The Yellow-Eye Pride of Abu Camp

07 Mar 2012
Sighting: The Yellow-Eye Pride... An Amazing Story
Location: Abu Camp, Abu Concession, Botswana
Date: 28 February 2012
Observers: Joseph Molekoa, Motamo Mate, Ben Ndjavera, Jaco Tlotlego, Mike and Anne Marchington, Julian Münder, Nina Reichling, Caylee Christos and Virgil Geach.


Since the annual inundation started subsiding on the Abu Concession last year in September, we have been getting to know the Yellow-Eye Pride of lions: A tenacious lioness with her three offspring, who are now about two years old, two males and a female. Naming them the Yellow-Eye Pride stems from the fact that one of the young males has amazingly bright yellow eyes.

The dominant female is an extremely adept hunter, taking down large prey such as young giraffe, large male kudu, roan antelope, zebra as well as regular smaller kills such as impala, all of which have been well photographed. The best photographs we have so far of the youngsters is when they came across a pangolin one morning. Guests were treated to the most amazing spectacle of them playing with the rolled up scaly ant-eater, as if it were a football.

The pride have become very accustomed to our game drive vehicles, to the extent that the young female likes to follow the vehicles for a short distance when the guides pull out of a sighting.

We have all become rather possessive over this pride, having got to know them so well. Life around our camp is harsh for the lions, which constantly have to compete with the dominant predator - the hyaena. With the large hyaena clans that continually skulk around their territory, lion and leopard continually have to defend their prey and they often lose their bounty to these formidable packs. The Yellow-Eye Pride seems to have managed well and has been witnessed teaching a couple of hyaena a lesson when they get too close to their dinner - but they have also been observed losing the battle, so they have been found hunting as much in the day as they do at night.


On the 28th of February, a disturbing incident took place.

Guides had heard some lion interaction near the airstrip and decided to investigate. The first sign they picked up, besides their tracks in the sand, was a splash of fresh blood in the middle of the road. Thinking that the lions had just made a kill, they followed. What they found was not what they expected: a large, black-maned lion lying in a clearing. Their immediate thoughts were that this intruder had come into the area and managed to chase the Yellow-Eye Pride off their kill. This was not so.

A short distance from where the intruder lay, they came across the Yellow-Eyed male - he was clearly badly wounded and the blood we had found was unfortunately his. While still observing, the large male got up and approached the young male once again who tried desperately to back away, cowering, growling and mewing. He was begging for his life. Fortunately the big male did not attack again. He scent-marked, raked the ground and moved off without so much as looking back at the havoc he had just wreaked.

The guides continued to observe the young male who then bravely got up, and literally dragging his hind quarters behind him, moved into the thicket on a nearby island. The news spread around the concession and a veil of sorrow hung around the camps.

That evening, some of the managers approached the island where the young male was last observed - they could see eyes shining in the spot light but no sound or movement. The worst was feared.

The following afternoon, another contingent of managers went to visit the island, not a blade of grass moved. Just as the sun was going down, the remaining three pride members appeared from the tall grass. It was pitiful; they approached the island uttering low mewing sounds, calling their fallen family member. It was extremely difficult to say whether there were any answering calls coming from the island and all watched in great sorrow. The pride stayed for a few minutes and then left the island heading south over the wet floodplains uttering soft calls as they departed. Everyone felt that a conclusion had been reached - he was dead.

The remaining three members of the pride have been seen in and around the area since then. On at least three different occasions when the pride was spotted, they appeared restless, uttering the same soft mewing calls. This is apparently not unusual behaviour for a pride that has recently lost a family member.

The three remaining Yellow-Eye Pride members have been spotted and photographed by guides and guests quite regularly this month and on the 11th of March, our Dutch guests at Seba had a morning game drive out of the top drawer.

Their first exciting encounter was with a leopard, sitting in the middle of the road. The sheer size of the beast automatically indicated that it was a male. Their guide, Joseph, immediately stopped the vehicle and all the guests got their cameras ready to photograph him. As they honed in on the creature, he suddenly shot off into the tall grass next to the road and came out with a kicking, struggling steenbok clamped in his jaws. As soon as he managed to get his kill under control he slowly dragged it back into the tall grass where they lost sight of him.

As if this was not enough excitement for one day, they had no sooner left the leopard sighting when they came across the three members of the Yellow-Eye Pride a short distance further, swimming across a deep channel. They were lucky enough to be able to follow the trio who were then observed climbing a fallen baobab tree nearby. Not too shabby for a morning drive!

On their last morning at Seba, the 13th of March, our Dutch guests were treated to the most amazing sight of all. They were once again driving in the vicinity of fallen baobab, when they came across the Yellow-Eyed male! The news has spread like wildfire filling the camps with huge excitement and anticipation.

