"&Beyond Phinda has a long history of successful lion conservation. It was one of the first private game reserves in South Africa and the first in the province of KwaZulu-Natal to introduce lions, thereby extending the species’ historical range. Since the first 13 lions were introduced in 1992 and 1993, an impressive 70 litters of close to 250 lion cubs have been born on the reserve. &Beyond Phinda has also helped establish other lion populations in private game reserves in the Eastern Cape, Zululand, Mpumalanga, North West and the Limpopo Province, as well as neighbouring Mozambique, and now Rwanda too."
"Post the initial introduction in 1992, the first male lions to be introduced to &Beyond Phinda were two brothers from Pilanesberg National Park in 2003. Both contributed to the injection of new blood. Since then, male lions have been introduced from Tswalu (two in 2009), Madikwe (two in 2010), Tembe Elephant Park (two in 2014 and two in 2017) and Shamwari (one in 2014). The result of simulating new pride male takeovers and injecting new blood into the small population of lions has resulted in a very genetically diverse and healthy population. The fact that the &Beyond Phinda lions are the second most genetically diverse populations in South Africa is a testament to the wise introduction of many unrelated lions in the beginning and regular introduction of new males over the years."
"&Beyond Phinda is also proud to have been home to one of the oldest lions known outside of a zoo, the beloved Old North Pride Female. Born in the Sabi Sand Game Reserve around December 1990, she was introduced to &Beyond Phinda as an 18-month old with her sisters in May 1992. She became one of the longest-living free-roaming lions on record at the age of 18 years and 3 months. Sadly, she died in February 2009. Discovered by guides at Fossil Dam, she had been gravely injured by three young males and the difficult, yet humane, the decision was made to euthanise her. She left a legacy on the reserve, and indeed around the world among guests and wildlife lovers alike."
"We cannot envision, nor do we accept the mere thought of a world without lions, yet this is what Rwanda’s Akagera National Park was faced with: a 15-year local extinction of these powerful predators that form an integral part of the African ecosystem. Nearly two decades ago, the big cats became extinct in Akagera as Rwanda experienced a period of intense upheaval following the 1994 genocide, resulting in the lack of management of its national parks and the subsequent poisoning of lions by cattle herders.
"&Beyond, therefore, donated five lionesses from &Beyond Phinda Private Game Reserve to the country of Rwanda as part of an African Parks translocation project aimed at reversing the unnecessary local extinction.
"The five lionesses were carefully selected based on the fact that they are all disease-free, genetically diverse and habituated to vehicles. Together with two males that were donated by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, they now form a suitable founder population for Akagera National Park."
"The lionesses were tranquilised, placed into individual transport crates, carefully loaded onto trucks and driven to Johannesburg where they were immediately loaded onto a charter flight and flown directly to Kigali. There, they were transported by road to their new home at Akagera, accompanied and monitored throughout by an experienced veterinary team."
Source: (Trickett, 2017): 'A species in decline, we're not 'lion'.'
Here are some photographs of lions from this region, and their credits:
— Also known as Aïr Massif, this area is a mountain mass located in Niger, well into the Sahara Desert.
— Most people don't know that lions once roamed this place until very recently (relatively).
😱 IDENTITY
— First and foremost, if lions existed at that location, what would they be?
— Given the setting, these were undoubtedly Northern lions (Panthera leo leo), just like living lions today in Chad, Nigeria, and Benin.
— Because of their extinction, no genetic sample has been analysed from here, so the subclade they fall into is unknown. It would probably be either West or Central group.
🌴 HABITAT
— Aïr is a highland area with rocky terrains.
— It has valleys, passes, pebbly plains, and vegetation.
💪 SIZE
— It had been "occasionally said" that the lions of Aïr were small in size.
🦁 MANE
— While the saying went that Aïr lions were maneless...
— Von Bary, who went there in the 1870s, stated that in Aïr, there existed lions with very fine manes.
🍖 PREY
— While lions attacked livestock such as donkeys and camels (Dromedary) in the Massif of Baguezan....
— The natural prey species available in Aïr included the giraffe (I assume West African giraffe due to the location) and Northern ostriches. We already have lion predation of these sorts of prey from other areas.
😠 BEHAVIOR
— Heinrich Barth, who was encamped in the Taghist valley in 1850, said that from what he saw of it, (these) lions were not very aggressive.
