Cheza and Sala

Some more from J&A. There really does seem to be confusion about our two, but from this it looks as though there should be some good pics on Jacksons Blog somewhere
http://www.jonathanangelascott.com/main/wordpress/2010/04/cheza-and-sala-search-for-the-truth/

WS

Yeah I have seen some decent pics of them on Jackson's blog a while ago. I will check it out later. Thanks for the information you have been getting too :)

As far as I know this is the only post Jackson has made of Cheza and Sala with pics. They grew up to be magnificent lions. http://jacksonlooseyia.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/cheza-and-sala.html

Not close up and no face of cheza, a real pitty.

Anyway it seems unless one day someone confirms a sighting of them we have to assume the reports are correct and Cheza was killed, Sala, I guess we don't know where he went, if he survived.

There is so much confusion surrounding what pride they took over, if it was even them, where they went in their early years that I guess getting a positive ID on one is next to impossible anyway.

It can't be easy for any pride males in the Mara these days, lets face the fact... It's most definitely Notches Kingdom!

 Thanks RaD great find. As you say there's so much confusion around them both. I do'nt think we will really know the truth about them or what happened, unless someone comes up with a positive identification. I have said this before, as much as we love Notch, and his sons, they really have not been good for the Lion population of the Mara. In to many cases they have taken over Prides killed the Cubs to bring the Lionesses into estrus, fathered their own Cubs then left that Pride over take over another Pride. Then nomads move in kill off the Notchs Cubs, the Notchs then return, and the whole process starts again. As a group they really are to strong for the good of the Lion population as a whole. Just out of interest I thought I'd try an enlargement of Sala

Thank you RaD & WS for all the effort into finding out more about Cheza & Sala. Like many of you I had very strong pictures of Cheza and sala in my head as cubs and it's hard to get that image out of my head, they were two cubs I really took to my heart.
It would be so nice to get clarity over what actually has happened to these two special Lions. I suppose since the end of BCD the Prides are not monitored as much as they were before. I know lots of guides follow the prides but following specific Lions does not seem to be as intent as it was which is a shame but then again the guides are guiding and montioring or researching the Lions.
I hope there is some positive news to come our way soon about Cheza & Sala.

You are right about Notch and his boys WS, they are a force to be reckoned with but they are also destroying the Lion population with their take overs and killings. At one point they seemed a good force to be out there but now I am thinking they are doing more harm than good but I would also hate to see anything bad happen to Notch.

littlewid-x-

Got a reply from  Aatish he's just back from Safari

Hi WS,

Really sorry for the late reply. Didn't get the time at all to read or reply to emails on the safari. And thank you very much for your compliments.

Well once Cheza and sala moved away from the Olkiombo pride to the maji ya fisi pride, they lived there for a few months or so. But once the notches began expanding their territory as well, it seems they took out both males. Junior we heard was killed by the keekorok males.

Again these are all speculations as we didn't personally watch any of these encounters. But if they were still alive us or someone else would have definitely seen them so we assume they are dead. Killed by the notches is the highest probability.

Best regards
Aatish

I did send a thank you on behalf of the Forum, for taking his time to reply

WS

Thanks WS and everyone who helped with information and speculation.

Your welcome RaD. I think it will have to go down as another of the wildlife mysteries of Africa, and our big cats, very much like when Zawadi vanished lots of speculation, but no concrete information on what happened to her
Just for information this is our friend Aatish's Blog, we have known him for a few years now, and Doogs has met him on Safari, a couple of times.
http://aatishpatelsafari.blogspot.co.uk/
WS

Thanks for updating us WS.

Lai

Thanks for the update WS from Aatish. Looks like that is all the evidence we are going to get as no-one witnessed the takeover and no-one has seen Cheza or Sala since. So sad really, two very special Lions  

littlewid-x-