Lion King? No, but little lion cub on the kill

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Geo: -25.193, 31.9325

Decided to go on one of the roads we had seen cheetah last time we were here. Just as the sun was breaking over the horizon saw a lion moving off from the side of the road. Were not able to tell exactly where he headed but we are fairly sure he was watching the buffalo herd we ran into next.

It was a huge herd and they were covering the road. We watched them for a short while and then decided to try our luck at passing through the herd VERY slowly. Fortunately for us, some would bellow(is that really a word?) and then move on. We would speak softly to a few of them and really enjoyed the very young ones that came across. At the end of the procession, there was a large buffalo that turned and seemed to think about charging us but did not really cause us much alarm.

Saw some elephant moving about and then back to the tar road where we saw three rhino, one of which was a young one. We also saw a black shouldered kite and a jackal.

Went and checked out the Sunset Dam and there were the usual suspects along with a huge elephant in the area where the cars usually stop and watch the action. It came up on a car that was parked over to the side twice and they would move on and come back and then when the car would get back in position, back again. We were watching this and then suddenly heard a noise by the side of the car and it was the elephant right near our car.

Went back to camp and heard about a lion kill on the same tar road we had come down earlier that morning. Got back in the car and headed out. Got to the spot and got a position but the underbrush was very thick and so we could see the lions off and on, blood on their face, but never really in the clear.

Robert posted this comment on Facebook:

"Have you ever watched The Lion King? Came to mind when this little lion cub showed us his teeth. His precious little face was bloody and he was trying his best to get some of the dead buffalo (thankfully hidden in the thick bush. We kept getting glimpses ...of tales and big lion bodies but this little one was the only one clear enough to see a face. Thankfully Laura has become quite skilled at getting our little rental car in the right position for getting a shot.... Two weeks ago in Kruger NP "

That afternoon on our drive, we went back to the spot after hearing reports there were 10 lions but they were all resting so we went on.

The rest of the drive was fairly quiet but did love seeing a very small elephant running back and forth under the mother's belly!

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