Coalition · Fate unknown
The Wauwaji
Also known as The Killers of Namiri · Namiri Plains, eastern Serengeti, Tanzania
Until c. 2018
Origin: not recorded
The Wauwaji are a coalition of six male lions from the Namiri Plains in the eastern Serengeti, Tanzania. Their name is Swahili for “the killers”. The Namiri Plains were closed to tourism for about twenty years to help cheetahs recover, and when they reopened, observers found unusually large lion groups there, which guides and tour operators call super prides.
The Wauwaji are remembered as the males of the Namiri super pride, which safari operators describe as a group of more than sixty lions. Working together with the lionesses, the pride was able to bring down very large prey, including buffalo and eland. By late 2018 the Wauwaji had disappeared from the Namiri Plains, probably moving north-west in search of new territory.
Over the same years, a smaller faction on the plains was ruled by Bob Junior and his brother Marley, who held the eastern Serengeti until the Saba Bora killed them in 2023. Almost everything published about the Wauwaji comes from safari operators rather than researchers, so their origin, the names of the six males and their later fate are not known.
Members
Profile
Coalition
- Members
- Six malesIndividual names not published
- Relationship
- Information not availableNot published
- Origin / birthplace
- Information not availableNot published
- How it formed
- Information not availableNot published
Reign
- Area
- Namiri Plains, eastern Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
- Prides ruled
- The Namiri super prideDescribed by safari operators as more than sixty lions
- Took over from
- Information not available
- Reign
- Information not availableUntil about 2018; when it began is not published
- Territory size
- Information not available
End
- End of the coalition
- Left the Namiri Plains by late 2018Probably moved north-west; their fate is not known
- Successors
- Information not availableBob Junior and Marley were the leading males of the plains after them
Names & Meanings
Swahili for “the killers” (singular: muuaji, killer).
The four-male Killers of the central Serengeti, who attacked C-Boy in 2009, are a different and earlier group.
Story of the Coalition
- Earlier
The Namiri Plains reopened to visitors after about twenty years of closure for cheetah conservation, and very large prides were seen there.
- 2010s
The six Wauwaji ruled the Namiri super pride, hunting buffalo and eland with the lionesses.
- Late 2018
Gone from the Namiri Plains, probably heading north-west.
- After 2018
Bob Junior and Marley became the best-known males of the eastern plains.
Legend & Truth
Sixty lions?
The figure of more than sixty lions comes from a safari operator. It may count the whole super pride with all its cubs and related groups; it has not been confirmed by researchers.
No individual names
The six males have not been named in published sources, so no member records can be made for now.
A record still open
Very little has been published about the Wauwaji. This record will be updated as more is found.
Photographs
Film
Animation
Sources
- Asilia Africa — Experiencing the lions of the Serengeti
- Kijani Tours — Male lions and big cats of Tanzania
- Kijani Tours — Lions in Tanzania: manes, prides and where to find them
Where sources disagree, the most widely reported figure is shown, with other reports noted beneath it.