A Parting Gift
We had really enjoyed being back in MZNP and had some great sightings during our stay, but the lions had only been in the distance. When we were all packed up to leave we had a check of the sightings board and apparently lion had been seen along the main road. We had been planning to head up the Umgeni 4x4 trail one last time, but figured it wouldn't be much of a detour to see if any cats were still around.
Sure enough this lioness was in view from the road
She clearly had her eye on something and after a bit of scanning we saw that a gemsbok was feeding on the other side of the road. Without any sense of impending danger, the gemsbok crossed the road and into a clearing to continue feeding. The lioness promptly got up to circle around to her prey... but her belly suggested she had fed well recently
We moved to a spot near the gemsbok, but many others didn't quite catch what was going on and just left
Some new arrivals in a car behind us started waving frantically and pointing into the bushes so we knew she was getting close, but the bush was really thick and it was difficult to work out where she would pop out. The gemsbok meanwhile was completely oblivious and continued grazing. Finally some lion shaped movement showed where she was hiding
She continued her stealthy persuit, but by now the gemsbok had moved behind some thick bush
There was suddenly a burst of movement and the sound of hooves cantering as the gemsbok finally caught on to what was happening and darted across the road. The lioness only gave chase for a short while before looking frustrated that she had let another potential meal get away
That's the end of this TT... thank you for following along
