Been there, done it - in the same area - but this a far more compelling story

The western boundary of the 7,500 square miles sized Kruger National Park has no borders with the private land owners next to it. The properties Timbavati (where I had my interactions with lion), Londolozi and Sabi Sands are known for their large numbers of big predators - in fact the highest in all of Africa.

Better let Paul Danckwerts of Londolozi tell this story himself:

"Little is known locally of their origin but there were six of them in the beginning and they came from a property known as Birmingham in the Timbavati - a conglomerate of privately owned concessions bordering the Kruger National Park’s western boundary. By the time they were first seen in the North-eastern corner of the Sabi Sand Reserve they were down to five. Apparently one had been killed in a dispute with older, more experienced lions and they were on the run.

They’d been seen lying in the shade of a magic Guarrie tree alongside an open clearing in the middle of the day looking hot and dejected. But their eyes still shone, while their manes – still two years shy of full magnificence – betrayed their youth and inexperience.

A year later they roared their way into a melee involving two other established coalitions at least a kilometre further south of where they’d first been seen.

Territory had become a priority for the Birmingham males and – like the other coalitions before them they made a a notable entrance. The catalyst was a newly killed white rhino bull that had died of his wounds in a territorial fight.

"Driving into a Combretum thicket peppered with vultures and full bellied hyena, hot on the trail of lion tracks is usually as exciting as it gets on an early morning drive, but on that particular day it was a bleak and desperate scene. Those who were there saw two full grown male lions, one with a particularly dark and fulsome mane, casually gnawing on the two ton rhino carcass.

"Not five minutes later two other male lions of roughly the same size and age charged in, almost catching them off guard. With a thumping battery of incessant growling a fight ensued. The bush exploded as white-backed vultures erupted into the overcast sky and spotted hyaenas bolted for cover. Neither coalition backed down as they roared at each other from close quarters while all the while the hyenas whooped for reinforcements.

Enter the Birmingham coalition

"Suddenly, five other males appeared out of the long green grass some fifty meters away. They were equally spaced apart from one other but all had their eyes wide open and fixed on the scene before them. Not a moment later the cacophonous confusion was shattered as the Birmingham males, a volley of ferocious tooth and claw, rushed in on the scene. The original four males, self-preservation foremost in their minds, were in full retreat. As the drama shifted elsewhere, the dying echo of roaring lions reverberated through the surrounding bush. Eventually the Birmingham males returned to the carcass one by one, alert, looking wildly about them as though still searching for the one responsible for the death of their (original sixth) sibling. Unhurriedly, they began to feed.

"Now they are four. But what they have lost in numbers they’ve since gained in size and experience; experience honed by ceaseless quarrels with their neighbours. They have successfully climbed over the wall of youth, mated, and driven away or killed many of their potential competitors. They now are a force to be reckoned with".

Paul then recently had reason to become somewhat pensive during a night wake by a fire out in the bush:

"Six nights ago I sat next to a fire with my sleeping bag draped over my shoulders against the pre-winter cold. I was on the ‘graveyard watch’ on Londolozi’s Ranger selection course. Two hours earlier the Birmingham males had soundlessly walked through the moonlit thickets around us, like ghosts. Now all four of them roared from a clearing nearby. In that moment, in that dead of night it was the only sound - but what a sound it was. Everything else fell silent. It was an ageless sound, one that shook the stillness - and you - to its core. It was as though it carried a message and everything, including the trees, was listening. It was the same message that was once carried by other coalitions before them - one that proclaimed absolute dominance over everything and all".