Lions on a kill

Cecil

(Andrew) Adrenaline pumped through my veins hearing the baboons’ alarm calls followed by zebras’. Many predators were the suspects of the crime; lions, a leopard and the rare chance of wild dogs. A lion was guilty of the noise. A single, solitary, hungry lioness was sulking around failing to catch prey. She had a big, raw wound on her backside. Her bloody gash made her pride kick her out until it healed. She was hunting alone, so she didn’t have much luck, her skinny powerful body looked even frail in her tired condition. Her small feline ears were darting around like scared fish. Her appearance looked grim and melancholy. While inside the car, I felt: surprised, joyful, and scared out of my mind. All of my senses were overwhelmed; I could smell the cool forest air, see a hungry lioness,leaves crunching and baboons barking, taste the dampness in the air and feel the emotions of the hungry, hurting, depressed, desperate lioness. The tension in the air was throbbing against my flesh. God must have pitied this killing machine because there was a snap and a female baboon and her kid fell out of a Mopane tree. I could feel the excitement level skyrocket. The lion did what all cats do best, POUNCE. Boy did that cat pounce. The baboon sucked in her complete terror and leapt into the nearest tree, a thorn tree. It all happened so quickly, the lioness’s cat-like reflexes acted up and she launched into the Camel Thorn Acacia. Hearing the surprised and painful cry of the baboon, I knew the train of her life had come to an end. The primate’s frantic pleas sent a pang of sadness through me. The lioness clamped on the unlucky baboon until it was still. A mournful silence crept into the air. I felt happy for the lioness but extremely bad for the now dead baboon. The lioness then dragged the corpse over to a thicket and began to chow down. Soon enough her face was soaked in baboon blood. We left the site after witnessing a lion kill.
We were so lucky.
The baboon wasn’t.

Lions and jackal clash over kill
Posted on 20 February, 2014 by Guest Blogger  in Wildlife 
Posted: February 20, 2014

Written by: Corlette Wessels
I arrived at a watering hole in the Kgalagadi early one morning to find four lions eating a hartebeest kill that they made the night before. They were surrounded by jackal, I counted 14 at one point.
I was amazed by the bravery of these jackal as they tried to steal meat from the kill while the big male lion was still eating. The way they strategised and changed tactics to get a piece of the kill was amazing. Then a very brave little jackal got in on the action, taking an entire leg and running off with it, however one of the lionesses came over, chased the jackal and took back the leg. By now the jackal was so irritated that he started to fight with some of the other jackals that were standing around. The jackals never gave up, they stayed around and kept on trying to take some from the kill. Here are the photos of the event:









- See more at: http://africageographic.com/blog/lions-and-jackal-clash-over-kill/#sthash.lwwsKHjP.dpuf

I have been very lucky in my life to have witnessed predators with their kills on a number of occasions. It is always an awe-inspiring, though not necessarily a pleasant, sight. However at Sanbona Wildlife Reserve, I was privileged to approach lions on foot.
How it happened…
We had set off in search of cheetah and lion which tend to hang around a certain area of Sanbona Wildlife Reserve. We first saw a cheetah beautifully silhouetted on the ridge in the morning sun, checking out the terrain for a possible meal. Soon afterwards we had seen a young male cheetah with a freshly bloodied mouth – but no sign of the kill. After searching for the kill, our ranger Marko felt that perhaps the nearby lion pride had taken the kill from the cheetah – a not uncommon habit for lions.
We were joined by a second vehicle as we started searching for the lions. A couple of times the two rangers left the vehicles to check for spoor. The second time they said that they had found them but that the vehicles could not get there.

*This image is copyright of its original author

Tracking white lions at a kill in Sanbona Wildlife Reserve
‘Would we like to approach on foot?’ What a question. Of course! But I did not do this lightly. Very strict instructions on silence, slow movement and absolute adherence to ranger instructions were given by Marko and we set off in single file. We approached the lions very carefully and were rewarded with the sight of several white and tawny lions feasting on a red hartebeest carcass.
The lions were well aware of our presence and looked straight at us. It was quite unnerving and not for the faint-hearted. Marko had said earlier that if he asked us to back away – if they started to become too interested in us -  we were to turn around and show our backs to the lions as a clear signal to them that we were leaving. I could understand the logic but it was quite something to turn your back on a lion when you knew they were checking you out. But that was what we did and quietly we retreated back to the vehicle. Call me a wimp but I was the first one behind the ranger!
What an amazing encounter at Sanbona Wildlife Reserve!

