TRACKER KILLED BY LIONS

Thabazimbi – A tracker at Marataba Safari Lodge, a private concession in the Marakele National Park in Thabazimbi, was tragically killed by two young male lions on Saturday 6 March.

Malibongwe Mfila, aged 27, was driving in the conservation area and left the vehicle to inspect cheetah spoor. He was a mere 10 metres from the vehicle when he was caught off guard and killed by the lions.

 
A passing vehicle noticed the lions devouring the deceased early on Sunday 8 March and alerted the Marakele National Park manager, Mphandeni Nthangeni and the Hoopdal police. A post-mortem on the euthanised lions revealed that they were nine months old and in poor condition. In normal circumstances, lions would remain in the pride until the age of two… but for some unknown reason, they had been abandoned by their mother two to three weeks before and struggled to feed  themselves. 

South African National Parks chief executive officer Fundisile Mketeni expressed his condolences to the family, friends and staff at Marataba during this difficult time. On a Facebook post the Tracker Academy paid tribute to Malibongwe who had graduated with them as a professional tracker in 2017. 

Marataba Safari Lodge is known for its conservation work with the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), introducing a breeding population of cheetah to the Limpopo province. The project aims to counter the global threats to cheetahs from habitat loss, genetic inbreeding, and competition with humans for food. They aim to distribute offspring to other parks and reserves in southern Africa to maintain as much genetic diversity in the cheetahs as possible and to boost sustainable tourism in rural areas.