The Mwamba Pride killing machines had gotten a buffalo, a few kilometres away from Mwamba Bushcamp, and there were 17 lions in total, that is 9 cubs and 8 adult lionesses.
We had seen them before they killed the buffalo, at around 5:00 o’clock in the afternoon, in a very good light at a place called Lion Plains. We left the lions there, as they were looking at a large herd of buffalos in the distance, probably 800 of buffalos, and as they seemed very interested in hunting. We left to have our sundown drinks somewhere else, but came back at the same place to check on the lions, but they had already left, probably hunting.
We carried on looking for them, but unexpectedly we bumped into a different pride of 9 lions, which we don’t know – it was 7 young females and 2 young males. These lions were on the prowl so we decided to follow them and suddenly they started running towards us, being chased by the Mwamba Pride.
It was very exciting seeing the lions fighting because it’s not a common thing to see. In my life, it was the second time to see lions fighting.
The other interesting thing was to see this young male leopard, called Elliot, a resident leopard at Mwamba, very close to the angry fighting lions. We were so worried that they were going to kill him if they happened to see him, but luckily they didn’t see him and he managed to escape.
Two days later we saw him again, in the morning, first on the ground then up in a tree. I was very happy to see him again, because I couldn’t afford to lose him, especially a leopard I’ve named after my uncle.
But also that same day, when the lions finished feeding on the buffalo, they all came to camp to drink at the waterhole around 2 o’clock in the morning and decided to chew on the chairs and the car battery which we use for our lights at camp. They also had a try at Brendan’s sun block tube which he had left outside his room. Maybe the lioness wanted to use it for her pink nose!
Thanks
Patrick
