In the last week on Kapama’s Eastern section we have had the privilege of being able to see the newest additions to our lion pride. The three new cubs are being carefully hidden in a raisin bush thicket on the banks of one of the small watercourses that feed our most scenic waterholes, Leopard Dam. Our best guess is that they are about two or three weeks old, and at such a young age we are viewing them very carefully and selectively. Poor Ronald the tracker who found them was made well aware that the Lion Pride does not appreciate uninvited visitors walking around in the maternity ward! When we picked him up he was physically sound but slept with the lights on that night…
Another visitor who did not fare so well was a young giraffe who quite literally walked into the lion’s den. She was invited for dinner as they say, and did not leave.
However, all the lions here are used to our daily visits and we are able to see the cubs through a small tunnel into the thicket and can definitely hear them mewling away and demanding to be fed. Hopefully in the next two months when they start eating meat and become a bit more mobile we will see a bit more of them and get to know them better. I hope to be able to post a photograph of the new additions in the near future.

By: Mike Kirkman – Senior Ranger Kapama Lodge