A portrait of the predators at Wilderness Chitabe

Chitabe's male lions

The current dominant male lions in the Chitabe area are two brothers, also known as the Chitabe Boys. These brothers are very distinctive, as one of them, also known as Rraleoto (Setswana for the one with the broken leg), has a very distinctive limp. However, the injury does not seem to deter this particular lion at all, and between him and his brother, they have held the Chitabe Concession for the past six years. 

Lions of Botswana, an organisation which monitors lions in Botswana, is very familiar with the Chitabe Boys and Rraleoto, because of his distinctive limp and also due to the fact that they have been around for so long. Rraleoto and his brother are quickly becoming two of the most famous lions in Botswana and according to Lions of Botswana, Rraleoto is one of the largest. 

They arrived in Chitabe in 2017 and together took over the territory. The average life expectancy of a lion in the wild is about 10 years and these two brothers were probably about five years old when they arrived at Chitabe and have been here for six years, so they are already past their average life expectancy.

It appears that Chitabe is a highly sought-after territory from a predator point of view, and we have seen countless territorial battles between the Chitabe Boys and other male lions. Once there was even a battle with a coalition of four males and these two brothers still came out on top. 

Chitabe’s lion population is high and there are still a number of males that are the offspring of these brothers roaming within the Chitabe Concession. Traditionally these sub-adults would have been chased away.