Africa Dream Safaris helps fund the Serengeti Lion Project’s ongoing conservation efforts. In turn, periodic reports are prepared exclusively for Africa Dream Safaris by the on-site researchers for the Serengeti Lion Project. So you won’t find this info anywhere else!

Since there are MANY lion prides in the Serengeti, we picked 6 specific study prides to focus on. Talk about having the inside scoop! These Serengeti Lion Project researchers live, sleep, and work out in the bush every single day, so they are able to offer invaluable information about the location and adventures of our favorite lions.

Reading like a soap opera at times, we think you will also enjoy the real-life drama and adventures of these awesome animals as they live, hunt, and raise their families together in the harsh African wilderness. So what new adventures have our favorite lions been up to lately? Continue reading below for our latest report! To access past reports, visit our Serengeti Lion Project webpage.

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By Ingela Jansson / Field Biologist with the Serengeti Lion Project

Hi Africa Dream Safari Readers,

Some of you may have heard from me earlier as I reported on your selected lion prides in Serengeti. After some years of silence I’m again sharing the lion reporting with my colleague Daniel. From me you won’t hear about your favorite prides, instead I’ll give you some tales from my work in neighboring Ngorongoro. Since late 2010 I’m fully engaged in lion research and conservation in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA). I continue the regular monitoring of the easily seen lions in the Crater and in the Ndutu/Masek area – this is the easy task. Much more challenging is learning about the elusive lions that reside in the Maasai inhabited parts of Ngorongoro. I work closely with the local communities, and have currently six local Maasai employed to assist gathering lion observation data, as well as data on predators’ impact on the pastoralist Maasai population. Much could be told about the work here, but for this report I wanted to acquaint you with Puyol and his mates…

To learn more about how lions live in this human/livestock occupied landscape we have been permitted to attach GPS collars on up to six lions. In mid-February this year we set out to find, immobilize, and collar a couple of lions. I’d called in Daniel to help me, and “equipped” him with two sharp-eyed Maasai (Julius and Roimen) for easier lion spotting and local area knowledge. While I took the night shift calling for shy lions near the Eyasi rift, Daniel and team made daytime searches for the less shy lions in the Twin Hill region. Just after morning tea on the 14th Feb. Daniel calls to say they found 5 lions; 2 males and 3 females. Great news! Me, Ernest (the veterinarian) and my two Maasai assistants (Mudi and Koley) headed off immediately.

Once there I identified the three females as the 3 years old Hara, Helen and Athena from the Big Marsh pride. For whatever reason they had left their natal pride, including their two same-aged sisters. Presuming that these females would return “home”, into the area of Ndutu where Maasai and livestock are not permitted, these females were no good candidates for a collar. The two males, however, were. They were the two gorgeous blond-maned nomadic males that we’d first seen and identified in May 2012. I gave Hamisi (driver guide at Ndutu lodge and local lion expert, a.k.a. Kaka Simba) the honorable task to name them. Being a football (soccer) fan, Hamisi named them Puyol and Ramos – defenders of the Barcelona football team – and we gained hopes they may become good lion pride defenders in the years to come. We estimate Puyol and Ramos to be born in 2008. It is likely they are brothers or cousins, but being just two they could also be two solitary, unrelated nomads that have hooked up for life. Their origin is unknown to us, although I’m hoping we can find it out by analyzing genetic samples from them.

Puyol and Ramos in embrace in a field of flowering Cordifolia:

I let Ernest choose whichever of the males to dart, and soon Puyol had the pink-tufted dart syringe in his butt. As usual it stirred some commotion among the lions. Helen found the intriguing syringe with pink tuft and pulled it from Puyol, chewing it to completely demolish the expensive equipment. Cats are cats… After shooing away the other lazy, well-fed lions, we had about an hour to work on Puyol; fitting GPS collar, measuring, sampling and weighing. As all that was done, and drugs had worn off, Puyol joined his mates again who were resting a few hundred meters away.

