Thursday, September 17, 2009

Watch out, lion coming through!

Of course, what most people come to see when they travel to the Mara are the lions. As the wildebeest, zebra and other game come through, these kings of the savannah are out in force.
I got particularly close to a pride this year after there was a kill just behind our camp.
It turned out that the pride had killed in another pride's territory and the next morning there was a vicious chase right through the middle of our camp as two males saw off a group of 10, including a number of very young males.
This beautiful adult male, whom we dubbed Eric the Red, shot right past my tent in hot pursuit of the invaders. There was a huge commotion amongst the staff at the camp as they shouted and banged saucepans loudly in an effort to 'shoo' the lions out. Two Masai warriors, paid to 'guard' us, set off after the lions, armed with their spears.
Here are two of the invading pride that got separated from the others in the fray. Thankfully the pride managed to regroup by the end of the day. The younger lions would have certainly been killed by the older two had they not got away.


3 comments:

  1. Must be a fantastic experience Robert, if you keep your nerve!

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  2. ooh bet that was a bit scary! Fantastic shots and a wonderful incident, good job it ended safely

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  3. Yes, fortunately I was quite safe in the car, but the heart was pounding a bit...

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