Above: The female lioness is a ruthless hunter which
hunts virtually anything
Right: Male lions are territorial
creatures that often live in groups, or prides, to help fend their lionesses
from other male lions. |
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| One of the highlights of a trip to Africa is
seeing a lion up close and in the wild. On our safari in Masai Mara, we saw
many lions. Ironically, it's actually the lion's female counterpart the lioness
who is the true hunter in the family. The mane-covered male lion is not,
contrary to popular belief, the savage slayer of prey. While lions have a
reputation of being vicious barbarians and "kings of the jungle", in truth they
are actually quite lazy creatures. Being a cat owner, I drew a parallel of
traits between the lions I saw in Kenya and my very own house cat, Muski in the
sense that sitting around in one spot for hours upon hours, getting up every
now and then to eat or stretch seems to be the ideal way to spend the day.
While I was maybe hoping for the lions to put on more of an exhibition, it was
this lackadaisical attitude which made lions so easy to see. You could simply
drive the van right up to a lion, stick your camera out the window and they
would just sit there and stare at you, almost as if they were saying, "go ahead
- take my picture". In fact, very little to no zoom has been used on all of
these pictures. Being a proud August born Leo myself, I was sure to get many
shots of the revered beasts. These are the pick of the bunch. |
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