The Tumbela Males

The Tumbela males were a coalition of three young male lions born around 2015–2016 in the Nharu Pride, west of the Sabi Sand in South Africa. Some followers believe they were maternal nephews of the Birmingham Boys. They settled in the western Sabi Sand, where in 2020 the Othawa Pride was still held by Hairy Belly, the last of the Matimba coalition, then about fourteen.

Through the second half of 2020 the three young males and the old lion circled each other. Hairy Belly, with a permanent hip injury, held them off for months with roars and bluff; the Tumbelas, still inexperienced, did not attack him. By December 2020 they had taken over the Othawa Pride, and Hairy Belly was last seen early in 2021. Followers remember it as a rare bloodless takeover.

The three were known to followers by informal names: Skorro Junior, the most dominant, sometimes called King Tumbela; Scar, also called Sizanani Junior, for a scar by his eye; and the Limper, who had very little mane. By 2024 followers wrote that Scar and the Limper were missed, suggesting only Skorro Junior remained; their fates have not been published.