Blondie Avoca

Blondie, also called Blonde Mane, was one of the three Northern Avoca males of South Africa’s Greater Kruger, named for his pale mane. With his brother Mohawk he was the most often seen of the three, and they were described as among the most experienced and imposing males in the Sabi Sand.

The Northern Avocas were three brothers born in 2013 in the Avoca Pride of the Timbavati, beside Kruger National Park in South Africa, sons of the Avoca or Giraffe coalition; two older brothers from the same pride became the Southern Avocas. Moving south, the three took the male-less Talamati Pride in early 2018 and, in mid-2018, the Nkuhuma Pride in the northern Sabi Sand, which the Birmingham Boys had left. By 2020 they had split: Dark Mane stayed with the Talamati lionesses while Blondie and Mohawk ruled the Nkuhuma Pride; in 2019 the brothers sired nine Talamati cubs.

From 2020 Blondie and Mohawk ruled the Nkuhuma and Ximhungwe prides together. After about three years with the Nkuhumas they pushed south against the ageing Birmingham males, but the Ndzhenga coalition drove them back. Blondie died in October 2022, at about nine.