21.7.11

New males on the block 09/07/11

At 4 am lions were fighting west of camp, they were quite close because they woke me up so in the morning we decided to look for them,
we searched everywhere and eventually we found them. Two quite old
males were feeding on a giraffe that, judging from the smell, had been
killed the day before. Vulture were already around even if it was very
early morning, confirmed that lions did not kill that same night. But
the real question was about who did kill the giraffe. The carcass was
almost finished and the males were not as nearly as full as if
they have killed themselves and eaten all of it. The noise in the
night actually explained it, the giraffe probably was killed and eaten
by the females of our pride and then this two males came in and chased
them off.
We watched for a good while the stunning ballet between stubborn
lions, daring black back jackals and sheepish vultures, it was the
usual fun.
To our surprise a new guest arrived at the party, a beautiful side
striped jackal nosing around to see what chances he had. It is a quite
rare animal in this area and we only see it 2 or 3 times per year.
Happiness.
In the afternoon we find mbagi pride and was clear that for a change
our assumptions about who killed the giraffe were correct, the cats
were all stuffed with a recent meal few kilometers far from the kill
and dozing between grass and rocks.
Back at the kill we relaxed watching the lions and the baobabs at
sunset.
This two males are new, we never saw them before even if they are very
comfortable with the car and also quite old.. we wonder who they are.









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