Lion: The Rise and Fall of the Marsh Pride

When we came back in 2004 to the Marsh Pride, it was lovely to be greeted by a genuine mob. They have been doing very well in our absence and 29 lions in the pride at the time, including cubs and lionesses that we knew well. What we saw with the 29 lions told you everything, really, about how different lions are from all the other cats. Big and powerful enough not to have to hide away at night, isn't solitary. We have Simba on parade with, with the whole mob, you know, in his finery. He'd lost his sidekick to an encounter with a buffalo. So his buddy had been killed. He's the only pride male now trying to actually control this big area, this, this pride territory. One of the lionesses who stood out as a character for us was a female we call Bibi. We'd known Bibi since she was a tiny cub. I've got a soft spot for Bibi because she's a survivor of the debacle with the buffaloes. She was probably almost certainly was the daughter of Scar. Sounds a bit strange to describe a lioness as sweet, but there was a sweetness about her character. Lionesses generally all conceived more or less together if they're in a pride. They all have young cubs at more or less the same time, so you get a rash of little babies. The other lionesses within the group, they were a strong unit. They had quite well groomed cubs, many of them. Bibi had very, very small cubs. So she had conceived out of sync. She's been caught in an awkward situation, and she's just irrelevant to the rest of the pride. She had taken herself off to give birth and to have these tiddlers. It's like having a one year old. Whilst all your mates have got 18 year olds. Being a single mum as a lioness is not easy. And there's no doubt that Bibi would have preferred to have been in the fold of the pride.