Male Lion -

Gavin left us (10 tourists) in the truck for about 20 minutes while he searched for the lion on foot. He found the lion (Gavin's awesome), and drove us to him. He said when he first saw the lion, he was almost at it's feet. Yikes! - Sat 08 Aug 2009 04:38:46 PM

There he is! He's huge! - Sat 08 Aug 2009 04:41:24 PM

That's a old bone from an old kill nearby, but Gavin said the bone looked to be several years old, not fresh. - Sat 08 Aug 2009 04:43:15 PM

We were amazed at how close we were to the lion. He wasn't the least bit interested in our truck, even though we were talking quietly & snapping zillions of pictures. - Sat 08 Aug 2009 04:48:02 PM

Gavin, our Ranger, said the animals in the reserve have grown up with the safari trucks, and have never been harmed by or fed by the trucks, so they really don't care about the trucks at all. -

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Gavin said this guy had recently been fighting with another male in the area. His face is scratched and scarred "from a big box-up a couple weeks ago" with that other male, who is trying to take over this guy's land & ladies. -

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See the hand of another tourist in the picture? That's how close we were! This picture is not zoomed in. -

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Time to rest a little. -

Even big cats take lots of naps. -

BIG cat bath. -

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Yawn -

This guy is missing a tooth. Probably lost in a fight with another male. -

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He looks like he's roaring, but he's yawning. We would hear him roar many times during the night. The lion's roar doesn't sound at all like the cartoons. It sounds more like a very big, very angry wookie. -

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Ranger Gavin said lions yawn for the opposite reasons of people. Instead of yawning when they're tired, lions yawn when they're waking up from their afternoon naps. When lions start yawning, it's the first sign they'll be heading out to hunt soon. -