He is very thin and walking with a limp but he is still alive! He was observed again this afternoon lying in a thicket calling his pride. For a short while our spirits are lifted - now we all hold thumbs that he can pull through.

The last time that the pride of four was seen together on a kill was the 25th of February when they were found feeding on a large male kudu. Considering that he has managed to stay alive for 19 days with such bad injuries, one has to ask the question: has he had help from his pride?

I am really not certain if any observations have ever been made of "Brood Care" among lions but all of us who have been observing this pride on the Abu Concession are of the opinion that the three healthy members of the Yellow-Eye Pride have been caring for their stricken son and brother. Is this fact or fantasy?

We'll continue to observe and report back on our findings and let's hope it has a happy ending.

By Anne Marchington




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It's a Girl

Abu Camp, located in Botswana’s pristine Okavango Delta, is proud to announce that Shireni, one of the Camp’s leading elephants, gave birth to her third surviving calf, a healthy female, at 22:05 on the 17th December. Measuring approximately 90cm at the shoulder and weighing about 110kg, the new-born stood on her own feet, wobbling, within 20 minutes. The elephant handlers have named her Warona, the SeTswana name meaning ‘For Us’.

Reaching up to her mother, Warona suckled properly for the first time at 07.00 the next morning, 10 hours after the birth, and now takes short naps of 5-10 minutes. Closely watched over by her doting big brother, Abu Junior, the new-born calf is already showing signs of playfulness. Both Warona and Shireni are doing well, along with the other elephants that form the Abu herd. This new member brings the number of the Abu herd to seven elephants.

Shireni was brought to Abu Camp as part of the original ‘Brat Pack Girls’ of young elephants saved from a culling operation in the ‘Sirheni’ area of Kruger National Park. The father is believed to be a wild bull or Mthondo, one of several elephants successfully reintroduced from the Abu herd into the elephant paradise of the Okavango Delta. Earlier this year, the Camp released Gika and her eight-year-old calf Naya together; they are adapting well to their natural home, roaming and mingling with wild elephants and another previously released elephant, Nandipa, who now has two calves of her own. A total of nine elephants have been released from the Abu herd, under the full support of the Botswana Department of Wildlife and National Parks.

Abu Camp takes its name from the Arabic word meaning ‘all things to do with elephants’. The birth of Warona ends off a thrilling 2011, which saw the opening of the newly refurbished camp, together with exciting new initiatives within Abu Camp’s elephant programme. The elephant experience is being supervised by San Diego Zoo Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Dr. Mike Chase, together with the support of Wild Horizons, a company with a strong history in high quality elephant interaction activities.

The elephant programme is complemented by the reputation of Wilderness Safaris, Africa’s leading ecotourism operator that now manages the camp through its brand, the Wilderness Collection. The cornerstone of this new initiative involves Elephants Without Borders establishing a field research station in the Abu Concession. This happy moment overlaps with an ambitious new programme which is devoted to the highest standards in elephant welfare, scientific research and meaningful guest experiences.

Warona will provide hours of fascination and enjoyment to visitors of Abu Camp, allowing them the rare opportunity to interact with a family group of elephants in one of Africa’s best wilderness areas: the Okavango Delta.



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Elephant due to give birth at Abu Camp

Sherini, one of the famed elephants of Abu Camp, is to give birth to her third calf in mid to end December 2011. Sherini is one of the original six young elephant orphans saved from a cull in the Kruger National Park. Known for her maternal attributes of calmness, patience and a loving nature, she has given birth to Pula and Abu, and all at Abu Camp are waiting with bated breath for the latest arrival of the Abu elephant family.

This wonderful event however means that certain steps have had to be taken at Abu Camp to ensure the safety of both humans and animals, from Sherini herself (to ensure a healthy birth) to the herd as a whole.

Therefore, prior to the birth, and in order to have as little stress as possible on the expectant mother, Sherini will not be ridden from the end of November 2011 until the end of January 2012 – only three guests at a time will be able to ride over this period.

Because elephants tend to become very excited at the birth of a calf, as well as very protective – particularly for the first few days of a calf’s life – no elephant experiences will take place for five days following the birth. After the initial five days, the calf should be stronger and move more confident, allowing guests to participate in our elephant activities. We believe the arrival of a new born calf will provide guests with an exciting and personal window into the life of a family herd of pachyderms. Of course the activity is immeasurably enhanced as the focus of the herd – and the guests – is all on the newest member of the Abu family. As with all our elephant safari activities, the safety of the herd and our guests during this exciting time takes precedence.

For the first few days while the calf “finds its legs,” the elephants will remain close to camp and guests will be able to participate fully in all the other elephant activities in camp – game drives, mokoro excursions, the Star Bed and more – aside from the once-in-a-lifetime experience of watching the herd interact with the days-old calf – something only a privileged few get to witness.


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Please contact our Safari Experts now.

Call: 0044 (0)1227 753181