.0  |  1/250 SS  |  ISO-4000

And no, this is not proof that animals have same-sex tendencies (before anyone jumps on a bandwagon that this post is not intended to provide)...this is purely a display of dominance and is not all that uncommon in mammals. It's a gesture, no real action is taken by the instigator, and the purpose is to assert dominance in a setting such as this where there are multiple males in a coalition and some sort of hierarchy is ascribed to. It was over in a few seconds, and the males flopped down to do what kings of the African bush do during the day - doze off...

We moved on from there to look for a family of cheetah - but the sighting remains one that I'll remember for a long time...seeing these males and the affection they showed upfront, combined with that quick weird show of dominance from the superior ranking one, gave me a glimpse into the dynamics of these male lion coalitions that have so long been the staple of the Sabi Sands and Greater Kruger area.

Are you keen to experience the wonder of the South African bush?
Then be sure to check out the Wild Eye Wildlife Photography Seminar that I am co-hosting in April!

Until next time...

Morkel Erasmus

Sabi Sands: February 2010 (Part 4)

Let's carry on with this trip report, shall we? If you need to get up to speed, check out the previous chapters here:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

We were awoken in the early hours of the morning by the persistent (and close-by) roaring of male lions. I knew we were in the general territory of the infamous Mapogo male coalition, and a hope was ignited to perhaps see them on our morning drive. Our wake-up call came, and with a quick coffee in our bellies we set out and our tracker picked up the lion spoor just outside of the lodge. It wasn't long before we came around a bend in the road to be greeted by this sight...

They were being pretty useless, but it was awesome nonetheless to spend time with them.

Have you ever been THIS lazy?? Check out this badboy just peeing over himself, too lazy to get up and do it properly!

We drove around them for another view...but it was more of the same...

We decided to move on - and wisely so. First off we found a lone impala standing in the middle of a dam/waterhole of some sorts. Our first thought was that Painted Dogs or Spotted Hyaenas had chased it in there, but after sitting with it for more than 30 minutes with no pursuer appearing, we decided to go and search for leopards...which we found!

The leopardess Mambirri was moving along a drainage line with her yearling cub, and we headed to a suitable point to "intercept" (PS: Mambirri has since passed on, and you can read a lovely tribute with great images by my friend Rudi Hulshof on his blog HERE).

We found a great spot thanks to Marius Coetzee's knowledge of the leopard routines of the area...and we were able to enjoy a quality sighting on our last morning in the Sabi Sands.

The cub was curious and as they sauntered down the road into the drainage line she checked out some scents she picked up...

They moved into the drainage line and across some large riverine boulders...

They then disappeared into a thicket. We circled around, again based on Marius' knowledge/hunch of where they were headed...and after waiting a little while they popped up where he said they would.

We were hoping they would come and play on a very photogenic hardwood stump in front of us, but for some reason they turned around and headed back the same way they came...

We stayed with them until Mambirri left her cub in a thicket to go off and hunt...although we were primarily behind them for the rest of this sighting, so photographs are few and far between. We headed back to the lodge for our last lunch before departing - it was a wonderful time, and I am grateful for having had this experience. We latched a couple of days in the Kruger National Park on the back of this trip, but I will leave that for another report.

We are busy ironing out the details of a return visit to Leopard Hills Private Game Reserve - and I can't wait to see how the big cat dynamics have changed in the Western Sabi Sands in these 4 years!

Thanks for following along.

Morkel Erasmus

Sabi Sands: February 2010 (Part 3)

This is the 3rd episode of a way overdue trip report from February 2010. If you need to catch up, check out PART 1 and PART 2 before carrying on with this post...

My lovely wife and I had a pleasant afternoon lounging around our room at Leopard Hills Private Game Reserve with its private plunge pool (summer months in the Lowveld are hot and humid). She took this photo of me looking out over the bush...

This photo shows the inside of our luxurious room - what comfort!

Soon enough, after stuffing ourselves with lovely teatime treats, we were off on our afternoon drive as the clouds were building for storms overhead. This photo shows Marius Coetzee driving us around the roads of the Sabi Sands - do yourself a favour and check out his website for some amazing photography...

