The Last Lions

Serengeti National Park, Tanzania (June 2017)

DSC_0149.jpg

When I look at a lioness, I realise how perfectly in tune she is with her environment. She may sleep up to 20 hours a day, but awake she can sprint up to 50mph, leap thirty feet, take down prey much larger than herself, see perfectly well in darkness, and produce a roar that can stretch five miles. Despite the fact that she is extremely well adapted to her environment, our species has decimated hers by over forty percent in just two decades. There are now fewer than 20,000 lions left in Africa. Although this may seem like a large number, the rate at which this species is declining is shocking.

When I saw this female reunited with her pride after narrowly escaping an altercation with an protective elephant cow and her calf, it was clear that lions form complex group relationships. As soon as the cubs spotted her approaching the excitement stirring amongst the group was palpable, and when they reunited it was touching to say the least.