Evening 7 July 2016

Had the most amazing lion day! I am thrilled beyond belief!

First Shivani set me straight on some names. The 5 month old Cubs we have been watching belong to Nanai. Her sister Nabulu is with her. We did not see either of them two years ago.

At 10 we went across the river with Shivani to look for the male lion. Instead we found Nadala ( we really found her–we did see her two years ago). She was with her two 1 1/2 year old Cubs. While we were watching a tiny 2-3 month old cub stuck it’s head out. Shivani did not know the cub existed and does not know who the mother is. Before we could look for mom or more Cubs a car came up close. Not all folks keep a respectful distance from the animals and Shivani moved to draw them away. We went a short distance, looked across the river and found both lionesses from the morning resting on the riverbank. Then we went bank to find the 3-month old but the lions had been spooked and had moved. So we went to watch the ones across the river on the bank. Nabulu got in position to hunt an impala that had come down to drink at the river. She crouched , then crawled….and the impala saw her so the hunt was off. But we knew where Nabulu and Nanai were hanging out.

We ate another bush lunch with Shivani and the Warriors.

Here is Yeselei, a Samburu warrior who has visited us in DC.

Here was our view today.

This afternoon’s game drive was all lions! First we went on our side of the river to where Nanai, the Cubs’ mother, was resting on the bank.

Another car came up so I started taking pictures of the elephants behind me and it worked. The folks in the car took pictures of the elephants and moved on. We left Nanai then so no one would find her. She was sleeping so peacefully we wanted to keep it that way.

Then we went to where Nabulu was. She had the Cubs with her. I spent TWO hours with the Cubs. It was awesome!

They were at the base of an acacia tree and a leopard had climbed to the very tip top of that leafy tree to get away from the lions. (BTW I’ve seen a leopard 5 days in a row). That kind of tree is not a normal hangout for a leopard and he was sitting up watching the lions. The Cubs are the remnants of the leopard’s kill and started to climb the tree which made me very nervous.

I just stayed for hours watching. Mom came over. The Cubs played. Finally they all started moving. We followed them and the whole family climbed deadfall. (