It was halfway through the second day in the Kruger National Park. We were desperately looking for a stopover, a place where we could get a bathroom. In the Kruger, you cannot just stop, get out of your car, and go to the bathroom wherever you feel like it. Reaching the end of a rather long stretch, we needed to make a choice: go straight or turn left. Both ways, straight and left, had a stop at around 20km away. You can only really drive 40km per hour, so that is another 30 minutes...
So, we decided to turn left, take the chance, and then we saw something walking toward our car, two or three lions. We had the best view in the house, as behind the two lions various cars stood, on the lookout for the same view we had. We did not look for these lions, we were looking for a bathroom, but now we had the best view...
As we stood still, everyone in a desperate need for a bathroom, it seemed that the lions were getting ready to hunt antelope. The youngest of the lions bent down, looking at something in the distance...
Here is a short video of the moment:
Then we saw it was a whole pack of young male Lions. Not all lions get the magical mane hair they are known for, as only the apex males get them. The younger lions at first do not get them, so they actually look like females. But some of the lions were female, as they are known for their hunting skills.
As you can also see on the lion below, they are tracked. I am not a 100% sure why they do this, or what the purpose is. But we saw multiple lions with these tracking devices on.
Because the lions were so close to the car, I could also get pretty close up to them. Even though it does not show much, I really liked how these close up photographs came out. The detail on the lion's ear is pretty cool, and the tooth barely visible in the top-left photograph is also pretty interesting.
Looking into the eyes of these beasts, these magical creatures, these wonderful animals, you feel a sense of sadness, as you can almost feel every scar and every painful fight. These animals live harsh lives, and I am not sure if human nature was this harsh anyone would have survived. But somehow these animals survive...
And just like that, we almost forgot we needed to go to the bathroom. But we did not forget, as our bladders did not like the current situation.
The problem was that we could not drive, as there were so many cars, and then the lions being in the middle of the road made it almost impossible to drive.
But luckily the moment lasted only about 10 minutes, then the lions were off into the thicket, in the bushveld, and most of the cars also left.
We still had 20 minutes to sit... Or 30 minutes...
And it just goes to show, if you look for something, you will probably not find it (as we were looking for lions) but when you stop looking for it, it will appear (as we were looking for a bathroom, these lions appeared). In the end, we have yet another story to tell surrounding the Kruger!
For now, happy photographing, and keep well.
All of the musings and writings are my own, albeit inspired by these lions. The photographs are also my own, taken with my Nikon D300 and Tamron 300mm zoom lens.