Dereck Joubert

Dereck Joubert (born 3 March 1956) is a South African-born filmmaker, author, conservationist and National Geographic explorer-at-large based in Botswana. Quotes Lions of Darkness Joubert, Dereck. "Lions of Darkness". National Geographic. Vol. 186, No. 2. August 1994. pp. 35-53 We have known these lions since 1981. We often awake to find Maome's pride sleeping around our vehicle, one lion's head propped up against a tire, as they wait for the moonlight to dim. The pride currently includes seven lionesses, plus two mature members that are semi-permanent members. Maome is easy to identify. She is missing the last four inches of her tail, an unmistakable field mark. Motsumi, the big lioness, bears large scars on her back. We have followed her since she was three weeks old and witnessed crises such as her cubs' death — and nearly her own — from a cobra attack.Some lions had been named by previous researchers, and some, like Motsumi and Mandevu, one of the males, we named. The other male is Ntwadumela, a formidable mouthful for a forceful lion. In the Setswana language it means "he who greets with fire". He was named this because when his quarry is in sight, Ntwadumela never hesitates. We have often seen hyenas inflict vicious wounds on a lioness that has become separated from her pride, with no kill present to quarrel over. And lions will deliberately hunt down hyenas and kill them without bothering to feed on the remains. Twice we have seen Ntwadumela charge directly into a hyena clan and kill the ruling female.One day the lions win. The next, the hyenas. Why? After watching a skirmish, I wondered if the outcome of individual battles could be predicted. Could the combined weight of each side be the determining factor? A pride of Savuti lions comprises about ten animals, while a hyena clan varies between 18 and 40. An adult lioness weighs approximately 300 pounds and a hyena as much as 175 pounds. But in a clash, each side is rarely at full strength. For various reasons, there are always absentees.From our field notes I totaled the number and weight of all the contestants on each side in the battles we had witnessed. The results supported my theory.If an entire pride of lions met up with a full clan of hyenas, the combined weights were so even that the outcome could not be predicted. But some members were always missing, and that tipped the balance. The side with fewer absentees — always won. Hunting with the Moon Joubert, Dereck (1997). Hunting with the Moon: The Lions of Savuti. National Geographic. ISBN 0-7922-7020-7 In the north, three of the most beautiful lions we've ever seen ruled one territory. Tourists named the magnificent males a confusing variety of names, but to us these three "lions of darkness" were known as Tona, Tsididi, and Nyatsi. Tona, the largest of the three, had thick, long, dark mane hair that so engulfed his head, shoulders, back, and the underside of his belly that he looked clumsy when he walked. Apart from their behavior during mating, the three males were extremely close.During their reign, Tona, Tsididi, and Nyatsi paraded about like three great kings sharing their domain. No intruder was tolerated. All males were expelled, and all cubs of the old were killed. But together these stern kings were like tender young cubs, greeting each other constantly, rubbing their giant heads together, rolling over together and displaying a companionship I have never seen before or after. p.56 One memorable day, a prime male lion watched a breeding herd with a newly born elephant calf struggling in the mud of the water hole. He was not particularly interested. He had come for water, and the black muddy patch on his chin indicated that he had been successful in drinking. This lion had a strong character, and, because of an incident I'll describe later, we named him Ntchwaidumela – "he who greets with fire". In all else he deferred to his companion, who was probably a half brother or first cousin, but he was certainly stout of heart when it came to confrontations with other species, elephants included.As Ntchwaidumela rested near the water, two huge bulls came down to drink. He virtually ignored them as they thundered slowly past, within ten feet of him. Suddenly the second bull saw the lion and bellowed, fanning out his ears. Usually this would have got anything up and running, but Ntchwaidumela actually looked the other way. Then the elephant charged, and in a second the lion whipped around and charged right back, leaping up at the bull elephant's head. The elephant stopped, but before the dust could settle he kicked out at the male lion, who was back in resting position, looking at his adversary. The bull stepped forward again, determined to see the lion off. Now, with less than a