Puyol immobilized and here weighed by Koley, Mudi, Ingela, Roimen and Julius. Puyol is some of the largest lion I’ve ever seen; his tail base as thick as my arm, and he weighs (if we can trust a non-perfect scale) around 235 kg. Mind you, perhaps 25% of that was his latest large meal.

From then on we have continued following Puyol’s whereabouts through the regularly incoming messages (GPS-collar – Iridium satellite – base station – email – lion researcher). I have scheduled his collar to take hourly positions at night and one position at noon. Combining that information with field visits we are learning lots about lions’ behavior; where they move and rest, and where and what they eat.

The area Puyol considers home fills with activity in the dry season, as Maasai and their livestock moves in to the Olduvai-Masek area that provides a rare permanent water supply. Most of this area is not the kind of African savannah we’d like to think of. This is a non-inviting place; mainly woodland of a “boring“ kind of Acacia, interspersed with large clumps of waist-tall Cordifolia (whose seed particles gets into your eyes and makes you itch all over), and terribly dusty with fine volcanic dust. Wasn’t it for Puyol’s radio signals, or clusters of recent GPS positions I would never opt to enter here.

Incidence of late with Puyol &Co
On Nov 12th me and Roimen, one of our Maasai scouts, went to check out the lion scene in Ndutu/Masek area. I dropped off Roimen to work on foot; searching lion spoors and other signs, and talking to Maasai about any recent predator-livestock attacks. The following day I went radio tracking for Puyol, I pick up the signal and pursue it to some dense impenetrable thickets. I couldn’t even see the tail-tip of a lion, but signals tell me Puyol was right there.

Later I meet up with Roimen who tells me about his spoor-tracking exercise this morning. He’d followed fresh spoors, stained with blood and leading into thickets – the same thickets I’d got Puyol’s signals from. The following morning we search for Puyol again and find him still in the very same place. Not so good, as it further indicated that he was wounded. To find out how badly, and if there was anything that could/should be done we had get a visual of the lion. Not a chance while he hid in the thickets, so we tried to lure him out by playing up a recording of a bleating buffalo calf. Ramos popped his blond-maned head up and approached the sound, accompanied by his current “mistress” Marlene. Puyol, however, remained in the bushes. Even more worrisome; as he didn’t come out for this attractive call indicated that he was quite injured. Had he been in a fight with other lions (perhaps even squabbling w Ramos over Marlene), or worse; been speared by Maasai??

Other duties occupied the next day, so me and Roimen returned on the 16th. We had coordinated with a veterinarian in case it was decided the lion needed treatment. The last GPS position that had come in from Puyol’s collar was from the morning of the 15th, showing that he hadn’t moved from the bush. Later positions were slow coming in, often an effect of poor satellite communication while in dense vegetation. As we reach Puyol’s long resting place I get no radio tracking signal. There could be two reasons for this; either Puyol had left, or he was still in there but collar had failed or been chewed by hyenas. I leave Roimen to check out the spoors in the area while I go to check internet yet again for any collar updates. While the modern technique failed, traditional spoor tracking lead the way. As I return Roimen waives me in, and with him leading the way we follow spoors of Puyol as he’d moved off. After a couple of kilometers of Roimen running swiftly through the bush, following the very obvious lion prints on dusty ground, and me chugging behind clumsily in a noisy landrover, we reached a hillcrest and I gain radio signal. Shifting over to modern tracking, we weave our way through the bush. Within a kilometer the booming radio signal tells us that Puyol is right near. “Pale!” whispers Roimen and points to a pair of well concealed paws inside a dense clump of Cordifolia. Because we still needed to know if and how badly injured Puyol was, I drove up irritatingly close. Puyol stood up and on a sore left front leg limped away to nearby bush – but was otherwise in good shape. Great – we no longer needed to worry about him!

