Masai Mara Lion Brothers
Three Lion Brothers in the Masai Mara
We had crossed paths with three fairly young male lions numerous times over the last few weeks. Klaus was really interested in getting some images with them as they all looked incredibly healthy and strong. They were, or at least that’s what we called them, the Blond Brothers. Every single time we encountered them, they had just finished eating and decided it was a good time to sleep. Not ideal.
I think i’ve mentioned often enough already that lions love to sleep. In fact you can see our first meetup with the Blond Lion Brothers in this article here: READ LIONS OF THE MARA
In this video we decided to wait it out and see if an opportunity arises. We spent an entire day with the Blond Boys and these are some highlights from the morning.
Following one of the Lion Brothers
The day started fairly early in the morning. John led us to one of the boys that decided it was a good idea to sleep in the wide open. We parked off, he looked at us a few times, and went back to sleep.
After about half an hour the sun started to come through the clouds and you could see he was getting restless. It was time to reunite with his brothers in the bushes where there was shade. He got up and walked off.
We would drive big circles around him to not interfere with his daily mission. We would drive 300m ahead of his direction, park off and let him pass us. Klaus kept saying to John head for the lower ground! This was naturally a better place for Klaus to get a low angle. He crossed our path at least five or six times, meaning he had already walked well over a kilometre. There were some lovely moments in all of this, especially as he passed a herd of topi gazelles.
Notch 2 - A lonely lion
About another kilometre on, he finally reunited with his two brothers. The one got up to greet him, the other couldn’t be bothered. Our main protagonist was however not ready to settle. He soon walked off again along the river. He jumped over it and made his way to an old warthog carcass that he proceeded to chew on for a bit.
An amazing image was developing for us as in the foreground two jackals appeared to see if they could also get some of this snack. As if watching something from a fable, the lion moved aside and the jackals moved in to get their part of this tasty treat. Not much more than bones, but nobody was complaining. The second lion came round to see if there was anything worth getting excited about, but all in all it seemed like this was going to continue to be one lazy day. The lions greeted their sleeping brother on a nearby hill and that was that for a morning with the Blond Boys.
