Wild Adventures Blog
Journey to the wild
Coming in strong
Understading animal movements and behaviours can provide you with exceptionally rewarding sightings. This was the case for me this week.
I stumbled on some lionesses and cubs walking hastily down a road towards me. They were still a fair distance away from me. I anticipated their intended direction and headed back to reposition. I decided to position myself off the road, further back and parallel to their movement. As I stood waiting I saw two giraffe standing close to me. One of the lionesses increased her movement to a trot.
I assumed that she saw the giraffe too. As she approached, a troop of baboons in the trees above saw her and started alarm calling frantically. The giraffe immediately noticed the lioness and ran for cover.
The female failed and ceased the hunt. She continued along the path in the same direction, followed by the rest of the pride.
I followed behind the pride and a little way down the road they side stepped into the bush. I drove further ahead and stopped near an opening in the thicket. Without waiting too long I saw the first female appear through the thicket. The rest followed.
These lions were on a mission and I could see that they were in no way going to stop or change their course. Ahead of me was a large cutline and alongside it was a spacious opening in the thicket. Without a doubt the lions would head for that opening and then cross the cutline to their destination.
I wasted no time and moved well ahead of the felines, anticipating their approach. This minor calculation paid off and sooner than later all the lions emerged from the block and aproached me head on. One by one they walked straight towards me and then veered off at the last moment to continue their journey.
It was an incredible moment. The feeling felt from watching each lion stare me down before considering their movement past me is beyond words.
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These are FANTASTIC shots!
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Thank you Anne
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