Grumeti Lions

The Grumeti Lion
by Peter Dunning

The Lions of Tanzania's vast Serengeti National Park are among the best-studied carnivores on the planet, with the pioneering work of George Schaller in the 1960s being continued by various scientists for over 40 years. American Craig Packer currently leads a team of field ecologists who monitor the pride dynamics in the woodlands and grasslands of this vast ecosystem. Prides in the woodlands feed primarily on resident Hartebeest, Topi and Buffalo, while those in the grasslands prey on resident Grant's Gazelle and Warthog. The fortunes of these lions changes dramatically when the migratory Wildebeest and Zebra move through the ecosystem, providing a seasonal abundance of food.

In the Western Corridor, where CC Africa's Grumeti River Camp is situated, the lion prides take advantage of a resident Wildebeest population but life becomes easier for them too when the big herds arrive in July and August. The following article and photographs by former Grumeti manager Peter Dunning shows the appeal and tenacity of these great cats.

The Western Corridor of the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania is a very desirable address for a lion. It is mostly a flat, open plain with permanent water in the Grumeti River, thanks to a climate that provides rain in every month of an average year. The short grasses are nutritious and plentiful, and provide year-round food for many large and small herbivores. Just to the north of Grumeti River Camp the plain is at its most scenic, and there is a low hill at its centre that just provides a view of Lake Victoria to the west on an exceptionally clear day. It is around this hill that a very unusual pride of Serengeti lions have chosen to live, hunt, mate and nurture their young.

When I arrived at Grumeti in 1999, Didas Mgodo told me about a pair of male lions who lived close to the camp. One of them had only three legs and it was assumed that they were brothers. It was also assumed that the three legged male had lost his rear leg below the knee joint in a snare. When I first saw him the stump was smooth and round, almost as if it had been prepared for a prosthesis. As time went by I heard them calling each other nearly every night. (one of the many advantages of living in a tent is the quality of the natural sound system!). The three legged male is understandably the heavier of the pair and it requires considerable effort for him to cover distance. His able bodied brother would make a kill every few nights and roar an invitation to three legs to join him in feeding. Three legs also proved to be an accomplished thief; on two separate game-drives Didas has seen him pirate Thomson's Gazelle carcass from the two Cheetah brothers which share the plain.

The other local feline celebrity is called Lightness, and I first came across her on a drive one morning near the Kanyanja pool. Lightness is a big and very pale lioness with an extraordinary physical characteristic - she has a large, pitch- black ‘tattoo' on the inside of her front leg. She is much loved and respected by the rangers for her even-tempered tolerance of vehicles and people, and they know her very well. When I first met Lightness she was living with a three legged female of similar age (presumably her sister and presumably also caused by a snare), and two subadult females. Having never even heard of a lion living with an amputation I was now in an area with two of them, apparently living normal lives. Lightness is a supremely gifted hunter and, in the early days, undoubtedly kept her sister alive with meat. One night she killed a wildebeest sixty metres from my tent and I spent most of the following day with them at the carcass. The three legged female refused to let a single vulture at the carcass long after the other lions had eaten their fill. She gnawed compulsively at the bones for hours, a clear case of ‘get it while you can'.

In 2003 these two odd groups of lions began to coexist as a pride of six, triggered by Lightness and the four legged brother mating. Lightness has produced two litters of cubs since then, and we have watched both the three legged male and female mate successfully. Lightness's sister produced one litter last year and when I last saw them in June 2004 there were thirteen lions in the so-called Grumeti Pride. Lightness has passed on her tolerance of vehicles to her offspring and these lions are now easily observed. She continues to initiate and co-ordinate the hunting efforts of the pride and, although she is getting elderly, usually meets with success.

The sight of these two mutilated lions living in the Serengeti deeply affected many of our guests. Some are offended and upset; their mental image of the purity of life on the plains of Africa somehow tarnished. A group of Americans were so shocked that they clubbed together and donated several thousand dollars to TANAPA for increased anti-poaching patrols in the area. The Grumeti Pride gave me so many hours of pleasure that I learnt to look through their physical imperfections. I can close my eyes now and imagine them all lying together near the hill; interacting, playing, eating, mating and raising their young in paradise.

- Peter Dunning -

Posted: Mammals by CC Africa, Date: 21 November 2006