Lions at Madikwe

Here are some pictures of lions from the largest pride on Madikwe. Madikwe is South Africa’s second largest game reserve and is constantly growing because of the government’s policy of buying up the land of private game reserves and incorporating it into the Madikwe reserve. The lodge operators continue to own and operate the lodges but free from the responsibility of vthe upkeep of animals and the environment they live in. Madikwe is totally malaria free and when I go there I stay at http://madikwe.safari.co.za/mateya-safari-lodge.html which is one of the best in South Africa with a maximum of 10 guests at any one time. The best time to go is either in January when there are plenty of new born animals or September after the rainy season when there are few leaves on the trees and the animals can be seen easily. A visit in September can be combined with a visit to Hermanus to watch the whales.

Back to the lions – Up until the end of 2008 Madikwe had two prides of lions living 40 miles apart. Both prides had cubs and the females of the larger pride saw the cubs of the smaller pride as a threat to their own cubs, The females of the larger pride attacked the smaller pride with the intention of killing the cubs. The female of the smaller pride fiercely defended her cubs and ended up being killed herself. A few weeks later the two young motherless cubs were killed by the females. Here are some photos of the larger pride. The pictures were taken from a 4 x 4 less than 10 m from the animals