Two weeks later I’m back to check on Puyol. Since last visit the GPS positions had shown that the limp male had regained normal movement patterns. Now back into Puyol’s favourite, but un-inviting woodlands we track him down to widespread clumps of Cordifolia. Upon arriving we can hardly make out Puyol’s blond mane in the yellow colored vegetation. Then Ramos even blonder frame pops up, then a female, and another, and finally also a little cub. A constellation I wasn’t familiar with. Flicking through the lion ID cards I eventually found a match; the adult female was Nayomi and the 1.5 year old female was Nadine. The 3 months old male cub was seen for the first time and we named him Nanook. Before I had only seen and identified Nayomi and Nadine from photos provided by tourists. Seeing her in real was good, and great to know they were alive and well, and had even increased with a cub!

Puyol with the ca. 3 months old male that we named Nanook (The Master of bears in Inuvit mythology). For Nayomi and her group (can’t really call it a pride as she seems to be a solitary female) we give them names starting with NA, as she was first seen and identified in the Naibardad area (also called Twin Hill).

It has been really interesting to see how Puyol &Co have managed to live here among all potential conflict with the Maasai and livestock. Lions are not vegetarians, and livestock is certainly part of the lions’ menu. Retaliatory killings are a too common cause of death for lions in such landscapes. But Puyol and Ramos, and their two prides are living on well. Apart from being the resident males to the small group of Nayomi and offspring, they also continue as the males for the Matiti pride (which I named the Hara, Helen and Athena group). They reproduced successfully, and though I have only seen them on a couple of occasions during the dry season, they seem to get on really well. In fact, they are doing better compared with the neighboring lions in an area where Maasai and livestock are not permitted.

On 20th Sept. 2013 I tracked Puyol to the full Matiti pride. Here is Hara surrounded by their six cubs. Helen, Athena, Ramos and Puyol are just nearby.

Rainy season is here, and I look forward to more and better sightings of the lions in this region. Many cubs to be identified. Their elusiveness tends to wear off as the Maasai and livestock moves on, leaving the area to only wildlife and tourists, and us researchers.

Ingela Jansson
Serengeti Lion Project

Africa Dream Safaris helps fund the Serengeti Lion Project’s ongoing conservation efforts. In turn, periodic reports are prepared exclusively for Africa Dream Safaris by the on-site researchers for the Serengeti Lion Project. So you won’t find this info anywhere else!

Since there are MANY lion prides in the Serengeti, we picked 6 specific study prides to focus on. Talk about having the inside scoop! These Serengeti Lion Project researchers live, sleep, and work out in the bush every single day, so they are able to offer invaluable information about the location and adventures of our favorite lions.

Reading like a soap opera at times, we think you will also enjoy the real-life drama and adventures of these awesome animals as they live, hunt, and raise their families together in the harsh African wilderness. So what new adventures have our favorite lions been up to lately? Continue reading below for our latest report dated November 1st!

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By Daniel Rosengren / Field Biologist with the Serengeti Lion Project

It’s November 1, 2013 and about a month ago we were running out of water at the Lion Research House. At the Serengeti Lion Project our only source of water is rainwater collected from the roof of our house. We use it for drinking, cooking, washing and cleaning. The gutters lead down into big water tanks all around the house. Now we were down to only one tank with water and just a few liters remaining in the bottom of the tank. One morning a baboon managed to open the tap to get a few mouthfuls of water in the dry weather. But he was not considerate enough to close the tank afterward and the rest drained out and disappeared down the ground, making bees and butterflies happy. The rainy season wasn’t expected in another couple of months, at least.

Just when we were getting really desperate for water, the Matabele Ants, living under the house, decided to move their eggs to a higher situated location. This is usually a sure sign that rain is on the way. Sure enough, the next day it started raining and we got at least some rain every day for a weeks time. Sometimes it was pouring down filling our tanks in the hundreds of liters. In the end of the week we had about 8,000 liters. We were very lucky to get that in the dry season, just when we needed it the most.

