SCARFACE THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER ONE He was estimated to have been born in January 2007 in Kenya’s Maasai Mara. Scarface came from the Mara… and part of his earliest story remains a mystery. Then, in the second half of 2011, four young males appeared around Rhino Ridge. They had dispersed and were searching for territory and lionesses. They would become Scarface, Morani, Sikio and Hunter as the Four Musketeers. By the end of 2011, roars from the Musiara Marsh drew them toward the famous Marsh Pride. They challenged its resident males, Clawed and Romeo, displaced them and established themselves with the Marsh females. Scarface’s extraordinary reign had begun. And somewhere in those battles came the wound that would make his face immortal. A terrible injury above his right eye left him with the scar that gave him his name. And behind that terrifying warrior’s face was something I find even more beautiful. A Mara Predator Conservation Programme researcher who personally observed him described Scarface as perhaps the gentlest and most loving of the four Musketeers with cubs. He tolerated the little ones climbing around him and playing with his huge fluffy mane. On one occasion, when adults were competing over a small warthog, Scarface drove the females away so the youngsters could eat and then stood guard over them. That is the Scarface I don’t want forgotten. Not only the fighter. The father. The protector. The enormous old male lying patiently while tiny cubs played in his mane. Scarface has many other descendants attributed to him or to the wider Musketeer bloodline, including the beautiful BearFace, and names such as Red and Tatu are frequently connected with their era and lineage. Years passed. Then age began taking from him what battles could not. Hunter disappeared in August 2019. Sikio was lost following territorial injuries in early 2020. Scarface and Morani remained, holding on around the Lookout Pride. And Scarface grew old. His magnificent body became thin. His strength faded. The king who had once made the Mara his kingdom was becoming a tired old lion. And then came one of the scenes from his life that I will never forget. Scarface was found far from his pride and Morani, weak and weary, feeding from that hippo carcass. And beside him were three young Salas Boys. Young. Powerful. In their prime. Scarface was old and vulnerable. Yet they tolerated him. They left him alone. We cannot know whether lions experience “respect” the way humans understand it. But I cannot help feeling something when I think about that moment. And personally, it made me respect the Salas Boys so much. They could have made the old legend’s final days very different. Instead… the young kings let the old king be. How beautiful that Scarface, after a lifetime of fighting for his place in the Mara, was allowed this dignity at the end. Over the following days, the Mara Predator Conservation Programme team continued watching him. Scarface was fading. And then came 11 June 2021. At approximately 1:00 p.m., at around 14 years old, Scarface drew his final breath. Researchers were there monitoring him. His extraordinary body had simply reached the end of what it could endure. No rival defeated him that day. No younger king took his life. Time did. And maybe that is one of the saddest and most beautiful parts of his story. Scarface was allowed to become old. There are stories that lionesses were heard roaring for long periods around the time he left us, and people have beautifully interpreted those calls as mourning for their old king. I cannot hear that story without imagining it. The Mara growing dark. The lionesses calling across the plains… again… and again… and the voice that had answered those plains for so many years was suddenly no longer there. Scarface was silent. And somehow, even after all these years, knowing that this magnificent old king no longer walks the Maasai Mara still hurts. Your roar stopped. Your story never will. #lion #scarface #lionking #mara #legend - @angelbakhsh