An interesting dinner party.

3 07 2012

On safari, it is incredible how quickly things can change! A simple gust of wind started a chain reaction, which no one could have predicted. I had found a pride of lions, doing what lions do best – sleeping hard! Not much was happening, and given the overcast conditions, it didn’t look like much was going to happen. That all changed when the wind suddenly picked up, and brought with it some juicy information.

Immediately, all four lionesses got up and changed gear to a brisk walk. At the same time, I got a call about a young male lion on a buffalo kill, in the direction the lionesses were heading. Putting two and two together, I left the ladies and made my way ahead to the newly discovered buffalo kill. There was another great surprise in store for me as I arrived though…

Two male lions were in the process of teaching a young male lion (the original owner of the kill) what life’s all about! They never managed to get a hold of him, luckily for the young gun, but when they returned to the kill site, they were frothing at the mouth in a rage that would have impressed Mike Tyson on fight night!
The four female lions had made their way to the buffalo, and one of the ladies lead the way into the ring. She approached slowly, nervous of the much larger male guarding the kill, but still showing great interest in the rather smelly buffalo. When she was well and truly committed the male came over to deliver some alpha male, but instead got sidelined with a quick battery of claws and hatred. She had two separate goes at him, making contact on both occasions, which was enough to send him scent marking a nearby bush.

Luckily for me, the kill site was relatively open, which gave me the chance to snap some images of all the madness!