After one of the most spectacular kills witnessed at Sabi Sabi, the Southern Pride was lazy and their bellies full. For the next couple of days they moved a few hundred metres before going comatose again. This is what lions do and I am sure that is why they got the name lion, because they are either lion here or lion there and looking like they never do anything else.

As much as human society sees this as laziness, it is actually a survival mechanism that leaves me wondering who is the more intelligent. We as humans keep telling each other we have to work hard if we want to get anywhere and live a meaningful life; whereas lions believe the less they do, the less they have to do, but when they do something they cannot do it half, they have to make it count. What I am trying to say is that if lions run around all day, they then have to get more food to keep up with their physical demands, therefore it makes sense that they would sleep for between 18 and 21 hours a day leaving them only a few hours a day to find something to eat if they can.

The size of the Southern Pride puts pressure on them as they have that many more mouths to feed; meaning that they have to make it count when they are awake. The needs of 4 growing cubs puts constant pressure on the females to bring home the bacon and the helping hand of the fast growing adolescents can be both a help and a hindrance as their immaturity can often spoil a hunt. Either way these magnificent creatures leave everyone who has seen them gawking at the sheer size in numbers of the pride, their absolutely relaxed nature and their need to eat over 30 tons of meat per annum to sustain the pride increases the opportunity to see these big cats in action.

Watching them all quenching their thirst in the afternoon light left us all speechless. The sound of camera shutters going off and the occasional “aaah” as the cubs played, was all the noise that could be mustered for at least 10 minutes before we started getting into the nitty gritties of the prides development. What an afternoon...