The Serengeti: Lions, February 2012

Following our arduous journey from Singapore to the Serengeti, we eventually arrived at our camp in Ndutu.

Bill relaxing outside of our tent.

It was our first night sleeping on the savannah. It dawned on me that there was nothing between us and hundreds of Africa’s deadliest predators than the thin canvas walls of our tent.

The awe-inspiring African night was peaceful and quiet. I was fast asleep. Unexpectedly, my deep slumber was rudely interrupted by a deep, unworldly sound: “huh…huh…huh”. In my semi-conscious state, I instinctively shoved Bill and hissed, “Stop snoring!” The noise abated and I quickly drifted back to sleep.

***

We went for a particularly early morning drive, hoping to catch the African sunrise. Everyone was extremely quiet in the vehicle. I suspected that none of us were fully awake yet. Our guide broke the silence, “Did you hear the lions prowling near to our camp last night?” His words hit me like a ton of bricks. These apex predators, weighing an average of 200kg each, had been within earshot of our tent! I had mistaken the lions’ calls for Bill’s snoring! “Wow” was my immediate reaction. It took me a minute or two to digest the information, but I soon shrugged it off. After all, I was in Africa, trespassing upon their territory.

Within half an hour of setting off, we came across a pride of lions. If my memory served me right, there were five adult lionesses…

A lioness with one of her cubs.

Another lioness.

…a couple of juveniles…

...Oblivious to the world.

More cubs.

The young cubs were reaching for their mother's teats. 

A lone adult male.

As I watched these huge majestic beasts frolic around, I could not but help wonder whether these might be the same lions which were prowling around our camp the previous night. It was an interesting, if not chilling, thought.