Hairy Belly

Hairy Belly was one of the six Matimba males and, after the coalition split, one half of the Southern Matimba with his brother Ginger. He was named for the long hair along his belly. Unlike their quieter northern brothers, he and Ginger lived through many fights with the most famous lions of the Sabi Sand: the Mapogos, the Majingilane and the Birmingham males.

The Matimba were six male lions from Ngala Game Reserve beside Kruger National Park in South Africa: five related males born around 2006–2007 in the Birmingham Pride, most likely sired by the three older Skybed males, and an older outsider, Ndhuna, whom the pride adopted. In 2010 they took over the Manyeleti Game Reserve, becoming the pride males of all its prides, and spread into Kruger, Ngala and the northern Sabi Sand. After Ndhuna disappeared in 2012, the five split into two groups: the Northern Matimba (Shaka, Slit Nose and White Face) and the Southern Matimba (Hairy Belly and Ginger).

In the south he and Ginger ruled the Nkuhuma Pride and its breakaway, took the Torchwood Pride in 2013 and held the Styx Pride, until the five Birmingham males drove them out in late 2015. In 2016 they fought the Majingilane for ground in the west; in late 2017 and early 2018, as the Majingilane died, the two old males returned, took the Othawa Pride and protected the last cubs of their old rivals. Ginger died of mange in August 2019. Hairy Belly, with a permanent hip injury, held the Othawa Pride alone against the three young Tumbela males until December 2020. Unseen from early 2021, he was officially presumed dead in March 2021, at about 15, the last Matimba.