21 Jul, 2008

Two gentle male lions often take care of the cubs on their own while the females go hunting - a most unusual behaviour.

After hearing two Xakanaxa pride males roaring during the night near our camp in the Moremi Game Reserve in Botswana, we picked them up at the site of their new den at first light.

I thought that the new lion cubs might have been moved from the den site that we found last week, but the presence of the males indicates that the new cubs are still here. The males were probably waiting at the den for the rest of the pride to arrive.

Just as the sky began to colour in the east, the two males started roaring.

To sit near two large male lions roaring at the dawn is one of the most emotive experiences imaginable.

A lion roaring never fails to inspire awe in me no matter how often I hear it.

Their deep, thundering calls reverberate physically through one’s body, and the sound travels for several kilometres across the savannah and waterways of the Okavango Delta, leaving no doubt that this is their territory.

As the sun crested the horizon, they set off to the west, roaring again – two beautiful male specimens in the prime of their lives.

The safari guides in the area tell us that they took dominion of the Xakanaxa pride approximately a year ago and have since sired six litters of cubs, one with each of the pride females.

They are unnaturally good-natured males and both are remarkably tolerant of the cubs. The females often leave their cubs solely in the care of the two males while they go hunting, a most unusual trait in lions. We have also seen them lying off to the side of a new buffalo kill, allowing the females and cubs to feed first, which is remarkable – even unnatural – behaviour for male lions.

The early morning light, as always, backlit these two massive lions beautifully as they made their way down to the water’s edge on a nearby floodplain. They stood for a long time looking out to the west before making their way east to find the females.

At some stage during the morning they split from each other. We quite often see these males apart and one is definitely more dominant.

When with the pride, the less dominant male seldom lies with the females, preferring to keep at an enforced distance.

We stayed with the more dominant of the two as he made his way east through the forest, stopping periodically to look, listen, and occasionally roar. He soon tired of his search and lay down to rest for the day on the edge of a floodplain.

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