Then we were engulfed by a putrid smell – clearly there was a kill nearby. We drove slowly around the area looking for evidence. Then we saw it – what remained of an adult female giraffe. As we approached we found our two dominant male lions looking very satisfied, lying in the grass next to their prize. While we were watching them, we noticed a smaller half-eaten giraffe leg a few metres away – so the female must have been pregnant and about to give birth. One male casually got up and began to feed again, but soon realized his eyes were bigger than his stomach and wandered off to lie under a nearby shady tree to digest the mammoth meal he had consumed! It looked as though he was more exhausted from eating than anything else…
It seems as if this has been the week of the lion! On a separate occasion we were lucky enough to witness our southern pride attempting to bring down a fully grown buffalo bull. We had a brief sighting of them during the chase but did manage to see a couple of the lionesses on top of the fleeing buffalo, trying to bring him down. Needless to say they were unsuccessful as this is a feat rarely accomplished by a pride of this size. Nevertheless we left the area in awe of what we had witnessed – this kind of spectacle may only last a few seconds but we were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time!
