Afternoon Game Drive – Lion Redux

Continuing on the game drive, Themba happened to spy a huge male lion right off the road. Since the afternoon sun was still out but it was waning, lions tend to sleep well into the coolness of the evening, stirring only after it’s cool enough to begin their evening hunt.

This male was content to just lay there. However, he did get up and move and was walking with a huge limp. Dierdre surmised that he got injured in a hunt and it could have been from just about anything. You felt so bad for the guy as he was the king fo the pride and lions, especially kings, have to keep up with the pride as it moves to retain their status. The other big issue is that another male could fight him for dominance given his injured state. We let the guy rest and moved on.

As we headed out further into the bush, Themba spied a couple of female lions and three of their offspring, all about 8-10months old.. Seems we hit the lion mother lode today. Dierdre knew something we didn’t and headed off road. The lioness’ were beginning to stir which means the rest of the pride would begin to wake up as well. As she pointed up the hillside toward another lioness making her way down, Dierdre told us to keep our eyes our for what was trailing her.

Trailing the female were three small cubs, no more than 3 months old Dierdre told us. So we had three females and five cubs. And then came a male. A huge male. This was the pride that the wounded lion belonged to as well.

As the cubs played and nuzzled with the other cubs and moms, we had a front row seat to seeing the pride come alive.

The male lion was less enthused, laying down. And then getting up. And then walking right toward us. Diredre told us to stop moving all together. No movement. If cameras were up, they stayed up. He stopped to mark his scent on a bush, no more than 10 feet away, looking right at us. This guy was just huge. And in one short movement, you knew he could spring right into the truck. He began walking on and we were given the all clear sign, able to raise our cameras again (and take a deep breath).

This guy was too close for comfort and it was another one of those moments of feeling alive. Of feeling one with Africa. Of feeling lucky to be able to have the experience of being on safari in this truly amazing place.