Africa Wild

EC GAME RESERVE HOPES REINTRODUCTION OF LIONS WILL RESTORE ECOSYSTEM


Titus, the male lion who was released at the Samara Private Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape. Picture: Cindy Archillies/EWN

CAPE TOWN - A pair of young lions are making themselves at home in the Karoo almost 200 years after hunters wiped out the last of their kind in the region.

The lions were released into the Samara Private Game Reserve on Tuesday.

The two came from the Kwandwe Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape. They were released as part of a reintroduction project.

For at least 180 years, no one has heard a lion roar in the Karoo but now things are changing.

Two lions, a male and female have walked to freedom and a new home at the Samara Game Reserve.

The apex predators spent six weeks in an enclosure in the reserve to allow them to bond and adapt to their new environment.

On Tuesday, the gates were thrown open and the reserve was theirs to roam.

But in true cat fashion, they took 15 hours to decide to explore.

Samara general manager Marnus Ochse says that on their first day back in the wild, the pair decided to settle in one of the thick valleys near the mountain.

"It is new territory, it is new scents and they don't know if there are other lions on the property so I think it was quite adventurous for them."

Lead ranger Julius Mkhize says that the lions' movements and feeding patterns will be monitored as they've been fitted with tracking collars.

"They'll be moving all over the reserve trying to see how far the reserve stretches. For other animals, it will be a bit of a shock to the system."

Samara hopes their presence on the reserve will help restore a once thriving ecosystem.


Mother cheetah with her cubs



Sikelele the lioness feeds on the Gemsbok which was left as bait to lure her into the wild.

I don't know if the cheetah are that happy about this?

Wonder why they didn't use Addo cape elephant?

Richprins wrote: ↑Thu Jan 17, 2019 5:31 pm Wonder why they didn't use Addo cape elephant?

Private reserve, so perhaps they're aiming for bigger or at least some tusks
Interestingly word on the gravel road is that Addo is due to get some Tembe ellies sometime soon... hopefully some tuskers

Lisbeth wrote: ↑Thu Jan 17, 2019 5:27 pm For at least 180 years, no one has heard a lion roar in the Karoo but now things are changing.

I was never great at geography... but isn't the Karoo NP in the Karoo? They've had lions for quite a while
MZNP is on the edge of the Karoo as well and I've heard them roaring there

Publicity!

Samara and MZNP are in the Karoo ..Cape Midlands region. You also get Little Karoo, Great Karoo, Hantam Karoo, Upper Karoo (Carnavon, Vosburg etc) , Moordenaars Karoo, Tankwa Karoo, Nama Karoo etc etc as well

Sad that most East Cape Reserves their lions all have those tight nonphotogenic dreadful Collars and the lionesses resemble Bull Mastiffs on steroids as a result ..Give me free Range Kruger & Kalahari Lions in normal family structure prides with proper life Cycles

Photographically speaking, yes, but for the sake of science, some of the lions have to carry them