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We were driving North down the main road in the Southern half of the park at around 3:00 in the afternoon and turned right onto the loop across from Harvey's loop (can't remember the name now). About 30 seconds after making the turn, we saw a bunch of SANparks employees standing in a circle in the field around what looked to be a lion given its colour and size. We didn't see them dart the lion, I just assumed they must have. They had some medical type kits and equipment out with them.

Thanks for the quick response! We were just interested to know what this was all about!

I finally found out what this was all about....you had us really puzzled there for a while, Massey
It was an eland carcass and not a lion! I suppose they might look sort of the same colour...
The rangers were collecting tick samples from the dead eland, as part of ongoing research on what type of ticks occur in the park (and the diseases ticks might carry).

31st Jan - Gina's boys on the southern access road...

superb blonde Lion

What a handsome chap Roy is.

Lion specialists!

I am talking to you -- Megan, RonnieL, JJ and other regulars!

Will be in Addo next Sunday, Monday and Tuesday with our usual Helderberg High School Photography Club- 10 kids and 2 teachers. We have returned, because last year we missed the lions every day, even though we managed to see a caracal near Woodlands.

Could you please give me a short update on the latest lion movements? I will summarize what I have gleaned from reports, and please just guide me in the right direction...

The SOUTH is now the lion capital! It seems like Gina and another female prefer this area (is she Gina's 3 year old cub who has now left her brother and Kamqua's male cub?).

It seems as if Gina's two male cubs, Gwai and ??? are now on their own according to JJ's interesting buffalo encounter pics...

It seems as if Roy and Nomad are also mostly down in the South! That makes 6 Southern lions!

In the North/old main game viewing area, there should be the old loner Kgalagadi female Aardlam , and then the two young mature males that were cubs of Gina/Kamqa -- do they still prefer Marion Baree like last year?

Obviously I will check the new sightings board for current movements when we arrive, but any info can help me plan better trips for the kids.

And yes, we don't just chase lions, we look for everything. But a lion sighting would be super!

Please help before we leave on Thursday pm...

Thanks so much, and God bless,

Friedrich von Hörsten, teacher Helderberg High School.

Hi Friedrich,
In the last three weeks I have seen seven of the nine lions in the southern section.
The two that I did not see at all are the two big males, Nomad and Roy
The seven that I did see in the southern section are:-
Gina and her two boys
Aardlam and Josie (females)
Norman and Zwaai (males)

I wish you the best off luck

RonnieL

Thanks for the good info -- that means we will most likely have to travel more in the early mornings from Main Camp down to Matyholweni, unless some of them change their mind during the next few days! At least there are lots of handsome males, without too many visible collars like the females!

It would be good to bump into some of you guys down there; maybe even Peter Betts if he ever visits the park... thanks once more.

God bless,

Friedrich von Hörsten

Peter is quiet the last few months. Peter, where are you ??

Send me your mobile number and the dates you are planning to visit and who knows...perhaps we can work something out.

Hi JJ

We will be in Addo from Sunday to Wednesday morning.

Will be lovely to see you somewhere at an interesting sighting.

God bless,

Friedrich von Horsten

We have been going to Addo reguarly for the past 3 years and seem to go through spells of seeing the lions.
On our last 3 trips we have been lucky enough to see lion.
My favourite sighting was of this male lion in a tree during a trip at the end of February. We were lucky enough to see the two mature males with the two younger males.

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Wow, kate27, awesome sighting!
Where and when was this?

This morning...first we saw Gina's two boys crossing the road...



A few 100 meters further Gina came out next to the road...she was alone and restless and then she call her boys...



The two lads rushed down the hill towards the road...



And join their mother...





Then the 3 of them start to walk up the hill...



Then we notice another big male following Gina and her boys...



When Gina past us we could see that she was on heat...



And of coarse thats the reason for this one following...( can someone give this old chap a name )

three pretenders

Hi JJ

This is NOT funny!
We spent 3 days looking for them last week with a bunch of school kids, and only heard the males roaring around camp every night...

Wonderful sighting!

Not sure if it is a good idea for her to mate with her sons!?

Would the black maned lion not be Roy? (He should be about 5 years old now)

I am VERY glad to see the contraceptives are starting to wear off! Haven't had cubs in the park for a long time...

Sorry to ask Megan this question on your posting JJ, but it bothered me quite a lot:

Before Matyholweni was opened, there were more than 10 lions in the northern game section, and they were seen quite often, (especially Gina and Kamqua with their 3 cubs) except for the males that hung around the Gora fence looking at Scotia safari females...

Now that the size of Addo game area has DOUBLED with the opening of Matyholweni, we have a mere 9 lions in double the size, with most of the animals heading down south, and the females all on a 2 year contraceptive! This has made lion viewing very difficult!

My last 3 visits (6 days) have yielded 0 lions, but lots of hyenas...

I suppose the reason for the low numbers plus contraception of females, was to stop them from impacting too heavily on prey numbers (especially expensive buffalo).

Fair enough.

My question is regarding the hyenas.
In 3 days last week we saw 0 lions and 10 hyenas (6 of them diving in the water at Domkrag for a dead kudu, and 2 near Rooidam 10 min later; the other 2 at Hapoor). Obviously lions are bigger than hyenas, but my concern is this:

Why use contraceptives on lions that are a BIG tourist attraction at Addo, and allow the hyenas to keep on breeding freely?

Surely more lions would mean less hyenas as they are know to kill young and older hyenas whenever they can.
The opposite is also true: hyenas surely will kill small unattended lion cubs whenever they can, so maybe there won't even be the need for contraceptives with so many hyenas around at present?

How many spotted hyeans are in Addo at present?

Do the hyenas not have a serious impact on prey animals too? Pics of hyenas surrounding an eland and killing it were shown on this forum recently. I would rather put them on contraceptives and allow the lions to breed once in a while...

Just thinking! Megan, I am sure you would have a very good answer. Looking forward to it! Are the hyenas perhaps already on contraceptives?
By the way, your caracals seem to be doing very well -- have managed to show one to the kids on every visit so far!

Thanks for sharing!

Friedrich von Hörsten

PS. Next year I'll have to take the schoolbus to Mata Mata to show them some Kalahari lions again!