Best Lion Siting

Best Lion siting....

....in the Okavango Delta

Having spent the most fantastic afternoon watching a leopard, we were heading back towards camp, with the sun about to set and sundowners on our minds, when our guide Ice wanted to take a detour...... 'If you're happy to, I'd like to have a look over here, the local pride of lions has been sited earlier today and I just heard something' he said, we all immediately agreed and he quickly deviated off the track heading deeper into the bush. Sure enough within a few minutes we came across this lioness (right) looking well fed and relaxing in the long grass....

We carried on a bit further and came across the most remarkable sight ever, a beautiful lioness with her gorgeous 3 cubs. The guides had thought some cubs had been born in the pride but this was the first time anyone had seen them, apparently the pride was made up of 2 male lions and 10 lionesses

Ice reckoned the cubs were about 3 weeks old and it was probably the first time they had been brought out into the open. This is such a precarious time for them. We also realised the other lioness nearby wasn't just relaxing but also keeping an eye out for any danger to help protect the cubs.

.....and as if this wasn't enough, while we were watching the lioness and her cubs we heard a loud roar from behind us and turned to see a fabulous male lion approaching another lioness with only one thing on his mind!!

We stayed there for ages, watching the magnificent male lion mating and the gorgeous cubs playing as the sun set behind us, it really had been the most magical afternoon. We were so reluctant to leave and it was was dark by the time we left as can be seen by the pictures of the cubs below!!

It was impossible to decide which way to turn, a beautiful lioness and her cubs feeding and playing on one side and a magnificent male lion with definite plans on the other......

This film always makes us smile, not just because of the beautiful lions but because the reason they had looked up was because they could hear a large group of noisy tourists getting out of a truck about half a mile away across the savanna on the main track. They were probably just stopping for a celebratory sundowner at the end of their day but were totally oblivious of what was going on so close by.... However for us it was perfect as they had managed to wake up this striking pair of lions up for us!!

Meanwhile a few yards away, with the temperature dropping quickly as the sun set, the cubs had decided it was time to play.... it was virtually dark by this time but we were in no rush to leave...

We had noticed that all the lions looked really healthy and well fed and we discovered the reason why when we heard a loud crushing noise coming from behind some bushes, we headed in the direction of the sound, and sure enough there was another female feeding on the remains of the day's kill!!

The sun had set and sadly it time to say goodbye to the lions and head back to camp, after what really had been the most exceptional afternoon......