User:SafariPaul/sandbox

lions in Hluhluwe South Africa
Hluhluwe Imfolozi Game reserve lions have a shaky history. Many have come and gone but the population is still strong The first lion arrived in the Hluhluwe Imfolozi game reserve entirely on his own. Officials believed he wandered down from Mozambique, through Zululand and ended up in Hluhluwe game reserve. At that stage Hluhluwe was not fenced but had few people and and abundance of game. This suited him well and he obviously decided to make this home.For two years he lived on his own, and then 1 day 2 lionesses were spotted with  the lion. It is suspected they were smuggled in by game rangers who wanted a lion population in Hluhluwe but had to do it hush hush. The present lions of the park are all descended from this founder population.

Unfortunately this leads to a weak gene pool so additional “fresh“ genes are needed

In the Hluhluwe section 3 males were introduced from a game reserve in the Kalahari area.

3 were brought to give them a good chance of survival. Hluhluwe is home to big animals not found in the Kalahari. Elephant, Rhinos and Buffalo all very powerful and able to kill lions.

If was a rocky road but now 1 male is left and he is there to stay.

2 females were also brought in from Thembe game reserve. A game reserve a few hundred kilometres away. These girls, as we call them, were raised in a similar climate and animals association and so found it easier to adapt to their new home.

Today we have a great pride of lions in Hluhluwe Imfolozi, the pride male, his two girls and now 5  little cubs.

Cub mortality can be quite high but so far the 2 Moms are doing very well at keeping the little 1’s safe


 * 1) paulksafaris,

www.paulksafaris.com