26.7.10

lions, lions, lions

Owen and me went out early morning, Sophie, my car set for him, all his gears nicely tide, ready to roll.
After getting to the river drive we soon spotted tracks on the road, we followed them, we lost them, we went back and far far away we noticed a giraffe staring at something, ten lions were slowly walking down towards the water from a couple of km away. All what we could see was painted gold by the early morning light and so were the lions. I placed the car in the direction of their walk and we waited them to come. They came and went on so we drove the road closer to the river and intercepted them again. This a pride that does not belong entirely to this area, they come stay few hours and disappear again, they are a sort of semi nomadic pride, they are all lean and muscular, they are long distance walkers.
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We left them on the river and we went on the upper road towards r23, other tracks on the road... we followed them again and this time we went to the end, lions feeding on a buffalo killed in the night, two males are there, the light still amazing, the usual growling is on even if some of them are already fed. We leave also this pride and we go east, other tracks and other lions, 6 lioness walk on the road in our same direction, they moved soon towards the river and so we did anticipating them on the middle road, they arrived and they went on so we anticipatedthem again on the river road, again they arrived and went sleeping on the bank, again we left towards the beginning of the first forest.

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On the other side of the river there is a lioness, the rest of her pride is barely visible on our side. She goes alone, she wants impalas, she stalks, she moves swiftly into a drainage line and she waits, and we wait, an impala is coming, closer and closer again and there she is, a yellow lightening out of the ditch, she is fast but the impala even more, for a matter of inches it goes off, leaving a panting lioness behind.
Later in the afternoon we got the two males of this morning buff, they are now in the river bed, one crosses the water and almost waked over a small croc, the went on the sand and layed down closing for us a stunning lion's day.

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