These were the three adjectives that came to my mind when I saw this young male Lion displaying his sharp claws. He was very wet and very dirty when we encountered the Thanda North Pride on our morning game drive.
I want that stick!
Dedication is everything. One of Thanda’s youngest Lion was jumping over his uncle to get to his brother and retrieve the small wooden stick that had been taken from him just a few seconds ago. Their sister was watching for a few moments before joining the game.
Morning Drink Stop
The Thanda North Pride stopped for a morning drink at a small dam on the savanna area. The cubs are now almost a year old and their aunts and uncles almost two, but all of them were very playful this morning. A great sighting!
Romeo and Juliet
The guests on my vehicle thought it was a bit like Romeo and Juliet, the Montgues and the Capulets.
One of our Lionesses had split away from the pride and was obviously looking for a mate. But the perfectly good dominant male Lion provided by the Thanda management was not of her choosing!
She had an eye on one of the male Lions on the neighboring property. After she roared for a while he came to the fence and then walked up and down with her for a while.
But, as in the Shakespeare play, “a happy end” was not possible and after a while both of them went their own way.
Our Lioness re-joined her own pride the next day and looked again content in her familiar surroundings. And … as we have a lot of Lions already … it was a good thing that she did not mate at this stage!
A good stretch!
If one gets up at 6:30 in the morning a good stretch is in order.
Well, the dominant male Lion on Thanda Private Game Reserve thought so, too.
Before he started for his morning walk he got himself aligned for the day 🙂
Pride Rock
Thanda’s Lions have their own pride rock 🙂
In the late afternoon two Thanda North Pride youngsters were overlooking the northern part of Thanda with the Lebombo Mountains in the background.
We often stop at this beautiful spot with our guests for a drink stop at dusk. Needless to say on this day we went to an alternate location 🙂
Have a good weekend!
Big Five in One Drive !
What a day – During today’s evening game drive we saw all the Big Five – Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Rhino and Buffalo. The Thanda guests were delighted – and so was I 🙂
Growing fast!
I remember Thanda’s North Pride Lion cubs when they were not even four month old; small little cats with tiny teeth, small claws and a very playful nature.
Well, the only thing that is left is the playful nature 🙂
With almost one year of age they have quite formidable teeth and claws and they can play already very rough. They are still youngster, fully depended on mum and the pride to provide food, but they will start learning the hunting trade soon.
This one was keeping an eye on the Thanda guests on my vehicle while the rest of the pride was sleeping after a night’s hunt.
Concentration!
This Lion cub was concentrating hard on the “toy-stick”. He got so upset with the branch that he even used his claws!
Have a good weekend and relax 🙂
Not your best day!
Imagine you are a Lion!
You are feeding on a Zebra kill and you had already a lot to eat. So it is a bit hard to move with your full belly. And just as you feel ready for a snooze a herd of Buffalo is crashing the dinner site of your family. They chase all of you around a bit.
You climb a tree and find out that the tree you chose was not high enough.
You growl at the Buffalo and they get even more agitated than they already were.
At the right moment you jump out of the tree and you flee to the next tree.
There you wait until the annoying bulls and cows are gone.
Only then can you re-join your other eight family members (coming down from other trees) to continue the meal and the now well deserved snooze.
Not your best day!
A very special sighting at Thanda Private Game Reserve 🙂
Christian Sperka Photography | Custom Luxury Tours 