Africa Day Seven - Day of Lions Continued

Once again, this is going to be photo-heavy; but there will be photos I won't end up using so please feel free to click this link here and see all the ones I chose to upload.  

Now then, where were we?  Oh yes.  When last we left our heroine, (me), she was suffering from an abused bladder and a surfeit of lions. Well, "suffering," is perhaps not the most accurate of descriptions - but the important thing to take away from the above sentence is that I really, really had to use the *bush*. And lions = awesome.  We were still canvassing the region where the other group had found that pride of lions the day before, but Gavin, upon being made aware of my plight, found a grassy knoll with a small tree and several screening bushes right next to a group of grazing impala, gave the area a once-over, and then allowed me out of the vehicle to answer the call of Nature.

I felt quite safe in that particular location, since I thought the impala would surely alert me to any approaching creature which may have meant me harm. In retrospect, this was an incredibly stupid assumption, since lots of things eat impala regularly, and obviously in order to be eaten they must first be caught, and in order to be caught, they must first be snuck up on. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Requiring only the briefest of bush visits, I performed the necessary act with my usual economy, and returned to the vehicle post-haste because I knew we were running out of time on the "we have to catch our plane" countdown clock and I didn't want to be the reason we missed finding the lions. I need not have worried about that. The moments after I rejoined the group proceeded as follows:

1. I returned to the jeep, and got in.
2. Gavin restarted the vehicle, and turned us around for one more sweep over the area where the lions had been seen the day before.
3. We drove about 50 feet from my grassy potty knoll.
4. A group of 10 lionesses and sub-adult lions came out of the wild sage, making a bee-line for my "water closet."  They were, in fact, the group we were looking for - 10 lions from the Boro West Tribe.  

5. I had a minor fit.
6. I thanked a round dozen gods and goddesses that I had only had to urinate.
7. Gavin remarked that had I had to do anything ELSE, I would have been potato-sack racing back to the car with my pants around my ankles, and that would have been a safari sight no one would have forgotten. Appreciative laughter followed this sally. I began to breathe again.
8. I took an TON of pictures.

The impala were grazing upwind from the lions, and so had no idea that the group was on its way. Stupid impala.

You know in retrospect, it should have been obvious that I was in danger.  Here at home I have a Manx cat named Bear, and every time I use the restroom, he sneaks in, meows imperiously, and then bites me, hard, on the butt.  I am not kidding.  The past six years spent with Bear have obviously been spent in training for this one moment - the moment when I would be eaten by a giant cat while going to the bathroom.  It is clearly my fate and my doom.  How I escaped it is anyone's guess, but much like those kids in that movie Final Destination, I will surely pay for it in some equally horrible way later.

Gavin said the lions had been on the march, because they were all wet from traversing the flooded grasslands around us. I thought they looked hungry. And beautiful.

They walked up to a small treed rise, and settled down for a bit of relaxation. Several of them piled on top of one another and began a social grooming session that had everyone in the vehicle, including the men, (except for Gavin of course), squeeing and making "awwwwww" noises.

Brace yourself - the best picture I have ever taken is next up.

Seriously?  Resist its awesome powers of cuteness, I dare you.  You can't.  You know you can't.  And just think, they could have been this snuggly AND with full bellies, if I'd only had a bit more tea that morning, or the beans the night before...

There was, again, one very sleepy lion. There's always ONE...but seriously, this one had like, African Sleeping Sickness or narcolepsy or something.

You can tell it's making the lioness there sleepy just to hang out with him.  

I mean, he just KEPT ON yawning.

I think the other lioness was worried about him, so instituted Social Grooming time...either that, or she was attracted by his insouciance.  I've heard that a devil-may-care attitude is quite attractive to some members of the opposite sex.  

A third lion decided to join the love fest.

A fourth thought about it, but decided Three was Company, and four a crowd.

"You know what would be really tasty right now, you guys?  Human."

"Oooooh, yes.  Especially one that had to answer the call of nature, and was defenseless!"

"And pantsless!  I hate when I get clothing stuck in my teeth."

"Now you're talking."

Shaking his head. Think a bug in his ear?

The lioness in the background there seemed to be in charge - she was on the lookout for something, and when she caught sight of a vortex of vultures off in the distance, it was clear she'd found it. FOOD! (Mind you, I think she would have been happier with me...)

Off to the side, a young male had chosen a sunny little hill to have a solo siesta.

Another lion horned in on his hillock.

I think he looks like an adorable stuffed animal, albeit a stuffed animal that has a small wound on one thigh.

Meanwhile, the main female was starting to round up the troops and head out. Getting a group of sun-drenched lions on the move is not easy, even for a lioness. It is, exactly, like herding cats.

There are always a couple of hold outs that don't want to move.

"HUMAN!!!"

Yup. Still yawning.

She was looking awfully alert, but all the rest of the tribe were still snoozing.

But she gave them some significant looks and they finally started shifting.

They slunk past us, giving us the stink eye as they went. I'm pretty sure they were all thinking the same thing. "That chick looks DELICIOUS."

"We'll see you again..."

"Oh DROOL I can practically TASTE her delicious humanness from here!"

"Two words:  barbeque sauce."

This sequence contains some of my favorite shots from the trip - the individuality of each of the  cats is so clear.

Han Solo over here was the last to get his tuchis on the move.

To a cat, no time is inappropriate for some snuggling.

And so, I'm sure you are wondering, what could be better?  We'd seen a grand total of 20 lions in a few hours - asleep, awake, walking and loving on one another.  We'd seen grooming and hugging, and lots, and lots, of yawning.  We had but a short time left before the plane landed at the strip and we were compelled to meet it.  But we followed the lions for a bit longer, because the other group had been called to come and meet us to see them, and if we lost them they might not find them.  

That's when the entire group decided to cross the watery ground.

The mature lionesses, disdaining to perform any of the ridiculous acrobatics that the youngsters were indulging in to keep their tails dry, just slogged through, rolling their eyes.

But the kids were having a lot of fun.

I can't even get my housecats to LOOK at a small body of water.

The other group arrived just in time to see the lions cross.

And then our time was up. Wings up over Botswana once again - we were on our way to Chobe Chilwero, on the Chobe river, and our final safari destination.