Let me introduce you to a lion pride called Simba Survivors. It’s a small pride struggling on the seasonally harsh plains near Simba Kopjes. The pride consisted of only one adult female, a young brother and sister, and three small cubs. In December 2012 the adult female died, likely in a fight with other lions. We though that the young brother and sister, Leo and Kira, could possibly survive on their own. They were only 3.5 years old and inexperienced. But but for the three cubs, only being 5 months old, we had no hope. After their mothers death all the rest disappeared and we didn’t see them again. Not until mid May 2013 when I was driving along a shallow valley on the plains, quite far from their normal territory. I saw a young male together with a small male.

At first I didn’t realize who they were. But after plowing through all the lion ID-cards I found a match with Leo and one of the small cubs. Later I also found Kira. I was amazed, not only had the young inexperienced lions managed to survive. But they had also managed to raise one of the small cubs too. The Simba Survivors has proven to be true survivors. They are still roaming around the vast plains. It seems like they haven’t settled in a territory yet.

Another pride I haven’t written about before is the Rofliondo pride. It’s a fairly recent pride that broke off from the Loliondo pride. The Rofliondo Pride is a bit of a mystery pride to us. We still haven’t managed to put a collar on any of the females and thus have to rely on luck to find them. The place they have been spotted most often is near Sametu Camp. The pride seems to consist of five females between 6 and 8 years old with five offspring. On late July though, one of the females was seen with a long lost male, TR146, from the Transect pride. They were mating. So if everything goes well there will be some new tiny lion fluff-balls born in mid November 2013. The gestation time for a lion is about 110 days.

There are lots of news from the Transect pride. In September 2010 eighteen cubs were born in the Transect pride. Fourteen of those were males! Now, just over three years old, it seems like they finally have left the pride to start a life on their own. Since we don’t have a collar on them and males from the Transect pride typically disperse to the north, out of our study area, it will be difficult knowing what they are up to. But a male coalition of fourteen is something unseen in the history of our lion project. Typically a male coalition consists of two to four lions. A coalition of fourteen could theoretically do whatever they like and crush any other competition for females. But since they then would have to share the females among themselves such a big coalition is very unlikely to persist. It’s more likely to break up into several smaller coalitions.

As for the rest of the pride it looks like they are breaking up into two separate prides. Tarragon, TR141, Pippi Långstrump, and Lotta På Bråkmakargatan are busy raising their now seven one-year-old cubs. The four young females from 2010 are now reaching an age where they can start being reproductively active. And as a matter of a fact, they have just started to solicit two males, Nisse and Sotis. These impressive males have come into our study area from the west and are already the resident males and fathers in the Mukoma Hill and Tower Hill prides. Together with these young transects are also Zico, the old grandmother born 1998. She is probably in menopause now but has valuable experience to share with the young females. Last week I also saw Madicken with this group of lions. She hasn’t been seen since June this year and she looks pregnant.

But Tarragon, Pippi Långstrump, TR141 and Lotta På Bråkmakargatan and their seven cubs better stay away from the new males. Nisse and Sotis are not the fathers of those cubs and will kill them if given the chance. That’s why we think that the Transect pride will split up. While the younger females will want to start having their own cubs as soon as possible, the older females that already has cubs still has about a year and a half before those cubs reach independent age. With different interests it makes sense to split.

The demography of the Maasai Kopje pride has changed drastically since last I wrote about them. All the really old females that were in this pride hasn’t been seen for long and are surely dead. Now Mato Keo, born in 2002, is the oldest female in the pride. Together with her is now Blixten, MK129 and Laura. They have had a small baby boom and there are now eleven cubs in the pride. But they have failed in synchronizing their litters, something lions often do to better be able to raise the cubs together. The oldest cubs are now about one year old while Blixten just introduced us to four new cubs.