Our first notable sighting of the afternoon was a journey of Giraffe (that's what a group of them is called) underneath a stunning rainbow (what is it with this trip and rainbows?)...

One of the bulls obliged me by going to stand in the perfect spot - how kind of him!

We then received word of a nice lion sighting, and proceeded there immediately. The Ximungwe pride was relaxing in a riverbed, and the sole surviving cub of that year's litter was playing with his mother. This little one had been dubbed "Supercub" due to the hardships he endured up to then, and the fact that he somehow kept up when the pride was on the move - which they did without consideration of a cub's presence in their midst.

As you can see, it was a fruitful sighting as far as photography goes. The mother was not very impressed with her cub's incessant playfulness, but she bore it like any good patient mother would. Shortly after leaving this sighting the heavens opened up and we got properly drenched!! Thanks goodness for the parkas in the vehicle (which I used to cover my gear which was on loan from Nikon South Africa)!!!

I hope you enjoyed this trip report thus far. More to follow in the 3rd episode...
Have a great week!

Morkel Erasmus

Sabi Sands: February 2010 (Part 1)

Some of you may recall that I have been posting some WAY overdue trip reports on my blog as well. I am still far behind, but I thought it best to get going again...my last report was a series of posts on a trip with my wife to the Kruger National Park in 2009 - you can read them HERE.

Let's kick this one off then - back in February of 2010, my wife and I were invited to spend 2 nights in the luxurious Leopard Hills Private Game Reserve within the Sabi Sands Game Reserve (part of the Greater Kruger ecosystem). It's one of the most prolific areas for leopard and lion viewing, and we were pretty excited to visit our friend Marius Coetzee who was at that time a full-time field guide at the lodge. We decided to latch a few nights in the Kruger National Park to the back-end of this trip, and we also left home VERY early on the morning of 18 February so as to be able to reach the Malelane gate and make our way through the southern section of Kruger before checking in to the Sabi Sands around lunchtime.

As always, clicking on the photos displays them at the best resolution and sharpness, against a nice dark backdrop :)

It was an overcast morning with a slight drizzle throughout. The animals didn't look overtly happy either. Our first find on our short drive through Kruger was a herd of impala rams. These two were nudging closer in the rain.

This white-backed vulture was also looking very sorry for himself...

We came across the remains of a kill. It was too far off to see what the carcass was - but the rain did not deter the spotted hyaenas and the vultures to contest each other for the remains...

Summer is also the time when beautiful migrant birds like the European Roller are "in town"!

The view from this famous lookout "kopje"/inselberg on the road between Malelane and Skukuza is always lovely - and even more so in the lush summer months.

It was a quiet drive, but nice nonetheless. There was one more obligatory stop before we would leave the Kruger Park through Kruger Gate and enter the Sabi Sands - the famous Lake Panic bird hide close to Skukuze...despite the rain.

A lovely Malachite Kingfisher was following his fishing pattern despite the drizzle. 

This was my first outing using the Nikon D3s (at that time the top of the range Nikon DSLR and the undisputed king of low light photography). It was this trip that convinced me that somehow I would have to get my hands on one of these cameras on a permanent basis (it was a loan unit from Nikon South Africa).

These photos below were taken at settings like ISO-4000, and they are also significant crops (the longest lens I had to use on this trip was the Nikkor 200-400mm VR which is not ideal for photographing small birds like these).

We arrived at Leopard Hills and checked into our rooms - what opulent luxury!!
This was the view from our bath...

After having our lunch and taking a nap, we prepared for our first afternoon drive...which was delayed due to a sudden heavy thunderstorm moving through the area. When we eventually did get out on our drive, we were met by the most wonderful scene...a herd of Cape Buffalo was lying in an open patch called the Ximungwe Clearing, and above them was a spectacular rainbow!

The rest of the afternoon was eventful - with an enjoyable sighting of the Hlaba N'kunzi leopardess and her cub feasting on a kill, albeit in a dense thicket which made photography nigh impossible. We eventually enjoyed a lovely sundowner somewhere out in the bush.

What would the next day hold??


Morkel Erasmus