When we left the lodge this morning it was really warm and I thought it was going to be a very quiet drive, since most animals normally hide away from the heat. Halfway through drive however, we heard monkeys calling in a drainage line. One of my guests saw a lioness stalking a young giraffe and after we went closer we saw her sister still asleep not to far away.
When the lioness was about eight meters away, the giraffe saw her, and ran away in a cloud of dust! The lioness immediately changed direction and chased after some warthog babies about 100 meters away… she had missed three times when the smallest of the piglets changed direction and unknowingly, ran straight towards the sleeping lioness.
We have lost sight of the lions for a while, and after relocating them again a couple of minutes later, we found that the sleeping lioness had succeeded to catch the warthog piglet that was running towards her.
As we arrived she was busy pulling the warthog apart while the other lioness was watching her from a short distance away. She was licking her lips in anticipation, even though she must have known she was not going to get even a scrap of meat from her sister, because in the bush, it is all about survival and only the strongest and fittest will survive.
Story by: Richard Venter-Kapama River Lodge Ranger
