An inquisitive young lion is clearly no match for one of Mountain Zebra National Park’s impressive adult males. Especially when the king of the jungle is disturbed while courting. By Arnold Ras
Where? Mountain Zebra National Park
In the mix? Lion, lioness and three sub-adults
The Eastern Cape’s Mountain Zebra National Park might be famous for its cheetah tracking experiences and Cape mountain zebra, but lions not so much. Then in 2013 two adult bothers and one lioness were introduced to the park to help restore certain predator-prey functions. Soon after, in 2015, two more lionesses (sisters) joined the pride and cubs followed.
As this month’s photo sequence proves, visitors to Mountain Zebra can now look forward to some riveting lion sightings and interactions.
Wild Card member Jacques de Klerk arrived at the park as gates were opening. “We immediately headed for the plains. On our way up the hill, we came across an adult female and a male lion moving from the waterhole and across the road. As the lioness was constantly rubbing against the male, he stuck by her side. We watched them walking around and lying together for quite a while, but no mating,” says Jacques.
Three youngsters appear on the scene
While the male lion was doing his best to impress, Jacques spotted three sub-adult lions – one male and two females – in the distance. “They were trying to hunt black wildebeest, but did not succeed. Soon they turned their attention to the two adults. The seemingly peaceful situation soon took a turn when the young male decided to approach the adult male.”
The adult male quickly leapt up to defend his turf and headed straight towards the valiant young male – his mane still just a patch of fluff.
Pictures by Jacques de Klerk
The lioness comes to the rescue
The adult lioness was not going to sit around only to witness a now full-on brawl between young and old. “She charged, striking and biting the adult male. The impact from her initial charge was so hard that she dived the adult male right off the sub-adult, giving the youngster a gap to run for the hills.”
With the bewildered youngster now out of sight, the two sub-adult females retreated, keeping their distance some 100 metres away. “One or two more altercations followed between the two adults. The lioness was clearly aggravated.”
About the lions
Megan Taplin, park manager at the time of the sighting, says all three sub-adults are the lioness’s offspring. “They were still dependent on the lioness for food and so associating with her. The adult male lion was displaying behaviour typical of an adult male lion – chasing away the younger male who is about to become his rival for siring new offspring. The lioness was still protective of her offspring and reacted aggressively towards the adult male lion to protect her sub-adult cub.”
The lioness, a first-time mother, was introduced to the park in 2015 at about three years of age. Either the pictured adult lion, or his brother, could have fathered her three youngsters. “The three now sub-adults were the first cubs to be born in the park,” says Megan.
Awesome sighting and even better photography….wow wow wow
Females definitely rule the world 🙂
Oh what an amazing sighting that was & together with the stunning pictures, I can just imagine the sounds of that Lion & lioness <3 Thank you for sharing them Wild Card & Arnold Ras & Jacques de Klerk 🙂
what awsome photo’s would have loved to have seen it
Amazing footage by this photographer! One can but only wish and dream to witness this one day!
We were in Mountain Zebra Park in 2016 and were the first at the area where the male and female lions were mating. It was just before 7:00 am and we sat for hours with them taking photo’s. the other male lion was lying a little way from them but was in a bad shape – he and the other male had obviously been fighting . And last year in Feb 2017 we were back at the park and there we saw the little cubs far off the road under a tree playing with each other and the mom and ‘aunt’ was with them and the 2 male lions were lying a little further under another tree.
It is good to see how the little cubs have now grown and the one that got into ‘trouble’ now is really a handsome little one – he will be a great adult later on – his mane under by the neck is looking really good at such a young age.
Unbelievable footage and what a sighting! What camera did he use – great skills!
Thank you for sharing your most amazing experience. Such a privilege to witness a sighting like this.
An amazing park, very well run, we just love going there. Well done to all staff and management. We experienced one of the best ever night drives at Mountain Zebra Park.
Such crisp clean shots – well done. Looking at the first one of the charging male lion, it almost looked as if it had been “photo-shopped” into the picture being so crisp with definite outline, especially around the mane. Must have been shot with very high speed shutter ?? A really great sequence !!
Pragtige aksie foto’s van leeus!
Pragtige fotos van die leeus dankie. Ons was nog nie weer bu berg kwagga vandat die leeus daar is nie maar is n pragtige park.Ons hou daarvan om by sanparke te gaan kamp altyd mooi skoon en netjies Ans
Amazing footage & sighting! Awesome!