Lions lay claim at Limpopo-Lipadi
Posted on 5 March, 2015 by Guest Blogger  in Animal Encounters
Posted: March 5, 2015
 
Three wild lions that have been roaming the Tuli area in southern Botswana have entered the Limpopo-Lipadi Private Game Reserve and settled down to claim their territory. The lions (two young males and one thought to be a mature female) are very skittish and keep to themselves, but have now been seen on a few occasions.
Greg Canning, operations manager at Limpopo-Lipadi, says: “We have been planning to introduce lions in any case, so these lions are very welcome. They will assist our existing good populations of leopards, wild dogs and hyenas to maintain sustainable prey species populations.”
The lions entered the reserve after one of the fences was damaged when a drainage line came down in flood. Limpopo-Lipadi has a full time fence maintenance team but the lions got in before the fence was fixed.
The lion tracks were found during a routine anti-poaching patrol but the lions are very shy and avoided contact with our anti-poaching patrol and subsequent tracking teams.

© Simon Espley
Shareholder Simon Espley visited the reserve a few days after the lions arrived and set out on foot with a tracker, to find them.

© Simon Espley
Says Espley: “We spent the better part of two days following the lions of foot, but they always stayed just far enough away to avoid being seen in the thick bush. On a few occasions we were very close, judging by the vocalisations, smell, very fresh tracks and alarm calls from other animals. Eventually we found a very fresh giraffe kill, with signs that we had disturbed the feeding lions. We backed off to let them settle and shareholders monitoring that kill (and other recent kills) have now seen the lions on a few occasions.”

© Simon Espley

© Ted Newton
Shareholders and management at Limpopo-Lipadi hope the lions will settle down and stay in the reserve.

© Bugs van Heerden

© Bugs van Heerden

© Bugs van Heerden
- See more at: http://africageographic.com/blog/lions-lay-claim-at-limpopo-lipadi/#sthash.hboq7g6t.dpuf

Masai Mara: Enter The Lions Den
Oct 7, 2013


the lion is the king in the Masa Mara
Lions are the top predator in the Masai Mara , where almost every other animal is a dinner. So it was fascinating on this safari to witness a lion chase, and a large pride eating together. This was my second visit, so knew the great wildlife spectacle to come. The Masai Mara did not disappoint, with a large male lion and his pride feasting on the remains of a buffalo kill that was seen the night before.

*This image is copyright of its original author

Leaving the lions to eat the remains, you continued driving through the African savannah. Plenty of zebra and antelope were spotted, as well as a huge herd of buffalo and wildebeast. The best thing was to find a cheetah, trying to cool of from the heat in the shade of a bush.  The cheetah is such an elegant cat, the fastest land animal, and is always exciting to find one.

*This image is copyright of its original author

The cheetah moved closer into the shade and let out a big yawn as it relaxed, getting ready to take a nap.

*This image is copyright of its original author

Further on, driving through more herds of zebra and wildebeast, a fast movement was spotted running in the distance. It was a lion chasing a zebra. Racing to the scene the zebra escaped, and the lioness was panting hard. But with so many herds around, the lioness is soon stalking another group of zebra. You shadow the movements off the lioness for twenty minutes from around thirty metres away, watching her drop in and out of the bush stalking.

*This image is copyright of its original author

The lion chase in the Masai Mara
The first group of zebras spotted her(zebras have excellent eyesight), and run away shouting warnings to the others. A group further ahead didn’t notice the commotion and the lioness moved towards them.

*This image is copyright of its original author

Suddenly there was a burst of movement ahead, the chase was on. The lioness charged into the zebra, who ran for their lives. Arriving to see her exhausted in front of some zebra, she had not made a kill. Even though there was no kill, the sheer excitement of watching the stalking and the chase was amazing to see.

*This image is copyright of its original author

In hunger she ends up chasing away some vultures from a half eaten wildebeast. Picking it up and moving it into the shade, she probably wont eat it, lions like freshly killed meat, not rotting corpses.

*This image is copyright of its original author

Spotting another lioness a hundred metres away watching on, it became obvious that they were trying to work together to hunt, but just didn’t have the best plan for the recent hunt. The second lioness spots a young zebra walking not so far behind her, but even with all the good bush around as cover, she doesn’t bother giving chase.