— Separately, one later attack shows a lion injured a person only when threatened (as we will see).
⌛ TIMELINE
— 1850: Barth (mentioned earlier) wrote that from a pass, they descended into the pebbly plain of Erézar-n-Déndemu, which was thickly overgrown with small Talha trees, and along the paths were numerous pawprints of lions, which he said were extremely common in these highland wilderness, which, while affording sufficient vegetation and water for a variety of species, is also thinly inhabited (by people) and offers a safe retreat everywhere (for animals).
— 1870s: At the time, lions were still numerous there, especially in the Massive of Baguezan.
— 1905: A lioness fell into a well in Tagedufat, drowning, and her cubs were sent to Agades and then Jardin des Plantes in Paris.
— 1909: A French traveller established that giraffes and ostriches had disappeared completely.
— 1915: A lion was killed in Auderas.
— pre-1922: A few years before 1922, a male lion was living in Tagharat valley (the "Tighist" valley mentioned earlier). The Tuareg people surrounded him with spears and swords, and the lion was killed, but one person was injured. The cave where the lion had lived was seen by F. R. Todd (companion of Buchanan, who we go into now).
— 1922: Angus Buchanan explored Aïr and carefully searched for lions but found no trace of them. He was told of the 1915 and 1919 killings, and he concluded that the Aïr lions had become victims of the dessication of the area, and pointed out Barth seeing some megafauna here over 70 years before this date, while just over a decade ago, the large species of prey were considered extinct by a Frenchman.
🧪 FUN FACTS
— There are indeed rock engravings of giraffes in Aïr, dating back an apparent 8000 years. These are said to be 6 meters in height.
— The Sahara used to be a savanna earlier in the Holocene before the desert expanded, and therefore had other types of animals such as elephants and zebras (though not said to be in Aïr specifically).
— Believe it or not, lions in Aïr are not some of "few" highland or mountain lions in history. Not even close. There are several other mountain areas where lions have lived in Africa and Eurasia (excluding even the famous Atlas mountains populations) and continue living today (such as Bale Mountains).
— Even Pleistocene lion species were occasionally found in mountains, not just the steppes, which is interesting because it includes Panthera atrox, which, despite cursoriality, has been found at over 2000 meters But that is nowhere near how high up in elevation lions have been recorded at....
👹 OPINION
I think lions were present in Aïr since at least the arrival of the giraffes. They were probably present all the way through the Green Sahara and well into historic times, remaining in the highlands well after the desertification, and ultimately went extinct there.
📖 📕 SOURCE (Main) Guggisberg (1963): "Simba: Life of a Lion".
📸 DIRECTORY
Image 1: View of Aïr Mountains (Google Maps).
Image 2: View of Massif of Baguezan (Google Maps).
Image 3: Distance from isolated Aïr to current surviving lion population (Google Maps).
Image 4: I don't even know. Credit: Bruno Locatelli.
Image 5, 6 & 7: Aïr region, showing a vegetated yet open landscape Credit: Marc Metral.
Image 8: The giraffe engravings at Aïr Credit: marabout ski.
Image 9 & 10: Some of the closest lions to Aïr today is over 800 kilometres away, in southwestern Niger and bordering countries. Credit: oebenin.
Nightiever.
HEALTHIEST LIONS ALIVE?
🧬 = VERY HEALTHY!
Lions of Phinda region (and surrounds).
"&Beyond Phinda has a long history of successful lion conservation. It was one of the first private game reserves in South Africa and the first in the province of KwaZulu-Natal to introduce lions, thereby extending the species’ historical range. Since the first 13 lions were introduced in 1992 and 1993, an impressive 70 litters of close to 250 lion cubs have been born on the reserve. &Beyond Phinda has also helped establish other lion populations in private game reserves in the Eastern Cape, Zululand, Mpumalanga, North West and the Limpopo Province, as well as neighbouring Mozambique, and now Rwanda too."
