On Safari - Wounded Pride

As you may recall from earlier posts, during my African Safari I had the opportunity to follow a small lion pride over the course of several days. On the Ngala property there are three different prides of lions that crisscross much of the territory. It seems that this property was on the edge of their territories and thus none of the three prides staked it out as core territory. The largest of the prides, the Birmingham pride numbers over 20 different lions. Unfortunately, they were spending most of their time in the Kruger National Park during my visit so I did not get a chance to see them. The smallest of the three groups with several new, young males were looking to take over an existing pride. These young rogue males also didn't make an appearance during my visit. The lions I did get a chance to see were a pride of four lions: One adult lioness and her three sub adult children. We encountered them at three separate times during my visit. The first encounter (documented in my post "On Safari - Part One") involved them stalking a herd of impala.



The second encounter involved us following them through some very heavy brush. Despite the thickness of the brush, I was able to get some nice views but you can definitely tell they were not too keen on us being that close!



The third and final encounter with this pride was at the far side of the property as they came down to drink at a water hole in the early morning.




We had heard reports that they had been involved with a carcass in the overnight hours. No one was able to tell if they had made a kill and this was their carcass or if they were trying to steal it from some other predator. The result was that there had clearly been a battle over this carcass. When we caught up with this pride, we observed that the mother lioness had certainly taken the brunt of a very significant fight. As you can see from these images, she had some significant wounds to her flank and her head. What the still images don't show is that she was walking remarkably easily given the nature of her wounds. Those of us with less experience were concerned that these wounds might indeed prove fatal to her. However, our ranger assured us that such wounds while certainly running the risk of infection usually would not be fatal. Another concern brought up by these wounds is if the matriarch of this pride was wounded, would it impact her ability to make sure that her sub adult children could survive to adulthood with the hunting skills they needed. Only time will truly tell.

 One thing this encounter clearly demonstrates is that life in the African bush is never easy. Those of us who do not encounter the drama of the African bush on a daily basis easily forget that hunting for your food each day is not without great peril. Aside from the dangers inherent in killing prey that does not want to be killed, there's also the risk of dealing with confrontation from other predators who want what you may have. The story of this lion pride and my visits with them clearly shows the grittier side of Mother Nature. As much as we may want it to seem like it's a Disney movie, survival often has a rather R-rated script to it.

On Safari - Leopard Sighting!

Click  in the image to see the high resolution version 

This post brings us to the afternoon of day three of my visit to the Ngala Safari Lodge in South Africa. As you have seen from my previous postings, I had a great deal of success seeing a wide range of African animals. At this stage of the trip, two animals were missing from my list of the “Big Five”. These two animals were rhinos and leopards. I had been lucky enough to see rhinos on several occasions during previous visits to Africa, so they were less of a priority for me. However, my previous visits had yielded only a short glimpse of a wild leopard. Shortly before sunset we got a call over the radio from another ranger that a young male leopard had been spotted with an impala carcass in a tree. The challenge for us was to get there before the sun went down. The leopard sighting was estimated to be approximately 20 minutes away and under perfect conditions we might just get there before sunset. Our ranger drove with great determination to beat the clock and get us this leopard sighting before darkness fell. Upon our arrival, we were able to see the leopard about 20 feet up in a leadwood tree tending to his carcass. 

Click  in the image to see the high resolution version 

The faint light was less than perfect for photography. Rather than let this opportunity pass me by, I reached into my camera bag, put on my high-powered flash, played with some settings, and hoped for the best. The images that you see here certainly have some flaws, but they accurately capture the excitement of those special moments. 
Upon our arrival, we noticed that in addition to the leopard in the tree with his carcass two hyenas had camped out under the tree and were vocally harassing the leopard hoping that his inexperience would cause him to drop the carcass down for them and they could feast. The leopard fed on the carcass for a while, seemingly oblivious to the hyenas. However, after a while he turned and wandered down the tree aways and let them know that he was none too pleased with their presence. 

Click  in the image to see the high resolution version 

When he finally came all the way down, he gave the hyenas distance and they gave him distance. The leopard moved away from the tree and off into the grass. 

Click  in the image to see the high resolution version 

We then headed back to camp and the dinner that awaited us. We made plans to return to this tree the following morning in the hopes of a better opportunity to photograph this beautiful leopard in action. Unfortunately, the carcass slipped out of the tree overnight and the hyenas had their fill of it. Even though I missed a chance to shoot the “Young Tom” leopard in the morning light, I held out hope that the final days of my Safari experience would yield another good leopard sighting. I'm happy to report I was not disappointed. Please coming back soon to get the full story of a future leopard sighting!

YARNARITAS!

Happy Friday! 

A while back my wife and I were talking about our particular artistic passions and came to the conclusion that it might be fun to combine them in some way. As a Blue Lion Blog reader, you know that I my passion lies in the world of photography, but you may not know that my wife is a very accomplished knitter. I am perpetually amazed at how she can take yarn and convert it into stunning creations. I’m also amazed that she can knit while doing other things like watching TV. 

On this particular day we noticed the color scheme of a set of margarita glasses we own has a complementary color palette to some yarn she was working with. Within a few minutes we had created our first “Yarnaritas”!

Click in either image to see the High resolution version

 
Here on Friday, feel free to enjoy your Yarnarita by the glass or by the pitcher! 

CHEERS & have a fantastic weekend!