These Lions Will See You Now!
One of the most exciting aspects of our African Safari last summer was encountering wild Lions like this!
Here in Botswana’s Kalahari Desert, the Lions roam free, unless in this case when they chose to walk in the middle of the sandy road and enjoy the warmth of the sun…that’s what we came upon as we were tracking Lion tracks in the Kalahari desert sand – take a look:
This was our first encounter with these two Lions, but we quickly discovered it wasn’t going to be our last!
These desert “roads” were warm from the sun, and the Lions walked them as they were easier that the rough and tumble brush…here are two others we encountered doing just that:
All of this was really fascinating! We went back out the next day and spotted the same two Lions again. But this time a third Lion was near, which led to a failed attempt to mate and then a bit of a standoff!
Take a look:
As you saw, another Suitor was chased off – and this guy was not too happy!
This wild Lion encounter just better and better, because the next day we headed back out and immediately found them again!
We began to track them and noticed an interesting dynamic – because they are having a very loud discussion!
So what was going on?
Our expert Guide maneuvered the Jeep so we were once again in front of the two: and they were headed right for us, so one of our Jeepmates nicely asked the Guide to move us! Listen:
Once again, after the first noisy Lion ran past us, the large “maned” Lion began to growl back – then picked up the pace and began to run right toward us!
I will admit that it was a bit unsettling to have that massive wild animal running toward us…
By this time, it was clear the Lions had no interest in us. So what was going on?
We followed and quickly understood what was going on – they were headed back to finish a meal!
We followed and found out what our large Lion was after – hidden in the brush, he was finishing the remains of a Kudu they had killed earlier – note, while not graphic, it may be unsettling to watch a Lion eating his prey:
We watched as the Lion methodically finished his meal…it was very quiet – this is what we saw with Lions: they are singularly focused on surviving in the wild – they show no interest in the odd shapes sitting six feet above the ground in a metal box – their food runs directly in front of them – so while they got VERY close to us on a number of occasions, it really wasn’t frightening in the moment.
We came across that Lion duo three times in two days…fascinating to see up close…and it wasn’t the only time we watched a pride of Lions eating a kill…click this next story to watch as two alpha males fight over the last bit of carcass – right in front of us:
We also came across wild Baboons as well:
These Baboons are plentiful – and troublemakers too!
Click here to watch one drop all sorts of things on a pride of Lions circling below him!
So many incredible stories came from out safari – and we learned so much too…like what was going on here with this Lion:
Where was his pride? We discovered why this was a lonely wandering Lion – here’s that story:
More Lions to come, plus Elephants, Hippos, Giraffes and so much more!
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Categories: Africa, Exotic Travel, Memoirs, nature, safari, Travel, Travel Adventures, Travel Memoir
johnrieber 
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