"Post the initial introduction in 1992, the first male lions to be introduced to &Beyond Phinda were two brothers from Pilanesberg National Park in 2003. Both contributed to the injection of new blood. Since then, male lions have been introduced from Tswalu (two in 2009), Madikwe (two in 2010), Tembe Elephant Park (two in 2014 and two in 2017) and Shamwari (one in 2014). The result of simulating new pride male takeovers and injecting new blood into the small population of lions has resulted in a very genetically diverse and healthy population. The fact that the &Beyond Phinda lions are the second most genetically diverse populations in South Africa is a testament to the wise introduction of many unrelated lions in the beginning and regular introduction of new males over the years."
"&Beyond Phinda is also proud to have been home to one of the oldest lions known outside of a zoo, the beloved Old North Pride Female. Born in the Sabi Sand Game Reserve around December 1990, she was introduced to &Beyond Phinda as an 18-month old with her sisters in May 1992. She became one of the longest-living free-roaming lions on record at the age of 18 years and 3 months. Sadly, she died in February 2009. Discovered by guides at Fossil Dam, she had been gravely injured by three young males and the difficult, yet humane, the decision was made to euthanise her. She left a legacy on the reserve, and indeed around the world among guests and wildlife lovers alike."
"We cannot envision, nor do we accept the mere thought of a world without lions, yet this is what Rwanda’s Akagera National Park was faced with: a 15-year local extinction of these powerful predators that form an integral part of the African ecosystem. Nearly two decades ago, the big cats became extinct in Akagera as Rwanda experienced a period of intense upheaval following the 1994 genocide, resulting in the lack of management of its national parks and the subsequent poisoning of lions by cattle herders.
"&Beyond, therefore, donated five lionesses from &Beyond Phinda Private Game Reserve to the country of Rwanda as part of an African Parks translocation project aimed at reversing the unnecessary local extinction.
"The five lionesses were carefully selected based on the fact that they are all disease-free, genetically diverse and habituated to vehicles. Together with two males that were donated by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, they now form a suitable founder population for Akagera National Park."
"The lionesses were tranquilised, placed into individual transport crates, carefully loaded onto trucks and driven to Johannesburg where they were immediately loaded onto a charter flight and flown directly to Kigali. There, they were transported by road to their new home at Akagera, accompanied and monitored throughout by an experienced veterinary team."
Source: (Trickett, 2017): 'A species in decline, we're not 'lion'.'
Here are some photographs of lions from this region, and their credits:
1: wade_lee22
2: billsiebert
3: birderryan
4: peters5001
5: joysglobal
6: snowmanstudios
7: snowmanstudios
8: jontysandshoes
9: jan_frans
10: capepolly
1 month ago | [YT] | 268
View 9 replies
Nightiever.
The LIONS of AÏR
⛰️ AÏR MOUNTAINS
— Also known as Aïr Massif, this area is a mountain mass located in Niger, well into the Sahara Desert.
— Most people don't know that lions once roamed this place until very recently (relatively).
😱 IDENTITY
— First and foremost, if lions existed at that location, what would they be?
— Given the setting, these were undoubtedly Northern lions (Panthera leo leo), just like living lions today in Chad, Nigeria, and Benin.
— Because of their extinction, no genetic sample has been analysed from here, so the subclade they fall into is unknown. It would probably be either West or Central group.
🌴 HABITAT
— Aïr is a highland area with rocky terrains.
— It has valleys, passes, pebbly plains, and vegetation.
💪 SIZE
— It had been "occasionally said" that the lions of Aïr were small in size.
🦁 MANE
— While the saying went that Aïr lions were maneless...
— Von Bary, who went there in the 1870s, stated that in Aïr, there existed lions with very fine manes.
🍖 PREY
— While lions attacked livestock such as donkeys and camels (Dromedary) in the Massif of Baguezan....
— The natural prey species available in Aïr included the giraffe (I assume West African giraffe due to the location) and Northern ostriches. We already have lion predation of these sorts of prey from other areas.
😠 BEHAVIOR
— Heinrich Barth, who was encamped in the Taghist valley in 1850, said that from what he saw of it, (these) lions were not very aggressive.
— Separately, one later attack shows a lion injured a person only when threatened (as we will see).
⌛ TIMELINE
— 1850: Barth (mentioned earlier) wrote that from a pass, they descended into the pebbly plain of Erézar-n-Déndemu, which was thickly overgrown with small Talha trees, and along the paths were numerous pawprints of lions, which he said were extremely common in these highland wilderness, which, while affording sufficient vegetation and water for a variety of species, is also thinly inhabited (by people) and offers a safe retreat everywhere (for animals).
