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On the H7, Satara-Orpen road as far as I can remember. Madach should be able to answer it, but is in the Center Kalahari at the moment.

We went on a night drive from LS once with a brilliant ranger (wish I could remember his name, he had so much knowledge) who got talking about the giraffe struggling to run on the tar, after we'd seen lion chasing one on a tar road earlier that day. He actually said that for some lion in the park giraffe made up up to 40% of their diet, unlike for lion elsewhere.

I think animals evolve to changes in their surroundings more quickly than we would like to believe, and although the tar roads are good for the park in terms of erosion, they do not work in the giraffe's favour .

On behalf of KNP Spokesman who has trouble getting on the site:

Dear Forumites

Many thanks for the questions. This topic often comes up and there are naturally many rumours floating around so we would like to take the opportunity to set the record straight:

1) Basically speaking, the only time we’ll ever move a carcass is if either for research (to do a post mortem to find out why it died – eg diseases) or when a carcass blocks the road. When research is done and we need to lure lions, it is done with what we call a “Call Centre” where another lion’s call is played on tape cassette players.

2) Giraffe carcasses are often found on or near roads as they often slip on the surface while being chased by predators (mostly lion). Once they do slip and fall, it is easy for the lion to grab the neck and kill the lion.

3) I have spoken to Satara Assistant Section Ranger Rendani Nethengwe and he has confirmed that the giraffe was killed by a pride of 10 lions on or around the 11th of December, roughly 1 kilometre from the T-junction on the Satara – Orpen road (H7).

I trust this will clear up any misunderstanding.

Kind regards

KNP Spokesman

(H1-9 Pafuri Gate Road)
*Pic taken by my aunt, Anne with permission

When I was in Botswana last November I talked to a guide who had seen these pictures. He has an interesting theory about why this lion might have charged the vehicle:

The pictures show that the lion was on a hill when it started the charge. Due to this it's possible that the lion saw its own reflection in one of the windows that this truck has. That would possibly trigger a charge as the lion would think that there was another male lion in his territory. I think it's a very plausible explanation.

Amazing!! Lucky, that doesn't happen to every school child!

In the book "Veldwagters Vertel" .. They talk about where school children had to wait at the bus or home due to a few lions that had entered the school (coz the principle did not close the gates). The ranger could not successfully get the pride out and they were already in a really dangerous mood.

The ranger had no alternative to shoot them .. And then the principle (not liked by many) got the full force of a ranger who was forced to do this because of his stupidness. Needless to say the principle left a while there after.

Lions, Leopards etc are found every now and again in the village, but in true conservation fashion .. they are not harrassed or bothered to leave the village. They are usually just followed to make sure they exit the village again ...

Som eof my old pix, still waiting for the others to open...


They are a bit blurry, sorry....

I also saw my very first SSJ, but more importantly also my very first on-road YR and it was indeed Impisi08.

As for lions, we had this big daddy on one of the loop roads off the Sabie River east of Skukuza



And this attacking formation, just north of Kumana Dam

Mlambane road.

Spotted this pride about 3km south of Afsaal on Tuesday morning.

Had to take a quick picture as I could hear a car travelling at quite a speed approaching from the other direction. Before i knew it the car rounded the corner and the lions got a big fright. Most of them jumped up and proceeded into the long grass. Luckily these two remained on the road for a few more shots.



It irritated me that the lady in the other car didnt even stop and drove right past the pride. Guess she sees this every day?????????? Anyway, always the best feeling coming round a corner to such a sighting, just wished id got there a few minutes earlier

Grrrrrreat pics Yves

Dear forumites,

I browsed the posts and sometimes see pictures of prides of lions who are very very thin and don't look good at all.

Is there any special reason for that? I thought there are enough animals to hunt?