The lions of Bumi Hills

Posted by David Youldon on 20 May 2011

This past week I have been fortunate enough to spend my days tracking the lion pride at Bumi Hills on the shores of Lake Kariba.  Before getting into why I have been doing this, let’s talk a little about the lodge itself:

Nestled atop a hill and overlooking the lake, sits the lodge itself.  Panoramic views across to the Zambezi escarpment from the terrace, infinity pool and premium rooms are nothing short of spectacular. In drier times the lake recedes, exposing lush flood plains that attract plentiful elephant and buffalo herds; and of course the lions follow.  Hippos abound whilst crocodiles punctuate the shoreline.  As you would expect, the birdlife is prolific.

Behind the lodge the land extends out to the Matusadona.  Various rivers and secluded inlets mark the area between rocky outcrops that, as evidenced by plentiful spoor, provide shelter for a number of elusive leopards that reside in the area.  At this time of year the game is more dispersed and the thick bush permits only fleeting glances of the many resident species.

My aim during the visit was to assess the Bumi pride as a suitable group on which to undertake a comparative study for the Ngamo pride; seven females and one male that were captive raised and released by ALERT into a semi-wild environment created adjacent to Antelope Park on the outskirts of Gweru in the Zimbabwe Midlands.   Whilst comparison against published studies can be useful, a direct study with a free-ranging pride will add significantly to the effort.

The Ngamo pride are a pioneering group that are currently being studied against a variety of behavioural parameters including sociality, group dynamic, hunting behaviour and territorial behaviour, amongst others.  If this captive born pride are displaying behaviours akin to wild-borne lions then it can reasonably assumed that their cubs, born within their human-free, semi-wild environment, will be raised naturally and will therefore have the same survival chances of any translocated wild lion as part of a careful reintroduction program.

So far our studies have indicated that the Ngamo pride are able to sustain themselves with an average daily meat intake that would be expected of a wild pride.  The social dynamic is stable and reproduction has started.  The cubs of this pride will be released into the wild when they are old enough.  You can follow the exploits of the Ngamo pride on our blog site.

Back at Bumi there was little sign of the pride.  According to lodge staff there are two older females and four younger ones; likely the offspring of the older females.  A male recently joined the pride (that have been without a sire for some time) and he has been observed mating with several of the females.  Over the first few days there were infrequent spoor sightings of a group of two females and occasionally a lone male, but not together.  Five days in, two of the young females were spotted drinking from the lake as the sun faded, but were soon lost to the dense vegetation and increasing blackness.

Days later, out of the soft morning light a female emerged. A nearby troop of baboons emitted their alarm calls suggesting a second lion was also present nearby.  The first female started to stalk a herd of impala but was soon spotted.  As the two lions reunited they made their silent way through the bush with occasional exuberant play bouts and elephant dung rolling.  As they stumbled upon various prey species they made half-hearted efforts to hunt sending impala and kudu scattering.  After a glorious hour or so they slunk into a ravine where they likely rested for the day.

Whilst many hours of lion research are spent watching a pride sleep, it is these moments of activity that make studying lions so gratifying.

With grateful thanks to Bumi Hills and Solenta Zimbabwe for sponsoring this visit.

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