When we think about a “big cat in a tree”, we automatically think of a leopard and sometimes forget that even the bigger cats, like the lions, are also able to scale up large trees!

Lions will climb up into tree for various reasons, some being, to perhaps steal a kill that has been hoisted by a leopard and another reason would be to escape the wrath of an angry herd of buffalo. It is seldom seen as lions struggle to come down from the trees due to being much heavier than a leopard. And as the age old saying goes “ What goes up must come down”, so it is just easier for them to stay on the ground.

Westley Lombard

Senior Ranger

Kapama Main Lodge