Back to Mountain Zebra

[Mel]

That is ten lions for Mountain Zebra... and Addo gets to have only seven now

But what a sighting. Well, actually both of them. The blackie to start the day off with and
then that pride. Probably the good thing about a small park - you often get all the inhabiting lions
in one go. But I'm sure the cubs will be relocated at some point...

[Flutterby]

Amazing how the lions blend into their surroundings! Great blackie sighting too.

[PJL]

Wow - a traditional functional lion pride

Love your sightings.

Thanks Klipspringer

If it wasn't for the mane of Nomad, the lions would have been hard to spot in that landscape. What a wonderful sighting it must have been

Yep, his black mane really helped for spotting

Wow a black rhino and then the pride of lions

It was a great send-off Alf

Black rhino and black lion!

Well-strategized, Peej!

I wonder if they choose the most Cape Lion lookalaike males for reintroduction?

There is a story somewhere that the extinct genes are somewhere...

Yeah there is a story there somewhere but that was for Addo. The original males in MZNP weren't Kalahari black-maned lions, so I'm not sure what the thinking was when they were originally introduced

A black rhino is always a more than thrilling sighting, PJL,

you got such amazing shots and then I love the lions in the Long grass indeed they are very hard to discover but that makes the shot so unique

Thank you Pumbaa - they were great at blending in to their surroundings

That is ten lions for Mountain Zebra... and Addo gets to have only seven now

But what a sighting. Well, actually both of them. The blackie to start the day off with and
then that pride. Probably the good thing about a small park - you often get all the inhabiting lions
in one go. But I'm sure the cubs will be relocated at some point...

It's very frustrating knowing how depleted Addo is on lion at the moment... all as a result of finances as far as I can tell.
There are apparently over 20 lion in MZNP at the moment. I'm sure the youngsters will have to be moved at some stage

Amazing how the lions blend into their surroundings! Great blackie sighting too.

Thanks Flutts, it was a great start to the day

[PJL]

We were really lucky with the lion sighting. Tracking their direction of movement we had the pride come out next to us, playing around a bit, before crossing the road and continuing some antics on the other side. After a brief pause they continued on up the hill and we knew the road went across at the top so we had them come right past us a second time as well

After some fairly careful counting we concluded there were 15 lion in this particular group. Roy wasn't to be seen, so it was Nomad, about 4 adult lionesses then a mixture of sub-adults down to youngsters about 8 months old

Here are some more pics as they moved towards us at various points in the sighting.

[PJL]

Some of the youngsters were in a lively mood
There was an explosive chase next to us when it seemed someone just wanted a cuddle










After crossing the road the antics continued with some further skirmishes

[PJL]

With two crossings next to us there was of course plenty of opportunity for some nice close-ups













Lastly for the close-ups... one of my personal favourites. This young lioness had some real character what with being chased around and having a messy chin from drinking earlier

[PJL]

Nomad certainly stole the show at times







It was one of the first times I've seen him around lions other than his coalition partner Roy. He looks to have settled into family life quite well







Although he did forget his manners on the odd occasion

[PJL]

After the two road crossings, the lions slowly made their way over the shoulder of the hillside dropping out of view one by one. Eventually only Nomad was left surveying his kingdom before he too followed his clan downhill





It had been a magical 40 minutes with the lions, and only two other cars in total the entire sighting.

[Richprins]

Superb, Peej!

They do blend in well there, and look nice and "clean" with fewer parasites and flies etc!

The young males are going to get kicked out by the boss at some stage...

[Flutterby]

Such focus in their eyes when they're walking!! Fantastic pics!