'Terrace Male'
On August 16, the desert lion “XPL 68″, nicknamed the “Terrace male”, crossed
the Kunene river to return home to Namibia. This was a significant and
remarkable event for several reasons.
Who better to describe the journey and it’s uniqueness than renowned lion
researcher Dr Flip Stander, who stayed close on the heels of the Terrace male
throughout his journey. Here is a post, which appeared on
on August 17, written by Dr Stander himself:
During the 1980s the tracks of a male
lion was observed on several occasions at the mouth of the Kunene River by
Rangers of the Skeleton Coast Park and Skeleton Coast Fly-In Safaris (re: Andre
Schoeman). The tracks suggested that this lion was spending a lot of time in
Angola, but he disappeared after 1990. There have not been any subsequent
records of lion movements in Iona National Park as well as the south-western
corner of Angola.
On 01 Aug 2013 the “Terrace Male”
(Xpl-68) swam across the Kunene River and ventured into Angola. This was a
significant event and marked the return of lions to the area after an absence of
23 years. In addition, it is also remarkable that a “Desert lion”, with no
experience of perennial rivers or any body of water larger that the pools found
at small springs in the desert, swam across 76 metres of fast-flowing &
crocodile-infested water.
Xpl-68 stayed in Angola for 15 days and
travelled 328.5 km (average 23.5 km/day). He explored the western section of
Iona National Park and travelled as far north as Baia Dos
Tigress.
At 01h00 on 16 Aug 2013 he crossed the
Kunene River and returned to Namibia.
Since Xpl-68 is obviously not aware of
the political boundary (Namibia/Angola), his remarkable journey actually started
on 20 Jul 2013 when he left the Hoaruseb River to explore “uncharted” territory
(see map below). During this period of 29 days he walked 780.4 km at an average
of 26.9 km/day (max = 66.3 km).
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