We catch up to Colin later the same day to find his vehicle parked in the midst of a pride of lions. It is evident that this group has just killed something large enough to feed a crowd, and they are sated and quite relaxed. In fact, I don’t think I have ever seen animals quite as relaxed as these dozing lions. They lie sprawled in the dappled sunlight on their backs, lolling about. They are a jumble of manes and paws and tails and ears and fur, and it is hard to tell where one begins and another ends. An occasional tail switches away a fly, and they roll over and switch sides periodically, but they are not in the least bothered by or threatened by us. One big male still has blood on his chest and mane. There are cubs of three different ages… Some rather small, others with that awkward gangly teen thing going on. A lioness dozes apart from the group until several of the cubs come over to try to nurse. She snarls at them, but they persist. She eventually gets up, bares her teeth at them, and escorts them over to another lioness, who licks them as they lean against her. They all fall back asleep. We can’t believe we have seen two big cats, with cubs, in a single morning. Click any of the thumbnails below to get to a slideshow that you can see all of them.
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