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Nick Tennick

Contributor

Nick has always loved the outdoors and never turns down an opportunity for an adventure. After finishing high school in Johannesburg, where he grew up, Nick spent a gap year in the Zimbabwean bushveld which truly sparked his love for wildlife and conservation ...

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27 Comments

on Tree Climbing Lions of Londolozi – Are Lions Good Climbers?

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Denise Vouri
Guest contributor

Thanks for the update Nick. I know climbing lions are often seen in Kenya and Tanzania, in part so they can find shade and keep away from the pesky flies. Throughout my travels in Southern Africa, I’ve never seen a lion in a tree, but it makes sense I suppose, if the grasses are tall or they’re escaping another predator. Perhaps it will happen more often.

Nick Tennick
Contributor

Lions do climb trees in South Africa, a lot more often than we observe. They have the ability to do so and in certain circumstances they don’t have the choice but to take to the tree tops.

Mark Ceres
Explorer

WOW great lion in tree photos. I see you were shooting at 1/8000. Is it necessary to shoot so fast. I shot birds in flight at a much lower speed. I will be there in June and want to learn as much as possible in advance.
Thanks
Mark

Nick Tennick
Contributor

Hi Mark, Thanks for the comment.

It was not necessary to have my shutter speed that high to capture the movement of the lion coming down the tree. A shutter speed of 1/1000 would have sufficed. However, due to poor lighting from an overcast day and the shadow cast from the tree, I boosted my ISO in Aperture priority mode. Hope that helps.

Chelsea Allard
Master Tracker

Certainly not as graceful as leopard, but A+ for effort nonetheless! This is a sighting I’d welcome any day.

Nick Tennick
Contributor

Hi Chelsea, thanks for the comment. We had a lucky day coming across this sighting.

William Paynter
Master Tracker

Lions are not the most graceful climbers as your videos show, but they are capable. Thanks for the update Nick.

Nick Tennick
Contributor

Its my Pleasure, William.

Suzanne Gibson
Guest contributor

I remember seeing 1 of the Tsalala sisters (think it was the younger tailless one) climb a tree in 2011. She didn’t go very high and made quite a meal of getting up and back down – definitely a million miles away from the grace of a leopard. I hope they don’t develop a taste for it, as I don’t want a repeat of Plaque Rock’s close shave or the Piva male’s death.

Nick Tennick
Contributor

Hi Suzanne, thanks for the comment and sharing your special sighting. What a cool memory! Although it provides us with incredible sightings, we don’t want lions to get to comfortable climbing trees and stealing Leopard kills.

Valmai Vorster
Master Tracker

Nick thanks for sharing the videos of tree climbing lions. They are certainly not graceful clinbers and certainly cannot come down gracefully like the leopards do. But much to our amusement we enjoyed watching the videos.

Nick Tennick
Contributor

Hi Valmai! Im thrilled you enjoyed the videos of the tree climbing lions.

Bob and Lucie Fjeldstad
Guest contributor

Wow … those videos are amazing!!!

Nick Tennick
Contributor

Thanks Bob and Lucie.

Christa Blessing
Master Tracker

Great photos and video of this tree climbing lioness, Nick.
I have seen lions in trees in Tanzania and I think Botswana as well.
And of course in that great video from Londolozi which you also included in your blog. I love watching that video time and again

Nick Tennick
Contributor

Thanks Christa! Im so glad you enjoyed watching the videos both old and new from Londolozi.

Francesca Doria
Master Tracker

Hi Nick, those young ladies are really funny and amazingly beautiful and expressive. Their seem to smile, are like teenagers having fun. I would choose them in a week in pictures selection. Behaviour evolves in a way to favour survival , so maybe they will have more chances in the future, without harming leopards i hope

Nick Tennick
Contributor

Thanks for the comment Francesca! They were really entertaining that day and I always enjoy seeing animals different behaviour from day to day. Luckily leopards still hold the crown of best climbers which keeps them out of harms way for the most part.

Michael and Terri Klauber
Guest contributor

Nick, Thanks for sharing the amazing tree-climbing lions! You are right, they may be able to climb the trees, but getting down is another story!

Nick Tennick
Contributor

Thanks for the comment Michael and Terri.

Anita Santoro
Senior Digital Ranger

The lioness escaping the hyena…was she injured? Any idea why she waited so long to get away from them (letting them surround her)? Hopefully that was a good ending for her!

Nick Tennick
Contributor

Hi Anita, That picture was from a different sighting but used to explain why lionesses would climb a tree. In that particular case, there was a zebra carcass that had been stolen by a clan of Hyenas and the lioness was trying to recover her meal. She was unharmed in the ordeal!

Lisa Antell
Master Tracker

Lions in trees are always exciting…..unless you are the leopard above them! Even though we know that leopards are far more graceful in trees, it always is comical to see a lion really struggling to come down a tree….you would think the basic instinct to turn around and back down would be a given!

Nick Tennick
Contributor

Hi Lisa, Thanks for the comment. I respect the lions for attempting to get up and down the tree even though it was very entertaining to watch.

Kara Taylor
Master Tracker

How very cool to see that. Very ungraceful dissent. Lol. Leopards make it look so easy.

Nick Tennick
Contributor

Leopards make it look so easy indeed Kara! Thanks for the comment.

Paul Canales
Master Tracker

Incredible sighting and images of the Styx loiness in the Marula tree! I also loved revisiting the videos from previous posts of lions in trees. Excellent post Nick!!

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