After receiving reports of lion tracks from our lion guardians, our team went to verify. Upon reaching the site of the tracks, we did call-in and awaited with excitement. After a brief period of silence, we heard some little meows that grew louder as time went by. It was clear that whichever lion was approaching, they had small cubs. The anticipation grew palpable amongst our team members.

Eventually, when the lions came close to us, we were able to instantly identify them as Birdie’s pride. Birdie had three small cubs! She was accompanied by the other members of her pride [2 sub-adult females and a sub-adult male]. We were very happy that 3 more potential members of our little lion population have been brought forth. They were close to the thicket in Oltiasika. This is an ideal place because of its proximity to water and it is preferred by many lion prey species.

A few weeks earlier, on Valentine’s day, we found our well travelled lion Sikiria  seriously mating with one of Birdie’s sub-adult females. They seemed to have formed a common bond just at the right time and place and were completely inseparable. We left them on their own to continue with their ‘serious reproductive work’ hoping that Sikiria will eventually settle in one particular area and start his own pride.