Serengeti lions

Sunday September 1,

Today was a full day game drive, with the stated purpose of finding cats. We left the lodge about 7 am, and by 8 we were watching 3 lionesses and one male lion eating from their previous night’s kills. Kills plural, as there were both a waterbuck and a zebra on the menu. The interaction among the four cats, as well as the furtive attempts by hyenas and jackals to snatch a small portion, was fascinating. These lions are not terribly disturbed by humans in jeeps, but our camp is so isolated that the lions aren’t completely habituated either. After about an hour of watching, we proceeded on our way, and met two more male lions, the brothers or cousins of the first one. All three are about 6 years old, just entering the prime of their lives. They were beautiful creatures with lush manes and very few battle scares.

We spent the next several hours driving to a more popular area of the park where there was a good chance to see cheetahs. We stopped along the way for exceptional birds or other animals, but we were pretty dedicated to the original goal. We saw no cheetahs—- because there were so many lions everywhere! Cheetahs are the smallest of the big cats and are bullied by lions, leopards and hyenas, so there will never usually be few cheetahs in a lion-rich zone. 

We saw a male lion asleep in the road and unfazed by jeeps all around him. Then we saw a mother and two cubs hiding in the tall reeds by a stream. Next was another single male lion asleep under a tree next to the road. Just before our picnic lunch we saw a lion cub peeking out from a rocky outcrop (a kopje, pronounced copy). So after lunch we went back to that spot —- to find a lioness minding a total of 10 cubs of various ages, including a very small one who growled/whined continually.  The presence of so many other vehicles made us appreciate our private morning viewings the more. 

We finally dragged ourselves away and headed back to camp. It seems today was “family day” as we saw family groups of giraffe, elephants, antelope, hyrax, and even four jackal puppies. All in all a wonderful day.

Pictured: hyena stealing a bit, black-backed jackal puppies, lioness and her charges