Celebrating “World Lion Day!”
A day of celebration indeed! One of the world’s most majestic creatures is honored on August 10th to help raise awareness for this endangered species!
Last year, we had countless Lion encounters on our safari, like when they rested in the warm sand of the Kalahari Desert…and I have shared this video before: a noisy Lion running right towards us:
That was wild!
World Lion Day is celebrated annually on August 10 to raise global awareness about the conservation, protection, and critical plight of wild and captive lions (Panthera leo). First launched in 2013 by initiatives involving conservationists like Dereck and Beverly Joubert alongside groups such as the African Lion & Environmental Research Trust (ALERT) and Big Cat Rescue, the day highlights the rapid decline of lion populations and promotes sustainable coexistence between humans and wildlife!
My wife Alex and I had incredible encounters with these magnificent animals, observing them closeup as they showed affection for each other:
Social Structure: Unlike other large cats, lions are remarkably social and live in family and cooperative groups called prides.
Hunting Roles: Female lionesses do roughly 80% to 90% of the pride’s hunting, while the dominant males protect the territory.
The Roar: A healthy adult lion’s roar can reach up to 114 decibels and be heard from as far away as 5 to 8 kilometers (3 to 5 miles). We didn’t get a roar but got this very noisy interaction:
It turns out both the running Lion and the noisy one were headed back to finish off a fresh kill…which we observed from about twenty feet away!
And here’s a fun fact:
Sleeping Habits: Lions are heavy sleepers, resting or lounging for up to 20 hours a day. We captured this one with his one leg straight up in the air! Here’s the story of our first Lion encounter: a dozen all sleeping off a kill!
Habitat: Contrary to the popular “King of the Jungle” misnomer, wild lions do not live in dense jungles; they thrive in open grasslands, scrub, and savannas…here is one Lion sniffing us!
One day, a pride of Lions guided us to our airstrip – you can see the wide open grassland around them:
Recent census studies show approximately 25-30,000 Lions remain in the world. We all must acknowledge their importance to our world and help protect them:
Primary Threats: The primary drivers of their decline include habitat fragmentation and loss from expanding human settlements, human-wildlife conflict (such as retaliatory killings by herders after livestock loss), and poaching driven by the illegal trade in bushmeat and lion body parts.
I am celebrating World Lion Day 2026 by helping to raise awareness of the need to protect them…and remember, it’s not the “big five” on safari anymore…see why that phrase is outdated – and why it’s a “magnificent seven” at least!
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Categories: Africa, Exotic Travel, Memoirs, nature, Pop Culture, safari, Travel, Travel Adventures, Travel Memoir
johnrieber 
As always wonderful stuff here….magnificent animals……chuq
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Some them look like they’re celebrating national laziness day, but I’m not going to mention it to them
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Thanks absolute heaps for this post – I have not only enjoyed the facts and photos given but learned a lot! Had no idea the females were the basic food providers and the males the safety organizers . . . above all that both normally slept for such long hours . . . I thought our Australian koalas were the only ‘lazy’ ones 🙂 !
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