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It must be so hard for Kamqua to leave the cub to go out and kill to replenish her milk supply and then rush back. I wonder if Gina pictured below very recently above Wayne's Valley is pregnant??. She seems to be heavy at the moment and not leaving the area. Could it be that she is helping her mom nurse the new cub???

Peter

I agree, I also think Gina is Pregnant. Here she is two weeks ago in the same area.

hehe saw one lone male walking along a dirt road today going up a hill towards a grassy area near the south gateS, pity I couldnt follow him as the road he walked along was not marked on our map

Megan, can I drive up a dirt road if it's not marked on the map, yet has no no entry sign? I decided not to work up parks board so didnt take the chance..

Here are the gps location details for the lion sighting.
S33 32.353' E025 47.818

Chances of seeing him on or near the same road are good as we found another camp who saw the same lion there yesterday at the same location, so if you near that place between 8-9am keep your eye's peeled.

Are there any other forumites in Addo between 12-17th?

Just a few questions to you experts.

After seeing the Addo lions and reading your reports I am wondering about the future of the young male lions in Addo.

This first family tree from Megan showed that there are two sons from Kamkwa, but now it seems if she and Gina are on their own. What happened to the two boys(Matt and Amla) and the same goes for Ardlam's son who is still with her and getting bigger. I imagine that she and her daugther will be mating at some stage and he will be cast out of the group?

Forgive me if this was covered before.

Henk

Henk: Addo has many 'Sections' to it. These sections are separated by various boundaries, Municipal/National roads being the biggest here. So theres ample space for Lions and other game to be moved around.
If I remember correctly, the 2 males you refer to were relocated to another section of the park.
Megan can confirm this or a search through the forums.

Ja Henk ditto Nightowl...my son Rob and I saw the 2 males (Gina's brothers Matt and Amla the day they were captured last year where the boundary fence comes close to the road north of Marion Barrie. They were caught later that morning) They stayed in a holding area for a while before being moved... cant say where in GAENP. Any news on how they are doing as they are not in a recognised tourist area per se I am led to believe..they must be big manne now

Spotd gina and cub this morning. The where far down a no entry road, luck the lion/hyena research team could follow. They got great pics. Promisd 2give me a copy 2nite so when i get it i wil upload. Cub looking good.

You sure you dont mean Kamqua and cub..she is the mom...Gina is a lioness born out of a previous litter

Yip you got that correct. Kamkwa and cub, oops - however they were so far away I couldnt really say who was who, just saw 2 females and one cub playing with them..

Lets hope tomorrow we have them closer..

I am so tempted to go down that unmarked path and snap a few nice pics.. hehe pity i drive such a huge white bakkie.

I wish i could get a temp permit to drive those roads, I mean if the researches can do it, why cant I? I am also researching it and am reporting back to everyone.. not keeping my research secret..

oops dont burn me Megan, I am just ranting a bit from frustration

Sorry, I haven't had a chance to get back to anyone on questions lately!
Matt and Amla, Kamkwa's first (surviving) male cubs, were moved to Kuzuko Contractual Area which is in the north of the Park. They are doing well there. This area will eventually become one with the Darlington section of the Park when, in the future, fences have been completed and the fence between them removed.

Lions will eventually be reestablished in all the areas of the Park where they would have occurred, including Colchester (Matyholweni) area, Nyathi area and Darlington. This will be done once all the infrastructure needed (e.g. correct fencing) is in place and a big enough prey base has developed. There's also a possibility that new genes could be brought in and that lions could be translocated out of Addo in the future if needed.

simonB, you definitely cannot use the tracks that are not marked as tourist roads in the Park. Imagine if everyone wanted to do there own "research"....how would we control this? and imagine the type of impact this would have on the environment in the Park, as well as the advantage people might take of this concession

Research projects are strictly controlled and sanctioned only after rigorous review from SANParks' scientists. Many of us would love to be out there in the bush, gathering data unfortunately we don't all get to do so.

However, we always welcome observations from visitors and contributions to the Park

lol - yeah imagine the type of quality research that would come out of this, oops sorry, now i am just being cynical..

Having spent 4 days in the park now I fully understand why these type of concessions cannot be given, there are so many really really stupid people, climbing out of cars, walking around, throwing bags out the windows, shouting and screaming in the camps, playing loud music etc etc.. it's so sad to see people have NO respect for this our heritage! It's just not fair to mass punish everyone but yes, if it keeps these buggers away then maybe its better..

Well today I got one clear pic, of a lion so my frustration is cooling off a bit.. lol I need a better camera.

On another note, the state of the Jackals is shocking! The mange is slowly going to kill them, we found a jackal today at Marion Baree that was so badly manged he could barely walk, another Jackal near () was in the same condition, this is a sad day for Jackals in the park.

Spoke to 2 rangers in the camp, and they say the park is leaving nature to take it's course as there are already to many Jackal in the park... mmm i understand this reasoning as I have seen at least 20jackal in the last 4 days, but it just sounds so evil, because the mange is an alien and should not be in the park!

Megan: If the park provides traps and gives me 24h access I will volunteer a few days/weeks a month to help out on this project. If Jackals are caught and cleaned with water and calcswaal this virus can be killed. I have seen it work very well and at a very low cost on dog's so it could work, Just not sure of the environmental impact of calkswaal, will research it a bit.

I look forward to the day when this new nasty virus is out of the park, lets hope it doesnt spread to the hyena's etc..

Nossob seen recently having a sleep on the side of the road on Mbabala Loop

SimonB:

Mange is a naturally occurring phenomenon in the Park and not something alien that has been introduced. We definitely would not try to get rid of it as it fulfills an important function of controlling population numbers, especially in times when the environment is under stress.

To take jackals as an example, when their numbers increase, there is more competition for food, less to go around etc and jackals are under stress. Mange becomes more prevalent and reduces the numbers of jackal. Then their lot improves and the population slowly grows again and in this time you will see mostly healthy jackals around....a natural cycle.

Mange also occurs on spotted hyena, lion and even buffalo during stressful times, such as when it is very dry and there is not much grazing.

Although it may seem cruel to see jackals suffering from mange, our policy is one of minimum interference in the natural ecosystems and survival of the fittest is nature's way.

I don't know if it is mange but this buffalo cow looks very scruffy to me. Just to keep to the topic, she looks like possible lion food.

How's this for bad luck and a good aim!!..Recently Bitterbal approached down a path...then turned at 3 metres and let rip with a scent marking spray..Bulls Eye all over my 70-200 lens Luckily the Bush and the lens hood stopped a lot of it getting to the sensitively coated front element..My jersey also got it which made our cat at home most interested that night as it smelt me and the jersey...what a rude lion...he has the whole park to urinate on but he chose me that day!!