Lions
Read MoreThis lioness found an unusual kopje formation that enabled her to rest in the shade and sleep, or survey the ground below. (A kopje is an upthrusting of rock occurring millions of years ago. They may be very small, or larger than a city block). Naturally, we called her a 'Kopje Cat'. i.e., 'Copy Cat', get it?. [Soit Ngum, Serengeti, Tanzania].
Lions, Topi, and an airplane:This is a most unusual event--the plane is unable to land because of the presemce of a herd of topi who will not leave because of the lions on the runway. The airplane has buzzed both lion and topi several times! And the Topi will not leave until the lions leave (remainder of pride is at the edge of the runway). Ordinarily, one would expect that the topi would be frightened by the plane and flee after one low buzz, but they have the lions where they can see them, and they do not want to go into the high grass where they could not see in which direction the lions might head. Each time the plane buzzed the big male lion, his only response was simply to lower his head. The plane had to land. We ended the stalemate by chasing the lions off with our vehicles. When they left, the topi fled in the opposite direction, and the plane landed safely. [Seronara, Serengeti, Tanzania].
Lioness with 3 Cubs-(1st image): There is a 3rd cub that will be seen in the next image. A small pride that lived on top of a medium-sized kopje (an up-thrusting of rock, occurring millions of years ago, covered with vegetation). They are about 4 weeks old. In the cool of the evening, their parents have called them down to the meadow to play. [Serongeti, Tanzania].
Spotting this lioness hiding in a bush reminds me of the many times I have walked past shrubbery that might have concealed a hiding lion. I always tried to remember a cardinal rule to make a wide detour around such obsracles. A lion may not be hungry, but they are opportunists! [Serengeti, Tanzania].
The three Lion siblings, approximately 4 yrs.old, are doing a bonding exercise, which is used to screw up their courage before attacking a pride-lion lying on a large rock 500 ft. away. We hurried over to the rock to be in position to witness and shoot the fight. When these triplets arrived, lion bodies seemed to be flying everywhere. The lone male was badly wounded and later died; the 3 young males disappeared. [Khwai, Moremi NP, Botswana].
We were observing a small lion pride when a lioness passed near the alpha male lying on the grass. At that instant, we heard the lion suddenly emit a low grumble which caused her to jink away from him. I was able to catch this instant, because I just happened to have the camera already focused on him. I think the lion protruding his tongue, and his regarding the lioness, were all part of this event. [Masai Mara, Kenya].
The author and his wife playing with male and female 4-month-old lions in camp. When they were found, they were about a month old and had been abandoned by their mother.They had been kept in camp. In playing with them, I was very surprised by how much more aggressive and stronger the male already had become. (Contrarily, the adult lionesss in a pride is much more the aggressor than her pride-lion mate in hunting for and capturing prey). Arrangements were being made with an organization that will train and try to return these youngsters, pictured here, to the wild. [Matopos, Zimbabwe].