The impala saw the lioness too late. Already in mid-stride, the tawny flash bore down on the helpless ewe and smothered it within seconds. Barely a moment after alarming in fright, it now lay in a heap. Yet another victim of nature. The odd click of a camera stirred the eerie silence and with it the lioness turned to drag the prey from where she had crashed down on it moments earlier. For the photographers, the adrenalin slowly ebbed away as they gasped in amazement at just how closely they had witnessed natures primal rhythm in motion…
A few minutes later, 5 familiar faces appeared on the scene. The other Tsalala lioness sauntered down the road with her four cubs, the older set, to join in on the feast. Growing like weeds and ravenous as only carnivores can be, the lionees and her cubs were quick to join in the feast and claim any nutrition they could. Still just meters away from the vehicle, the young cubs snarled amongst each other, forcing their way into the carcass until one of the lionesses lost her patience and yanked the food away with an angry growl.
Tsalala Pride Older Cub by Francesca Grima
With the intensity these four cubs are displaying at a carcass, one can’t help but be intrigued as to what the feeding patterns will be like when the remaining four begin to join the fray. It is suspected that they may already be feeding at the carcasses however we have not yet had the privilege of witnessing this yet. As for these older four cubs, they will no doubt get more confident during feeding periods and only serve to agitate their mother further. In time however, they will learn to kill for the rest of the pride and thus know how it feels to have their hard work shared amongst the rest.
Filmed by: Richard Boynett
Photographed by: Francesca Grima
Rich Laburn is filmmaker, photographer and writer who is based at Londolozi Game Reserve in South Africa. Spending his time capturing scenes of the wild and communicating the beauty of the African bushveld, he runs the Londolozi Blog as a way to entertain and engage people wishing to visit these wild lands.
