An Ordinary Morning at the Airstrip

One morning one of the larger lion prides in the eastern part of the reserve had been kind enough to take down a wildebeest right next to the airstrip. Granted “Madikwe International” is not one of the busiest of South Africa's airports, but still, a flight or two per day isn't unusual...

The carcass had not yet started to smell, so it was clearly rather fresh, though already almost finished. As we approached, a lioness and two juveniles were still busy feeding, while the others had taken to the shade, panting like crazy while digesting the meal. Two black-backed jackals were wearily assessing the situation from a safe distance, patiently waiting their turn.

I had at first been a bit worried that a sighting like this would be too much for the two younger guests in my vehicle to stomach, as the lions were ripping apart their prey only a few metres away... but they were delighted and and so were their parents.

As the morning progressed and the heat got more intense, the female decided that she'd had enough of the sun and carried the rest of the food in under a bush, and the two younger individuals followed.

This was the chance the jackals had been waiting for! They came rushing for the stomach and other goodies that had been left behind by the lions. These intelligent little canines form pairs for life and often share food, but were regardless of this quarrelling about the left-overs and chasing each other around.

A few of the younger pride members weren't too impressed with this behaviour and decided to do something about the thieving pair. Jackals are however far too agile and alert to be taken by lions out in the open. The heat probably made the attempt from the big cats less serious than it could have been as well. The chase did trigger some playfulness though and for a while the youngsters were running around without a care in the world in the early morning hours.

A couple of hours later as the first flight of the day was making it's decent, both the carcass and the pride were long gone.

/A