Sarabi – the elusive lioness

Sarabi – the elusive lioness

Sarabi and her intimidating stare

Sarabi was born in the Welgevonden Game Reserve in the Waterberg biosphere. She was introduced to the reserve in November 2005 and was just under 4 years old. At the same time, another male lion was introduced but Sarabi isolated herself from him and the existing pride. It was in the Northern part of the reserve that she chose to to claim as her territory. Due to a lack of food she soon had to find a new area to claim as hers.

Early in 2006 she attempted to settle in in the area close to Idwala’s reception. The other lions ambushed her in one of the corners and launched a severe attack. Claudine and Philip heard the attack late one Sunday night. The next morning she was seen hiding under a tree, lying nearly motionless, in too much pain to move. This is when it was decided to intervene and the reserve vet was called in to assist. Philip assisted with process of sedating her and relocating her to the acclimatization enclosure. She received a treatment of antibiotics and 1 months rest. Sarabi made a full recovery and no such attack has happened since.

Sarabi is strong lioness weighing just over 210kg. Unusual for a solitary lioness she has been known to take out a fully grown eland on her own. Aptly named, Sarabi means “optical illusion” in Swahili. Made famous by the animated feature, the Lion King, Sarabi is Simba’s mother. Yet, despite the time spent on the reserve, Sarabi has not mated successfully. She did form an alliance with the big blonde male lion, but they were unsuccessful as a breeding pair.

Sadly, this beautiful lioness was relocated in June 2010 as part of a program to diversify the lion genes.

You can see quite clearly what a big lioness she was