THE ROAR of lions has returned to the Cradock district after 130 years.
On Thursday, a lioness and two maned males padded their way to freedom in the 6300ha Mountain Zebra National Park.
Park manager Megan Taplin said: “Lions would have occurred here historically before hunting or habitat loss forced them into local extinction .”
The lioness was moved from Karoo National Park outside Beaufort West in February and kept in a boma until this week. And earlier this month, two males arrived from Welgevonden Game Reserve in Limpopo to spend time in the boma acclimatising to their new terrain and to each other.
The apex predators have been collared to see how they hunt and inhabit their new home.
They are expected to prowl the perimeter before settling down to a staple diet of kudu and wildebeest. This works for management. Taplin said they needed to keep numbers of larger herbivores “in check”.
The lions are the third predator species to be released into the park since cheetah were introduced in 2007 and brown hyena in 2008.
Taplin said SANParks released the cheetah first to let them get settled before introducing lion, “which may compete with the cheetah for food”. However, the park was carrying enough black wildebeest, red hartebeest, eland and gemsbok to feed them all, she said.
The public will be able to walk in lion territory with experienced trackers .
The not-so-intrepid will be able to view them from fenced-off picnic sites.
They would bring a new thrill for tourists, she said. “It will be wonderful to hear lion roaring at night – nothing beats that sound.” —