Heading out - 04:09 pm

07 Oct 2008

Brad and I are going to head out for the afternoon to check on the lions. They will probably all be completely inert in what little shade there is. Will fill you in later.

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Lions feed at dawn while hooded vultures watch from above - 10:56 am

07 Oct 2008

Brad and Julie have just returned from a morning out with the lions that are still, as expected, on the elephant carcass. A whole bunch of hooded-vultures have arrived on the scene. These vultures are normally the first vultures to arrive and are always a good indicator of the presence of lions as they often feed on lion faeces. Revolting, but true.

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Working in the office tent - 09:48 am

07 Oct 2008

Working in the office tent. 

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Lions of Moremi is go go go - 08:17 am

07 Oct 2008

We have spent the past few days getting ourselves sorted. Rigging vehicles, packing equipment, putting systems in place. I will spend today in camp posting from here.

Brad and Julie meanwhile have headed out to find the lions that should still be feeding on the elephant kill. I wonder if the males have joined them yet. 

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Lions feed in evening light - 05:47 pm

06 Oct 2008

The lions killed not far from camp and I soon found them all feeding desperately.

The cubs, all so thin, already had completely distended bellies, but this does not seem to deter then from stuffing even more in there. 

I spent the evening watching the gory scene and am amazed at how quickly they all go from a cohesive, caring pride to a big pile of bloody squabbling lions.

This type of scene is never nice to watch, but there is nothing sinister about it. It is just the natural course of survival. One must die so another may live. 

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Not for sensitive viewers - seriously - 03:55 pm

06 Oct 2008

Brad and Julie have just returned to camp and by all accounts have had an exciting, if somewhat disturbing, day.

The lions have returned from the islands north of camp. They found them at midmorning in a pitiful state, all painfully thin. The cubs emaciated. 5 lionesses and 7 cubs were making their way south off Dead-tree island and the younger cubs could hardly walk fast enough to keep up with the pride, their skin sagging over ribs and pelvises. The lionesses had to keep waiting for the cubs to catch up and were themselves starving, refusing to let the desperate cubs suckle.

This pride, at full strength consisted of 6 lionesses, 2 pride males and 13 cubs of various ages born over a period of 6 months. For quite some time, the lionesses managed to sustain and protect all the cubs, but have since lost nearly half of them, 3 in the past 10 days. This pride relied heavily on a number of large buffalo herds that moved through the area on a regular basis. The buffalo’s presence has been very sporadic over the past few months and this has put visible pressure on the lionesses’ ability to sustain so many cubs.

Sitting with the lions in the early afternoon, Brad noticed a young elephant moving out of a treeline. This calf, about 6 or 7 years old but the looks of things, was all alone. This very seldom happens as elephants are incredibly diligent mothers and have such very strong maternal herd bonds. An elephant of this age is extremely vulnerable if undefended and the lions immediately saw their opportunity.

Things apparently happened incredibly quickly and Brad could not keep up with the lionesses as they tore off after the young elephant. He manged to get into position just after they had managed to pull the squealing calf down, writhing futilely. The lionesses took over an hour to eventually kill the calf and Brad and Julie arrived back in camp visibly disturbed by the scene they had witnessed.

This type of scene is always so difficult for us to reconcile on an emotional level. We try to remain dispassionate observes and record the natural world objectively, but it is not always easy. The lions were desperate. The remaining cubs were close to starvation. So, on the one hand it is a relief for them to have been able to feed. On the other, elephants are such gentle, sentient creatures and to see a young elephant suffer for so long like this is disturbing, even to the most hardened soul. 

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Heading out to check on lions - 04:24 am

06 Oct 2008

I am going to head out to spend the evening with the lions feeding on the young elephant to try to capture some images. Will post when I return.

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Bull at sunset - 06:12 pm

05 Oct 2008

The air above the horizon is heavy with smoke and dust at this time of year and, while not great for filming or photographing, does make for some incredible sunsets. We spent a long time with this bull and managed to capture these atmospheric images.

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Relaxed bull - 05:55 pm

05 Oct 2008

On the periphery of the herd was a huge bull. He was in mild musth but was incredibly relaxed. I spent most of the afternoon lying beside the vehicle as he fed peacefully a few meters away.

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Elephant afternoon - 04:53 pm

05 Oct 2008

Vehicle rigged, we headed out late this afternoon just to see what was going on. Finding a small herd of elephants, we decided to spend some time with them and watched as two young bulls tussled for adolescent dominance.

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