Addo Outings 2014

[Mel]

So exhilarating to watch the joy and fun the ellies had at their meet! Quite some excitement there, as can be seen.
The little one (or actually it looked like there were two as the mothers seemed of different sizes) are too cute and
probably totally overwhelmed by the behaviour of the older ones.

Loving it - thanks for sharing!

[Lisbeth]

It looks as if they do no quite know how to behave......only the little one disappearing between mom's legs I presume that they continued each group in their chosen direction. To me it does not look like joy, rather a touch of irritation, especially the one with the big tusks But I might be wrong

Nice one!

[nan]

smaller they are, the more noise they make

nice one

[PJL]

This afternoon has been a great afternoon. For a start, Liverpool had a convincing win
But more to the point we found the cubs

I took far too many photos, but I'm sure those of you who follow this thread won't mind me sharing lots of them

I had heard that the cubs had been spotted this morning along with their mom Gina, auntie Josie as well as Roy (the probable father) and Nomad. We took a chance and headed to the park this afternoon, but this was the scene on arrival at about 3pm:




Roy was flat out on his back, while the lionesses were hiding in the long grass behind the dead bush. Nomad was no-where to be seen.
Occasionally while we were waiting there were tantalising glimpses of cub-like movements, but from this distance (that photo is at 960mm!!) we weren't going to see too much.

After half an hour, Gina & Josie got up and took a brief wander for a toilet stop, but no cubs followed, and the sleeping behind bushes duly resumed. Just as I was fearing that they wouldn't move again until nightfall the lionesses got up and started walking. The cubs followed, and Roy decided to join the party as well. To begin with, there was a lot of confusion (both the lionesses and amongst the park visitors) as to which way they would go, but the general direction seemed to be towards the road. The cubs are still so small that to begin with we could only really make out their tails




We took a bit of a guess as to which way they were headed and got lucky, being pretty much at the front of the line of vehicles trying to keep tabs on them. As they got nearer the road, we got some fantastic views of the lionesses and started to make out the little tykes as they appeared out the grass

Josie


Peek-a-boo cubs



Play with me mommy?



Auntie Josie check out my teeth!





I'm afraid I'll be boring you with quite a few more lion photos over the next few days

[nan]

wow super... you find them
all ot them, mum and auntie and (almost sure ) father


you can come with all the tiny ones

[Mel]

How brilliant is that!!! You finally found them - and boy, they are cute.
Can't wait to see tons more of photos! Certainly no boredom from my side.

[Lisbeth]

Before Mel and Nan say it: I want one!

Isn't that great, you found found them I always knew that you are a clever guy

Bring on your tons of photos

[PJL]

Before Mel and Nan say it: I want one!

I want one too! In fact at one point I could have almost grabbed one, but I wouldn't want to incur the wrath of Gina

Gina & 2 little ones


Keeping an eye out


Hey what's over there?


This is a bit of an Addo first - certainly for me - seeing lions moving as a pride for the first time. Josie, Gina with cubs hidden in the grass and Roy strolling along in the background


Keeping close to mom


Alert


The cubs are surprisingly fast already. It was a job keeping up with them!


The family outing


You can take me home - but you'll have to get past my mom first

[Mel]

OH - MY - WORD!!! Aren't they cute?! And seeing that it's nan's birthday today, I'll kindly not insist on having one,
since the other two are already gone.

Flipping awesome, PJL!

[PJL]

It was great to see Roy moving with the lionesses (although I think he had ulterior motives).
He's a very handsome lion