Lion stories from Nairobi are old-hat. Stories of “lions -on -the -racecourse” or lions in the Industrial Area were common in the 70′s, before the Park was fenced.
But Nairobi is very much bigger nowadays (& lions much less…) & although the park is fenced along it’s northern, eastern & western borders it comes right up against the fastest growing township in the country (a settlement that didn’t exist in the 70′s!!) to the south, where it is separated from the Masai Lodge sector of Ongata Rongai by the Mbagathi River…
Last saturday at 10.30 pm a friend of mine was driving home along the (southern) ridge parallel to the park, when, in the middle of a built-up area (close to AIC Diguna) he came across a lioness with 3 large cubs, on a kill……
This was “Gammy-Leg”, a lioness with a withered rear leg & I have recently seen her in the park with her 3 cubs (what an excellent mother: she lives apart from the main 14 individual lion NNP pride & has had to hunt & nurture these 3 cubs on her own!); all of them looking rather thin.
My friend could not see what the kill consisted of, but as there is no wildlife in built-up areas, I deduce it must have been a dog. Now whilst applauding Gammy-Leg’s opportunism, this habit of hunting in ‘human areas’ is very dangerous, both for her & her learning cubs, bcause sooner or later somebody or something (livestock, a family pet) will get hurt & the lions will face retribution….
To illustrate the point, as my friend watched the feeding lions, a drunken old man staggered up & had to be bundled into the car to prevent an incident.
3 Comments
you are right about the potential danger this poor lioness and her cubs are facing if they insist on wondering within this area. it also can be deadly for any wild predator to eat a domestic dog since dogs might carry so many diseases like distemper and rabies! i can’t see a dog can satisfy a grown lioness along? why this lioness is not among the nnp pride? maybe she is not related to the pride? or maybe she is only a distant relative?or due to her bad leg, she can’t keep up with the rest? i hate to see any lioness rejected by her family or any lion alone facing this hostile and deadly world. and yes, the pictures of the nnp lions are just beautiful!
Am a Travel and Tour Consultant, attached to amajor travel and Tour company in Kenya. I managed to atlast meet Will, a gentleman he is, he invited us to a Fam trip to Silole Cottages(amazingly quiet get away!), silole villa nad maasa lodge. we had a nice time together, and how a place could have gone unnoticed all this time, i dare say, its amystery! Will picked us up(me& evelyn,my collegue)at the village market, and we headed to Town to pick Rose, i Got a sneak preview of this man will Knocker. A former amry man, his gentle looks betray the trials and tribulations he underwent while in Sudan and Ethiopia. You need to get in touch with will for this story,action packed(at one time he had a car chase with SPLA hot on his heels)and absolutely inspirational. i had read on the blog about the Suburn lions and will gave me a detailed encounter. quite a story. The Old drunk man turns out to be a masai, who demanded that will’s freind to show him the beasts and he man handle them sigle handedly! Will is fun to be with.And by the way, this resident Lions time to time at night turn up at the Masai Lodge Gate! I got to also see some of wills work, including uprooting of an evasive plant species and he had planted 21 indigenious trees at maasai gate entrance, quite remarkable(am thinking of adding to the tally)Pay Will a Visit and see his magic!
poor lame lioness with her cubs. how old are her cubs any way? i sure hope her family and herself will love back to the park instead of hanging out in the human areas and eating those damn dogs which will one day give her and her babies canine diseases! why she is isolated from her pride? hate that. love the nnp lion pictures in your lost post.