Gomo Gomo and the white lions of Timbavati

The way to Gomo Gomo.

Gomo Gomo is one of seven privately operated game lodges in the Timbavati Nature Reserve, a 206 square mile unfenced area of the African bush adjacent to the Kruger National Park in South Africa. The Timbavati area and the surrounding region comprised of other private properties (Sabi Sands, Klaserie, Thornybush, etc.) were, until the 1950’s, privately owned and operated as cattle ranches or big game safari destinations.  A large group of conservation minded landowners came together to develop a plan for conservation and to protect the immense amount of wildlife species that thrived in this sometimes harsh environment. 

Since its formation in 1956, the Timbavati Association has increased its conservation minded landowners to 50 members. Over the years, this group has worked toward a common goal, to overcome degradation within this previously pristine area, redirect insensitive land use and reclaim it for the benefit of all.

In the 1990’s, in recognition of the importance of the area, the fences between Timbavati Reserve and the Kruger National Park were removed to encourage natural species migration. A vast stretch of wild land was opened up for the free movement of wildlife through what is now effectively, a single conservation area also known as the Greater Kruger Park.

This arrangement is beneficial for both wildlife and tourists. Wildlife has access to more resources in order to meet their permanent, seasonal, and episodic needs, and tourists are offered a wider range of eco-tourism facilities. Plans are in place to have the Timbavati Reserve declared as part of the Kruger National Park, which will secure its future as a valuable piece of South African heritage. These wildlife-rich lands are now an integral part of the Kruger Park system, and are managed in cooperation with the Kruger National Park itself.

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Lions at Gomo Gomo - March 2006

March 2006 - Buffalo are plentiful in the Timbavati.

We first visited the area in August 2001, staying for three nights at Kings Camp, one of the more upscale, and expensive, private Game Lodges in the Timbavati. It was during this visit that, while viewing a small lion pride feeding on a full grown giraffe they had killed, the ranger leading us on an afternoon bush drive pointed out a powerful two year old male lion and told us that he carried the recessive “white lion” gene that was unique in the area and also in Africa. From time to time white lion cubs would be born to the prides here, we were told. In March 2006 we were fortunate to have several good lion sightings but we did not hear of any recent occurrences of white lions.

Search for “White Lions” on the internet and one will find a great deal of information. White lions are not a separate subspecies and they have been said to be indigenous to the Timbavati region of South Africa for centuries, although the earliest recorded sighting in this region was 1938. Regarded as divine by some locals, white lions first came to public attention in the 1970s in Chris McBride's book The White Lions of Timbavati. (1977). McBride’s father had become a landowner in the Timbavati area in 1948 and Chris was raised there. As a student at the University of California, Humboldt, he returned to the area to research his Masters thesis on lions. (See a YouTube video interview with Chris McBride here - http://www.youtube.com/v/TQYZbUW5Jw8)

In early 2011 we began to plan a visit to South Africa which would include a four-night stay at Gomo Gomo in July 2012. Several months in advance of our trip we began to follow Gomo Gomo’s interesting Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gomo-Gomo-Game-Lodge/334330557799) where rangers frequently provided activity updates and photographs, described animal sightings and commented on local events.  

With just two weeks to go before we left the United States to visit South Africa several photos of a new white lion cub was posted to the Facebook page. As excited as we have been at the prospect of returning to the Timbavati Reserve, the arrival of a new white lion cub to coincide with our visit has offered us a unique opportunity to see a truly rare and special animal. Our eleven year-old granddaughter and her parents will be traveling with us and there is no doubt that they will long remember this, their first, trip to Africa and their remarkable good fortune to be able to see a rare white lion. 

July 2, 2012 - a new white cub is found.
Photo from Gomo Gomo Facebook Page

White lions are not albinos.  They have a genetic condition called leucism – a glitch in the genetic coding for color which causes either a reduction in or complete lack of pigmentation cells thanks to a recessive allele. Leucism does not produce the typical pink or reddish eyes associated with albinos. In fact, eye colour is hardly affected with leucism. And in the case of the white lions, their eyes are a startling blue. 

We’ll see. 

The words "Gomo Gomo" mean "little hills."

Sources: Gomo Gomo Facebook page.  White Lions in the Timbavati by Sharon van Wyk, Jan. 13, 2011 (Global White Lion Protection Trust) Kruger National Park (Sanparks) website.