It was a warm Friday afternoon in Kapama. My guests and I were on the trail of lions. My tracker, Lot, got the tracks and we followed them for quite some time, at least an hour and a half, when we were about to give up thinking all hope was lost.

Then, we heard the call over the radio saying that the pride was found at one of the dams. So I called in to respond as fast as I could and started making my way to the area. The sun was setting and I knew we had to get to the pride as soon as possible, but what I didn’t know was that there was a monster of a two-track fraught with danger.

There were thorn bushes and big trees curving all along this tiny two-track that was curving from left to right. So I put the vehicle into 4 x 4 and told my guests to brace themselves and keep vigilant. As we slowly made our way towards the lions we heard tiny moans coming from the little infant cubs. Hiding in the grass was the king of the jungle with his three female lionesses and their three cubs of around six months old as well as their six new cubs, only around one or two months old.

It was a spectacular sighting and everybody was happy. I’m hoping to see more of these new cubs and monitor how they grow to become prominent hunters.

Pieter – Kapama River Lodge
12/08/2012