Zambia/Barotseland: Liuwa Plain NP – Lionesses & Cubs
The story about the lions at Liuwa National Park has been featured in National Geographic channel. The lions in Liuwa were poached or chased away almost to extinction, with only one lioness, called Lady Liuwa, remaining by 2008. The last remaining member of the Liuwa pride, she was viewed by the local Lozi people as reincarnation of an old lady that worked for many years on preserving the park. Lady Liuwa learned to survive alone, living close to humans to avoid hyena attacks and yet not attacking cattle not to cause the humans’ ire. In 2008, two male lions were brought in from Kafue national park, but neither managed to get Lady Liuwa pregnant and eventually one was poached in Angola when he crossed there, while the other disappeared. Then a lioness was brought from Kafue and she bonded with Lady Liuwa and the two formed the Liuwa pride. Several years later, the lost male Lion reappeared (came from Angola) and was accepted by the two-lioness pride and mated with the younger female lion, who produced one male and two female cubs. All hopes now were on this new young male cub to continue the Liuwa Pride. Lady Liuwa died in 2017. The little cub grew to be a spectacular male, simply named Liuwa Male, who now thrives as the king of his own pride of 13 (see previous post). There are now three females on the pride and 9 cubs. Here’s some pics of the adorable little kittens at play.
