in that of most big cats – but the approximate
two-year interval between takeovers allowed
for at least one generation of cubs to reach
sub-adulthood and disperse or, in the case of
young females, to try to remain within their
natal pride. To prevent inbreeding, every
male is forced from the pride at around 2.5
years of age to wander as a nomad. To have
any chance of winning a territory, unrelated
single males must forge an alliance.
When you are a nomad in a high-density
lion area like the Mara, you are always in
someone’s territory, forced to watch and
wait. You remain invisible during the day
and move like a shadow at night, warring
with hyena clans over kills. Then, one day,
your alliance makes its move, driving out an
older, ailing or smaller coalition. Sometimes
the pride males turn and run, sometimes
they stand and fight, and the ensuing battles
are brutal. Rivals face off, while others circle
behind to bite into spine and legs. To see
lions like this, their yellow eyes blazing, their
mouths bloody, their bodies lacerated with
wounds, is to witness how important it is to
win the right to breed.The dawn of a legend
It was 2011 when Scarface, along with three
other young males, invaded the Marsh
Pride territory. They were nomads, full of
swagger and aggression and pumped with
testosterone. They were almost impossible
to tell apart, except for Scarface, who stood
out straightaway due to his disfiguring
wound. At four years of age, they bore
scruffy, blonde-and-ginger manes that
would, in time, darken and spread. We
named them the Four Musketeers –
Scarface, Morani, Sikio and Hunter.The Musketeers’ defining moment came
in October of that year, when they confronted
two Marsh Pride males known as Clawed
and Romeo. The duo had already lost the
third member of their coalition and were
in the twilight of their tenure. Males are
considered beyond their prime by 9 or 10
years of age – Clawed was almost 14 and
Romeo only a year or so younger. Hopelessly
outnumbered, Romeo ran for his life towards
Rhino Ridge. He was later spotted near Little
Governor’s Camp, brawling with hyenas over
scraps of food, and was never seen again.
Clawed, incapacitated by age and injury,
could barely hobble. The Musketeers caught
up with him near Bila Shaka and beat him
mercilessly. He survived the next few days,
then, half-starved and desperate, broke into
a Maasai homestead and attacked a cow.
But with his teeth worn to stumps and theLIONS