*This image is copyright of its original author

Having seen buffalo kill the day before, and lions appearing everywhere, it really is the lions den in the Masai Mara. A safari there never disappoints.

frican Lion Feeding at African Buffalo Kill on Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya

Photo Essay – Anatomy of Lioness Kill in the Serengeti
12 September 2013 by Raul 5 Comments
During my trip Tanzania to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, I made time to do a safari.  We first visited Lake Manyara, then the Serengeti and at the end the Ngorongoro Crater.   Never in my wildest dreams did I think I was going to see a lion kill.  But that’s exactly what we got to see.  We saw two of them in progress, one with a solo lioness in the Serengeti and another with a trio of lionesses working together in the Ngorongoro Crater.
Lion kills are a slow thing with the beast slowly and deliberately moving to not alert the prey to their presence.  The trio of lionesses was way too slow and after like 45 minutes of watching them without them getting an inch closer to the target group, we moved on.  But the solo lioness was a different story.  Though it was taking a long time too, at least she was moving towards the target group (wildebeests, or “gnus“) so we hung in there.  And we were rewarded with quite a sight.  And the weird thing was, there were vehicles like ours all around (all of us silent, of course) and the presence of the vehicles did not seem to distract her from her focus on the target group and her cautious approach.  That probably was the most amazing thing for me!
So here is a series of photo from the moment we saw her until her moment of rest when it was all said and done…

*This image is copyright of its original author

A cute lioness just soaking up the sun in the Serengeti?

*This image is copyright of its original author

Nah! She is looking at the source of her next lunch: the wildebeest resting under an acacia!

*This image is copyright of its original author

The lioness lies very low, hidden in the tall grass. I lost sight of her a few times!

*This image is copyright of its original author

She is a beauty for sure! A tough beauty!

*This image is copyright of its original author

She is monitoring the wind so her scent does not carry to the wildebeest scouts who are away from the group to protect it

*This image is copyright of its original author

She pauses every now and then. Sometimes she sat there for 5 mins or more

*This image is copyright of its original author

She finally moves again. I am leaning on the roof of the vehicle without movement while we wait! My arm falls asleep…  We are ready to snap pictures the moment she makes the final run!

*This image is copyright of its original author

She goes low again and we lost her for a moment  This is the final stretch!

*This image is copyright of its original author

She is too fast and the chaos that ensues makes me lose her but here she is… she got a young one so she does not have to give chase.

*This image is copyright of its original author

The group of wildebeests (or gnus) flies off. I had followed the group thinking she went after them but she was already enjoying her prey under the tree.  Newbie me.

*This image is copyright of its original author

The lioness enjoy a moment in the shade enjoying her success. She is probably about to post a selfie in Instagram as she chews on her lunch

safariguideafrica
the Daily observations of an african Safari Guide in zimbabwe's game parks
african safari / African wildlife / conflict lion / human wildlife conflict / Lioneatcrocodile / Uncategorized / Wildlife photography
Lion kill crocodile
March 6, 2016 safariguideafricaLeave a comment
On an african safari most guests get to see some amazing wildlife sightings and some will experience the “most unique” and not often seen.




This large crocodile had been killed and eaten by the resident lions in the area. Measuring 13ft 6″ is the length of a medium size fishing boat
With an ever decreasing supply of game, the lion in the Matusadona, Bumi Hills area have adapted their prey to include the Nile Crocodile.



Puncture marks can be clearly seen in the throat area. The Lion kill by strangulation using their powerfull jaws to block the air intake.

Safeguarding his meal from the awaiting vultures.

A dramatic lion kill
Posted on 4 August, 2014 by Guest Blogger  in Animal Encounters
Posted: August 4, 2014
 
Written by: Claudia Hopf
When I was recently in Botswana’s Moremi Game Reserve I was lucky to see a lion kill, close up and from the very start.
We came upon a pride of lions sitting under a tree; there were four adult lionesses with eight youngsters. They started to get up and move in the direction of a buffalo herd.




However the buffaloes stood strong like a wall and the one lion jumped up on a tree as if to distract them.

While the buffalo were distracted the other lions found a weak buffalo and started to bite at its legs while one lion jumped at its neck.



I will never forget the cry of the buffalo and the fierceness of the lions as both animals were intertwined in a life and death struggle.




Eventually the buffalo fell down and the lions all quickly descended on it, bringing a quick death.





Exhausted the lions lay down to enjoy their meal and after “dinner” they lay around, barely moving with their full stomachs.



The next day the male lions had arrived to finish off what was left of the carcass and one female nursed the wounds that she herself had got from the ordeal.



- See more at: http://africageographic.com/blog/a-dramatic-lion-kill/#sthash.KW5Mgeap.dpuf

Here a male lion has stolen a kill made earlier by spotted hyaenas. Photo by Laura Smale.

Posted 27 February 2012 - 05:35 AM