A group of lions appear more like giant kittens basking in the sun.
One of our largest spottings was a group of lioness and their cubs. It was getting quite hot at mid-day so they were lazing by some bushes in the shade.
Our timing was just a few seconds too late to witness the take down of a wildebeest. I’m not sure if we would have wanted to witness it anways, but we got a good taste of the event. The group of lions were still running with adrenaline from the kill.
The two cubs finally stop running around and settle for a few moments by a tree. They look back at the wildebeest kill with excitment. Our driver says they are in the very early stages of learning and not quite sure what to do yet.
Other jeeps start showing up to see what all the commotion is about. Unfortunately it was clearly visible that the mother lion had broke one of her front legs during the catch. She limped over to the bushes with her paw hanging completely dissjointed. One of her cubs came to lay by her side. Our driver said that her family would not leave her. They would take care of her, but sadly she would eventually die. We felt saddened to leave knowing her fate, but it’s just part of nature I guess.
Areas of the Serengeti have large rocks called Kopjes that are hundreds of feet in height and width. The rocks were pushed up through the earths surface and date from 2.5 to 4.5 million years old. As massive as they appear above ground, you are actually seeing only a small portion of their size. It’s like an iceberg with only a small percentage visible above the surface. The majority of their mass sits under the ground.
The three scenes below show where the inspiration for the Lion King movie would have come from.
Just after taking this shot the lions eyes shifted from what he was looking at and onto us. Even with the protection of our Land Cruiser we couldn’t help but feel a sense of fear and intimidation.
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