Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Lion King on wake up call duty?

On our evening drive yesterday we spotted a pride of 6 Lion opposite Tent 13 at Springbok Lodge .  We located them at around 18h30 approximately 400 metres from the tent, soaking up the last of the late afternoon sun shine. 
Later on, whilst the guests were enjoying dinner, we drove around trying to see if they were in camp but we did not find them.   We heard the alarm calls of some Kudu which indicated to us that they were still within the main Lodge area.

At around 3.30am this morning, I was awoken by the male calling close to Tent 13.  It was not advertising its territory – it was a distress call – my interpretation is that it was indicating that it had lost some of its pride members.  He kept calling till 05h30.  The guests were excited but also had now been awake for 2 hours (esp. the 3 guests in Tent 13 !!)  It was truly an African experience to “write home about” !!  There is no other substitute for a wake up call when you are out in the bush like the roar of the Lion. 

Whilst on our morning drive we located the pride around 09h30 still close to the lodge.  This afternoons drive will reveal more !!
Sam