A Coalition of Three Male Lions Enter the Arena (Kambulas)

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:04]The Koula Lion Coalition, serious contenders for the Manleti throne.

[00:00:13]We have all three of them here looking as fit and healthy as I think they probably ever have.

[00:00:39]Good day everybody and welcome to the virtual safari at Tinsu.

[00:00:45]I'm afraid in spite of the efforts of my colleagues and I, there is still no sign of red road. and where he was spotted last on 28th March was very close to the Krueger boundary. So, it is very possible that he crossed over into the Krueger.

[00:01:04]In the meantime, let's go see what the Manleti has in store for us today.

[00:01:14]A white rhino cow and a calf.

[00:01:20]What more could you ask for than an incredible sighting like this in the warm manleti morning sun?

[00:01:31]Now, I'm not too familiar with this rhino and calf, so I'm going to keep my distance. Don't want to scare them off just in case they are a bit skittish because there are some other lucky tent swallow safari goes on their way. We want them to enjoy this experience in person.

[00:01:53]And when rhino carves are born about 50 kilograms, my apologies, you're going to have to convert that to pounds for me.

[00:02:02]And mum here, I would say probably 1,800 kg.

[00:02:10]And when they're born, they 50 kg, but grow at a rate of up to 2 and a half kg per day.

[00:02:20]All thanks to mom's nutritious milk.

[00:02:24]It is front end loaded, so it'll start slowing down as they get older.

[00:02:31]This rhino say 3/4 the size of m you think.

[00:02:37]So perhaps Just over a ton, 1,200.

[00:02:46]How that growth rates not too dissimilar from domestic cows in fact, but it just lasts longer in megaporna like these white rhinoceros.

[00:02:59]Hence, they're able to grow to such massive sizes.

[00:03:12]large lone elephant bull.

[00:03:16]And he's grazing grass on an old termite mound.

[00:03:21]And those that grass on an old termite mount is particularly nutritious.

[00:03:28]And this old bull, as wise as he is, knows this. And the reason it's so nutritious is that the termites would have been carrying a lot of plant matter up and down there as their colony was ongoing. So all that nutrition that they would have bought from the outside down into the earth is in the soil and is now helping to feed that grass.

[00:04:21]The three water buck we have here are two males and one female.

[00:04:29]And the two males I'm going to assume one is the dominant male and the other the apprentice.

[00:04:38]Very interesting in waterbuck society is that you'll have a dominant male of a water hole like this, but he will have an apprentice, an understudy that will eventually take over from him once his time is gone.

[00:04:58]This bull with his spectacular horns likely the dominance bull.

[00:05:09]They call them waterbuck because you'll find them near water. They are water dependent. So not necessarily in the water though they are very good swimmers. And a couple of reasons for that. One is that they've got hollow hair.

[00:05:27]As well as hollow hair, a lot of oil glands. So very oily skin. So they don't get bogged down by that water. Just water off their backs. Quite literally with regards to the ring around their rumps.

[00:06:01]always used to have a silly laugh at my parents telling me because they sat on a freshly painted toilet seat that they have that ring.

[00:06:10]I was very young and we're going on our camping trips.

[00:06:15]But the most likely reason, not the toilet seat, is it is a follow me sign.

[00:06:24]More easily seen as they sprinting through the bushes and long grass and the reads.

[00:06:31]that they can keep up with one another.

[00:06:44]Yep, he's definitely the dominant pull.

[00:07:04]Testing to see if she is perhaps ready to mate.

[00:07:17]Doesn't look like it.

[00:07:33]It's The Koula Lion Coalition, serious contenders for the Manleti throne.

[00:08:13]We have all three of them here looking as fit and healthy as I think they probably ever have.

[00:09:29]We are far south in the Manulleti though they do like to push further north to the central areas touching on the central areas. S8 dam And between here and there, they'll certainly come into the mountains.

[00:09:57]We've managed to find these lions quite late into the evening now and we are far from camp. But what I wouldn't give to be able to spend the whole evening with them to see who they may encounter, what they'll get up to.

[00:10:39]while the other two have headed in a southerntherly direction towards the Sabi Sands boundary.

[00:10:46]This one, interestingly, has hung back a bit.

[00:10:50]And this morning, though, we did see three of them together.

[00:11:11]All right, he's now up and moved and joining the other two. So they won't be splitting the coalition tonight.

[00:11:44]Okay, we have probably just enough time to get back to the lodge. So, that's what we're going to do as the Kumbulas continue now in a southeasteryly direction either to the Sabi Sands to the Krueger National Park or they might loop around to S8 Dam.