From Wim: An extra early start meant that we were in Silver - Eye's territory before sunrise, searching for buffalo and lions.There was a breathtakingly beautiful mist over the plains, with glistening water channels peeping through here and there. Elephants, lechwe, warthogs and other game appeared and then disappeared into the mist with the golden rays of the sun shining behind them and creating a glorious scene which we watched and photographed in awe. We found the lions from yesterday right on the boundary of Silver - Eye's territory. They were hastening to catch up with the buffalo, stopping now and again for some playful interactions. We were saddened to see that the mauled lioness was not with her pride - and we assume that she has not made it....
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Blog posts tagged in Lioness
From Wim: An extra early start meant that we were in Silver - Eye's territory before sunrise, searching for buffalo and lions.There was a breathtakingly beautiful mist over the plains, with glistening water channels peeping through here and there. Elephants, lechwe, warthogs and other game appeared and then disappeared into the mist with the golden rays of the sun shining behind them and creating a glorious scene which we watched and photographed in awe. We found the lions from yesterday right on the boundary of Silver - Eye's territory. They were hastening to catch up with the buffalo, stopping now and again for some playful interactions. We were saddened to see that the mauled lioness was not with her pride - and we assume that she has not made it....
From Wim: Today was one of the most eventful and emotional days that I have experienced in my years in the bush.It all started with a magnificent dawn and a Serval hunting in the glorious light giving us a chance for some really successful photographs.The pride of lions from last night were less than 300 meters away from the serval and were within a short walk from the buffalo.As the sun rose the lions were right in amongst the buffalo. The lions were beside themselves with hunger and the next few hours showed their desperation.First they caused some confusion by chasing the buffalos in all directions. The frenzied buffalo were chased again and again - across open plains, through shallow water, and then we realised that there was a plan developing. The buffalo were being chased gradually but very firmly toward a water channel which would slow down their escape.The lions harried...
Brendon's News:On the way to the buffalo herd this morning we encountered the pride of lions from last night. We stopped for a few seconds only to capture some photographs against the first signs of the dawn. After an even shorter stop for an elephant we raced on to catch up with the buffalo before they started to move. As we arrived the sun was rising, creating that magical, diffuse, liquid light and when we could see, there was one of the lionesses from Silver - Eye's pride. Looking around, we saw the other lions also emerge from the lightening duskiness - including the dominant male and one of the subadult males that had been chased by him yesterday. The buffalo stood up and seeing the lions nearby started to move away from the area. The lions followed close on their heels, but made no attempt to hunt. Through water...
Hilton reports: If it is at all possible each day on this safari has been getting better and better - and better again. Today was touching on the unbelievable. Let me start with the morning. After yesterday's thunderstorm the morning was clear but still a little overcast. We wanted to return to the cheetah family who had made the two kills that were stolen from them by hyenas to see if they had managed to get any of their spoils back. We found the cheetahs walking together as a family on the wide open plains and had a magnificent sighting and photographic opportunities. Then an unexpected sight occurred - a lone lioness appeared and started marching along straight towards the cheetahs. A confrontation! As she drew closer the cheetahs warily hung back, keeping a respectful distance from the big cat. She strode on and as she passed the cheetahs we saw...
News from BrendonKnowing that we had left the buffalo last night very close to Silver-eye's territory we left at around 0500 to have every chance of witnessing some action.We caught up with the buffalo spoor and tracked these deep into Silver-eye's territory. We found the buffalo just as they were beginning to stir and noticed a shape on a termite mound. Approaching the shape it transformed into a lioness ... Silver-eye. She was lying on the termite mound and watching the buffalo as they started their day.We captured some wonderful shots of her in the foreground and the buffalo in the background ... all bathed in that glowing golden morning light.By now we were almost unable to contain our excitement ... what an amazing start to a beautiful day!We started to search around for the remainder of Silver-eye's pride, to no avail. But then we looked across the plain and far...
Wim’s news Today is surely one of the most amazing days of my photographic career – nonstop action, from the first to the last. We spent almost the entire day with our cameras glued to our eyes … So where do I begin? Late yesterday we had seen a buildup of wildebeest on the far bank of the Mara River and we knew that the animals would not risk a crossing in the dark so we headed straight there this morning. We reached the spot at around 0700 and placed our vehicles in the best spots to capture the action, keeping an eye on the wildebeest all the while. We had just settled into our chosen spot when lions ran right past us, running between our vehicles and straight toward the wildebeest. The flattened themselves and started to stalk the oncoming wildebeest, and grabbed one...
Mara news from Wim: Last night as we were relaxing we were told that a cheetah with four very small cubs had just started to hunt when a thunderstorm interrupted her, leaving her hungry overnight and likely to hunt gain this morning. It was also unlikely that she would move four cubs during the night – especially in the rain. With this in mind we made an extra effort to leave early and drove straight to where she had been sighted. We could have had blinkers on, hardly looking to the left or right in our excitement at being able to catch up with her. When we found her she had caught a Thomson’s Gazelle and was preparing to disembowel her kill and to enjoy her meal. We spent most of the morning with her as she ate, then suckled her cubs, then rested and then ate...
Ben’s Bulletin from Masai Mara: Here we are with one foot in Kenya and one in Tanzania - and we are half in Masai Mara and half in Serengeti! When we left the Lodge early this morning the skies were clear so we took a meandering drive to enjoy the early morning light, the sunrise and the magnificent scenery. The highlight of this early drive came when we spotted a White - headed Vulture. We were delighted and immediately stopped quite a distance away to get some record shots. Then we moved a little closer, slowly so as not to alarm the bird, and when still at a safe distance we stopped again to get some ‘safety’ shots. When done we approached even closer. Now we could get really good images and our memory cards filled rapidly. We approached twice more until we were close enough to get portrait...
Wim shares the morning experience: We drove out early onto an open area where we saw fresh lion tracks. We followed these and within only a few moments we found a beautiful lioness moving around in the open. We accompanied her as she went about. We watched as she sighted on a bush, approached it and without hesitation entered the bushy area whereupon a White-tailed Mongoose erupted from the bush with the lioness in hot pursuit. They fled right up to and then past our vehicles - too fast for a snap, but our pulses were racing as we held our breath. The mongoose escaped, and the lioness turned toward a dry river bed. We continued to follow her as she wandered around the area ever alert for a hunting opportunity. When she climbed a termite mound for a good look around we were able to get some lovely shots...
From Ben CrankeAs always, the first rays of morning light found us in the orange - golden mist on the Plains, photographing the beautiful predawn, with lechwe and tsessebe silently and eerily appearing out of and then and disappearing back into the mist.Our intent this morning was to try to find Silver - Eye. Everyone has concentrated so much on the actions of the other pride for a few days, that none of us had time to track her and her pride. However, even the large pride had moved away from their buffalo kill, and although we could hear them, we did not see them this morning. Vultures galore again provided some excellent photo opportunities. Today they were able to attack the buffalo carcass without interruptions.The buffalo herd have moved onto Paradise Island, and the lions are probably staying as close as possible to them.We could hardly believe our luck...