The great migration - part 5 (Ngorongoro)

Lions! exclaimed Del and pointed across the plains. Where? I jumped. I zipped out my 10x25 binocs and aimed it in the general direction. Yes! a lion and a lioness no doubt. They looked like small binaca animals. This was almost proof of my rotten luck. By the time we get anywhere near them they will be gone I thought. Del gunned up the engine and started driving. The lions were getting closer. I was tense. Should we stop here and watch them, where was he driving us?

Del finally came to a stop where two to three other Jeeps were stopped. There was a small watering hole to our right and the Lioness followed by the Lion were walking straight towards us! This was too exciting! I did not know if I should watch them, take pictures.. "Nishu! get down and stay inside the Jeep!". or watch the kids. As the lioness got close I saw that her entire mouth area was covered with blood. She looked well fed. Del told us that they had just eaten. Then it struck me - she was probably coming this way for a drink of water after her meal and we were parked engine switched off and all
right there between her and her water!

I had certainly not expected the lions to be this unconcerned about human presence. She walked right up to the jeeps, did not as much as glance up at the people, crossed right between two jeeps, climbed up onto a rocky encampment and growled facing the watering hole. Just on the other side of the watering hole completely unexpectedly four little cubs raised their heads to greet mommy. My excitement knew no bounds! I thought
the trip had paid off much more than expected already! She went around to join them. Then came the giant Lion. He was huge, with a thick mane that was turning black. He too had blood on this face. He too crossed over between the jeeps and went to join the rest of his pride.

This is the real scary part. Once they lay down in the grass: nothing. That's when I knew how truly dangerous these plains where. The tall grass could hide an entire lion pride and you could be unaware even when standing just a few feet away. That's also when I realized how lucky we were to have been where we were to catch them before they went into a slumber.

Del told us that the lionesses do all the hunting. They are not very fast (compared to the prey) and hence need to use stealth and diversion to make a successful kill. The tall grass provides for the stealth element. But the herbivores are aware of this and tend to stick to short grass plains. So the lionesses need to hunt in groups so that one can cause a diversion while others stalk. Typically just one in five attempts succeed.
Once a kill is made, the lion eats first, followed by the lionesses and then the cubs.

The Lion typically sleeps 18 - 20 hours a day! The rest of the time he spends defending his pride. The females in the pride are all related (sisters, daughters, cousins). When a new male takes over a pride (by chasing away or killing the old male) he mates every 25 mins for 4 days continuously. At this point the life of a male lion started appealing greatly to all the men in our group :-). The new male will also try to kill cubs so that the female is more receptive to mating. Given the competition among males for a pride the gene pool remains healthy and prevents inbreeding.

The interesting thing is, I have started sympathising with the predator quite a bit on this trip. They seem to have quite a hard life compared to the herbivores who seem to be living in a salad bowl. Also we humans, once we decide to slaughter an animal pretty much do not give it a chance to save itself. While out here on the great African plains, it is definitely survival of the fittest.

The next bit of excitement was running into a family of Warthogs. The kids more familiar with the Lion King movie recognized them as Pumbaa, while the adults more familiar with Asterix recognized them as the food! Or wild boar. There were several families grazing away. One of the more sensitive warthog moms decided it was time to head towards safety and started running with her thin tail lifted straight up with the little ones following her. Del told us that she does that so that the little ones can spot her even when she is in tall grass. It was very cute. They are also highly intelligent creatures. A wildlife expert we met a few days later at Masai Mara told us that a warthog on sensing danger from people will run a certain number of feet straight away and then disperse. This certain number is the distance to which a rifle is accurate. They seem to have learnt this and passed it on over the generations as they were a favorite among hunters.

It was time to stop for lunch.. coming up more lions, cheetah, elephants... stay tuned.