— 1870s: At the time, lions were still numerous there, especially in the Massive of Baguezan.
— 1905: A lioness fell into a well in Tagedufat, drowning, and her cubs were sent to Agades and then Jardin des Plantes in Paris.
— 1909: A French traveller established that giraffes and ostriches had disappeared completely.
— 1915: A lion was killed in Auderas.
— pre-1922: A few years before 1922, a male lion was living in Tagharat valley (the "Tighist" valley mentioned earlier). The Tuareg people surrounded him with spears and swords, and the lion was killed, but one person was injured. The cave where the lion had lived was seen by F. R. Todd (companion of Buchanan, who we go into now).
— 1922: Angus Buchanan explored Aïr and carefully searched for lions but found no trace of them. He was told of the 1915 and 1919 killings, and he concluded that the Aïr lions had become victims of the dessication of the area, and pointed out Barth seeing some megafauna here over 70 years before this date, while just over a decade ago, the large species of prey were considered extinct by a Frenchman.
🧪 FUN FACTS
— There are indeed rock engravings of giraffes in Aïr, dating back an apparent 8000 years. These are said to be 6 meters in height.
— The Sahara used to be a savanna earlier in the Holocene before the desert expanded, and therefore had other types of animals such as elephants and zebras (though not said to be in Aïr specifically).
— Believe it or not, lions in Aïr are not some of "few" highland or mountain lions in history. Not even close. There are several other mountain areas where lions have lived in Africa and Eurasia (excluding even the famous Atlas mountains populations) and continue living today (such as Bale Mountains).
— Even Pleistocene lion species were occasionally found in mountains, not just the steppes, which is interesting because it includes Panthera atrox, which, despite cursoriality, has been found at over 2000 meters But that is nowhere near how high up in elevation lions have been recorded at....
👹 OPINION
I think lions were present in Aïr since at least the arrival of the giraffes. They were probably present all the way through the Green Sahara and well into historic times, remaining in the highlands well after the desertification, and ultimately went extinct there.
📖 📕 SOURCE (Main)
Guggisberg (1963): "Simba: Life of a Lion".
📸 DIRECTORY
Image 1: View of Aïr Mountains (Google Maps).
Image 2: View of Massif of Baguezan (Google Maps).
Image 3: Distance from isolated Aïr to current surviving lion population (Google Maps).
Image 4: I don't even know.
Credit: Bruno Locatelli.
Image 5, 6 & 7: Aïr region, showing a vegetated yet open landscape
Credit: Marc Metral.
Image 8: The giraffe engravings at Aïr
Credit: marabout ski.
Image 9 & 10: Some of the closest lions to Aïr today is over 800 kilometres away, in southwestern Niger and bordering countries.
Credit: oebenin.
1 month ago | [YT] | 36
View 15 replies
Nightiever.
youtube.com/shorts/2geOdRPSnD...
He's back
1 month ago | [YT] | 1
View 0 replies
Nightiever.
Northern lions again!
Image 1
Location: Benin 🇧🇯
Observed: April 2017 📅
Credit: oebenin 📸
Image 2
Location: Benin 🇧🇯
Observed: May 2017 📅
Credit: oebenin 📸
3 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 52
View 12 replies
Nightiever.
Subspecies – Panthera leo leo
Location: Niger 🇳🇪
Observed: February 2007
Credit: simben
[ Tap to see full images ]
@Mac-Kendo @mdpriest @Lightenerthereal @marshallwayne-uf4pq @KevinVasquez-o3c @lionultimatewarrior252 @lionking1030 @mrmuscle007@darkknights203
3 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 80
View 30 replies
Nightiever.
Nambiti area – South Africa
Sighting – July 2025
Credit – mothyogurt
3 months ago | [YT] | 45
View 6 replies
Nightiever.
Happy Lion Day! 🦁
Credit: jeanne153
Location: Uganda, very close to the Congo.
3 months ago | [YT] | 53
View 4 replies
Nightiever.
Lake Manyara, Tanzania. 🇹🇿
Credit: Dan Brewer. 📸
3 months ago | [YT] | 33
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Nightiever.
Check it out!
3 months ago | [YT] | 8
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