yard between him and the elephant, the lion still growled, and he stood down the charge until the very last second, when he ducked away under the massive feet. The interaction was over, the elephant moved off, and Ntchwaidumela settled defiantly down to rest again no more than 30 feet away. Over the years, this male lion lived up to his name many times. p. 114 We first read about a male lion attacking a hyena in East Africa, an account by Hugo van Lawick and Jane Goodall in Innocent Killers. As we followed the male lions in Savuti we saw more examples of this, and a pattern started developing.It began with Nyatsi.One day while walking across an open area, he stopped and stared into a bush. It was midday. When he started stalking we thought a young impala might be hidden in the bushes. He ran into the thicket, and, after a confusion of squeals and growls and bushes and dust, the male lion emerged with a hyena.Within a month we witnessed Tona and Nyatsi both actively hunt down hyenas. Then when the four new males took over, we saw one of the younger males, Cromwell, catch another hyena. Gradually we started finding hyena carcasses around more and more, but seldom did we see the same male catch hyenas twice.Then came Ntchwaidumela. He was one of the four challengers who ousted Tsididi, Tona, and Nyatsi, and he was the smallest of the new males, always noticeably more timid when it came to lion business such as mating the females or contesting any small point with his "brothers". In time the consortium broke up, and Mandevu, a dark-maned male, and the small Ntchwaidumela stayed in the south. They had the best territory in Savuti: the marsh.Slowly we began to notice a change in Ntchwaidumela's behavior. One night as we trundled along behind the two males, the smaller one suddenly stopped, dropped his head down to shoulder height, and flattened his body into a crouching position as he glided forward, intent on something ahead that we couldn't see. We were not far from the hyena dens. He burst into a run, and after a 750-yard run he stopped, letting the hyena escape. With fire in his eyes he looked around, searching for another hyena that he saw lurking in the long grass. He charged again, another run of at least 500 yards. Then another broke cover and again he gave chase. All three escaped, but the male was obviously hunting them. Mandevu, the second male, just walked along in any direction Ntchwaidumela chose, not joining in the game.Although he wasted a lot of effort that night, Ntchwaidumela chased hyena after hyena actively, trying to make contact until the area was cleared. Only then did the two males move on with their patrol. The young blonde male roared repeatedly after each chase. Ntchwaidumela — "the war greeting" or "he who greets with fire" — was christened that day. We saw this male chase hyenas many times over the five years we followed him. Soon he was no longer distinguishable as the "young" male, but he was always smaller than the other three he arrived with. Strangely, he was dominated by Mandevu, the dark companion, whenever an estrus female was around. Ntchwaidumela did get to spread his genes, but only if two females came into estrus at once. pp. 131-132 The rains had started and zebra were in the marsh. ... We found Mandevu in the middle of the marsh, roaring half-heartedly from time to time. After an hour with him we saw him look up into the dark in anticipation of something. We shone around and saw the unmistakable sight of a small male with a big blonde mane. Ntchwaidumela. He walked in with a determined stride and greeted Mandevu. These two males, unlike their predecessors, seldom spent much time showing affection to each other. They rubbed heads briefly and separated and lay down a few lion lengths apart. For the next half hour they were both silent, looking around into a blackness in which we could see nothing.Over a mile away, the zebra stampeded. Both males looked toward the noise but did not bother to get up. Then we all heard the hyenas. They had chased and killed a zebra foal; the cries of the foal mingled with the sounds of hyena cackles. Ntchwaidumela reacted immediately, jumping up and trotting off in the direction of the noise. We knew what was coming. We raced around ahead of him to get into position but had to stop twice to get a direction fix on the noises. As we pulled up at the kill Beverly saw Ntchwaidumela next to us — he had covered the distance as fast as we had. The lights went on and the camera rolled as the male charged in, landing on the most dominant hyena, biting her shoulder, rolling over and ripping with his back legs. He adjusted his mouthhold and sank his teeth into her back, forcing his jaws closed. We heard the bones crack. The way he shook the hyena was