Lolparpit

Lolparpit was a male lion of Kenya’s Masai Mara and, with his brother Olbarnoti, one of the most successful lions in the Mara’s recorded history, measured by the number of his descendants. Followers describe him as the more popular and the more adventurous of the two, always taking risks and pushing into neighbouring territories.

Lolparpit and Olbarnoti were brothers born at the beginning of 2005 in the Ridge Pride of Kenya’s Masai Mara, younger brothers of Cheza, Sala and Junior of the BBC’s Big Cat Diary. Late in 2007 the five took the Olkiombo Pride, but only the older three stayed, and the two young brothers moved on. In 2008 they took the new Enkoyonai Pride in the Olare Orok Conservancy, and in mid-2010 drove the old Moniko males, Mzee and Lolalai, from the Moniko Pride, making themselves the rulers of the whole conservancy until mid-2011. Their sons include the six Bila Shaka brothers, born in the Moniko Pride in 2014.

In old age Lolparpit remained formidable; at fifteen he alone held his ground against two of the fiercest young males of the time, Kaka and Maridadi. He died of natural causes in November 2020, at nearly sixteen; a tour driver found his body on the edge of his territory.