Dean de la Rey and I were out early, hoping to find the Mhangeni pride which no one had found the previous evening. They had been down in the southern grasslands, but their last tracks had disappeared into a sea of Red Grass, Themeda triandra, and it had gotten too dark to continue the search.
To our delight, the next morning we bumped into them quite by chance, right out in the open amongst some scattered Round-Leaved Teak bushes:
At first the pride was fast asleep, apart from a single cub that insisted on clambering over the other lions between bouts of playing with some elephant dung.
Barely two minutes later though, the first tell-tale yawns came from some of the adult lioness, and within a very short space of time, the pride was on the move towards a waterhole only about a hundred metres away.
Dean and I raced up ahead to wait by the shallow pan in the anticipation of the lions all drinking, and we weren’t disappointed:
The first lioness comes to the water. Ideally in this shot it would have been better if the lioness’s ears were included, as well as her full head in the reflection, but the lens was too long!
We were fortunate to have one of the females line up with us front-on.
Having much shorter legs than the adults, the cubs were forced to get their paws properly muddied in order to get to the water.
Despite having lots of space to choose from, prides – especially cubs – will generally drink right alongside each other. We were hoping for he whole pride to line up together, but their drinking was a bit more staggered.
The Othawa male followed behind the pride and was ambushed by some of the cubs as he approached the water. I love the fully black paw you can see on the leaping cub here.
The ambush didn’t quite go as planned though, and both cubs took a tumble.
Although the reflection makes the water look fairly clean, it isn’t, and the lions are still fairly selective about which points they drink from…
The Othawa male continued to be harassed by the cubs as he moved round to drink from a different position.
Dean de la Rey and a close encounter. Our vehicle offered the best shade around and after drinking the lions realised this and the whole pride came to lie right alongside us. It was breathtaking looking into their eyes from barely two metres away. After a few minutes they decided they weren’t happy that close to the Land Rover and as we sat very still, they filtered away to lie behind to a termite mound instead.
How wonderful! Those lions trust you so much as to keep their babies under your vehicle that’s incredible. Thank you for sharing it with us! The cubs after the big male made me smile, really great pictures
Lovely pics of the lions.
James, I saved the cub🤗
There is always something fascinating watching the behaviors of the lions as the pride approaches the water. As with you James. we anticipate the side-by-side lineup.
James, incredible sighting and how lucky are you to catch them at just the right time. The reflection images are stellar and we added three of them to our favorites already! BTW, That’s a real “high class” problem when your lens is too long! 😉
Intense staredown!
The lions are very trusting…….shows how well habituated that they are…..plus it is so exciting to have them so close to the vehicle and people!
Great photos of the lions. I like the cubs ambushing dad. And dad’s mane is cool, he looks really good. It always amazes me how close lions and other animals as well, of course, get to the cars. If they knew…!
Love watching the lions drink! And the cubs playing in the mud was definitely a plus! Nice shots!
I love the expression on the Othawa’s face as the cub attacks once more- annoyance! What good timing you had to find this pride ready for a drink. Even with your “too large lens😘) the lioness was quite lovely without ears. All in all, many fun images!
Tof om de welpen zo te zien spelen met hun vader. De Othawa mannetje is een super mooie leeuw.
How are the cups doing now? Two days ago, I saw on YouTube that the health condition of the cups was not good.
What an amazing job each of you have! To be able to roam the bush daily with all these exceptional animals and birds…,.and to have a lioness and her cubs lay down within 6 to 10 feet of your rover for restful shade is absolutely priceless!
I love these lion family stories. I’ve been fortunate enough to follow a lion family in Kenya for 12 days and a lot of drama and cuteness occurred. There’s so much going on which a lot of tourists don’t realize. I hope to one day visit Londolozi. It looks like a place I really would like to be.
👌
Oh wow, that was a great encounter! Those cubs in the mud are adorable and the Male is clearly not having it with the cubs antics, that made me laugh 🙂
Seeing the many facets of a lions life can be fun-filled but also disparaging. As much as it’s normal for animals in the bush to not live glamorously, having to watch them drink water amidst trudging through the thick of the mud is heart breaking. The healing aspect of the pictures is seeing the character they display especially in their facial expressions. – It gives much perspective.
Hi James. Interesting to see the slight lifting of the lips in the Dad as that cub insists on pestering him! It is amazing how long suffering these fathers can be! Not always, but mostly. Wendy M
Terrific post, James! I especially love the photos of the cubs trying to ambush the Othawa male. It reminds me of my brother and I attempting a similar maneuver with our father!