like no other kill we've seen. It was a definite attempt to break every bone in the victim's body. "Fury" and "rage" are the best adjectives for what we were seeing. Within seconds other hyenas gathered and counterattacked the male, biting his rump hard enough to make him release his hold on the matriarch but not enough to quell his apparent rage, because he lashed out and raced after them. The matriarch we found later, with a broken back.Ntchwaidumela had become the "hyena killer". pp. 136-137 From the top of the marsh, Mandevu roared. Although she was well over five miles away, one of the hyenas looked up, raised her tail, and loped off in that direction. We were keen to follow because we were beginning to suspect the female hyena of being the new matriarch of the marsh clan, a successor after Ntchwaidumela dispatched the last matriarch. ... The female hyena found the lion. It wasn't difficult — he was walking south down the center of the marsh, roaring every ten minutes. He was obviously looking for the pride because he sniffed constantly, and we could see lion tracks on the path ahead of him. During the day hyenas usually give lions a wide berth, in particular if there is no sign of food about. But on this day, Christmas 1990, the hyena actively sought out the male lion and then started harassing him. ... Now the lion was marking aggressively across the species barrier, and, amazingly, as he moved off, the matriarchal hyena raced up to that spot and deposited her own mark on top of his. This apparently infuriated the lion, and he charged, but the hyena ran away, circled, and started her harassment again. ... This hyena was badgering the male, and because it was Mandevu he didn't retaliate. In fact, he was soon losing ground, walking faster and with less grace. His ears were flat against his head and his posture was that of a young submissive lion rather than a pride male....Then, in the far distance, we saw Ntchwaidumela coming at a fast, steady pace. He had heard the sounds of the skirmish, and from the looks of him, he was about to run into a battle. Mandevu lay down. The matriarch circled him and marked again and made off just before Motsumi saw what was happening and chased. Ntchwaidumela broke into a full run, a charge from 150 yards or more, his mouth agape, sucking air down his throat, pumping oxygen into his lungs, fueling his heart. As soon as we were close enough for us to see his eyes, we could discern the fixed direction of his gaze. It was on the matriarch, and for the full run those yellow eyes never left their target.The matriarch's back legs reached in front of the front feet as if her rear end was determined to outrun her front. Motsumi was in full swing behind that rear end and swiped out, hooking a lazy back leg. The matriarch tumbled, swinging around in a full flying circle, crying out in alarm, exposing her only defense: her teeth. Motsumi pulled back and the hyena righted herself in full fall, picking up her footing like a gymnast and racing for the hills. Ntchwaidumela didn't falter. His gait just stretched longer, reaching for the hyena. The gap closed slowly. The hyena looked over her shoulder, saw the lion, and put a final effort into her escape. But the male lion pulled from his own reserves of energy, and the gap closed just a little bit more. When the time was right, Ntchwaidumela reached forward first with one paw and then the other and latched on to the legs of the hyena. The speed of the chase carried on its momentum, taking both the lion and the hyena skidding along the ground. As they skidded, the male moved his grip up the hyena's back, positioning his head for the killing bite to the neck. The growls and hyena squeals faded away with the life of the hyena, until all was silent and the hyena lay still. It was Christmas day, and we were exhausted by 7:30 in the morning. We had our gift for the season. This was the footage we needed to prove that Ntchwaidumela's hatred for hyenas was absolute and individual. pp. 138-140 In just ten years in Savuti, all but one of the male lions we studied were eventually taken by trophy hunters. Rautang, Jansen, Lyall, Matabula, Quedi, Sama, Olsen, Tona, Tsididi, Nyatsi, Mabala, Cromwell, and even the long-reigning Mandevu and his brother Ntchwaidumela, the great hyena killer. I know that wherever Ntchwaidumela's skin hangs, on a wall somewhere in the U.S.A., perhaps, the new owners have no idea of the life that this lion lived. The daily heroics, the matings, the battles with elephant and buffalo, and, of course, his almost nightly vendettas against hyenas can never be seen on his fading skin. pp. 147-148 External links Category:1950 births Category:Authors from South Africa Category:Film directors from South Africa Category:Living people