Last night I went out to look for some lions. My guests were really looking forward to seeing one (or more). So I went out to areas where my fellow rangers had seen lions or their tracks that morning. I came up with nothing for a long time until me and Calvin found evidence of a lionkill being dragged over a road. The tracks were leading straight towards a drainage line where some lions were supposed to be, including a female with young cubs. Tracking on foot was not possible, those lions would be very serious if we would have come too close to their new offspring, so we decided to take the vehicles in. As Calvin moved into the bush I decided to go down the road a bit to check out a small waterhole there. Because if the lions have eaten, they might be hungry.
As I get to the water my tracker Steven get excited and points towards the inflow of the dam and there is an adult female with her two two month old cubs having a drink. One of the cubs was shy and moved into cover quickly, the other stayed with his mum to check out this new experience with curiosity. We were rewarded with a good few minutes in the sighting until the mother decided it was enough and lead her little ones away.
Story by: Roel van Muiden-Kapama River Lodge Ranger