Spending time with the big cats of the bush is one of my favourite past times. My tracker, Given, and I were tracking one of the female lions that roam across the southern parts of the reserve. The lactating mother of three was on a hunt – we could pick it up in the tracks and signs that she left us. After about an hour of tracking, we could feel the suspense rising.

The anticipation had ended. We found her at last. The events unfolding in the next thirty minutes will stay imprinted in the lives of my guests as well as myself. As we pulled in to view the female we saw some vulnerable warthogs, not to far from where we were now.

We were treated by the bush on this particular day – finding this amazing creature whom we could spend enough time with to see her go through her motions from the start to the end of the stalk, the chase and eventually the end result, the kill. With emotions flaring we ended our safari on a high note!

Lions are truly the king of the African bush.

F.W de Klerk
19/05/2012